Coupon Shopping: First Attempt

Sooooo, my first coupon shopping trip felt pretty successful! Here's what I did:

1. Decided on Safeway and Albertson's, since both are very close to our house. Fred Meyer is nearby too, but I hadn't had a chance to grab their weekly ad. Plus, I have club cards for both of those stores and Fred Meyer's "rewards" card doesn't mean anything. Other than gas.

2. I looked through the Safeway and Albertson's ads to get an idea of what was on sale. I then planned my meals for the next two weeks. I'm sure you want to know what they are, so here goes:

Mon Penne a la Betse (new recipe, shrimp was on sale, as was tomato sauce and the pasta I buy)
Tues Fresh Pesto over whole wheat pasta (already had pine nuts and spaghetti. Hmm, pasta 2 days in a row....delicious!)
Wed (out to Sweet Tomatoes with Heather, with a coupon of course, while Nelson worked late)
Thurs Cauliflower (on sale) Soup (stock was on sale too!)
Fri Shredded Chicken Tacos in the slow cooker (chicken on sale, had a coupon for taco shells!!)
Sat leftovers
Sun Turkey Chili (ground turkey, pepper jack, beans & Fritos all on sale. Oh, and Rotell too!) PLUS, I had coupons on top of that!)
Mon Baked Lemon Pasta (lemons on sale!) with spinach salads
Tues Turkey dogs wrapped in crescent rolls (both on sale!) with steamed veggies (coupon!)
Wed Turkey Burgers (turkey on sale, already have buns & cheese) with roast potatoes and veggies (both on sale)
Thurs Eggplant Parmesan (organic tomato sauce on sale, splurged a little for eggplant)
Fri (out) Probably to cheesecake factory, we have a gift card from Christmas. Mmmm....
Sat leftovers

3. Okay, I got a bit ahead of myself, because I just get so excited!! So, after planning my meals, I made my initial grocery list, including other things we need like toiletries, paper products, you know what I mean.

4. I looked through my coupon websites, uploaded coupons to my card online (or printed them out) and cut coupons for any matches for sale items or anything else I need. I also took note of other things on sale that I wanted to stock up on.

5. I made my final grocery list. It was 2 columns with a box at the bottom. 1 column for Safeway, 1 for Albertson's. The box is labeled "If on sale at either store". This was a list of things I didn't necessarily need this week, but had a good coupon for and would buy if they were on sale too. (as indicated, duh.)

6. I highlighted the sale items and starred the coupon items, so I'd remember in the store. (I tried to make this idiot proof, because, well....not that I am, just, I wanted it to be easy!!)

7. I have a fancy coupon sorter thingy (from Office Max for 5 bucks) and sorted the coupons for each store, plus the if-on-sale coupons. I included my club cards in each section so I wouldn't have to scramble for those in my wallet. Because, remember, I grocery shop with a baby attached to me! : )

8. Off to the stores I went!!!

The result?? Safeway receipt: "Total Savings Value $48.30 Albertson's receipt: $52.30

That's a grand total of $100.70 in savings!!! It was a purely amazing (2) moments.

Almost orgasmic.

But not quite.

So, I'm still new at this, but I hope it's only the beginning of things to come!! I may try Fred Meyer at some point. I would be more encouraged if they improved their rewards card. It seems like a lot of work (wow, 8 steps!!), but it went really fast. And, it will only get faster with practice. It maybe took me 2 hours of work total, spread out over a few days. And, remember, this was my first attempt. So, it took longer than it will. And it was worth every second!!

(Now, if only I could go back in time and teach this to myself several months/years ago. All that wasted money!!!)