My mantra is to keep couponing simple. I don't know about you, but I don't have a lot of time left in the day to spend hours going up and down grocery store isles to find the best deals or dumpster diving for coupons. If you're looking for extreme couponing tips that take a lot of time and energy this is not the blog for you. I limit my in store shopping to 1-hour or less, no more than two times a week. With grocery pick-up and home deliveries my couponing routine has changed drastically. Below find a few of my getting started quick tips on saving time and making frugal living easy.
CREATE A BUDGET
Whether you are trying to stretch your budget or looking for ways to lower your monthly spend on groceries. No matter your reason, remember to do what works best for you and your family. A good rule of thumb when trying to create a weekly grocery budget is to spend $10 per person per week. With the price of goods rising, I try to stay between $10 - $20 per person per week.
MAKE IT A ROUTINE
Find what works for you. Between work, community projects, and a growing family, there is not a lot of time left in the day to coupon. It took me a bit to figure out what works for me and my family but I go grocery shopping Friday/Saturday and Tuesday's. I leave my weekend mornings free to get things done in preparation for the upcoming week. Shopping on Tuesday's give me the opportunity to take advantage of sale items before new sale items come out on Wednesday. Shopping on Tuesday's also allow me to take advantage of store rainchecks for out of stock sale items that I can use at a later date.
WHERE TO FIND THE BEST COUPONS
Download your favorite grocery store apps and join their rewards program. Make sure to add your store digital coupons to your rewards account. Many of your favorite grocery store's tie your digital coupons to your phone number when entered at the register. Also check your mailed weekly store ads. Mine usually includes printed coupon circulars to use in stores. Below find a few of my favorite coupon links.
1. Coupons.com
2. P&G
DOWNLOAD MONEY SAVING APPS
On my cellphone I have a couponing folder. In that folder I have 5 app's that I use constantly. When it comes to couponing apps there are so many to choose from. Go to your app store and search for couponing/coupon. The list of apps gets quite long. For me, I limit myself to what I call my "Top 5" apps. Of course, you could download as many apps as you want. Each app has it's own qualifications and processes to help you save money. The 5 apps I am listing below have helped me save thousands of dollars every year.
1. Ibotta <--- (My Favorite mobile couponing app. Get more bang for your buck in the shortest amount of time.)
With Ibotta, you can earn money back on your purchases every day whether you shop in-store or online. To earn cash
back, select the store you will be shopping at, select the items you are most likely to purchase, and either submit your in-store
receipt after purchasing or connect your email or store loyalty card. Easy Peasy! To learn more about how ibotta works
visit: https://home.ibotta.com/how/
Sign up using my link below to receive up to $20 in New Member Bonus offers.
2. Fetch Rewards
3. Receipt Hog
4. Checkout 51
5. Coupons.com
JOIN OUR COMMUNITY
Finding the best deals takes a community. Join our FB group or follow STG Deals & Steals on Instagram to get notifications on the best deals in town. If you score a deal make sure to tag STG Deals & Steals! If you're deal or steal is hot, hot, hot 🔥, we'll share it with the rest of the community!