Straight from the Horse's Mouth

I have had several people ask me to "teach them" how I have been saving money with my shopping each week, but I have been at a loss as to what knowledge I have that might be imparted when I really don't know what I'm doing that is "special." And honestly - I save money, but I'm not getting all this stuff for free or very little money, so I'm not really in the position to be teaching lessons. I figure the best I can do is let you know what I'm doing and if you're not already doing that then you can save at least that much.

So this was going to be a supershort entry that said:

Step 1: Get your coupons from the paper or online
Step 2: Clip said coupons
Step 3: Read weekly circulars and match up coupons with sale items
Step 4: $ave money

But while I was out shopping with the last of my June coupons yesterday, I realized that there might be one place that people don't think of to search for coupons, because I don't always think of them, and you can get some really good deals that way - right at your grocery store!

I don't know if you've noticed or not, but when you walk into many grocery stores, there will be turnstiles with flyers and recipe cards, etc. on them. Well, at least at Publix and BiLo, those turnstiles also have discount booklets and coupon booklets full of coupons to use at those stores! And these booklets often have coupons for the stuff that you can't normally find coupons for - bread, milk, salads, etc. For example, my Publix coupon book had coupons for SoyMilk, Ezekial Bread products and fresh express pre-bagged salad greens. Mmmm...fresh salad greens will be nice to have somewhere mid-July when we're living off frozen peas!

Also, stores often have special club programs (different from their shopping card programs) that you can sign up for when you have children. Publix has several clubs you can join and get free information and, with the Club Baby program, coupons for free products and other discounts. I signed up for this program when I was pregnant, and began receiving coupons around the time my daughter was born. Let me just tell you - these coupons are serious business. You get coupons for free hand sanitizer and dollars off formula, diapers, wipes, and other baby products (sometimes Publix brand, sometimes name brand). But the best ones are the ones for "$1.00 off any deli item" and "$1.00 off fresh produce." Yippee skippee, y'all - we might get Mommy some bananas up in here during the month of July! And the best part is that I don't have to remember to get these coupons. They just come in the mail every couple of months, good for about 6 weeks after they arrive. There is also a newsletter that accompanies the coupons that gives you some tips and tricks for what's going on with baby at that age. As your baby ages, so do your coupons, so eventually I'm expecting to receive coupons for "Gerber Graduate" type foods. And the coupons I don't use - specifically the formula coupons - I give to my friends who are using formula with their babies. It's a big ol' win/win!

After using some of my Publix Baby Club coupons yesterday, I decided to check and see if BiLo had any sort of similar program. They do not, but if you sign up for the "My BiLo" program, you can download store coupons for Southern Home products in the "My BiLo Mini Cookbook" section, which is probably the best deal I've seen! This section gives you recipes and offers the coupons for products used in the recipes. Today there are coupons for Southern Home butter, pie crust, shrimp and maple syrup, just to name a few. As you know, sometimes using a coupon does you no good because even with the coupon the name brand can still cost more than the store brand. So having some coupons for the store brands seems like a great idea for savings to me! The page also states that this Mini Cookbook can be picked up at the store. BiLo also features Southern Home coupons in their Bonus Saver publication. It lists ongoing monthly specials and has a section with about 18 coupons for Southern Home products!

So hop online and surf over to your favorite store's website and see what they have to offer. And as always, let me know if you find any good coupons!