Couponing with The Grocery Game
A coupon story submitted by reader Gina which I thought you all would enjoy:
In March 2006, I joined www.GroceryGame.com. It has been on the news several times recently. A four week trial is only $1. After that it is $10 for eight weeks (one list store). While some people balk at the thought of paying to save money, my husband and I find it money well spent. I can easily recoup the $10 paid in one week. The listmaker matches the sale ads to current coupons that have been in recent Sunday paper. I tried to do the work myself and it took nearly two hours. As a homeschooling Mom, paying someone else such a small amount of money to do the work for me, is worthwhile.Feel free to submit your couponing stories to me for use in my upcoming ebook and for possible posting on my blog. Email me or post it here as a comment. Let's help each other be wise and frugal homemakers!
For the first 12 weeks with The Grocery Game, your weekly spending probably won't go down much. However you'll be bringing way more home for that amount of money. The goal is a 12 week stockpile of the foods your family uses often. Most items at the grocery store go on sale every 12 weeks. Some things cycle more often (cereal comes to mind) but if you are loyal to a particular brand, it will probably only appear on the list every 12 weeks. I think the key to seeing really big savings with the list is to not be brand loyal. After the 12 weeks is up...the savings gets HUGE!
I am currently saving about 60-70% off shelf price. Our family of four (two adults, 13 yr old boy and 6 yr old girl) eat on about $300 a month. I have so much stockpiled that I only shop twice a month now. I just don't have the freezer or cupboard space anymore. I converted the closet in our schoolroom into more pantry storage! We have never been able to afford name brands or new fun products but I'm saving so much we can indulge occasionally. Before the Grocery Game, the only meat I bought was chicken or hamburger. A roast or steak was a rare treat. In my freezer right now, I have pork chops, steak, roast, pork loin and ham. We live like kings but for a fraction of the cost.
I organize my coupons in a zippered 3 ring binder. I bought baseball card sleeves at Walmart($1.44 for ten). I divided the sections similar to your coupon box. My dividers are bright yellow cardstock. The cardstock holds up well and I can easily see the divisions. Also in my binder is a calculator, extra pen, rebate forms and restaurant coupons. When the Grocery Game list is published on Monday night, I click off what I want, pull the appropriate coupons and we're ready to roll. It takes me about 15 minutes to prepare my coupons and list. Since I don't need the seat in the cart anymore, I prop the binder there and file the coupons I'm using in another pocket in the binder. It takes me about 30 minutes to shop. If we run out of anything that hasn't made it to the list, I get it at Walmart. I buy milk and produce at Sam's.
Can you tell couponing is my hobby? For me couponing takes a necessary and often dreaded job and makes it fun.
Gina, Ohio
posted by Crystal Paine at 1:33 PM
6 Comments:
sounds amazing! Too bad it's not in Canada!
I've thought about trying the Grocery Game. They had a nice writeup about them in my local paper.
Trixie
Our only grocery store does not allow home-printed coupons! Bummer. I guess they are too easy to counterfeit so they've banned them.
Katie in Ohio
Mom to THREE boys now :-0
I'm teenager in Austin,TX. I found out about you're blog from a link from a family named Malone's blog (www.manymalones.com/links) in early spring 2006. It is so awesome the way you're blessing people's lives like mine through this blog! Hope my blog will too someday! I loved the schedules you posted a while back, your house-cleaning ideas, and interesting articles!
Christy Hastings
I just wondered do you think it is possible to save enough money on coupons when there is no coupon doubling at all here? I am wondering if it is worth it to try to seek out the coupons if there is no doubling.
Hi Crystal,
I read your blog today about the Grocery Game and I wanted to let you know about The Coupon Mom www.couponmom.com I learned about this site from a newsletter I receive called Debt Proof Living formerly Cheapskate... by Mary Hunt www.cheapskatemonthly.com . I first learned about Mary Hunt through a book of hers I read called Debt-Proof Your Marriage. Sorry, I got off track. I have not been able to use the Coupon Mom's site b/c we don't have a store near us that is advertised. Every so often I check back to see if there's any new stores added. If you do have a store listed on her site it's free to use her services or at least it was free back when I checked. The only thing that was requested was to help feed the hungry.
I hope this is useful...
Blessings,
Celeste
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