Table of Contents
To my mother, for her constant encouragement, and to my father,
for giving me the frugality gene in the first place
Introduction
I never meant to become the Coupon Mom. I certainly never dreamed Id have a website with two million members.
My intention was to feed my family for less money, and to help families less fortunate than ours.
After graduating from college with a major in finance, I worked for ten years in sales and marketing for Procter & Gamble and the Marriott hotel chain. In 1995, my husband and I made the decision to downsize our lifestyle so that I could stay home with our boys, a two-year-old and a new baby. My quitting the corporate world meant our income would be cut in half, so I knew I was actually taking on two new roles: stay-at-home mom and CEO of our family budget. To get by on one income, our dollars had to work harder than ever. As we examined our household spending to cut costs across the board, I noticed that grocery bills represented a big chunk of our overall budget. I figured that cutting what we spent on groceries would have a significant impact and would give us a good bit of financial wiggle room. I was right!
By cruising the grocery-store aisles with a clipboard to record prices, I learned how sales cycles work and when to buy. I diligently scanned store circulars and clipped newspaper coupons to plan meals around deals. My freezer and my pantry became two of my closest friends, since they allowed me to load up when prices dropped, keeping our food costs constant.
As we all got more Web-savvy, saving money on groceries became easier than ever. Printable coupons, electronic coupons, downloadable discounts to store loyalty cards, and deals on stores and manufacturers websites all presented more ways to save. My strategies allowed me to not only cut back dramatically on my own familys grocery bills, but also to give back to the less fortunate through a program I called Cut Out Hunger.
Once I mastered the ways of combining sales, coupons, promotions, and rebates, I was able to buy many items for pennies, sometimes for nothing. That translated into donations for our local food bank, and a wonderful lesson for our children.
This was all too good not to share with others, so I started spreading the word through seminars and media appearances. We launched CouponMom .com in 2001 to give shoppers one easy place on the Web to learn Strategic Shopping methods, search for deals, and share success stories and advice with others. The site has also gotten a lot of media attention, and Ive appeared on both Today and The Oprah Winfrey Show, sharing what Ive learned with as many people as I can. Nothing makes me more excited than showing others how to get a jar of pasta sauce for free by combining sales and coupons. Or, more important, helping families significantly slash their grocery bills over time. On the website, a community has developed, and we all have a good time helping one another reach our savings goals.
Trying economic times mean that many people who in the past never gave a thought to how much money they spent suddenly need to get serious about saving. It means many families who were living on the financial edge are struggling more than ever and need the help of those who are able to give.
This book is written for every shopper who wants to save, or give, or both. Ill show you the power of planning, and how adopting simple strategies can make the most of your time and money. Ill share budget-friendly recipes your family will love, and well hear some inspiring stories from CouponMom.com members who are making a difference in their familiesand in their communities, by adopting the Cut Out Hunger program to fit the needs of people in their areas. Ill talk about the various types of shopping styles and how my plan can be customized for any lifestyle, so that everyone can benefit. Everyone, from the rushed single professional who has barely 5 minutes to eat, much less to plan shopping trips, to the dedicated deal seeker who treats the grocery store like a big-game hunter treats a safari, can save with the strategies this book teaches.
Our kids are now thirteen and sixteen, and we have treasured the years I have been able to spend at home with them. The Strategic Shopping methods I teach in this book helped make it possible. Our grocery spending is half of what it once was. We eat budget-friendly meals and, above all else, plan our trips to the supermarket carefully.
I hope youll have fun reading through this book while youre learning. I hope that youll find ways to save money starting today, and that by the end of the year you will be simply astounded at how much money you are saving. And I hope that the information we review in these pages ultimately makes your dinner table a more pleasant place where you can have a little less worry and just enjoy wonderful mealtimes together.
One
Strategic Shopping
Myth: Saving money on groceries means eating the same boring meals every day of the week.
Myth: Saving money on groceries means spending half your life shopping to find good prices.
Myth: Saving money on groceries means serving your family nothing but processed junk, since thats the cheapest way to put food on the table. Fact: Wrong, wrong, wrong!
Ive been spreading the bargain-shopping gospel for more than a decade now, and Ive run into these misconceptions time and again. In this chapter were going to discuss:
how to turn your grocery store into a paradise of great buys with a concept I call Strategic Shopping
the principles of Strategic Shopping and how they can help you save, no matter your shopping personality
numbers that illustrate how it literally pays to apply Strategic Shopping methods at the market
What Is Strategic Shopping?
The most effective diets arent the ones that force you to eat entirely new foods or to eat just one thing over and over. Theyre the ones that teach you to improve your eating habits for the long term. Lets put your grocery budget on an effective, long-term diet. Strategic Shopping is not about changing the way you eat. It is about changing the way you buy the food that you like. You can have your cake and eat it, tooas long as you use a coupon and wait for it to go on sale!
Strategic Shopping does not require you to lower your food quality standards, give up your preferences, or take hours a week to plan and shop. The goal is just the opposite. My plan helps you create customized shopping approaches that save time and allow you to serve your family tasty and healthy mealsall while cutting your grocery bill in half.
It can take time to shop strategically, but the Coupon Mom program along with the CouponMom.com website saves you time by finding the best grocery deals at both local and national stores. Our team of researchers conducts price comparisons, and that information is entered regularly into the price database, allowing you to quickly find the best deal. The coupon database alerts you to additional savings opportunities. Using the Coupon Mom No-Clip System means you simply need to save the circulars each week, then check the website to know exactly which circular to pull. Finally, the Coupon Mom Forum offers tons of great strategies from members all over the country.