Grocery 101: Matching up Sales and Coupons

Let’s do a bit of review this AM, shall we Royal Savings Students?

In Couponing 101, you’ve learned how to find great coupons and you’ve started a system of organizing them .  You know from Frugal Eating 101 to check out your cabinets and make a meal plan.  Grocery 101’s introduction gave you some general store behavior tips.  Now, the real fun begins.  Saving with coupons on regular prices is fun but it hits a whole new level when you learn to match the sales in the stores with the coupons to score the item for close to free (or possibly completely free).

Depending on what area of the country that you live in, weekly sales run on a particular schedule.  Here in the Indianapolis area, most sales begin on Thursday and run through the next Wednesday.  Then a new sale schedule begins that Thursday AM.  Other areas run on a Sunday – Saturday schedule.  You might notice that most grocery stores send out special fliers in the mail the day before the sales begin to prepare you.  Don’t immediately pitch them.  Glance through them.  See if what you need is on sale or if you can build meals around what items are on sale.  Try to pay special attention to items that you have coupons for and see if they match up with the sales.

Now, if you’re a little lazy like the Queen is, there are plenty of places on the internet where some wonderful folks have done the leg work for you, telling you the match ups for several places.  My favorite is Lady Bargain Briana .  She lives in the Indianapolis metro area so her deal matching meshes nicely with my stores.  Lady Briana has match ups for the following stores: Meijer, Target, Kroger, CVS, Walgreens , Whole Foods , Marsh , Dollar General, K-mart , Walmart, and Von Deals  (Southern California).

Other places I love to check out deal match ups are Stretching a Buck and Deal Seeking Mom (both out of OH).  Many of the Royal Blogs that I feature do Grocery Match Ups, too.  It is important to find a site that is in your geographical area to check with though.  Not every store is exactly the same nationwide (even if it’s a chain).  You can be disappointed or score an even better deal sometimes.

Now you’re prepared to hit the aisles, my dear students.  Thanks for taking yet another lesson to learn how to be the zenith of Money Saving Lords and Ladies!

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Five Quick Ways to Save on Your Grocery Bill WITHOUT Coupons mPerks $2 Coupon PLUS Meijer Shopping Tips A’ Guest Posting We Will Go . . . Grocery 101