Clip Clip

Is anyone else nauseated when they leave the grocery store, spending more and more each time, even though you get pretty much the same things?

Agh, the cost of groceries is crazy and it's only going to get worse as my three little ones grow and the cost of everything continues to rise.  My oldest has been on a growth spurt for about 2 months straight now with no end in site.

I remember the days when I could do my weekly grocery shopping for under $50.  Those days are long gone.  I've had to come up with another strategy to save and I've been working on it over the last month.

I think I'm a pretty savvy shopper, usually choosing generic brands over name brands to save a few cents here and there, except for a few items which just taste better in name brand.  I look at the ads each week when I get ready to write out my grocery list, which also helps plan the menu (although this has been more difficult with my Fresh 20 account).  I like to shop at Fareway but hate that they are closed on Sundays because that is often when I have time to shop.  One bonus of Fareway is they will price match any competitor and these price matches are easily identified with bright orange/red notices.  If they happen to miss a price match, you can verify it easily by pulling up the competitor's ad on your phone (I've had to do that a couple times).  One downfall of Fareway, is I do not like their chicken so I try to stock up when the price is right at other stores and freeze smaller amounts in the freezer.

Now back to the saving...

I've started to become a couponer.  Not a crazy person who clips every coupon and spends their days looking for the best deals, just a regular mom trying to save a few cents here and there. It's actually somewhat enjoyable and you do get a little high when you find a good deal. I let everyone else do the work and I follow suit:  I follow the Krazy Coupon Lady's blog, and also follow match up sites (these are sites that look for sales in specific stores and then tell you how to use your coupons to get the best deals).  These sites are totallytarget.com, wildforwags (Walgreens),  afewshortcuts.com (hy-vee/fareway), and hip2save.com.  I clip the coupons in the Sunday paper of items we may use/need in the future and store them away until a good deal comes along.  I'll also go online once a month to the major online coupon site and print what we may need.  I've realized I'll never pay full price again for some items and it's important to stock up on an item when you do get a good deal so you won't need to purchase that specific thing again until another deal should come around.

I've also downloaded a couple useful apps which you can earn money from just from shopping or even just walking into a store:

Cartwheel:  I'm sure many people use this now.  What an easy way to save a few cents. I check my cartwheel before I head to Target to see if there are any deals for the items I'm planning to purchase.  I scored a pack of white chocolate M & Ms for 0.70 using my Cartwheel (50% off) and a $1.00 off coupon.  These were supposed to be for Easter but I was solo last night with the kiddos and needed a little SOMETHING after everyone was in bed and I was out of wine!

Shopkick:  This app gives you "kicks" for walking into stores or scanning specific items in stores.  It's that simple. You don't need to purchase a single thing and the kicks add up quickly.  Earning 1250 kicks will get you a $5 gift card to starbucks, Target, etc. There's a large variety of stores you can use it on.  You can easily earn 500 kicks in a couple days.  I've only being using this app for about 6 weeks and am up to over 3000 kicks.  I'll probably wait a little bit to redeem my reward, which will likely be a Starbucks gift card. Justin and I like to treat ourselves to a little coffee once in a while so this will come in handy.

Ibotta:  This is another app, specifically for grocery shopping. This app gives you money back for buying groceries.  You search the app to see what grocery items you can earn money back on, select the items, purchase them, then capture a picture of your receipt to submit.  A couple hours later your purchase is reviewed and approved and money goes into your account. You have to have $10 in your account to cash out.  Again, I've only been doing this about 6 weeks and have earned $15, just for buying the normal grocery items I would buy.  I think the important thing with all of these apps and coupons in general, is to stick to what you would usually buy and don't buy something because you have a coupon-that's not really saving.  Another plus about Fareway is you can give them the phone number connected with your Ibotta account at check out, saving you from having to submit your receipt.

ReceiptPal:  This is the easiest of all apps to use.  You literally take a picture of your receipt (any receipt-even if you purchased a pack of gum at a gas station) and submit it.  You get 25 points for each receipt submitted. Once you receive 2200 points, you can obtain a $25 gift card to a restaurant or Amazon gift card.  Again, we like to limit spending money on eating out (or even grabbing a coffee) so having these little earnings make it more enjoyable for us.

ReceiptHog: Another easy app where you take a picture of your receipt and submit it.  The only specific with this app is it must be from a place where you can purchase groceries.  You earn coins for  your receipts, pending how much you spent, and 1000 coins=$5.

Checkout51:  Similar to Ibotta in that you earn money back for buying specific groceries.  This one is a little harder to use as the products they feature are often not ones I purchase. However, every Wednesday the products rotate and there is usually at least one item that I do purchase (like a gallon of milk, bananas, apples, etc).  You select the item, purchase the item, then submit your receipt.  Pretty easy. Once you reach $20, you can request a check be sent to you.

Whew, that's it.  Pretty simple and not very time consuming at all.  I wait until the evening, snap a couple pics of receipts I may have gotten that day and I'm done.  If I'm heading out to run an errand, I'll check my Shopkick, Cartwheel, Ibotta and Checkout51 apps quickly to see if the items I'm planning to purchase are on these sites (or if I can collect kicks at the store I am going to), and head out.

I was so tired a couple evenings ago but needed diapers for C from Target.  Justin agreed to go out so I gave him a quick tutorial of the Cartwheel and Shopkick apps and he was on his way.  I think he had a good time :).