“Hooked on Internet? Help is a just a click away.” ~ Anonymous
Each Sunday I begin my weekly shopping plan. I use a combination of websites, blogs, and newspaper ads & coupons to do this. I’m not an extreme couponer because I don’t want a bunch of stuff I’m never going to use, just because I got it super cheap or free.
My Sunday routine looks a little something like this:
- Look through the newspaper ads for the 3 grocery stores and 2 drugstores in my area, as well as Target. Circle the things we buy regularly.
- With these items fresh in my mind, I begin to peruse the newspaper coupons, looking specifically for items that I now know are on sale this week, but also for anything we use or may use in the coming months. If I know that a friend or family member uses a particular product that’s been advertised, I’ll clip and save those coupons for them as well.
- Check my favorite websites and blogs to find anything I may have missed!
- My absolute favorite website right now is Surviving the Stores. It’s a husband and wife team who work full-time finding every deal you could possibly imagine! I follow their Facebook page, too, to make it easy to see the numerous deals they post every day. They list coupon/sales matchups, freebies, online deals, and a TON of other stuff. Seriously. Check them out if you haven’t.
- Coupons.com has a ton of free, printable coupons, listed by category. Additionally, Target and most grocery stores have printable coupons available on their website.
- If you have a CVS nearby, there are a lot of deals available; even some that will make you money! Surviving the Store has articles available that tell you how to do this, but I also check The CVS $5 Challenge for tips on how to buy as much as possible by only spending $5 out-of-pocket that week. Again, I don’t always do this, as I don’t want to stock up on stuff I’ll never use. One option would be to get any free items and donate them, which is something I plan to start doing soon.
- If you are looking for baby items, such as diapers, wipes, or formula, one great website to check each week is Baby Cheapskate. In addition to a lot of other great deals on baby/kid stuff, they post “Top Diaper and Formula Deals of the Week,” which I check to see where I should go to buy each that week. I usually find that Amazon.com still has the best price on diapers by using the Subscribe & Save option, but occasionally there are some great deals out there!
