Check the local ads / don’t rely on the coupon match-up sites!

Check the local ads / don’t rely on the coupon match-up sites!

Remember to read the comments left by other folks – they are providing great info too!

Sorry I’ve been remiss in my regular updates. Its that full time job, wife, and mother of three that keeps getting in the way of my shopping deals. And since I did a little bit of stocking up recently I didn’t need to run to the store nearly every day (as I’ve been used to doing) – sure we’ve had to go for milk (which was NOT on sale this week) and a few things for recipes here and there but not too much over all which has been great.

But things I’ve learned since the last time.

Check the local ads / don’t rely on the coupon match-up sites. This is especially true of places like Wal Mart & Target. Sales are “national” but what is actually ON SALE boils down to “local”.

Lesson: I prepared for a relatively small shopping trip to Target based on what I had gathered from couponmom.com - I did not spend much time with my own Sunday paper so I did not verify what I had check marked at the website. I printed my list, printed my coupons, clipped my coupons (prepared to stack them Target and manufacturers – I was going to get Juicy Juice for nearly FREE – and the kids soooo like that apple juice from juicy juice, carnation instant breakfasts too!) and grabbed my Mom and my 10 year old and we were off to the store (we were also prepared for CVS and Giant Eagle as Mom needed to do some shopping and I prepped a coupon envelope and list for her as well).

We get to the store and I learn that even though my Mom has a list she is a serious impulse shopper – but more about that later.

I try to steer Mom and Becca to the part of the store where the items on our list are kept – coupons in hand, but when I get there, I find the instant breakfasts - but they are not on sale, I find the juicy juice (no apple flavor sadly) and it also is not on sale. The special K bars were on sale, the lean cuisines were on sale, the hand lotion was on sale but close to a third of the items on my list – printed from the sale/coupon match up site, were not on sale.

Sadness – I should have checked the local ad in the paper that morning. I guess I’m not as clever as I think I am. Later I realized that there may very well have been things on sale that I needed but didn’t know about because – alas – I didn’t read the local ad… Lesson Learned!

I also learned that when I am shopping with my Mom I need to keep her on the task of sticking to her list by store / she was ready to buy everything on her list at one place but I had planned our trip to pass CVS on the way home so she could get her tooth past for .74 cents and I could get my hair color for $3.99 – coupons and ads – and other things at Giant Eagle by keeping track of the sales.

She also impulse shops – which I am guilty of too, but I’m trying to work on getting away from that. I had left my coupon file / of about 500 or so coupons / behind. As I watched her put item after item in the cart I kept thinking “I have a coupon for that” – so if I’m going to go with an impulse shopper or impulse shop myself I should try to have my full binder of coupons along with me “just in case”. I know it will look crazy when I’m shopping but if I have to buy something not on sale and not on my list – I may as well get a little bit off if I have the coupon.

I also learned that my Mom is a sucker for Becca and gives in and buys her stuff I probably wouldn’t – but that IS a grandma’s job after all.