This is part one of a three part series.  Click to go to Part 2:  Save More than 50% on Groceries for Free and Part 3:  Cut the Hunger. 

The Coupon Mom works for me!  Since Mr. Right had to close his business in June and I started consulting as he looks for a new job, things have been a bit tight for us financially.  One way we have found to save money is to use The Coupon Mom’s website.  This website is absolutely AWESOME!  I have had the pleasure of meeting Stephanie Nelson in person and helping other people save money is part of her passion in life.  Over the next 3 weeks, I will tell you how I use The Coupon Mom’s website to save money in 3 parts:

1. Saving Money Using the Coupon Mom without Coupons
2. Incorporating Coupons into the Coupon Mom System
3. Giving Back to Others Using the Coupon Mom System

IMPORTANT NOTE:  The Coupon Mom is absolutely free to use.  It is free to lookup grocery prices for multiple stores.  You do not pay a per month fee.  You do not pay a per month per store fee either.  You do not pay to look up coupons in the coupon database. 

Part 1:  Saving Money Using the Coupon Mom without Coupons

Create Account.  You will need to create a free account on the website.  Creating an account is free of charge.  In fact, the entire website is FREE of charge.  As you create the account, you will be asked if you want to pursue other deals.  You can do this or not, it is up to you.  I think I did not use most of (or any of) these deals when I created my account. 

Grocery Deals by State.  After creating the account, click Grocery Deals by State.  Next, select your state and grocery store in the drop down box and click Go.  A pop-up menu will appear with all of the sale items for that grocery store.

Read through the list and determine which sale items to purchase and select those.  After selecting all the items, select Display Selected Deals.  A printable grocery list is displayed.  This printable grocery list shows only the items selected, the total price, the total savings percentage and when the sale dates are effective.

Grocery Sale Prices Rotate.  Buy in Bulk.  Grocery stores run sales in cycles of 4 to 8 weeks.  If you only purchase items when they are on sale, you will save money. 

For instance, we purchase a month’s worth of bottled water at a time.  In our area, the bottled water we drink and the laundry detergent go on sale about every 4 - 5 weeks.  So, when we purchase the water, we purchase 6 flats of it at one time for $3.99 rather than purchasing a flat every week for 4 weeks at $5.99 and 1 flat at $3.99. 

We do the same thing with fish sticks, frozen entrees, laundry detergent, cleaning supplies, ground beef, ground turkey, etc.  We keep the dry goods in the pantry and store the perishable goods in the freezer.  We do not have an especially large pantry.  I am not stocking up for more than a month or so at time because I know the items will be back on sale by then.

After you use the Coupon Mom system for about 2 months, you will have a feel for how quickly your local stores rotate sale items.  You can use this knowledge to stock up as appropriate for your family.

You can stop right here and you will be able to save money by purchasing items only when they are on sale.  Even without using coupons, just by being aware of the sale cycles in my area and only purchasing items that are on sale, I can save 30 - 35% on every grocery store purchase.  Or you can spend a little more time and kick the savings up a notch.  Now, here is how I continue to use this tool and take it to the next level. 

Create a Spreadsheet for This Week’s Sale Items.  After the list of my grocery items for the store displays, copy and paste the information into a spreadsheet.  (Before pasting the information, I make the columns in the spreadsheet very wide so that there are no word wrap issues.)  Add a column to the spreadsheet for the grocery store name.  Put the store name in each row that was pasted into the spreadsheet. 

Go back into the Coupon Mom website and select the next grocery store in your area, as well as other stores like Wal-Mart, Target, CVS, Rite-Aid, and/or Walgreens.  Repeat the process of selecting sale items with the next grocery store.  Each time the printable grocery list displays, copy it into the same spreadsheet, putting the appropriate grocery store name in each row.

After copying and pasting each of the grocery store sales into the spreadsheet, sort by item and then by price.  Look at the spreadsheet and analyze prices to determine which store has the best deal.  As you determine the best price for an item, delete the rows with the stores with higher prices and add the quantity you intend to purchase to the row of the item with the lowest price.  Click to see a sample of one of the spreadsheets I created:  Coupon Mom Sample Spreadsheet.

After looking at all rows, re-sort the spreadsheet by store and by item.  Next add page breaks after each group of stores (Insert, Page Break).  Then print your grocery list. 

Is the Extra Step Worth Your Time and Effort?  Analyzing the cost of items takes more time and may not be worth it to you.  Obviously, the stores would have to be close enough to you to make the savings for the cost of gas.  Where I live I have 3 grocery stores and a Wal-Mart Superstore within 4 miles of my house and a Target within 6 miles of my house.  Some weeks, I only make it to 1 grocery store.  Other weeks, if I already have a trip to Target planned, I will determine what groceries I can purchase while I am there for a greater savings and I may go to a second grocery store as well. 

This is part one of a three part series.  Click to go to Part 2:  Save More than 50% on Groceries for Free and Part 3:  Cut the Hunger.