Being Centsible

*Please remember this is the system that works for me. I'm not suggesting you do exactly what I do, but that you may find some tips that help you with your own system.

Julie asks, "Do you only buy items when you have a coupon?"

The answer to that is no. But almost every item on my list has a coupon.... I would guess about 9 out of 10 things will have a coupon. I will buy a few things if I don't have a coupon, but it is generally something on sale or something I really need. I rarely have a coupon for produce or meats, but I buy them at the farmer's market and for the most part their prices are better than the sale prices at the store. I don't think I have ever used a coupon at the farmer's market. But I still save money there.

***If anyone has any specific questions, you can always leave them in the comments and I will answer in the next segment of Being Centsible.

I would like to make a small amendment to last week's failure at Kroger. I am still upset over it, so today I looked at the receipt again... just to try to figure out what went wrong. (Remember I had spent $69.97- which is a HUGE amount for me and my savings were only $60.41- 47%. Anything under 50% and I think of it as a failure. ) When I was going back over the receipt, I noticed that I bought 55 items. So, when you think of it in that way- 55 items for $69.97, it isn't too bad. It's not great, but not as bad as I thought. That's an average of $1.27/ item.

My system is always evolving. I am always trying to find the best way to do what I do. It's not that I'm bad at it or feel dissatisfied. It's just that I don't quite feel that I have the system the way that is best for me. So, that's my tip for today. Experiment and try different things. Sometimes you have an epic failure- like I did today. Other times you strike gold and can revamp your whole technique.

Today my "new" thing was to try to add a store. I am very lucky in the fact the I have a Kroger and a Publix .3 miles from my home. And they are across the street from each other. It is so easy to do them both without problems. Well, today I had the bright idea to add in Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is still close to us- but I would say maybe 5-7 minutes away. I checked it out on my site and decided it was worth it. Plus I want to try to make my own laundry detergent (to save money) and I thought I would be able to find the ingredients there. I did not find them. But I had a good list with a lot of coupons and savings.

This idea just had "hot mess" written all over it from the get-go. It was a disaster. There was virtually nothing on sale from my list, which is from my site. Half of the items were out of stock. I spent more money than I would have if I hadn't gone... a lot more. It was just a mess.

And by the time we got home, we realized that three stores at once is WAY too much for Punter or me either one... I don't think HOF was loving it either.

So, we learned that Wal-Mart is not for us as far as a weekly grocery excursion. BUT, I do think Wal-Mart would be great for some people. They PRICE MATCH! That means you can take your Kroger (or any other comparable store) flyer in there and just take it right to check out and they will give you the same price! The Wal-Mart here does not double coupons, though. So that is something to take into consideration when planning a trip. But if Wal-Mart is the closest store to you and there isn't many others around, I think the price matching would be a great way to save a few dollars!

So, today we gambled and lost. But we learned.

And just for the record:

my Kroger stats for today:
spent: $18.45
saved: $19.01
51 %
12 items

My Publix stats:
spent: $16.83
saved: $22.90
15 items

Happy Saving!