“Couponing? I don’t have the time or patience for that mess.”
A close friend really said that to me.
What The What!! How can you hate free money?
It has never been easier to get and use coupons. You don’t even need to clip them anymore. You can just upload them straight to a rewards card through your smartphone.
Posts may contain affiliate links to products I like or even products I don’t like. Sometime they throw things in the mix that I’ve never even heard of. Click on pics and words knowing it may take you to a sales page, and if it does… I hope you like it. 🙂
How online grocery shopping has upped my coupon game
When my friends gave me a years subscription to curbside shopping as a present, I was a little skeptical to how exactly I would use it.
How would I know what I was getting? Did the lady choosing my avocados know how to pick a ripe one. Would the meat be a good quality cut or cost more than I wanted it to? I wasn’t sold on the idea AT ALL.
What’s it going to hurt to try it out? Fly or fall right?
That first order took so long. I mean sooooo long. I had to search for each item and figure out how to add coupons to my account and schedule the pickup. It was frustrating, but it was worth it.
That initial encounter taught me everything I needed to know to navigate their online shopping pages and combine their deals with my own paper coupons.
Double your discount
This was the life changing part of the whole thing.
If you are an old school couponer that only uses paper coupons, be prepared to have your mind blown.
I have a few simple steps to get prepared for online grocery shopping to make the process easy and fast.
Gather your supplies:
- paper coupons-sort them and throw away expired ones
- the stores weekly ad -online, flyer, email
- envelope or clip to sort them
- computer (duh)
That’s all you need.
The most important step!
To really take your coupon game to the next level, any couponer knows you have to buy items that are on sale.
Of course there are times when you have to buy things at full price, but planning in advance will save your budget in the long run.
So make sure you focus on the things you need that have deals on them. If you know you’re running out of shampoo in the next three weeks, don’t wait until you have a drop left in the bottle. Get that stuff while it’s on sale today.
- Add your online coupons
- Match your online coupons with your paper ones
- Gather the coupons you will be using and actually take them to the store!!!!! I almost cried when I forgot my little envelope of coupons on my desk.
More ways to save
Now to really blow this thing out of the water.
- Use your paper coupons when your store is offering double coupon days! This basically triples your discount. Of course store rules apply, so they may limit this. But hopefully they won’t. Harris Teeter offers triple coupon deals every once in a while. You could possibly quadruple your savings and probably get the coupons to pay for regular priced items in your cart.
- Use apps for cash back. Why stop at saving at the register? Having apps send you an actual check for money right to your mailbox is sure fire way to put a smile on your face. I wrote another article about cashback apps. Check it out. How I Earned $10 Last Month By Doing Nothing!!
- Sign up for emails from your grocery store to get discount codes. At least 3 times a year, I get an email with a $10 off coupon or 15% off your entire order.
What stores have compatible websites to use this strategy?
I don’t have a master list of stores that may work for you. I just know the few that work in my area.
- Lowes Foods
- Food Lion
- Publix
- Dollar General- They limit the way you can double up on with the paper and online coupons.
- CVS
- Target- Through their Cartwheel app
- Harris Teeter- this one is still up in the air. They recently changed their online coupon resource so I don’t know exactly how many coupons you can load now.
Lazy Tip- What to do if you forget your coupons
If you do leave your coupons at home or just plain forget to se them at checkout, call the store! Some will take them the next time you go in or you can drop them off later that day or the next day. I’ve done this twice now. Luckily, the grocery store is right beside my son’s school so I’m not going out of my way for it.
More from LazyGeniusMom
Want more ideas to stay on budget? Check out these posts.
5 Unexpected Places You Can Bargain For Deals
52 Weeks to $1000- Free Printable Savings Plan
North Carolina, USA