Couponing = Not as Important as Haiti

But, I'm sure you've all been wondering how this month of couponing has gone so far.

So, I'm going to tell you. And I'm not saying this to boast in any special powers I've been granted as a human being. Most of this stuff I have figured out and come up with as a result of pulling inspiration from a lot of different places online and from people I know and really thinking long and hard about where I'd rather have our monthly grocery money going if it's possible to actually save... and it is.

Here's the scoop.

As I mentioned, I've got a little strategy going that includes the following steps:

1. Shop only at Publix every Sunday this entire month (I do this simply because it's a mile down the street and incredibly convenient and I LIKE the experience there.)
2. Shop (mostly) the BOGO, Advantage, and weekly sales. (There are also the occasional exceptions for recipes, cravings, etc. Man can not live by coupon alone.)
3. Purchase one newspaper per person in our home = 2. (I have heard people say "one per person over the age of 10" and I think that means that kids over the age of 10 consume more? I don't know, regardless there's just two of us. I usually pick mine up at Walgreen's on our way home from church for $3.50 total. There are usually other good coupons from restaurants/stores as well as the articles and the rest can be used for wrapping paper, crafts, the firepit, etc.)
4. Write, in Sharpie, the date on the coupon inserts and stick them in a folder. (I find this saves from clipping every coupon unnecessarily... I'm not always going to use them all.)
5. Look through the weekly Publix Ad for deals. (Who knows, your favorite fruit, toilet paper, sub from the deli, or spaghetti sauce might be on sale. It's always good to stock up on items.)
6. Compare the weekly Publix Ad with I Heart Publix's weekly round-up of the ad + corresponding coupons available in previous (or current) Sunday coupon inserts.
7. Pull inserts or print those listed on IHP's website and cut only as needed.

The first two Sundays this month I only half-heartedly did any of this. I was definitely hitting the first point at full-speed but lagging in the others. I bought my first papers on 1/17 if that tells you anything.

Okay, so here are the results...

1/03 - saved 22%
1/10 - saved 21%
1/17 - saved 50%
1/24 - saved 68%
1/31 - saved 69%

Total $ Savings = $213.93

And just think if I'd done a full month at that rate!

Whew. Get's me all excited.

It's like a game for me, appealing to the mathematical, competitive, frugal, and domestic parts of my little brain. Plus, it's a learning thing and I always enjoy that.

Take for instance, these things I've learned in the last month:

1. You can use a coupon PER item at the grocery store, even when it's BOGO. Who knew?!
2. You can stack a manufacturer coupon (like the ones you get in the paper) with one Publix store coupon (also found in the paper or online/in flyers/magazines) and one competitor store coupon if you have any.
3. Yeah! Publix takes competitor store coupons (as long as they are manufacturer ones). Up until today, this meant Food Lion, Kroger, and Target coupons published by the manufacturer would work. Unfortunately, the local Food Lion is closing and is therefore no longer a competitor, but oh well.
4. Of course, Publix doubles all coupons up to $.50 a piece.
5. Buying multiples of an item doesn't make you crazy, it makes you smart. I seriously don't have to go shopping for salad dressing (which is a staple), cereal, tuna fish, or pasta for awhile if I don't want to. Instead of getting stuff when you need it, you have it in advance and at a much lower cost.
6. It doesn't take as much time as you'd think. Once you do it once or twice, it strangely becomes a lot easier and more natural. And for me, I've found it makes me less worried or bothered when it's "necessary" to get stuff that isn't on sale.

So my approach now, is stocking up on all the things we actually like/want/use/etc. that run the sale/coupon circuit and using even just a portion of the extra money saved to purchase stuff at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's that we like/want/use/etc. that don't run the sale/coupon circuit.

For us, it's all trade off and yet, our grocery budget is smaller than ever before.

And I have to say, I like grocery shopping more than ever before, as well!

Zero-Based Budgeting, Work-Style

I have taken for granted how long Cliff and I have been on a system of zero-based budgeting for our monthly income and expenses. Having dreamed and planned for a few months before we actually got married, we've been doing it this way since the day we said "I do." Sure, we've had a few bumps along the road but it's never really that difficult for us to get to zero. Some expenses have been fixed for so long and we've had the freedom to increased certain areas that the bottom line is never hard to find.

As for work, it's a totally different story. It's zero-based budgeting but for an entire year. And not only that, but I can only guess and estimate (or simply, guesstimate) so much about what will be done in the next fiscal year (which starts in my biggest expense month... June) based on what's been done in this current year. Not to mention, the paper trail has been sometimes really difficult to follow.

But I've been plugging and chugging and dreaming and envisioning and cutting and padding and researching and crying and pulling my hair and drinking too much coffee and spending more time on Excel than I thought was humanly possible and I've finally done it. I've gotten down to zero while staying flat and making the huge chunk of money I get to work with next year... well... making it work for me and for the students and for the betterment of the institution.

And goodness knows how glad I am that in the world of personal finance, what Cliff and I choose to do with our money affects just the two of us and not nearly fourteen-hundred incoming students, as well as their parents, plus a little more than a hundred student leaders. (And here is where I pause for just a moment and freak-out at the gravity of what I've gotten myself into...) And that we get to reconstruct every month if we'd like to... and not once a year.

Oh, and did I happen to mention that this is just the first round of tweaking in the budget preparation process that happens as we get closer to June 1? Here we go!