Coupons: What I’ve Learned

Happy Leap Day! Celebration is in order for a day that only comes along once every four years. How is this not a national holiday?

Couponing this month has changed my outlook on grocery shopping. I can hardly believe it. But maybe I should rephrase: Shopping the sales and having a plan has changed my outlook on grocery shopping. Here’s what I’ve learned

• Sales are more important than coupons. This is the baseline for my success this month. I haven’t saved money with coupons. I’ve saved money with knowing what’s on sale and buying it.
• Plan ahead. This goes hand-in-hand with knowing what’s on sale because I now plan our dinners around the sales. That’s the only way to save the money.
• Coupons are a bonus. This is how I’m thinking about them, the extra credit of grocery shopping. If you can double up coupons and sales then you’re really scoring high.
• Organization is key. And I haven’t mastered this, but I think that organization makes the couponing/sale shopping process so much easier. There are so many little details to mess up or lose track of, keeping everything organized, how ever works for you, is a time saver, which is a money saver in the long run.

I’m going to keep this challenge up. There’s an instant reward, so it’s kind of an easy habit to get into. What do you think? Have you learned anything new this month?