Re-Group

There's no picture to accompany this, but I felt the need to re-group. I finally feel that I've come up with a good system for me in regards to groceries and drugstores.

I spend probably an hour cutting coupons, filing and getting my grocery list together. I've been winging it at CVS and Rite Aid and have done pretty well. So,here's how my week generally goes:

Tuesday / Wednesday:
I print my list off of Southern savers for any combination of Bi-Lo, Publix and Harris Teeter. Publix and Harris Teeter are my favorites, but sometimes Bi-Lo has really good deals on cereal and baby items.
Then I compare coupons to make sure I have them all and see what I don't.
**I don't clip ALL coupons anymore. I clip the ones I'll definately use and then ones I will use if it's really cheap (i.e. makeup)**

My mother in law is very generous and watches the kids for me on Wednesdays so I can shop. It takes me 2 hours because I take my time and compare coupons with the products to make sure I'm getting the right thing. And also, I check out the deals in produce and meat. There's a neat site out there called e-mealz and they make weekly food menus based on certain store's sale prices. I really enjoy putting my meals together myself, so I might not use these sites.

Harris Teeter is my favorite for watching the prices drop: When I'm there, I like the cashier to ring up everything, THEN I give her my VIC card, THEN I give her my coupons. And just like that...I'm happy!! but the cashier isn't always so happy because they usually ask first thing if you have a VIC card and then I have to give it to them. They don't understand why I want to wait. Maybe they get in trouble if they don't ask right away.

I've also gotten in the habit of freezing my meat. Sometimes I just don't cook it all and then it goes bad. And I really don't like that. Especially ground beef. It seems as though that goes first and only has a 2 day time limit on it...Any suggestions other than to use it right away?

And that's how it goes with me right now. On the first 3 weeks in January, I've spent $438, Saved $483 on a value of $920 - 52%. Not too bad...My goal is 50% on average. This includes groceries and drugstores.