Savings Mom Answers Your Questions

ByABC News via logo
September 13, 2005, 6:30 PM

Sept. 13, 2005 — -- September is National Coupon Month, and the Savings Mom is ready to help you make the most of it. In this column, she answers a reader's question on making ends meet on a tight budget by being a "strategic shopper" and using the Virtual Coupon Organizer.

Question: I find that every time I go to the grocery store it is a struggle. My husband gets paid every two weeks and there is limited money to spend -- $200 on four people ($100 per week). That includes food items, paper items, toiletries, etc. I would like your point of view. Sometimes I do use coupons, but I usually do not have the money to buy the Sunday paper. Also, with coupons now you often have to buy two or more things. Please help! -- Susan Niethe, Newfane, N.Y.

Saving Mom's Solution: The good news is that you can become a strategic shopper and learn to make ends meet with a $100 weekly grocery budget. Many strategic shoppers spend even less than that. Strategic shopping is about knowing how and when to buy your favorite grocery items to pay the lowest prices for them, consistently. The three steps to becoming a strategic shopper are:

The key here is to find coupons for your favorite items. Finding the coupons you need is simple if you:

Use the Virtual Coupon Organizer on www.couponmom.com to find coupons for items you use. It is an online database of every coupon that has come out in the Sunday paper. If you don't feel you can afford the Sunday paper every week, you can check online as early as Saturday evenings to see what coupons will be available in the next day's Sunday paper. If you do not see any coupons you would use, you don't have to buy the paper that week (for the sake of coupons).

However, some weeks there may be several coupons you would use. In that case, it may pay to buy more than one copy of that week's newspaper to have more coupons. Ask your stores if they sell the Sunday paper at a discount on Sundays or Mondays to save even more. Many stores sell the paper at half price or sell two copies for the price of one after Sunday morning.

Check the printable coupon sites for free coupons you can print for your items. You can find many good grocery coupons at www.smartsource.com, www.boodle.com and www.coolsavings.com.

If you always use certain products, visit those companies' Web sites. Send an e-mail to their customer service contacts or call their toll-free number to tell them how much you like their products, and ask if they have coupons they can send you. Be sure to include your address in the e-mail messages you send. Many companies send out very generous coupons by customer request.

Once you know the best prices for your products, know where to shop with coupons, and know where to get your favorite coupons, you're ready to save! Plan your meals and shopping list around what is on sale, make a shopping list, leave the kids at home and stick to your list.