Admittedly, I'm not a coupon clipper. I rarely have time to make full grocery store runs, and when I do, it's usually impromptu — I'll be out already and realize that I have a free hour that could be used to pick up some much needed items at the supermarket. Just because my store runs aren't always planned doesn't mean I don't make an effort to save, but I'm hardly meticulous in my methods and couldn't give this woman a run for her money. Chrissy Thompson, wife and mom of three kids, spends an hour each week preparing for a three to four hour long shopping trip that covers anywhere from three to seven stores. So how does this woman manage to sometimes spend $10 a week on groceries for her family and get $140 worth of CVS goods for $5? A news crew followed this smart-shopper [1] around, so to see her story just
- Her two favorite stores are CVS and Publix. She uses the buy one get one free deals at Publix. Those deals usually allow you to buy just one item for half price, and she applies a coupon on top of that to get the item for less.
- When a coupon reads, 'one item per purchase,' it doesn't mean that it can only be used for one transaction. In this case, the word purchase is synonymous with the word item.
- She doesn't necessarily buy her meat and produce from her favorite store, and instead buys them wherever is offering the best deals that week.
- At CVS, Chrissy uses coupons and Extra Care Bucks. Extra Care Bucks are given on specially marked items, awarded on your receipt, and good on your next purchase. Her specific strategy allowed her to buy [2] about $140 of items for under $5.
- Chrissy advises that people don't clip coupons for unneeded items because then they'll spend more money.
- Fun fact: Her proudest frugal moment was when she got $380 worth of items at Target and paid only $0.02! She says you can use two coupons to buy one product at Target by printing coupons out from their website and using a manufacturer coupon with them.
Source [3]