CouponingTube.com

@LoveyourselfSK says:

I love how concise yet informative your videos are.

@lunadelibertad253 says:

Yep, even when buying clothes or Anything you can save by shopping online and comparing prices

@delfinadelmar6726 says:

Love your weekly themes! Think I’m gonna do it that way.

@Jpudgy5 says:

Thank you 💕

@Drmikekuna says:

Great advice! My two sisters use rotating food plans like yours. One sister has a 7-day plan and the other rotates her meals every 10 days. Both say that it has been great as it not only saves money but also helps with decision fatigue.

I'm retired, but I still have kids at home (I had my last child when I was almost 50). Because my wife is working I have taken over a lot of the household tasks including grocery shopping. I'm not organized enough to clip coupons. I have tried to use our local stores' apps, but I always seem to forget to do so until I'm in the store. Then I'm trying to get in and out as quickly as possible.

Here is my initial savings strategy and then how I modified it. Initially, I went to Walmart to shop because they offered overall low prices. I shopped house brands and hunted for sale items. This worked for quite a while, but then (likely due to the pandemic) Walmart started to have significant shortages. Sometimes I couldn't get the most basic items like eggs. In addition, their produce quality started to go down (likely to shortages), and then almost all of the checkers were replaced by self-checkout machines. This was a huge drag as I had to shop a giant store, then check myself out (including typing in all of those produce codes), then bag the food, and finally unload and put away everything at home. Self-checkout may be fine if you are buying 3 items, but not a grocery cart full. To make matters worse, I tended to buy things that I didn't need (once leaving the store with a set of pots and pans), and they always had an employee standing in the check-out area who would stare you down, like you were going to try to steal a banana or something. I needed to come up with a new strategy.

We have an Aldi that isn't too far as well as a Costco. Costco has great stuff and much of it is fairly priced. However, I would go into the store for 5 items but I would find other things and wind up spending hundreds of dollars. Now I limit my trips to Costco, and really try to stick to my list. I'm also very careful about buying foods that I haven't tried or tasted. A giant box of something that we don't use is just a waste of time, money, and freezer space.

I really like Aldi, although they don't sell everything that we eat (they do sell most things). Their quality is pretty good and I'm not tempted to buy a ton of extras. The store that we have is fairly small, so I can get in and out quickly. They have nice checkers! Yes, I have to bag, but I can bring bigger reusable bags so it is faster to unload when I get home. Overall, I definitely save money when I shop there.

Additionally, I will sometimes read other stores' flyers, especially for sales on meat. I'll buy in bulk, which can be significantly cheaper. We have a freezer that I can use for stock-up items as well as a vacuum sealer. I really love the vacuum sealer as it forces me to portion out rational amounts of meat for meals, and the sealing process eliminates freezer burn. We also have meatless meal nights at least once a week.

Lastly, I have adopted many of my mother's cooking styles. Growing up we had a family of seven and she made many great one-pot meals. I often use a Dutch oven or a pressure cooker. However, an inexpensive crock-pot would also work. I toss everything in one pot and dinner is served. My kids are well-trained to clean up as we go and leave the kitchen clean after a meal, so that works out too.

I think that the best strategy is to simplify the grocery/cooking process and find a system that works for you. I enjoy reading about those coupon clickers who leave a store with two carts of groceries, paying only 10 cents. However, that is not me. Thanks for the video.