When it comes to the food shop, I'm more of a grab and go kind of girl, stocking up in small amounts. When I attempt to do a big shop, it always seems like a good idea until I get there. Hundreds of stressed people playing dodgems with their trolleys and no shopping list is not a good combination. Half of the time I end up walking out with minimal shopping as I just can't take the stress.
I work full time so shopping really isn't at the forefront of my thinking. I keep a good home but I have lots of other things to prioritise.
I've been watching a lot of the new channel TLC, especially the Extreme Couponing programmes. I'll take any advice on saving cash. Unfortunately for me, it's filmed in America where they are coupon crazy and there aren't so many rules and regulations surrounding how many you can use in a transaction etc. But I thought there must be something in the UK and so set to researching.
I came across several websites such as www.supersavvyme.co.uk, some Facebook pages https://www.facebook.com/ExtremeCouponingUk?fref=ts and some blogs where people post the latest coupons and vouchers they've discovered. You can't really stock up on staples because there just aren't any shops here that will accept large quantities of coupons (I'm hoping this will catch on soon, especially in these times!) but you can save money off your weekly shop if you check these websites and pages regularly. I managed to print myself a variety of coupons in the last week, and those, coupled with the fact I had two £5.00 off a £40.00 shop vouchers from the last time I shopped at Tesco managed to save me A LOT of money this week.
As I'd realised it's hard to do a large shop with coupons, I decided to price check the items I had coupons for, in order to maximise the savings. If I it wasn't on offer, I saved the coupon. If I had a coupon for it and it was on offer, I decided to buy it as the savings would be greater.
I created a spreadsheet version of my shopping list and the night before I went shopping I went online and got the prices of my items, stocking up on staples that were on offer in store, I figured it would reduce the shopping for the rest of the month.
Armed with my printed shopping list, which I'm now adding to and using to inventory my stock, I headed to Tesco. We could only use 1 £5.00 coupon per transaction so we took two trolleys and used the Shop 'n' Scan in store to fill one with up to £40.00 worth of shopping, and the remainder in the other trolley. We didn't buy anything that wasn't on the list (one of our BIGGEST weaknesses) and we knew exactly what we were spending and looking for as I'd checked prices beforehand and totted up what we were going to pay.
Overall, with coupons and in store savings, we managed to deduct a total of £21.67 off our shopping. AND, because we'd spent £40.00 each in store, we received a 5p off per litre of petrol from Tesco Petrol Station, giving us even more savings.
I was a complete novice at this and very nervous that none of my coupons would work, but I persevered and I'm astounded at the savings I've made. I'm going to work on my technique and hopefully have many more savings in future!
Peace & Love
xXx
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