Grocery Game....

I did not know what I was missing.....I looked into the Grocery Game (GG) several years ago when we first started trying to get out of debt but it seemed like a whole lot of hassle for some coupons and a couple dollars in savings here and there, what is the point right? Plus I was convinced that the only things there were coupons for were packaged foods or things I wouldn't buy anyway.

We tend to eat pretty healthy when it comes to meals, lots of homemade from scratch stuff with a few prepackaged things to help in there too. So I figured anyone that didn't cook like I did would surely save tons just not me.....the other thing that turned me off was paying for the GG membership.....I just shy away from those sort of things in general. So I missed out, went along with my little life and didn't look back.

Then a couple Mom's from our homeschool group got some of us together and they shared how they got started with the GG and then went beyond that further to save money, they had receipts to look at and examples of how they did this coupon shopping sales combining thing and I was just in awe! It was amazing I just had no idea there were all these tricks! After the meeting you could tell several of us were sitting there just processing all the info in our heads trying to get it all straight because they gave us some really awesome info and some great tips to get started and it was so much fun. So I still had some reservations (still do a little) because I am kinda timid about coupons I hate taking up extra time or making people wait. Plus I had to tell myself that just because junk food was going to be on sale and an excellent price did not mean that I need to buy it! So I have to be careful about that added temptation, the good news is though that if the junk food isn't on sale it is less of a temptation if I am in the coupon shopping zone.

So here I am several years after hearing about the grocery game (funny thing is the two moms that gave us the presentation also had heard about it several years ago and decided not to pursue it then either.) Anyway I had Mr Wonderful grab me a Sunday paper early Sunday from the local mini mart. I started clipping and organizing my first set of coupons (I was never really a coupon shopper before). It was kinda a rush wondering what would be on the next page of the coupon pages and when I was all done there was an odd let down and a desire to go find more coupons! LOL Anyway I printed of THE LIST from the website http://www.thegrocerygame.com/ and then went to town, I went to Rite Aid and Safeway. I did well for my first trip and only having one Sunday paper's worth of coupons and a couple printable ones in my possession.

Here is my very first shopping trip with GG:

Rite Aid~
Total regular price $78
Coupon Savings $7.60
Savings after rebates $17.50
Total Savings combined with sales $52 or 66%

Safeway~
Total regular price for the items I bought $ 196.64
Savings just with club card $69.80
Coupon Savings $18.70
Total Saved $88.50 or 45%

Remember all this savings from the GG list (which simply helps you combine your coupons from the Sunday paper with the sales at the store to get the best deals) and ONE Sunday paper's worth of coupons! I am amazed.

I looked back thru a few of my last receipts from Safeway from BEFORE GG and my club card savings were only around 15-20% ( know sometimes when there is alot of Buy One Get One Free sales it goes up to like 30% then). So I must have been really bad at the sales shopping, I just was getting everything I NEEDED and not paying much attention to the sales because if it wasn't on the list I wasn't buying it but yet if I had planned out meals by the sales fliers more or also stockpiled when it was on sale it would have been so much better but I was so focused on not buying excess I lost out all this time! Live and learn.

My goal is to be careful and not be lured by sale items I don't NEED, because even if I could have saved 90% I'd still be spending 10% more than I would if I hadn't bought it! I have to be careful and also not bring home too many things we don't need even if they were great deals. I want to stock up on the items we definitely need but since storage is an issue I have to be careful, I already have plans to add a second shelf up high in almost every closet and maybe some under bed storage. I am also thinking about moving my sewing supplies somewhere else so I can have the utility shelves in my walk in closet for stockpiling. I think I will move the sewing items to the large linen cabinets in the bathroom, for some reason sewing supplies in the bathroom is not quite as weird as food storage in the bathroom, although it might be handy....doing my hair realize I hadn't eaten anything and just pop open the cabinet and grab a snack right? I draw the line at food going in the body at the same time it goes out. Some things should not be combined! So hence the reason only paper products, hygiene products and sewing supplies will be in the bathroom cabinets....it is really a shame too because there is a LOT of storage in there. So the dry goods food will go into our walk in closet on a set of 4ftw X 7 ft H X 2ft D shelves. That should be plenty of storage to get me started.

I am so excited for the next week's fliers (tomorrow is the day) and of course the Sunday paper again, this time I think I might buy 2 papers. My goal is to plan out our meals from the flyer and also look for some bargains to stock up on. This GG thing is addictive and FUN! What better hobby than to save lots of money on groceries....sounds like a pretty safe "addiction" to me!

My incentive is that we will be continuing to budget the same amount for groceries and household and anything I save and don't spend on that I can have for what I like to call "fun" money for either a weekend getaway, some new clothes, makeup I can't normally afford or some other luxury item like that, or even stuff for the kids' homeschooling that we would love to have but it is not a necessity etc. I am looking forward to it for sure!

If YOU decide to try out the Grocery Game I suggest to start buying the Sunday paper a couple weeks before you sign up so you can be rearing at the gates when you get your trial month membership for $1, you can take full advantage of more sales and savings that way and you get the most bang for your buck (literally a buck!). Plus if you want to sign up, use my email (thesummerfields@yahoo.com) as a referral! I can get some free weeks of membership (and so can you for referring others which makes it EVEN better of a deal as if saving all that money in one day wasn't enough reason.) I saved enough in one day to pay for the GG membership for 1 entire year!