A Coupon Rediscovery

Posted on February 4, 2012 7 Comments

Let’s get one thing straight before we talk about coupons, alright? They’re pronounced KOO-pons. Not KYU-pons. Do you see a U after the C, like cute? No. Do you pronounce “chicken coup” like “chicken kyup?” No.  (Apologies for that blatant misspelling. That is why city people shouldn’t write about country/farm things.) KOO-pons, people, say it with me.

Savin' money with coupons

Now that we have that matter out of the way, I’m happy to report that I saved $12 on groceries this week. Not Earth shattering, I know, given all the Crazy Coupon Ladies and Extreme Couponers out there. But notable, I believe, because I thought I gave up grocery store coupons when I started eating healthy. I do most of my grocery shopping these days at Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, where I insist I can still eat on a budget that works for me. But I know I spend a lot more each month on groceries than the average person.

I used to clip coupons religiously. But when I started shopping at specialty stores, I noticed a lot of the grocery coupons no longer applied to the brands I was buying. Instead of shopping for Kellogg’s cereals, Jenny O’Turkey, Kraft Singles, and Healthy Choice Entrees, my dietary staples became brands I’d never heard of: Amy’s, Kashi, Eden Organic, Natural Oven, and lots of store brands. My coupon usage plunged so low I stopped clipping.

And so it’s been for years.

Until the other day at Target, when I was annoyingly held up by a woman with about 30 coupons. At that moment, annoyance turned into curiosity. What was she using coupons to buy? Who  uses coupons at Target? Um, apparently SMART people do. We recently discovered that Target carries a small but increasing inventory of the same brands that Whole Foods does, only cheaper. I remembered that many of the “natural” and “organic” brands had been bought by major national companies in recent years, companies that loved to coupon.

Fill up a big cart! Not this tiny one!

When I got home that night, I opened up my Sunday paper and grabbed the circulars. To my surprise, I found a few coupons for my brands: Garden of Eatin tortilla chips, Sargento cheese, and Tazo Tea. I also clipped coupons for many of the non-grocery items we use (paper towels, toothbrushes… although you can usually find cheaper alternatives for those even without coupons). Encouraged, I also printed out my coupon from Kalona Organicsthat I got on Twitter and checked Amy’s online. No coupons were up that day, but I’ll check back (and I know that if you write and ask  them for coupons, they will send them to you).

Later that night, we checked out the shopper circular at Whole Foods for more of our brands. Score! We found coupons for Clif bars, soups, more tea, vitamins, and yogurt. Then, at Jewel, we used a $2 off your purchase coupon we’d saved from the previous week. By the time we finished shopping, we had shaved $12 off our bill for two weeks of food, all by shopping the brands I was going to buy anyway.

I know, $12 is NO BIG DEAL. I could have done more to save. But, I live in a tiny apartment with a kitchenette the size of a closet, so buying even two of the same item doesn’t work for me (I can never buy anything in bulk). And $10-$12 every two weeks can add up, especially if I can find more coupons and amplify that to $20 per trip. I think with more frequent clipping, I can do it.

I’m off to a good start. Plus, I just found a $10 Target gift card in my wallet, and it has no expiration date. I know where I’m getting my Kashi stuff next week.

Category: Money
   Tags: Saving

Comments