Stock Up on Groceries Using Sales and Coupons and You Will Save Money

Save Money By Combining Sales and Coupons and Stockpiling

When I first started grocery shopping for my family, it never occurred to me that I should be stocking up on items when they are on sale. Nope, I just thought I was supposed to go to the grocery store once a week and buy what I needed for my family for the week. Ah, silly me. Well, that was a long time ago, and I have learned a lot over the years which has helped me save a lot of money. And now I want to help YOU save money too.

One of my favorite tips from when I taught coupon classes is to stock up on items when they are on sale, or when I have a coupon. And if I can combine a sale with a coupon, that’s an even better way to save money! Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to combine a coupon AND a sale and do it on a regular basis? If you purchase your groceries like this every time you go shopping, you will NEVER have to pay full price again!

Now I should point out here that I am NOT an extreme couponer. I used to be, when my children were growing up and I was an at-home mom and did whatever I could to save money to be able to stay home with my children. But they are grown now, and there are only two us and we don’t need as much food. toiletries and cleaners. Plus we live in a different home with no basement so there isn’t as much room to store items. But still, I do my share and try to never pay full price for anything.

Sound too good to be true? Well, it takes a little work, but it is possible. Here are some steps to help you:

Buy the Sunday Paper

Always buy a Sunday paper (Wednesday also if you get coupons in your local Wednesday paper). Clip and file one of every coupon because you never know when you might need or want to try a product you have never tried before. Or when someone you know may need a product and you can give them a coupon for it. ( For example, I have never used Paradontax toothpaste for bleeding gums, but I saved it and someone I know recently started using it so I can give her my coupon).

Check the Store Fliers Sales on Your Phone/Internet

Before you go grocery shopping, check the store flyer(s) to see what is on sale. Or check the store sales on your store apps. Circle and write down sale items that you intend to buy, or add them to a list on your phone if that’s how you prepare a shopping list.

Check Your Coupons

Next, go through your coupons, in the current fliers as well as in your coupon holder and see what you have that matches the sale items and pull those coupons out to use on your shopping trip. Hopefully, you will have more than one coupon for the sale items.

To get more coupons for items you use, ask friends and family members to save their coupon fliers and give them to you after they have taken out what they will use so you can have access to more than one of each coupon. Also, there are lots of coupons you can download by going to sites like coupons.com, https://www.coupons.com/  When I taught coupon classes, some of my students didn’t realize that you can combine a coupon with a sale to save money twice, but you certainly can.

NOTE: While there are websites on the internet where you can order coupons and pay a fee for them, manufacturers are not in favor of these sites and therefore I do not promote them. I feel that if people support these sites, manufacturers will no longer provide coupons to the public, and I for one would be lost without coupons!

Compare Your Coupons to the Sales and Make a List

Now check back on your list and revise it based on your available coupons. List what you will buy that is on sale and that you have a coupon for, and how many of each item. Keep your list and coupons together so you will be ready to go to the store.

WARNING! Keep in mind that the storage rule of thumb on grocery items like cereal, rice, pasta, etc. is three months because there are mealworms that can get into these products if you keep them on your shelves too long and they hatch into small brown moths which are very hard to ever get out of your house. But anything else that is canned or can be frozen is fair game until the expiration date.

Stockpile Examples

Here are some examples of how I stocked up and why:

Ragu Spaghetti Sauce

The photo at the top shows jars of Ragu spaghetti sauce that I stocked up on. The stores in my area regularly charge $1.58 to $2.29 for Ragu spaghetti sauce. Between sales and coupons, I was able to get the Ragu for between 99 cents and $1.18 so of course, it makes sense to stock up on as many jars as I could since I make pasta often and there is a long shelf life on it. I currently have 14 jars of Ragu in the cupboard, most of which will last until July of 2020!

Aquafresh Toothpaste

Once I had ten 75 cent coupons for Aquafresh toothpaste. My stores in CT doubled the face value of a coupon up to 99 cents so that made each coupon good for $1.50. There was a sale on the toothpaste that was 2 for $3.00. That meant every time I bought 2 tubes of Aquafresh while the sale was going on, and gave the cashier 2 coupons, each tube of toothpaste was free. My family had plenty of toothpaste that year, and I was even able to donate a couple of tubes to an organization that helped the homeless in my town.

Bic Razors

This may not look like much of a stockpile to you, but I have been getting these razors for the past year for free, and have given a lot away. These run anywhere from $2.82 to $2.99 and a few times per year, Bic puts coupons in the Sunday fliers that are for $3.00 off one package of Bic disposable razors. That makes these free. My church visits the homeless in downtown Atlanta and brings toiletries so I have sent bags of these down with them. I also give some to my son, and I even use them in a pinch! You can never have too many razors if they are free because it’s easy to find a home for them.

All of these Bic Razor packages were free. Some have 10 and some were a special package of 12.

Progresso Soup

The photo below shows 22 cans of Progresso soup which we really enjoy. Well, that’s probably obvious from the photo. Progresso soup usually runs from $1.58 to $2.28 in the stores I shop at. By using coupons and combining them with sales, I paid anywhere between 50 cents and $1.00 for each can. We eat a lot of soup, and I like to have some chicken soup around if we get colds, etc. in the Winter so I always stock up on Progresso soup.

Our stockpile of 22 cans of Progresso soup!

Texas Toast Croutons

My husband recently tried New York Bakery Texas Toast croutons and really liked them. Last night I happened to be in Walmart and saw a shelf with six packages of the Ranch flavored Texas Toast croutons. They were marked down to 50 cents per bag and are usually over $2.00 each. I called him and asked him if he would eat that flavor of croutons and he said yes. I bought 5 of the 6 bags because I never like to clean a shelf off. I always like to leave something for the next person. Since we had one bag in the cupboard, he has plenty of croutons which is great because we eat a LOT of salads!

We had one bag of croutons but after seeing them marked down to 50 cents a bag, we now have a stockpile of six bags!

These are only a few examples but as you can see, by stockpiling items, you will never have to pay full price. Items go on sale in a cycle at most grocery stores so you can count on sales every six to eight weeks. If you don’t have a LOT of money in your grocery shopping budget one week, just stockpile enough to get you through two months and that should hold you over.

Where to Store Your Stockpile

Hopefully, you have a place in your house to create a stockpile. Now I am not talking about having a room dedicated to a huge stockpile like many people have on the show Extreme Couponing. But of course, if you want to stockpile that much, more power to you. In my old house, I had three sets of metal shelves in my basement and that worked well. I live in a different house now without those shelves so I have to be more creative.

Here’s a list of ideas for places you can keep grocery items you have stockpiled from using sales and coupons:

• In your garage
• In a closet
• Under the beds
• In an attic
• On a bookcase
• In a spare room
• In a pantry 

Stockpiling groceries that you purchase on sale and with coupons is a great way to save money. If you learn to shop this way on a regular basis, you will feel a sense of security in that you won’t run out of household items and have to pay full price for them. It will also save you a LOT of money to grocery shop this way.

Do You Have a Stockpile?

So, what do you think? Are you a stockpiling shopper? Or do you just shop week to week? If you do stockpile, I would love to hear some examples of how many of certain items you have stocked up in your home. Does anyone have 20 tubes of toothpaste or 100 rolls of toilet paper? Please let us know in the comment section.

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Happy Saving!