A question from a reader, Naomi.
I have been clipping coupons and looking for deals, but I have never felt like I was actually making a difference in our budget. My question to you is this. I usually shop at Costco, Albertson’s, Wal-Mart, CVS and Target. Sometimes I feel as if I am driving around and around and I have yet to see any real results. I guess I am just looking for some encouragement from you… Should I just concentrate on one or two stores instead of driving all over?
Great question Naomi. My friend Jenny talked about this yesterday in her 5 Simple Ways to Start Using Coupons article. She says, “Shopping with coupons can be overwhelming if you try to get every deal at every store. Focus on (1) favorite grocery store and (1) drugstore and start paying attention to their sales.” I have to agree with her.
You have to think of couponing as one tool in your financial toolbox. Yes, you can save a lot of money using coupons, but if you are spending excessive amounts of time and gas trying to find the best deal, you probably aren’t saving as much as you think you are.
The bottom line…. what is your goal? If it is to spend next to nothing on groceries every month, then keep driving all over town to find the absolute best deal on everything. But I believe that you wouldn’t be asking me for encouragement if that was truly your goal. It sounds like you want to be a wise steward of your time and money. If this is the case, then follow Jenny’s advice and focus on one grocery and one drug store.
By picking two stores and focusing your efforts on fewer sales, you might pay a little more for a few items. But the money you save in gas will probably make up the difference.
One more thing. If you spend less time searching for every deal, you can invest that time in other money saving endeavors, such as making foods from scratch, or taking time to yard sale or visit the thrift store for second hand clothes.
Your time is valuable, so make sure you are spending it wisely.
Like you said, it totally depends on your goals–and also, I think, how much you enjoy shopping and how much time you have available for it.
I have five kids, two of whom are home during the day and one of whom is a toddler. I also work from home, which means any spare time I have during the day (if I have a sitter, or if the kids are napping or playing) I’m usually taking care of some business task. Also, shopping with a toddler is a huge pain! So I’ve been trying to schedule my shopping trips for Sunday afternoons. But Sunday is also a “relaxing” day for me, so the last thing I want to do is spend that time running all over creation to a bunch of different stores.
My strategy is to shop as smart as I can at our local grocery store. I know I can be in and out in a half hour if I want to be. I know where everything is. There’s just enough variety that I can usually find what I want and need; but not so much that I get overwhelmed. I know which of their store brands are good and which aren’t so great and I am so familiar with their prices that I can quickly determine which sales are great and which are just OK.
During the summer and fall I supplement with produce from local farm stands, which is cheaper than going to the farmer’s market. Though our grocery store often has local produce at a good price, too.
The thought of driving around from store to store makes me miserable, so to me, it’s not worth it just to save a few bucks. Plus, there’s the gas to consider!
I live in a small town, so going to 3 grocery stores isn’t hard for me to do – they’re all within a mile’s distance from one another. But I do concentrate on the ones whose fliers have the best deals. For instance, this week Meijer has the best deals here, and Shop-N-Save has a few other things I’d like. We get no ad from Walmart, so I won’t go there until I need to refill my prescription and that’s only once a month – and when I do go, I’ll check my other ads before heading out so I can watch for a good steal! If I only have a few things on my list and none of the other ads look enticing, I’ll go to the Save-A-Lot, where they have a lot of off-brand products at cheaper prices. But since I do all the shopping for our family, I know the prices well and can say, “That’s a great deal” when I see it.
Keep watching for good deals, it does eventually pay off! And the tip about investing your time in making good food at home is a good one – you can always benefit from, say, baking a turkey to split up into two or three meals and planning ahead for the week. 
I want to say thank you for this post. So many places I was reading was saying to go to the different stores in order to make the most from it. I live 15 miles from the closest grocery store (the only one in that town) and in order to have more than one to shop from I have to go 30 miles. I was focusing on the closer store unless I had a reason other than grocery shopping to head to the farther ones. It is nice to get some validation as I start out on my journey to become a more thrifty shopper.
Although I don’t use very many coupons, one thing I do weekly that only takes five minutes is browse the two local grocery circulars online. Then I can immediately see which store has more of the things that I use on sale and I can plan my shopping trips and meals (and coupons!) from that.
Great question Naomi!
I’ve been couponing & deal-hunting for almost 3 years and here’s what I’ve found to work for me in this particular season of life. (KEY ELEMENT: find what works in your life season!)
I am a “work while my kid’s at school” mom. I have many grocery stores & 2 drugstores within a 45 minute radius of where I live. I sort of group my stores by zones and shop accordingly.
Zone A: Within 5 minutes of my house. -> CVS, IGA, Dollar General
Zone B: Within 15 minutes of my house. -> Wal-mart, Kroger & Walgreens
Zone C: Within 10 minutes of my workplace, which is 45 minutes from home. -> Target, Hy-vee, Schnucks, Shop N Save, Aldi, Zone D: Within 10 minutes of church (which is 30 minutes from my house.) Wal-mart, Kroger, CVS & Walgreens
If I want to shop a particular store Monday-Wednesday I have to fit it in right after work, before picking up my son from school unless the store is in Zone A.
If I want to shop a Zone C store (near work), then I have to be in & out of the store in 15 minutes. Or I wait until Thursday when I don’t have to pick up my son from school and I have time after work.
If there’s a great deal at a store within 15 minutes of home (say Kroger), I will make the trip, but usually only 1 trip/week.
I could expand my shopping area to include Meijer & Jewel-Osco, but they are too far away to be regularly worthwhile. I shop Meijer maybe twice a year.
I love getting the deals, but my family & work commitments take center stage and I’ve found a way to make it work for me.
My sister, who has two little ones, tends to shop mostly CVS & IGA, as well as making trips to Target & Wal-mart and uses coupons & prices matches – she’s found what works for her in her life season.
You’ll find what works for you too – don’t give up learning to save!
I live in a smaller city, so all the grocery stores are within 5 minute drive of each other. last week i shopped the flyer and made a list of what i wanted from each store. went to each store and probably saved a close to a $100 from shopping the sales. yes, i could of price matched at walmart but it was just as easy going to each store. instead of having to show each flyer with each product. price matching is great with 1 or two items. not a month’s worth of groceries.
so shopping at different stores is worth it to me but everyone is different. if i lived in a larger city, it probably wouldnt be worth it.
interesting read! thanks for sharing!
For me going to several different stores work only because:
#1 I’m retired
#2 Our CVS, Walgreen’s and Rite Aid are all on the same block just drive out of one parking lot into the other and they are on the way to Kroger’s, about 1 mile up the road….
I check the blogs for all the deals, write them down and make my list for each store, my coupons for each are paperclipped onto the store ad….
I might do this several times a week if the deals are there and I save alot of money, plus I buy all year long for Christmas so this helps when I find clearance items…The gas is not even thought of with the money I save.(maybe $5 a week in gas).
I just wanted to encourage you on your journey to becoming a more thrifty shopper! We primarily shop at one store, and there is NOTHING wrong with concentrating on just one – then you really get to know the layout, the quality, and the prices. Good luck!
What also helps is to menu plan around the store’s deals rather than trying to manage the store(s) around your menu. And try to be aware of which store is generally the cheapest or has the best deals. That way if you’re at store A which has a sale on toothpaste, but you know store B’s general price for that item, you’ll know if it’s worth making the drive there or not.
Here in Canada we can price match at several stores. I’ve picked the closest store me and bring the flyers from the other stores to get the best deal advertised. It sames me time and gas money driving all over town looking for the best price. I’m not sure if you have that in the US.
I couldn’t agree more that for most of us – unless you REALLY enjoy shopping around (and get fabulous gas mileage) you want to pare it down to the stores that work for you.
I, for example, have often heard of these awesome CVS deal. Or there’s a big warehouse club “only” 30 minutes away (one way). Some of my friends hit these store multiple times a week. Well good for them but when I leave Petticoat Junction to hit the “big city” I want to make it a good solid jaunt, hit my two fave stores that have consistently good sales on the items I want/need and GET OUT. For me this is the local Rite Aid and Giant Eagle grocery stores. I *LOVE* to save but I’m not driving across town (or sometimes across the street) just to save a dime (or even a dollar) on deodorant. CVS might be awesome but by ignoring their ads and sticking to “my” circle of stores (2) I keep shopping and saving manageable (and enjoyable).
We do but if the “deal” involves Catalinas or “Register Reward” type paybacks they don’t honor those. It’s coupons only, no doubling, no store rewards so often the “deal” isn’t one when you remove those gimmicks. That, I imagine, is why the stores are moving to them. (Like I keep forgetting to use my Up Rewards (Rite Aid) because I don’t go every week. I wish they would just have lower prices, period, and do away with the Up Rewards although I understand that works best for them.
I live in a bustling suburb and have also found a location that has a Walgreens, Rite Aid, dollar store & good-with-coupons grocery store within the same block. I love going to this location: it saves me a lot of time and gas, plus I get all my great deals.
what do you do from home, if you dont mind me asking, i am looking for something myself actually.
My Walmart will price match Walgreens register rewards or CVS extra bucks. We don’t have Rite Aid. If I take my Walgreens ad to my walmart and it’s something where I get 3 RR back, then I just get 3 dollars off at wamart, which I prefer because then I don’t forget to use those register rewards.
hi Kayla,
I’m a writer & nonfiction author.
I have learned two things in the past week that have saved me LOADS grocery shopping.
1) I NEVER knew that Target accepted one of their online coupons with a manufacturers coupon. This morning, I went there and they had Special K on sale for $2.50, so I got 3 boxes of cereal for $5.50. Even at the commissary on base where the prices are insanely cheap, Special K was $2.89. My fiance thinks I’m silly, but I’m unemployed right now so I want to save us money however I can.
2) I know not everyone has access to military bases, but if you do, I HIGHLY recommend shopping at the commissary. The prices are fantastic, they accept their coupons and manufacturers coupons as well.
As for the actual point of this post, I don’t mind driving around to get the best deal. I drive a Civic, so I get GREAT gas mileage. We do our grocery shopping on Fridays, and then on Sunday once the sales ads come out, I go ahead and plan our menu for the next week. That way I can plan based on whats on sale at the various stores. Since I’m basically planning my menu a week ahead, that gives me a week to get around town to pick up all the things that are on sale. Then when we do our shopping on Friday on base, we only have to pick up the essentials.
I usually plan for multiple transactions when an Up Reward, or Register Rebate is involved. I don’t shop frequently at the pharmacies, so the rewards would always expire. Now I just put my items that earn reward dollars up in my first transaction, then use them in the next with the other items on my list.