Every since we moved back to the states I have been a little conflicted about which grocery store was cheaper. I had essentially three main options. Kroger, Walmart and the Commissary. I came to the conclusion that certain products were cheaper in certain stores. A lot of people swear by the Commissary but since it takes me about 15-20 minutes to get there and most of the time that I am already on post, I don’t always have the time to go there. Plus, I want to avoid the Commissary on payday.
We use to live right by a Walmart so we went there all the time. I really like being able to shop about 5-10 minutes from my house. We moved and then Kroger became the closest place to shop. I still went to the Commissary sometimes but not regularly.
Then Publix opened 5 minutes from my house. When I first went I was pretty impressed with the look and the feel but since I had no idea what I was doing I spent way too much. For the most part, their regular prices are more expensive than other stores. But then I went to a coupon class at my church and then one at MOPS and I decided I want to get back into couponing.
For the last month or so I have been going to Publix for my big shopping and I have been saving money.
The big thing is matching sales with coupons. I go to www.southernsavers.com for this although there are many other blogs who post the match-ups. I just go through her Publix list and write down anything we need that is on sale. She will tell you where to get the coupons. Either from the paper, the printable ones or the Publix coupons. I would say over half of what I buy each week is on sale with a coupon. For an example for how this works I can tell you about a deal I got last week.
Betty Crocker Mashed Potatoes. They are listed at $1.89 at Publix. I have seen them for $.99 at Kroger and the Commissary. At first glance, it isn’t a deal to get them at Publix. But they are Buy One, Get One free right now so you will be paying $.94 a box. Another great thing is if you only want one box, you will get it for half-off. You do not need to buy two of them if you don’t want to. I had a coupon for $.50 off 2. Since Publix will double any coupons $.50 or lower than I got a $1.00 off for two. So I paid $.89 for TWO boxes or about $.44 a box. The coupons will double automatically too. You don’t have to say anything.
Every week Publix has a bunch of products that are Buy One, Get One free.
Another great thing about Publix is that they take coupons from Kroger. This is based on where you live so if you have a local Publix ask them. Some Publix stores will take Target too but ours won’t because our Target does not have a grocery. This even includes the coupons Kroger sends you for $5 off a $50 purchase or anything like that.
Publix is also really good about the printable coupons. If your ink isn’t quite right and they won’t scan, they will enter them in manually. Other stores are more picky about it.
They also will let you use a store coupon plus a manufacturer’s coupon.
I have only been at this for about a month but I am learning that organization is the key to making this work. I spend about an hour a week making my list and sorting through my coupons. I also find that sometimes a deal with a coupon isn’t as good as another brand. I also don’t want to buy things just because they are on sale. I only want to buy what we need. I have heard that most sales come back around ever 6-8 weeks to I try to keep that in mind when it comes to buy more than one of something.
I am not sure if I will buy the paper every single week. I get a lot of my coupons online. If you have Swagbucks you can print from there and then when you use them you get 10 points for every coupon. Just an extra added bonus to using the coupon.
Not everyone likes Publix or even lives close enough to one to make it work but I do and I really enjoy shopping there. I still go to Kroger, Walmart and the Commissary for certain things but I think I will do all my big shopping there.
Do you use coupons when you shop?
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