I wanted to show you some options of how to grocery shop with coupons!
When I first started couponing this is typically how I shopped.
1. I looked through all the deals and broke them up into transactions, if needed, and wrote each transaction on an index card.
2. Attached all the coupons that I would need for each transaction to that index card.
3. Placed them into a envelope and added any extra coupons I might need in the back.
This method worked well for me for a while. But, I reached a point where I just had too many coupons and where I could just eventually do it all in my head.
This past week with the great deals at Safeway/Randalls for Frozen Food Month, my husband has been running to the store for me. To make it easier for him I have gone back to organizing them in this method so it is easier to shop.
Since the Frozen Food deal requires you to buy $25 worth of frozen items (to get a $10 catalina back) I broke each transaction up into as close to $25 as I can, just going over a little bit. I had to guess on a few of the prices. I attached the coupons to the back, and each day Paul has been grabbing one of the index cards and doing the deal for me!
Isn’t he awesome?! 🙂
This method works really well when shopping at CVS. Infact, I would absolutely suggest doing it this way in the beginning.
Below, you will see 2 examples of what a catalina is. They are the narrow coupons that you get back when the cashier hands you your recipt. These below are just like cash or a gift card to the store. You can use them on your next purchase to pay for it. The $10 one is from the frozen food deal, and the $3 one is from purchasing 4 California Pizza Kitchen pizza’s. So when Paul goes tomorrow he will purchase $25 worth of frozen items, then they take off the coupons, so his total is around $16, then he will hand over the $13 in catalina’s from today, so his out of pocket total will be about $3. PLUS he will get back another $10 that he will use the next day! This is called “rolling” your catalina’s. This particular deal lasts all the month of March.
The gift card is because the cashier messed up with scanning the coupons and so the catalina didn’t print. Paul pointed it out and they just issued him a gift card for the $10!
In conclusion, do what works best for you! You will change methods here and there, but it is always helpful to see what other people are doing!
What method did you start with? 
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The resident Labradoodle, Miller got his name because Mom won and got to name the baby! Need something chewed up? He'll take care of it. Especially if it's expensive..
I just wanted to add that I use the catalina coupons and I am sometimes irritated that I get ones for like 15.00 off your next purchase of 180.00 or more, and that it expires within a week. Knowing that in order to get that coupon I had already just spent over the 180.00. So the manager told me that they would honor the coupon with the current receipt and to come in the next evening when the customer service desk was open and show my receipt and the 15.00 catalina and they would give me the 15.00. I went back in the next day and I actually got back 16.23 with the tax. So with all the coupons I had used and including the 16.23 my total savings for that trip was 125.00. So just make sure to save those catalina’s and right before they are to expire if you do not need anything from the store take a receipt in that follows the date deadline and your catalina’s and the courtesy booths will give you the cash back for it.