Let's Talk Turkey!

I just saved $16 on our Thanksgiving turkey! I know to some of you regular bargain shoppers that may not sound like much, but for me, this is big. Really big.

We recently experienced a drastic change in our income when, due to unusual circumstances, my husband lost his job. Up until that point, I’d worked sporadically at my freelance writing, occasionally selling an article here or an essay there.

I had dreamed (a distant future kind of dream) that I would eventually expand my writing projects, ultimately getting back into commercial writing to help cover college costs for our kids, as well as contribute to our retirement savings.

But all of a sudden, it was here. Now!

While my hubby searches for new employment, and I search for ways to boost my income, we are both looking for ways to cut expenses. This has caused us to re-examine spending patterns in all areas of our life.

And although I’ve never been a big bargain hunter, that has changed as well. I started with our food budget.

Desperate now to save money, I grilled one of my good friends who is truly a Grocery Shopping Master. She gave me all sorts of tips.

“To start with, you look through the grocery store fliers when they come, to see what’s on sale,” she told me.

“When do they come?” I asked.

“Every week, they come with your mail. They’re really big, I don’t see how you could miss them.”

“Oh, you mean those big pieces of paper that clutter up my mailbox? I always toss those.”

She rolled her eyes.

“Anyway, you go through them and find the best prices on the items you need to buy. Focus on the front and back pages of the fliers, that’s where all the really good deals are. Then you clip your coupons.” She looked at me and waited a beat. “They come with the newspaper.”

“I know!”

“Okay, okay, just checking. Now, it works out best when you have a coupon and the items are on sale,” she advised. “For example, I just bought a box of Puffs tissues for 49 cents. They were on sale for $1.49, and I had a 50-cent coupon, which was doubled at the register.”

“Wow!” I was impressed.

I’ve always despised clipping coupons. I wondered why companies couldn’t save some trees and save us all a bunch of time by just lowering their prices on occasion? It’s such a hassle! I would occasionally clip coupons, then forget to bring them into the store with me. Or get distracted by the kids and forget to use them once I got to the checkout.

But now I was anxious to try this new way of shopping and help us cut some costs. So I went carefully through the grocery store fliers, clipped my coupons and went to work grocery shopping.

The result: I saved a whopping $42.89 by my using my coupons and taking advantage of in-store discounts. Amazing…I think I’m addicted!