If you haven’t seen Extreme Couponing on TLC you are missing out. These people are totally crazy and basically treat couponing as a job. As a young couple in a not so cheap city we are all for saving in any way possible, but we haven’t quite reached that stage yet. Actually, I can pretty much guarantee you we never will.
Couponing in Canada doesn’t have half the potential needed to be anything like that of the U.S. I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing but it means my grocery bill is still much higher than 10 dollars. Here’s a little look into the resources we use to save a buck or two.
Preparation
On Thursdays the flyers are released so we sit down as a team to discuss what we want this week. This comes with checking inventory, spreadsheets, meal plans, and the whole shebang but it’s an essential part of every week for us. After finding the store(s) with the best deals we decide where we will do our groceries for the week.
Throughout the week I also keep my eye on Smart Canucks. This website provides great deals as they come up and even does a flyer match up. On lazy weeks I’ll take a look at the matchup instead of doing the flyers myself but for the most part I kind of enjoy flyer browsing.
Coupons
This right here is our envelope filled with coupons. It’s very useful but I find it’s a little difficult to navigate and plan to upgrade to a binder sometime soon.
We get most of our coupons from the following 3 websites:
The top two websites have the option to both print and mail coupons. We get most of ours through the mail and then throw them into the envelope for future use.
P&G Brandsaver only gives you coupons from time to time but they are amazing finds. If you like their products it is definitely worth signing up for. Also important to mention is that they have another site which gives you mini samples and is also worth looking into.
Phone Apps
Checkout 51 - We just found this App last week and already I am in love. This app is currently only available for Apple users (not cool!) but it’s pretty darn awesome. Weekly, this app features a number of different items for which you can receive cash back when you purchase them. All you have to do is scan the receipt and BAM! instant money.
We got our first chance this week when we bought a box of Cheerios on sale at Loblaws for $3.99. With the Checkout 51 app we were able to get $2.00 cash back so essentially only bought the Cheerio’s for $1.99. Pretty sweet eh? Only downfall is that have to get cash back of $20 before you can cash out but I’m sure it won’t be long before we can reach that.
We are also big fans of Groupon and Wag Jag but these are more useful for non-grocery related purchases such as date nights.
Price Matching
For those of you who are embarrassed to price match, cut it out! (no pun intended). Unfortunately in Toronto we don’t receive many flyers but when we do we take full advantage. Price matching can save you a ton of money especially when paired with coupons. Wal-Mart is the most well-known price matcher in the area but a lot of local stores also offer this fabulous way to save. It’s especially great for people who, like me, don’t like spending hours in a whack of different stores. I’d rather be in and out and spend my time elsewhere.
There are so many resources out there to help save you money and really why wouldn’t you want to save?
Try some of these websites & start your saving. If you have any tips for me I’d love to hear them!
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