I've Moved!

Today I am laying to rest this blog and have moved to my new .com home. Please see all the excitement at http://www.theobsessiveshopper.com/

Be sure to change your book marks and feeds to the new address. If you are subscribed to the newsletter everything has already been taken care of for you.

If you have any question please email me.

How to Use GrocerySmarts.com

Thanks to the help of the awesome gals at Food Made Easy I have this simple video to help teach you how to use GrocerySmarts.com

Calling all Shoppers!

Next week is UEA in Utah and I would love to come down south anywhere between Ogden and Provo to teach a couple classes. On Wednesday or Friday after 11 AM with my evening classes starting either at 6 or 7 PM. If any of you out there are interested I have some wonderful gifts to offer.

For my hostesses I am offering a hanging file box to get you started organizing your coupons and a $10 gift card for every 5 moms new to Grocerysmarts (or who have never attended a class before). These classes are FREE, the website is FREE! I teach Enrichment nights, moms groups, family, and friends. (This is what I offer all my hostesses by the way!)

If you can get excited about saving hundreds of dollars on your household items and groceries then I can teach you how!

You can contact me at theobsessiveshoper@live.com or call me at 435-881-7387.

Four Score

This week's paper had four packets of coupons. Be sure you pull all four out before recycling or you'll be sad when sale day comes and you don't have the coupons listed!

Trick of the Trade #1

One of the things I teach at my classes is tricks of the trade with coupon usage. The first trick of the trade is:

BUY IN BULK

You will typically save 10-15% when you buy in bulk at big warehouse stores. When you use coupons and combine them with sale prices at your grocery store you can expect to save 50-70% and even up to 100% at times!

I am not the only one who recommends buying things in bulk when they are on sale. I was excited to see in the Procter & Gamble booklet this past Sunday(found in the Sunday paper, once a month). They had tips from John & Kate Gosselin from TLC's John & Kate plus Eight (I love this show by the way) on how to save money. One of the tips was buy in bulk.

"If your family has must-haves, make sure you keep them in the house and buy them in bulk on sale to save."

I am not saying that Kate uses coupons to save, I have no idea. However I have found that when you can combine sale prices with coupons you save ton's more.

This is where the FREE Grocerysmarts website comes in. The website takes all the store ads and lists the sale items from each store while also listing a coupon if one is available so you get the best price possible (look for the 4-5 star items). Then you can make the decision on what your family uses and buy as much as you can while it is on sale. In one of my previous posts (you can view it here) I explained how I organize my coupons so I can find them using the code from Grocerysmarts. That information is helpful too when using Grocerysmarts.

Watch for 2 more tricks in upcoming posts.

What Happens in Vegas....

......Save in Vegas using Grocerysmarts!

If you live in the Las Vegas area you are in luck! If you would like to learn how to use the Grocerysmarts website or host a class please contact Colette Bomsta at (702)948-7200.

Visit Colette's blog

The Best Week Ever!

I wanted to post our Best Week Ever!! I probably need to add so far, as it has only been since March that I have been shopping using Grocery Smarts.

2 Home Erasers @ $1.19 each, 5 Clorox Wipes FREE, 6 409 cleaners @ $2 each, 3 Clorox bleach FREE, 7 Quaker Simple Harvest oatmeal's @ $.50 each, 20 Quaker Instant oatmeal's @ $.50 each, 3 Quaker Oatmeal To Go Bars @ $.95 each, 4 Purina Wholesome Medley dog food 7.5 lbs @ $3.99 each, 2 Clorox hard surface cleaners @ $1.25 each, 1 Cantaloupe $1.30, Green Beans $1.46

Total Spent $50.33

Total Saved $188.58

As you can see I am NOT the one who bought ALL the Electrasol before 6 am on Wednesday morning!

And NO we will not be eating oatmeal for every meal for the next year. That is what I love about this awesome way to shop. I stock up on things that our family WILL eat when they are at the most awesome price, that way we will have them around until they go on sale again. By using multiple coupons (see my side bar for multiple coupon offers) I am able to stock up on tons of food which allows enough for consumption AND food storage.

FYI: Manufacturers generally put products on sale once every three months and they usually put a coupon out about a month before the sale.

Helping Others

Coupon Moms are joining together to help orphans!

Did you know you can help orphans simply by shopping at Albertsons?! A fellow bargain-hunting-coupon-loving mom co-founded One Heart Bulgaria , an organization in aid of 22 Bulgarian orphanages. Bulgaria is a little-known country with one of the highest orphan rates in all of Europe. You can help support this effort and the Bulgarian orphans simply by registering your Albertsons Preferred Savings Card under One Heart Bulgaria. Once you do this, Albertsons will donate 4% of your eligible savings to One Heart Bulgaria in addition to giving you your own usual discounts and savings. It only takes a few minutes, here's what you do:

1.) Go to: https://shop.albertsons.com/eCommerceWeb/CommunityAction.do?action=beginCommunity (or copy and paste into your browser)

2.) click on the "Albertsons community partners" logo on the right hand side

3.) select the "shoppers" option

3.) login by using your preferred card number and the phone number your card is registered under

4.) click on "my account" on the right side of the page

5.) enter the ID # 49001013666 and select "add a partner"

Now, in this small way, whenever you buy food for yourself you will also be putting food in the belly of an orphan and love in their hearts.

Win Win

Box Top Sale at Albertsons this week is a win win situation. You save money on products you and your family will use and your schools earn cash! Here is how it works:

-Save $5 instantly when you buy ANY 10 participating General Mills Products PLUS earn 20 Bonus Box Tops for Education that print out on a store certificate.

-Get $5 off your next shopping trip when you buy $20 worth of participating Kimberly-Clark Products, coupon and Box Top Certificate will print at check out.

When looking at the items on sale always remember that it is not a good idea to stock up on 3 star or less items.

Here is what we got today:

10 Sun Maid Raisin 6 pack @$.50 each (RC), 5 Totino Pizza rolls @ $.50 each (RC), 4 Hormel Compleats @ $1.50 each, 6 Old El Paso Enchilada sauce @ $.50 each, 6 Pillsbury Sweet Rolls-Variety- @$.50 each, 6 Pillsbury Crescent Rolls @ $.50 each, 3 Betty Crocker Muffin Mix @ $1.05 each. 4 Nature Valley Granola Bars @ $.90 each, 6 General Mills cereal @ $1 Each, 1 Scott Bath Tissue FREE, 1 Real Living Magazine (a girls got to read!) $4.95, 7 Dove Extra Hold Hairspray FREE, 1 Portfolio folder $.10, 1 Lbs sliced Pepper Jack cheese $3.45, 1 Lbs sliced Marble Jack cheese $3.35

Total Spent: $51.82

Total Saved $129.86

Making my day happy PRICELESS!

To learn more about Box Tops and how they help your childs schools go to this website.

Extra, Extra II

This was a bonus week in the Sunday paper. We had two Smart Source books a Red Plum and a General Mills book. You will see the code for the General Mills book like this GM 8/10.

Come see me at the Cache County Fair!

This weekend I will be at the Cache County Fair with a booth just for teaching people how to save money on their groceries and household items.

Come visit and enter a drawing for $100 in free groceries. Sign up to be a hostess and enter twice!

I can't wait to see you all there.

Extra, Extra

In this Sunday's paper there was an extra book of coupons from Kellogg's. This is what it looked like:

If you haven't already pulled it out be sure to do so before you send your papers out for recycling. I am going to file this on in my fourth hanging file folder with Sunday's date on it. It will show on the lists as KLG. If you don't have a clue what I am talking about go to this post for an explaination or email me to schedule a sit down where I can explain it all to you!

Free Classes in St. George Area UPDATED

It's not too late if you would like to meet with me Friday afternoon or Saturday afternoon in St. George or Hurricane please call me. (visit this site for my phone number)

I had so many responses from the the St. George Area that I decided I would come myself and teach as many of you as I can this Friday and Saturday. I will be giving each hostess a hanging file box ready to store your coupons and for every 5 mom's at the class the hostess will also receive a $15 gift card. If you are interested in hosting or coming to a class please call me (click the link for my number) or email me ASAP!

If you can not come to a class with me this weekend please let me know and we will get you set up with the other teacher that is coming August 15th and 16th.

This is a wonderful opportunity for yourself, Enrichment Groups, Mom's Groups, family and friends.

How I Organize My Coupons

I've gotten this question a lot lately. So for those of you who are wondering if I take hours cutting and filing coupons you would be sorely mistaken. When the Sunday paper comes I take the coupon books out write Sunday's date on the front and put them in a hanging file folder. That is it! You're now asking where will I know to find the coupons I want to use? That is where the Grocery Smarts website comes in. On the website when I choose the store I want to shop at a list will come up matching the store ad with the manufacturers coupons.

You will see something like this:

**** Tide 40 load $5.99 Tide 40 load or larger $1/1 $4.99
RP 4/15 (Expires 7/15)

The stars mean that it is an awesome price and that if I can stocking up on this item would be ideal. Five to Four stars are awesome, Three to Two are comparable to a good regular price.

The item from the store ad will be noted next.

The sale price is then listed.

Then the coupon description and where to find it listed. I have four hanging file folders labeled for each of the coupon book companies and for misc. coupons from magazines, the Internet, stores, mailings, etc..

RP= Red Plum
SS= Smart Source
PG= Procter and Gamble

The last column is for the end price with coupon and other applicable discounts.

On my shopping day I print out the shopping list from the website. I look at what is on sale and ask myself, "Does our family use this?" I write next to the item on the list the amount I intend on getting then I circle the coupon code if there is one. I can usually do this while the kids are eating or while I'm on the phone. Then I just grab the coupon books by date, from my hanging file folders, look for the coupon I need, cut them out, and put them in a page protector (like for reports or scrapbooking), "shopping sleeve", with my list, shove it in my purse and go shopping when it is convienent for me. You can see a PDF file that explains this by clicking here. I toss the old coupon books out when the date reaches five months. By then everything in them has expired. I am sorry if you are disappointed about the simplicity of the system. That is the point though, to make it easy and not take all my time. Don't we all have better things to do?


Hopefully this helps if you still have questions feel free to email me or comment on the post.

Making the most of this blog

To make it easier to get right to business I moved these instructions from the top of the blog into a post all to itself. Now you wont have to scroll down forever. But just in case you are new this is also a great intro to the blog and its features.

Welcome to my blog! I am so excited to share with you the things that I am doing to; Save Money, Build food storage, and Have fun while grocery shopping using this website. Here are a few things to help you get the most of the blog:

Labels:
Comments-Comments, success stories, connecting with other obsessive shoppers. To post a comment go to the Comment post here.

Exchange-Here you can request or look for coupons to exchange with other shoppers. You will have to contact one another.

Food Storage-Look here for various ideas on how to build your food storage as will as links and recommendations.

Freebies-Need I say more?

Fun Stuff-Because I am obsessive I have to throw some fun in the mix to stay grounded. I am not sure what this will be but I am sure it will be fun!

Great Buy-My favorite great buy of the week. Usually under $1

Info- Find updated information, contact info, etc.

Q and A-Here you will find answers to questions that I have been asked. To ask me a question email me here. I will post your question with an answer as well as email you personally.

Recipes-Every once in a while I would like to post a recipe that can be used with sale items for the week.

Savings-This will be a representation of the products bought and what I saved and spent.

Appointment Book:
At the bottom you will see my appointment book if you would like me to teach you how I am having all this fun with shopping feel free to set up an appointment. Scheduled appointments will be shown in red. The ochre-yellow color are the available or pending times I have. Just click on the date you want, fill in the info and your on the books! You can even invite guests by email right from the appointment page. If you don't see a date that works for you email me or call me and we will come up with a time that works best for the both of us. I promise I will make it worth your time!

Newsletter:
A free newsletter is sent out each Friday to keep you updated on my most recent posts. You will find the sign up in the side bar.

Instructional Quickies:
Video instructions and How too's COMING SOON!!

Movie Ticket Update

I have been getting a lot of questions about the movie tickets. (see these posts http://thecrazyshopper.blogspot.com/2008/07/rockin-savings.html, http://thecrazyshopper.blogspot.com/2008/07/free-movie-tickets.html I just learned something really awesome especially for you who do not have a theater in your area. (Cache Valley etc..) If you have gone to the Fandango Site and entered your zip code and there are no theaters in your area there is an Option 2 that you can use. You click Option 2, fill out a form and Fandango will send you in 7-10 business days a $25 Visa gift card that you can use at your local theater!

Great tip for using the online lists

I am so excited that I figured this feature out. Okay so say I want to see only the "good stuff" or the 4-5 star items, this is what you do.

1. Choose your store
2. Click the Start button in the top right of the page
3. Click the Star right about the Stock up scale
4. Click Shrink in the top right of the page

Now you can print or view only the 4-5 star items!

You can practice this by using this All In One list which shows all of the ads on the site.

Say Thank You!

When I first started shopping like this I was so amazed at how kind the store workers where to me. The checkers did not complain when they saw my pile of coupons. The stock people have always been courteous and willing to help me find the items on my list. I recommend making their day by saying thanks!



After one midnight run to Albertson's. I came home so appreciative to the night head checker. She made sure I got all the printed coupons I was trying for even when it was closing time. I think I was more frustrated and upset than her. I just kept thinking that she was probably so annoyed but she did not show it at all. The next day I made a phone call to the store. I asked if they have a comment line that I could be connected to. The person who answered said she didn't know and then put me on hold. Like I expected she must have thought I was calling to complain so when the phone was picked up I was not surprised to hear that it was the manager. Then I had to go into my story and ask him for a comment line to call headquarters and give some good news for a change. He gladfully gave me the number. I called it and again gave the person on the other end a big surprise when instead of ranting and raving I was praising and thanking. Needless to say that made my day and hopefully theirs as well.



The moral of the story is that when someone does a good job please remember their name and be sure to do all you can to let them know. If we all did that more often we would live in a much better world!

Challenge: Call the store you frequent and ask for the customer comment line and make their day.

Free Stuff!

Almost every week there is a coupon that is the same as or more than the product is on sale at the store. When this happens the item is free, well with the exception of sales tax. I never pass up free stuff even if I don't use that product. If that happens then I donate it to the food pantry or give it to someone else who could use it.

Here are this weeks freebies:

Maceys: (sale ends Saturday night!)

*****
POWERade 32 oz.
.69
Powerade or Powerade Zero, 20 or 32 oz. bottle .75/1 (10-31-08) SS-6/8
Free


Albertsons: (Sale ends Tuesday, June 17th)

*****
Band-Aids 20-60 ct 10/$10 (I saw a huge basket in the Logan store still marked with this price, this was a sale from last week so I don't know how long it will last)

Band-Aid Product, any $1/1 (8-31-08) RP-5/18
FREE

*****
Zone Perfect nutrition bars
1.00
Zone Perfect Nutrition Bars, any single, 5-count box or 8-count Snack Size box $1/1 (6-30-08) SS-3/30
FREE

Smiths: (Sale ends Tuesday, June 17th)

*****
Ken's Dressing, 16 oz
1.50
Ken’s Dressing, any 16 oz. or larger $2/1 (6-30-08) SS-5/4
FREE
*****
Ken's Lite Accents Salad Dressing Spray, 7 oz
1.50
Ken’s Lite Accents Salad Dressing Spray, any 7 oz. $2/1 (6-30-08) SS-5/4
FREE

Rain Checks

A rain check is something you can ask for when the store is out of a product. Each store has a different policy on rain checks. You will have to ask them what their policy is. If you do not know if the store offers rain checks go to the Customer Service Desk and ask. They can usually help you right then and there.

When you get a rain check keep the coupons that go with it together.
When redeeming your rain checks be sure to hand them to the checker first, you can add the coupons with the rest of them.