Catalina Madness at Shaw's

image courtesy of catalinamarketing.com

Well, if you're an avid Shaw's shopper you're probably well aware that there is a catalina promotion running this week on General Mills and Unilever products. In the time that I've been a serious user of coupons, I have found that I am able to do my most successful stockpiling of groceries during these types of sales. Over that time, I've learned a lot about how to get as many groceries as possible for the least possible cost, after making many mistakes along the way!

Sale Basics:

• These sales are almost always based on shelf prices rather than sale prices. In other words, if you are supposed to buy $30 in products to get a $15 catalina (money-off coupon for your next trip to Shaw's), you would look at the non-sale price to reach your total of $30.
• You can, and should, use coupons on the items that you are purchasing. I have been able to maximize my savings by ordering coupons that will double at Shaw's (most of the coupons that come out in my local paper are for more than $1.00 and therefore will not double.) Usually there is a preview of the upcoming week's Shaw's ad on AFullCup.com on Monday or Tuesday. I check over the items and see what I want to stock up on, and place an order for coupons for those items. I have usually been able to get my coupons by Friday or Saturday of that week.
  
• When you receive a catalina, you can "roll" it by using it to pay for your next order.
  
• If a catalina does not print, it is often because an item you purchased is not programmed into the system. (I find this is often the case with unusual varieties of certain products.) Shoppers on the Shaw's forums at websites like HotCouponWorld.com and AFullCup.com are pretty good about reporting their results about which items are working well and which are not. It can also be because you didn't add up the prices correctly. Sometimes the catalina machine might be off (you can tell because it has a little green light when it's on.)
  
• If a catalina doesn't print, you have a few options. If you have spent more than you wanted to out of pocket, you could return the items. You won't get your coupons back. If you've only spent a few dollars out of pocket, it's probably not worth it to return the items. I, and many other Shaw's sale shoppers, have not found most Shaw's managers and customer service people to be helpful with getting catalina issues resolved. They will often state that the sale is based on sale prices rather than shelf prices, or that you did not get the catalina because you used coupons. If the deal doesn't work the way I planned, I just go on my merry way.
  
• These sales often double or triple (so you could buy $60 and get $30, or buy $90 and get $45.) Check AFullCup.com to see if that's the case. It's easier to make fewer trips for more items.
  

When these sales are going on, I find that they take up more of my time than I want to spend on them. I really don't enjoy shopping- I like getting good deals and not spending more than I have to on groceries, but during weeks like this I end up making at least one trip per day to Shaw's, which I don't particularly relish. So what I do to avoid spending too much time on shopping:

• On Thursday night, I gather all of the coupons that I have for any products that I might want to buy at that particular sale. At this week's sale, I am interested in Lipton tea (I am a dedicated tea drinker- the rest of America may run on Dunkin' but I run on Lipton...) chex mix, Chex Mix and Fiber One Bars, Honey Nut Cheerios, Suave Shampoo and Bodywash, Q-Tips, Betty Crocker Brownie Mix, and Country Crock.
  
• I don't really plan my transactions too much ahead of time; some people find out shelf prices ahead of time and have a plan of what they're buying, and that works well for them. I don't worry about this too much, because I often go to different Shaw's stores with different shelf prices, and if they're out of something, I need to readjust.
  
• I find that buying a mix of different items, when possible, tends to draw less attention and that way you aren't clearing shelves so other customers can partake of the sale, too. Also, if you are using coupons that double, you can only use 6 of any one kind of coupon, so keep that in mind when planning purchases.
• I try not to use a ton of printable coupons at any one time- on this or any other transaction. Not because there's anything wrong with it, but some managers and cashiers can give you a hard time.
  
• I started carrying a calculator with me into the store, to keep a running total of my sale prices. (I found it very helpful, but I think I need to have a better quality calculator- I got one for $1 at Wal-mart and the keys aren't very sensitive so I kept making mistakes and getting frustrated.)
• As I put an item in my cart, I pull out the coupon that I have for it. I keep all the coupons I'm using clipped together so I can just hand them to the cashier when I go to buy the items.
• I always ask politely if I can use the catalinas to pay for the purchase. Some cashiers don't know if they'll work, but they always go through. You may need to get some "filler" items because your out of pocket total may be less than $0 depending on how many catalinas you have. (I always try to be really nice to the cashiers and baggers at Shaw's, anyway. I worked there in high school... there can be a lot of difficult customers and nice ones are always appreciated.)
  
• I try not to make special trips out of the house to go to Shaw's. I will go there on my way home from work or when I am doing other errands. If I'm visiting friends or family and there's a Shaw's nearby, I will sometimes make a quick side trip. I usually do end up going to a few different Shaw's stores, to avoid clearing shelves.
  
• I don't buy things I don't want or need, even if they're practically free. These sales generally revolve around highly processed foods, so if I don't feel good about my family eating it, it's not good enough to donate to the food pantry, either.
  

I can't possibly take a picture of all the things I've bought at Shaw's the last few days- I am a little bit Type-A compulsive and things need to be put away pronto when I get home. This is the load of groceries I got on Saturday- I was visiting my parents and they live within walking distance of two Shaw's stores, so I hit them both. On this trip, I got about $150 worth of groceries for a total of $5.60 out of pocket- I had $20 in catalinas left over. (I should have had $35, but the Nature Valley granola bars weren't programmed into the system and messed up my totals. Not a huge loss.) I also picked up some nice natural & organic reduced items as part of that total. This picture doesn't include some yogurt that I bought for my parents and some rice milk that Diva needed to drink right away.



My food storage areas are ready to explode after several trips like this, but I know we'll eat this stuff up fast- we go through tons of cereal and granola bars every week. Until the next exciting episode...

Spendin' Money on a Monday

I considered titling this post "Money-Saving Monday..." but the truth of the matter is, the best way to save money is to sit at home and not spend a dime! But, alas, one must buy groceries, and the best way to do it is to plan out what you're doing, and save as much money as you can.

I live about 15 miles away from most stores. :-( That makes shopping a big pain in my butt, so I try to plan out my shopping trips well so I don't waste gas and time and energy. (This also means that I often let deals pass me buy... I am not driving 15 miles to Rite-Aid for a tube of toothpaste, even if it's a moneymaker, when I have 40 tubes of toothpaste sitting in my basement. It's just the way things are...)

When I head out shopping for the day, I either get the sense that I am "on" or I am not. I don't know if anyone else has this feeling- like you just "know" when you're going to get good deals or not. When I am "off," I walk into the store and nothing I want is in stock, the cashiers and clerks give me a hard time, the coupon is for a different size item... do you know what I mean? To me, that's usually a signal to buy only what I need and go on home. Today, I knew it was going to be a good shopping trip.

I don't usually chronicle my grocery purchases, except to my husband who pretends to be interested (God bless him,) but I will today- it was a decent shopping trip- nothing crazy, but good. I apologize for my lousy photo cropping... my picture editing software is being uncooperative at the moment.



My groceries- I spent $37.19 at Shaw's, Stop and Shop, and Walmart. Some highlights...

• Stop and Shop- I got Cranberry Pomegranate Juice for .56 a bottle (it was on sale for 1.66, and I had a .55/1 coupon that doubled. I only got two bottles because I only had 2 coupons... I'm not sure if we like Cranberry Pomegranate juice or not.)
  
• The strawberries were 2.99 for 2 lbs., also at Stop and Shop.
• I got bread for .50 a loaf on markdown at Shaw's- even though we're mostly eating homemade bread now, I like having some backup in the freezer in case I don't have time to make it. And-it's kinda sad in a way, but I figured out that in the cost of flour alone, I spend over .50 a loaf to make bread. But it's so tasty and delicious, it's worth it.
• At Shaw's, I got Swiss Premium Iced Tea for .24 a 1/2 gallon- they are on sale for .99, and there is a tearpad for .75 off coupons, which ended up doubling. I only got 2 of those because my fridge is packed!
• I got sugar and Breyer's Yocrunch yogurt as part of the $3 off $10 deal- I paid 4.80 for 10 lbs of sugar and 2 4-packs of yogurt. That is some really expensive yogurt though, even on sale.
• Hood ice cream and frozen yogurt was 2.50- I had $1/1 coupons... the whole family is happy when there's ice cream in the fridge, and then we don't need to spend any money on the ice cream truck that comes by every day...
  
• I didn't end up getting any meat from the meat sale. I think the best deal was 1.66/lb for turkey burger, which I can get more inexpensively at a local butcher.
• At Wal-mart, I used up the rest of my Ronzoni Smart Taste coupons before they expired... .50 per box isn't too bad for pasta
• And, I got Kraft Macaroni and Cheese for .50 a box with a Buy 3, get 1 free coupon- which is about .38 per box which isn't bad.
• I also got Boca Burgers for 2.18 with the coupons I had. We like veggie burgers as a quick supper sometimes.
  

Yesterday I stopped at a local fruit stand and spent $12 on butter, eggs, celery, carrots, a watermelon, apples, bananas, and HUGE zucchini for .50/lb. So my food spending is about $50 for the week- not too bad. I usually average about $60 a week but it fluctuates- some weeks I spend $20, some weeks I spend $100...

I also went to Walgreens and spent $7.86.

• Got some free Mentos Gum
• And some G2 gel pens, free after RR, my most favoritest pens in the whole world (I made a second trip and got more)
  
• Scotch tape was .06 per roll
  
• Kleenex was about .56 a box- I used the $1/3 coupon that was for lotion-type Kleenex, which was part of the sale this week.
• .89 is a good price for tuna
• And I've been using more bar soap for washing our hands- it seems like it lasts longer and is cheaper. We've been using little hotel soaps for months in our bathrooms.

I also went by Staples to get some free-after-rebate school supplies, and CVS to get free-after ECB school supplies (and Bic Soliel razors which are free)... Now it's time to kick back! No more shopping for me! (Oh... I did want to get to Target.. who knows if that will happen!)

Untangling my coupon mess....

I like coupons. I like them a lot. They save me lots of money on things I like to buy, like cereal, toothpaste, shampoo, and deodorant. But what I am not crazy about is the whole process of managing my coupons. I have not been very successful at it lately. Allow me to explain.

When I started using coupons seriously, about a year ago, I started with the insert filing method of organization. This did not work for me. For one thing, once you start cutting up that insert, the whole thing is a mess. For another thing, I was always seeing random clearanced items while I was out shopping, and of course I wouldn't have the coupon with me. And what was maybe worst of all, I had a really hard time remembering if I still had a coupon or if I already used it. It was too hard to rely on internet sources to match up coupons for me and tell me what inserts certain coupons were located in.

So I started to cut out mostly all of the coupons in the inserts, except the ones that I was 99.99% sure I would never use, and file them in a huge accordion file thing by categories. I have a little accordion file that I keep in my purse that has a section for each store that I am going to. I put all the coupons that I want to use in there, and I keep the big file nearby in case I find something extra. For the most part, that system has worked okay. However, maintaining it is pretty time-consuming. Cutting the coupons is time-consuming, looking for them when I want them is time-consuming, and then getting rid of all the expired coupons is time-consuming. And when I don't use a coupon in my little store file, it just sits there and I usually forget about it, so I don't end up using it at a different store.

These little organizational glitches make me miss deals! For example, earlier this week I wanted Olay coupons because there was a sale at CVS. I could only find one. Today, when I cleaned out my file, I found more. Last week, I didn't bother going to Stop and Shop when they had Special K on sale for $1.50, because I only had one coupon for Special K- or so I thought. Today when I cleaned out the little file I found a pile of Kellogg's coupons that expire tomorrow, that I could have used if I had only been a little more organized. ARGH!

When I clean out my coupon file, I get rid of a lot of expired coupons- I would say I don't end up using 90% of the coupons I cut out. I am not sure if I should be more particular about what coupons I end up cutting out- like, cut out things I know that I will use, like cereal and Colgate, and maybe leave the 80 gazillion L'oreal coupons in their inserts in case I need them. So many people swear by the binder system, but I don't know if that would be any better for me. But I should probably try something different if what I am doing now isn't working all that great...