You know how before you know someone well, you have to call them by their proper name? But when you’re good friends with them, you can call them by a silly nickname?

That’s me and Wags.

I used to call it Walgreens, when I thought it was an overpriced convenience store that roped you in with its convenient 24/7 pharmacy. Now that I know what a savings bonanza it can be, we are much more chummy. I fondly call it Wags, like all the other hard-core couponers. Cuz we’re friends like that, ya know?

Last night’s haul

I stopped into Wags last night for some infant ibuprofen for my 1-year-old with the double ear infection (again!). This cold/flu season has been brutal on my three girls, so I also wanted to look at the cold medications. Just a simple trip.

But I saw that diapers were on sale again for 2/$9. I have the Walgreens prescription club card, which gives 10% back on all Wags items. I knew that would be a pretty good deal — about 12 cents a diaper. They had the sizes I needed, so I bought two packs of each.

Then I saw that cold and pain meds were on sale, too. And it just so happened that I had coupons for almost every item. Plus I found a $1.50 peelie on a box of Tylenol Plus Cold. Score!

Total before discounts and coupons was $121.11. But my final bill was $73.36. I saved $48.02 (40%).

I know that hard-core Wags lovers probably can do better than this, but this deal was great for me. I am very happy with it. I won’t have to buy diapers or OTC medications for months.

This shopping trip was really unexciting. There weren’t any fantastic deals, so I am not jazzed about my total savings. I also splurged on several impulse buys, since I knew my total bill would be lower than normal.

My friend Becka also joined me tonight to see how I work the store. That means I broke two of my cardinal rules: shop alone and don’t deviate from the list. [Insert image of me hanging my head in shame.] But moving on…

Tonight my total bill was $74.47. Before my Pick ‘n Save card or coupons, my bill would have been $99.12. With discounts, coupons and bag refunds, I saved $24.65.

Eh. Not very exciting.

The best and the worst

My best deal this week were the Scotties tissues. I spent $3 on five boxes of tissues, which normally would have cost $8.75. That’s a 66% savings.

My “worst” deal is a toss-up between two gallons of Organic Valley milk (a better deal than the Stonyfield Farms I had originally planned to buy) that I bought for $13.38 and the Wagners pure maple syrup that I impulsively bought for $6.29.

These items are far more expensive than anything else on my bill. But they are important to me (I refuse to feed my family regular syrup and we try to eat as much organic as possible), so it’s worth the extra cost in my book. If I couldn’t fit these items in my budget, I wouldn’t buy them. But I’ve made room for them, so I’m comfortable spending the extra money on high-quality items.

I know Becka was disappointed that she didn’t save more (she did about as well as I did), but it’s important to remember that these savings add up little by little. Every time you shop, you’ll learn something new that will save you even more money next time.

I was so proud when Becka suggested getting a rain check for the whole chickens that were out of stock! A few weeks ago, she wouldn’t have known to ask for one and would have paid too much for a chicken. Now she knows better, and that knowledge will help her save even more in the long run.

So, how did you do this week? Did anyone out there beat me? I’m sure there is, so ‘fess up! How much did you save?

Happy shopping day! I will be at the Plank Road Pick ‘n Save in Oconomowoc around 7 p.m. tonight. Don’t be offended if I don’t say hi. I have work to do! After my trip tonight, I’ll update this post with my final items and tally.

Let me know how you do tonight. I’d love to know how much everyone out there is saving! Please keep me posted on any good deals, too.

Today is the last day to get my act together before the big shopping day. There’s usually not a lot to do. I’ve already made my list, found my coupons, and coordinated as many sale items with those coupons as possible.

Tuesday night, I finalize a few things:

1. I print out my shopping list from Pick ‘n Save and stick it in my coupon organizer with the coupons I plan to use.
   
2. I make sure all of this week’s coupons and list are in the front slot of my coupon organizer.
3. I check what I’ve spent so far this month on groceries.
4. I add up what I think I’ll spend this week and compare the total to our monthly grocery budget.
5. If I have time, I search for extra coupons for items on my list. This morning I found some Stonyfield Farm coupons that will come in handy for extra savings on my milk.

Over the last eight months, I’ve learned a few things that keep shopping simple and smooth. Here is my best advice for enjoying your coupon-fueled trip:

• Don’t shop with your kids — or anyone else for that matter. You need to be focused, not refereeing mid-aisle bickering or socializing.
• Shop at night, preferably on Wednesdays, which is double coupon day at Pick ‘n Save. The evenings are always quiet and there are never crowds.
• Bring your reusable bags. Pick ‘n Save gives you a 5 cent refund for every Pick ‘n Save bag you use — but not bags from other stores. Note that this is a new policy. I still use other bags even though I don’t get a refund.
• Each time you choose an item from the shelf, pull out the corresponding coupon. This will save you time at the checkout, when the impatient bachelor behind you is tapping his toe as you dig through your bag for a lost coupon.
• Make sure the cashier scans the best FIVE coupons first. Pick ‘n Save allows you to double up to five coupons, up to $1 apiece, with a separate $25 purchase. Many cashiers don’t know that only five coupons can be doubled (and some don’t know that coupons over $1 aren’t doubled), and they will scan coupons willy nilly, which can cost you money.
• If a sale item is out of stock, get a rain check at the customer service counter. This coupon-like slip of paper allows you to purchase the sale item within the next two weeks at this week’s sale price. As you shop, keep track of what is out of stock and note the brand/manufacturer, price and size so you can expedite this process.
• Stick to your list. Deviate only when there’s a fantastic unadvertised sale on something you will use. This is why it’s important to bring all of your coupons with you — you never want to miss out on a good deal if there’s a secret special.
• Keep an eye out for tearpads, blinkies and wine tags. These in-store coupons, rebates and mailers help you save even more.
• Practice restraint. Please don’t clear out of the shelves (unless it’s the last few items) or gobble up all the in-store coupons. Just because we’re saving money doesn’t mean have to lose our manners.
• Review prices as you check out and look at your receipt before you leave. Make sure prices are accurate and you got all the savings you’re entitled to.
• Brag. Let someone (your husband, your mom, your best friend) know how much you saved. I even keep my receipts so I can keep track of prices and savings. It’s good incentive to keep it up!

Next up: The main event — Shopping!

Yesterday I discussed how to find, organize and coordinate coupons with your grocery list. Today I’ll share what I’m planning to buy this Wednesday (the only day I grocery shop because it’s double coupon day at Pick ‘n Save).

After looking through my coupons and what’s on sale this week, I further revised my list:

• Stonyfield Farm organic milk (I’m going to scour the Web for a coupon!)
• Half and half
• Butter
• McCormick chili powder ($1 coupon)
• Thai Kitchen coconut milk (50 cent coupon)
• Trop50 juice ($1 coupon)
• Ortega taco shells (75 cent coupon)
• Roundy’s organic cereal
• Roundy’s bagels
• Northland dark juice ($1 coupon)
• Del Monte tomatoes (40 cent coupon)
• Emerald almonds
• Roundy’s pretzels
• Purex (35 cent coupon)
• Scotties facial tissue ($1 coupon)
• Turkey tenderloins
• Whole chicken
• Jennie-O ground turkey
• Bananas
• Bell peppers
• Apples

The italicized items are things that I might not buy, but I want to look at anyway. I will check prices during my shopping trip, see if there’s a “secret sale” on any of these items, and decide in the store whether or not to buy them.

The bolded items are on sale this week. As you can see, I try to pair up coupons with as many sale items as I can. Not everything matches up perfectly, but I’m OK with that. My mantra is: The perfect is the enemy of the good.

Sales cycles and panic mode

Sales cycles can run from every other week to once every 12 weeks. Knowing this allows me to avoid shopping in panic mode.

I’ve heard lots of people say they don’t like tracking sales and using coupons because they spend more time and money chasing deals than just buying what they like. I think chasing deals just to pinch pennies is a ridiculous waste of time. Being informed, shopping smart, and knowing where to draw my “frugal line in the sand” is, however, profoundly valuable.

That’s the beauty of understanding how sales and coupons work: You’re able to buy good food with confidence, knowing you’re getting a good price on items you will use – instead of panicking and buying odd things just because they’re cheap.

Next up: Planning the shopping trip, with key tips and tricks to make it go as smoothly as possible.

At 7:23 a.m. today, my own little piece of heaven arrived on my front porch: The Sunday Journal-Sentinel.

Coupons are the cornerstone of my money-saving technique, and the Sunday Journal Sentinel is my main resource for them. I consider this paper one of the best investments for getting serious about saving money at the grocery store. Plus, it contains all the week’s sale fliers — great for cost comparisons — interesting articles, and comics for the kids.

The Sunday-only subscription is just $8.33/month — about $2/week. All I need is one good coupon each week to make this subscription pay for itself.

The main event

There are two sets of coupons in almost every Sunday paper: SmartSource and Red Plum. There’s also the P&G Brand Saver, which comes out every other week (I think) and features solely Procter and Gamble items, such as Pantene, Olay, Crest and Luvs. The Brand Saver is in this week’s paper, so there are three inserts for me to peruse today.

However, there are other coupons in the newspaper as well. Most of these are store-specific. Today there are six coupons in the Sentry flier (such as Oscar Mayer Lunchables: 5 for $5). Lately, the Pick ‘n Save flier has had coupons for “Yesteryear Prices” on everyday products — one week it was macaroni and cheese; this week it’s Bar S hot dogs for 49 cents a package. Pick ‘n Save also features some Dove coupons. The Walgreens flier always has several coupons; this week there’s one for Sun-Maid rasisins for $1.99.

(It’s important to note that there are many deals in the Pick ‘n Save flier that aren’t in the online version. Even though I have my online grocery list, I always keep the Pick ‘n Save flier for extra coupons and a more comprehensive listing of deals.)

Shears and all

Now that I have my paper, I will spend about 15 minutes clipping my coupons. I cut out every coupon that is even remotely interesting to me. I clip coupons for brands I’ve never used before, the products I buy regularly, and items I might never need, especially if it’s a good coupon ($1 or more). I am a shameless shearer.

Doing this ensures that I’ll have coupons when something useful goes on sale. There’s nothing worse than standing in the grocery aisle, finding a good deal, and realizing you passed up a coupon that could have made that purchase a great deal — or even a freebie.

After I clip my coupons, I slip them into my handy-dandy coupon organizer that I got in the Target dollar section about a year ago. Most of the coupons go into one of three sections: food, cleaning/household and personal care. This helps me keep them organized so I know where to look when I need one.

The great matchup

Now that I have my coupons filed away, I’ll match up what I have to this week’s Pick ‘n Save deals. Sometimes I have a lot of coupons for this week’s shopping trip; sometimes I have only a few.

Then I slip those select coupons into the front-most compartment of my organizer so I’ll have these ready to go when I am shopping.

Other coupon resources

If you want to know more about coupons, how they work, where to look for them, and so on, you must visit Hot Coupon World. I spend most of my time in the Pick ‘n Save forum, but if you’re a coupon newbie, the Getting Started forum in invaluable. I highly recommend checking it out and asking questions — the members are well-informed and extremely helpful.

The newspaper isn’t my only source for coupons. Here are other resources:

1. Online. Coupons.com is my favorite site, but there are many, many places to find printable coupons: SmartSource and Red Plum, coolsavings.com, etc. I am registered with Coupons.com, which emails me the newest coupons every week.

Most sites require you register and then install a special coupon printer, but it’s easy and fast. I generally visit these sites the night before my shopping visit and print the ones I’m most likely to use that week. This is a fantastic way to get multiple coupons so you can save money on more than one, say, can of tomatoes.

2. Catalinas. These are the coupons that print out at the checkout with your receipt. The more you buy, the more you get. I find myself using these a lot. But remember — they are store-specific. If you get a Catalina at Pick ’s Save, you can’t use it at Piggly Wiggly.

3. Coupon swapping/trains or coupon clipping services. I don’t know much about these, as I’ve never participated. But a lot of hard-core couponers swear by them. Some are free (like the swaps) and some are pay-per-clip (like the services). Personally, I’d like to start a local swap for coupons. Hot Coupon World has a lot of resources for this.

4. Manufacturers’ sites. If you know you want a specific product or brand, these sites often have printable online coupons. Or if you register, they will send you a coupon booklet in the mail.

5. In-store coupons. These range from tear pads next to certain products, the SmartSource “blinkies” that spit out little coupons at the shelves, and wine tags. Wine tags are some of my favorite coupons. When you buy a bottle of wine that has a wine tag, you can get $1, $2, $3 or even $5 off other items like meat or cheese. It’s a great way to splurge on a nice bottle of vino while still saving money.

Next up: Step three continued. I’ll share my list (with coupons) for the week and tell you what I think is going to be a good deal. Then we’ll get to the good stuff: Shopping!

When I first started saving serious money at the grocery store, Chandler always wanted to know how much I’d shaved off my total bill. I’d excitedly tell him how much I’d saved, how long my receipt was (the longer, the better), and whether or not a manager had to approve my purchase (which happens only when you save so much money that the computer thinks you might be defrauding the grocery store!).

But after a few trips, the savings felt less exciting. Saving 30%, 50% or more seemed mundane. He stopped asking about my receipts, and I stopped regaling him with my grocery adventures.

Little did I know that he was taking mental notes about how to save money, even after we stopped analyzing every trip.

Wearing the pants in the family

Chandler has his own home repair/remodeling business. He wears Carhartt carpenter jeans exclusively for work and often, to my annoyance, dress wear. He’s hard on these pants, especially when he’s tiling or doing a lot of work on his knees. They are subjected to paint, drywall dust, power tools and grease.

We bought a stack of these jeans about three years ago at what Chandler simply calls “The Store” — Farm and Fleet. Since then, he’s patched the knees in each pair twice and has repaired several small rips and tears. (Have I mentioned he’s also good with a needle and thread?) The color has worn away. They’re stretched out and baggy on his lean frame.

About two weeks ago, he finally decided he needed some new pants. He’d gotten a few coupons from his favorite discount online retailer, Sierra Trading Post, but the last one had just expired. He decided to wait for another coupon. His patience paid off.

Last weekend, he got an e-coupon for 25% his entire order — the best coupon he’s seen this year. He bought four pairs of Carhartts plus a pair of polarized sunglasses. Instead of spending about $45/pair of pants, he spent just $20/pair — a savings of about 56%. Considering he’ll wear these pants every day for at least another three years, that’s a fantastic deal. This purchase also fits well into our monthly budget for clothes.

A family challenge

It goes to show that a little patience and shopping around can pay off in a big way. And it proves that couponing isn’t just for women!

If your family is like mine and the husband leaves the deal-finding and money-saving to the wife, pose a challenge. The next time he wants to buy something (a gadget, something for his shop, a shirt), ask him to shop around and find a coupon or good deal before he buys it.

Or you could up the ante even more: Challenge him to a deal-off. Have him shop around and find the best price on what he wants. Then you do it, too. See who can find the right item for the best price. Buy the lower-priced item and put the money you save into your checking or high-yield savings account. Everybody wins!

It’s Friday night, the kids are asleep and Chandler just got home from Chicago. You know what that means, right? Time to check the stockpile!

Surveying the pile

I just spent half an hour in my pantry and in the basement, perusing my ever-growing array of non-perishable food. This helps me cross off two important things from my list:

1. Replenish my pantry with food from the basement stockpile. I rotate food so the items I use most often are within arms’ reach instead of downstairs in our cold, dark basement. This includes items such as canned tomatoes, cereal, canned beans, granola bars, etc.

2. Add to the grocery list. My rummaging around also tells me what I’m running low on, what I have enough of, and what I need to replenish this week or next.

Adding to the list

This second item is the important one for today. After I see what’s in my stockpile, I cross-reference that list with what’s on sale for the next week so I can shop accordingly.

Pretzels and kleenex are on sale this week, and my stash is running a little low, so I might pick up some of that next Wednesday. Everything else looks pretty well stocked.

There are some good deals this week (Purex comes to mind), but I might skip it. I have several (like, six) bottles downstairs. I don’t think we’ll run out anytime soon and that stuff goes on sale pretty regularly.

The dreaded no-sale zone

As much as I hate to buy things that aren’t on sale or don’t have a coupon, there are times that I need to buy something at full price. It really bugs me, but it does occasionally happen. Today it looks like I might need coconut milk, since I used two of my three cans in last night’s chicken curry.

Yet, I’m probably not going to buy any coconut milk this week. I’ll put it on my long-term shopping list and wait ’til I see a sale or find a coupon — or, better yet, both.

But this also tells me that it’s time to hit the Asian market on 35th and National in Milwaukee sometime soon. They often have the best prices on coconut milk and other Asian staples.

Even though it’s a long drive for us, our girls love going there to check out the bizarre foods, like frozen eels and piranha-type fish. We also buy our jasmine rice in 25-pound bags, and we stock up on any other Asian goodies we can’t get anywhere else, like fried garlic, fish sauce and these great little rice roll-up thingies that I fell in love with in Thailand.

Revise the list

Now that I know what I have and what I need, I can revise my grocery list that I made yesterday. With these changes, it’s a little shorter:

• Yoplait yogurt
• Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers
• Roundy’s organic cereal
• Kashi TLC crackers
• Roundy’s bagels
• Northland juice blends
• Emerald almonds
• Roundy’s pretzels
• Scottie’s facial tissue
• Turkey tenderloins
• Roundy’s whole fresh chicken
• Jennie-O ground turkey
• Beneful dog food
• Bell peppers
• Braeburn apples
• Bananas
• Organic milk
• Half and half
• Butter

There are still a few things that I’m thinking about — I put those in italics. I’m waiting to see what kinds of coupons I can find for these items. If I get good ones, they’ll stay on the list. If not, they’ll go.

Next up: Coupon day! It’s almost as good as Christmas morning.

http://gap.p.delivery.net/m/p/gap/p…&mid=1882913389

Save money and help a worthy cause: When you use this coupon, 5% of your purchase will go towards the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. As a thank you, you’ll get 30% off your total order. For in-store use only from March 12-15.

Those $25 jeans at Old Navy are calling my name! And don’t even get me started on how much I love Banana Republic. I bought five pairs of dress pants there over three years ago, and they are hands-down the best pants I own. Even though I don’t work anymore, I’d still love more of those pants.

(Off-topic: Has anyone else noticed that the “Michelle” model on the Old Navy homepage looks a lot like another very famous Michelle…you know, the one in the White House?!)

Happy shopping!

For the next 24 hours, Oprah is offering a FREE download of Jean Chatzky’s new financial book, The Difference.

The book will be available for download from 11 a.m. ET Friday until 10:59 a.m. ET Saturday.

From Oprah’s Web site:

What can The Difference teach you?

• The top five things you can do to not just survive but thrive during tough times
• The eight things that make The Difference (i.e., the key traits and abilities of people who describe themselves as financially free)
• Advice for those having job insecurity as well as strategies for finding a job
• Why money doesn’t breed happiness—but happiness can breed money
• The direct connection between The Difference and your health
• How people who know The Difference make a difference for others
• Myths and facts about the wealthy

As most of you know, I was laid off at the end of January. I know many other people who have already lost their jobs, are terrified of losing theirs, or have suffered through paycuts and more just to keep the jobs they have.

I have never read any of Jean Chatzky’s books, but this one coukdn’t have come at a better time. I am a big believer in reading and learning to get through tough times, and this will be a perfect complement to the big stack of books waiting for me on my nightstand.

If you read this book, please post a comment or email me about it. I’d love to get an informal discussion going about this — and other — financial books!