I shop at Pick ‘n Save in Oconomowoc, just off Highway 16. I don’t grocery shop anywhere else. It’s close, it has good deals (yay for double coupon Wednesdays!), and I know the store. I’ve spent the last eight months or so learning how to shop the deals there, so I know what’s a good price and what’s not.

I’ve tried to chase good prices around town at Piggly Wiggly and Sentry, but it’s just not worth it to me. Saving a buck or two by going to a new store is not time well spent for me. I like to save money, but I don’t want to go crazy doing it — and running around town like that drives me crazy.

Pick ‘n Save sales run Thursday to Wednesday. This means that sales start on Thursday and end on Wednesday. The printed sale fliers usually come in the mail on Wednesday, and the online version is ready on Thursday. I am subscribed for weekly special emails, which sends me an email when the online weekly ad is available. I love that!

Today’s to-do list

Today is Thursday, so I’ve already checked out the online flier to see what’s on sale for this coming week. I have to admit that this week isn’t all that great for me. I don’t see anything that really trips my trigger, so it will be a small trip.

It’s important to remember that the online weekly ad is not comprehensive — it doesn’t include many personal care and home items that are on sale. The printed flier includes these items, but there are always good deals in the store that aren’t advertised anywhere. That’s why it’s so important to take all your coupons with you, so you can take advantage of unadvertised sales with whatever coupons you have.

This week, my list includes:

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

Everything but the last four items is directly from the weekly ad. I almost always buy these last four items, whether they’re on sale or not. But everything else is on my list solely because it’s on sale and I know I’ll use it at some point. I stockpile items when they’re on sale and store them in my basement. That way, I never have to buy something at full price, and I always have something good for dinner.

(I’ll post more about stockpiling later, since it’s a key element of my shopping routine — and it also explains why my grocery bills are higher than what you might expect. About half of the food I buy is what we use on a weekly basis. The other half goes into my well-organized stockpile.)

This list is bound to change over the last week, but it is my starting point. It helps me comb through my pantry/stockpile to see if we really need what’s on sale this week. I know that many items on this list are already in my stockpile, so there’s a good chance I’ll remove many of them before I shop next Wednesday night.

Next up: Add (or subtract) items as the week progresses. This includes assessing my stockpile, looking through my pantry, and taking stock of what we’ll eat in the upcoming week.

I spend a lot of time thinking about, buying, preparing and cleaning up after meals. We rarely eat out, which leaves a lot of food to prepare at home for the five of us. But I don’t mind the work I put into meals. I love to eat. I love to cook. I love to talk about food and drinks. It’s almost like a hobby.

That’s why grocery shopping is my favorite thing to do. I would rather spend an hour in the produce section than a mall. Feeling the heft of a glossy ruby red pepper, eying up briny jars of olives, imagining the creamy smell of a chunk of Havarti cheese…it all thrills me. Grocery shopping is a sensual experience for me, one inspires gourmet meals and fantastic dinner parties, if only in my head.

The method

Despite the emotional experience of buying and eating food, my planning is all business. I have a specific routine that helps me prepare my list and then execute my plan.

Starting today, I’ll spend the next week outlining each step of my plan. For now, here’s an overview of my process:

1. Access the Pick ‘n Save flier online

2. Build my grocery list from the weekly specials in the ad

3. Add any items to the list that might not be on sale but I need anyway

4. Find, cut and organize coupons for the items on my list

5. Shop!

I can spend up to 10 hours a week on this process. I know that sounds like a lot of time (and maybe more than you want to spend), but when it’s broken down each day, it isn’t much. And it pays off! I love to see the savings add up.

Stay tuned for more posts about the specifics of each step.

The economy has everyone everywhere revising their spending habits. Doing what I talk about on this blog — cutting coupons, shopping around, stockpiling good deals — is becoming more mainstream as the economy continues to worsen.

But some people are taking it to new levels.

Everyone needs to draw their “frugality line” somewhere. For me, it’s one or two steps shy of what these people are doing. I’m not so sure I really want to still wear the maternity clothes I was in when I was pregnant this time last year. *Shudder*

But then I read this line:

“I do it [extreme frugality] out of fear because I would rather put that money in the bank or purchase something we really need,” said VanDeventer, who now saves about 50 percent of her take-home pay, up from 25 percent before the recession began more than a year ago.

This woman is saving 50% of her take-home pay! That’s insane — smart, but insane. I’m not sure it’s possible for most families to save quite that much of their income (the standard rule of thumb is 20%), but I applaud her efforts.

But as Trent says at The Simple Dollar, sometimes you can go too cheap. But you just need to know what’s important to you, and use that as a guideline for where to scrimp and where to splurge.

For me, it’s Starbucks coffee and as much organic food as we can afford. If that means my kids run around in used clothes for the rest of their lives, that’s OK with me.

What’s your limit? Where do you draw your frugality line?

Today I didn’t do as well as I would have liked. My husband it out of town, so I had to take my two youngest daughters, ages 2 years and 11 months, grocery shopping with me while the oldest, age 4 years, was at school. I haven’t gone shopping with my kids in years! They were excellent little helpers (I bribed the toddler with a sucker and the baby with Cheerios), but it threw off my carefully planned shopping experience. I was hot and sweaty by the end of the trip–and it was only 45 minutes long.

My original total was $231.91. After my Pick ‘n Save card, coupons and bag refunds, my total was $154.88. That’s a savings of $77.03. Not bad, but nothing great. I usually do better, and I’m a little disappointed in myself.

Part of the problem was that I lost track of what I was doing because of kid-related distractions. For example, I picked up a bottle of Spray ‘n Wash laundry stain remover because it was on sale (unadvertised) and I had a $1 coupon somewhere in my coupon organizer. But my toddler needed help with her own Cheerios, so I went on my way, checked out, got home — and realized I’d never pulled out that $1 coupon. Dang.

I also bought more impulse purchases than I ever do. They were minor (like the stain remover, which I need anyway), but it still annoys me when I do this.

I’m cutting myself some slack because it was an unusual situation. Next week, I’ll be back on track. I can’t wait to grocery shop alone again!