How to organize it all

I got a question in my comments line and thought I would answer it as a post. How do you organize it all. It is SO overwhelming. You have ads, you have coupons, you have blogs, websites ect.... I will attempt to tell you my system but remember Im a newbie so it is a work in progress.

First I start by menu planning. I plan for a month at a time and 75% of those meals I make every month if not more than once a month. I know for a fact that we are going to have ravioli, tacos, spicy pork, taco soup, calzones ect...every month without fail. If I dont have somethings on the monthly menu my family will revolt. It wont be pretty.

So I pretty much have a rotating grocery list on those items. I know I need x amount of chicken every month, x amount of ground beef ect. So I try to buy the meat on sale as it comes on sale weekly. Usually I buy my meat at Kroger. Honestly their sale prices are excellent when it comes to meat sales. My canned goods I buy at Aldis. Actually everything I cant get for almost free with coupons I buy at Aldi's We have been regular Aldis shoppers for a few months now and a. No one has tasted a difference and b. it is CHEAP as long as you have an idea of what it would cost at your regular grocery since sometimes (especially on name brand stuff) they can be pricier than wamart or whatever)They also can have excellent prices on produce as well. I cannot wait till they open the one super close to my house!

So now I have crossed off 75 percent of my groceries by having the meat already and I can usually find most of my list at Aldis. Bread is bought at the bread store. I buy enough for a month and freeze it.

The rest of the menu items I buy at walmart. There, I am done for the meals for the entire month. I also have the stuff as far as produce, milk a week at a time. I feed 7 for dinner (Tims dad eats with us every night) and can usually get the entire months worth of dinners for about 150-200 dollars. We usually eat lunch from leftovers.

The rest of the weeks I buy only what is onsale for extra cheap. Many times I just bake for the snack food around here. We all like it better anyway.

Ok, so that is the menu planning part. As far as the rest of the stuff goes. I keep some revolving word documents. I try and cut and paste the deals I want to get into a word document according to store when I see them. I also print coupons as I find them because if I wait too long they will be gone. I try to post the extra great deals on this site so you all dont have to go hunting. I visit various websites daily just to see what is on sale or what others have found in the way of deal matches. That is how I found the cheap cookies at Target and the super cheap detergent at Kroger. I only buy what is super cheap and stock up! Just start with one store (NOT WALGREENS!!! If you havent tried walgreens before please dont start there, trust me.) Go for a couple of weeks and try to get the deals you can at CVS and only CVS. Then add in target deals, or walgreens or kroger.... Build up your confidence and your coupon supply.

You will drive yourself nuts if you try to get every deal. Also if you try and print or cut every coupon you find. Also remember it will take a while to establish your coupon supply. I didnt get back to CVS this week after the "grumpy cashier" incident. I missed out on some Glade deals and some cheap razors. Oh well...there will be more deals this week (and boy are there ever!!) Coupon clipping is supposed to benefit your family not drive you crazy and make people miserable.

I will be posting about the deal matches I find this week as well as the "procedure" at walgreens soon....

I also am seeing a give a way in the near future...maybe something to help you build up your coupon stash!!

Hope this answers your questions....

Happy Clipping