Back to School Means Cheaper Cereal, Snacks and Bread

Can you believe it is that time of year again....Back to School!  Although I am happy my little one, she will be in 3rd, is starting school again, I am sad at the same time. My oldest graduated this past year so it will be so different not seeing her go to school right down the road. I know she will be going to College but it is not the same, she is getting older..and so am I!  My 8 year old is not a big fan of school or a big fan of getting up in the morning so this is the part I am dreading.  She is weird about her clothes so our mornings can be nightmares!!  Does anyone else have little ones that are picky with the clothing, if so, how do you handle it? 

Anyway, on the point.  Now that the school year will be starting back up, that means that you will start seeing cereal, snacks, bread and lunchmeat go on sale.  This is the time to Stock Up!  You will start seeing more cereal coupons and more coupons for back to school items as well. Since it is still summer it will be cold cereal and as the Winter months get here you will start to see oatmeal and other warm breakfast meals on sale. Ever notice that you do not see coupons for soup in the summer? That is because normally it is only on sale in the Winter so that is when you should stock up.  Over the next few weeks I will be buying several newspapers so that I can stock up on this cold cereal, we all know that they have long expiration dates so if you see any printable coupons, snag those as well.

What are you favorite items to send as snacks to school? Would love to hear your ideas! Does your school provide snacks or do you have to send them? We have to send an afternoon snack so it is hard to figure out different things to send throughout the year.

Price Matching - A Great Way To Save

Since my local stores do not take internet coupons and most internet coupons are of high value or they are coupons you ordinarily do not see in the Sunday inserts, I price match. Price matching has saved me quite a bit of time and money. Both Walmart and Target will price match sales ads and according to the Walmart store policy, you do not even need to have the sales ad with you. I always take the ad with me though, it takes some of them long enough to check you out when price matching so just take them with you. You can email stores and ask them to send you the weekly sales flyers in the mail and most are happy to do it. Just let them know that you are a regular shopper but live to far away to pick up the ad every week so you would like it mailed to you. 

After you have all your flyers, start looking for products that you need and see if you have coupons for them. I make out a list with each stores name and the coupon I am going to use. Then I put each of the sets of coupons into an envelope and write which store they are for. This makes it easier so you know which ad you are going to use and when you go to check out, you can group them all together by store ad.  I don't always have a coupon when I price match, sometimes there is just a better deal going on somewhere else and if I can get it for cheap even without a coupon then I get it.

Coupon Lingo

What do all those abbreviations and terms mean?  Here is a list:

SS – SmartSource Insert

RP – RedPlum Insert

PG – Proctor & Gamble Insert

B1G1 or BOGO – Buy One Get One Free

CRT – Cash Register Tape

MFR – Manufacturer

OOP – Out-Of-Pocket  (This is the amount that you spent after coupons, ECBs, RRs and Catalinas)

OOS – Out-of-Stock  (This means that he store is temporarily out of an item.)

OYNO – On Your Next Order (This refers to coupons that you can use on your next purchase.)

EXP – Expires or Expiration Date

FAR – Free After Rebate

WYB – When You Buy

DND – Do Not Double

WAGS - Walgreens

CAT/Catalina – A coupon that prints out at the register which is either dollars off your next trip or dollars off a certain product.  You typically have to use them at the same store it printed at but some competitors will accept them.

RR/Register Reward – Register Rewards work like cash and are exclusive at Walgreens. They are dollars off your next trip or off a certain product, similar to Catalinas.

What exactly is "Overage"?

Some of you that watch the TLC Extreme Couponing show may notice that some of the shoppers are getting overage from their coupons. Not all stores allow this but some do, for example Walmart, and my Target and Dollar General do.  Other stores will just adjust the coupon down to the price of the item which I don't think is fair since that store will be getting reimbursed for the full amount of the coupon. 

Here is an example, I had a coupon for $5.00 off 1 Maalox but they were priced at Target for $3.87. I had $1.13 in overage and was able to apply that overage to my total.  When I know I am going to have overage, I pick up items that I do not have coupons for so that I can use that $1.13 towards it.  This is one reason why I keep ALL of my coupons because you never know when the coupon will give you an overage. If it is for an item I don't need, I give it to someone who will use it or donate it.