Southern Savers Coupon Class: Publix

This Saturday, a few good friends and I attended a Southern Savers Coupon Class in North Augusta. We learned a lot! First and foremost, I learned that you have to start somewhere. When you start couponing you aren't automatically going to be that Coupon Queen that cuts their bill from $150 a week to $50 a week...but I also learned that it IS possible. I am going to try to to my best to explain things I have learned and even list some of my special deals WITHOUT all the confusing coupon acronyms, but I also don't have the time with a very active 2 year old and a baby on the way to re-invent the wheel that is www.southernsavers.com and/or www.couponmom.com

Here are the basics:

1. Product Prices fluctuate on a 6-8 week cycle. Only ONCE in that cycle, do products drop to their LOWEST price. ALWAYS BUY ITEMS AT THEIR LOWEST PRICE!!

• This means, that in the beginning, you CANNOT always get everything at the lowest price. BUT, you must start somewhere. EVENTUALLY you will have the "mini-stock" of cereal, dry goods, TP, Paper Towels....etc that you need to last you the 6-8 week cycle for just your family unit...at prices cheaper than you could have EVER imagined.
• Once you get stocked, you only have to buy sale items, and never out of NEED. When we NEED something, is when we'll spend the $$ no matter what...when we could find a sale, and 2 coupons, and get the item for much much less.

2. Where to find coupons:

• Sunday Paper inserts: 1. Red Plum 2. Smart Source. 3. Procter & Gamble
• www.coupons.com
• www.couponmom.com
• www.redplum.com
• www.smartsource.com
• signing up for specific product sites to receive coupons in email: Nestle, Kraft, etc.
• Store Fliers

3. Learn the art of Stacking

• Stacking Coupons means: Using a store coupon PLUS a manufacturer coupon on the same item. PUBLIX ALLOWS THIS.
  

Store Coupon Policies: (These can vary somewhat from store to store)

1. Publix

• You do not have to buy 2 of the Buy1Get1 items to get the sale price. You can just purchase one of the items, and get it for half off. (include a coupon...and increase the savings)
• If you DO buy 2 items in a B1G1 deal, make sure you have 2 of the same coupons, for double the savings
• PUBLIX ACCEPTS COMPETITOR COUPONS
• You can use a STORE COUPON (food lion, kroger, bi-lo..etc) AND a Manufacturer coupon on a single item.
  
• Most Publix locations double manufacturer coupons that are 50 cent or less.

Where to find Publix coupons: Grape, Greewise, and Family Style Magazines, and Publix Baby Club.

Additional Publix savings tips:

• Sign up for Food Lion's Shopping Companion online, and receive Food Lion store coupons in your email, that PUBLIX accepts separately or ON TOP OF manufacturer coupons for the same items.
• Wednesday is Senior Citizens day at Publix. If you are over 60, or have someone over 60 WITH you, it's 5% OFF your entire grocery bill.

My Publix example of savings:

Right now, Pubix has a B1G1 free on Juicy Juice 100% All Natural Juice.
Regular Price of 1 Juicy Juice bottle is $3.62, for 2 bottles of Juicy Juice this would cost: $7.24
The B1G1, makes you able to get 2 bottles of Juicy Juice for: $3.62.
Using a $1.00 off of 2 Juicy Juice Coupon, found on coupons.com, you can now get 2 bottles of Juicy Juice for $2.62. This makes each bottle cost you $1.31, INSTEAD OF $3.62.
This is a total savings of: $4.62

SO, think about your household consumption for a week. My little boy drinks a 1 bottle of juicy juice a week, so to cover my 6-8 week sale cycle, I need 8 bottles of Juicy Juice. I need to print 4 of these coupons, and take them to Publix, and buy 8 of bottles of Juicy Juice. If I had no B1G1 sale, an NO coupons, this would cost me: $28.96. With this deal, I get 8 bottles of Juicy Juice for: $10.48. A total savings of: $18.48

This is just one example of combining a sale, with a coupon, and the stocking method.
At first, it may take a while to catch up on the stocking up part, and to get faster and faster at finding the coupons. Ultimately, you'll have it down to 30 minutes of prep for your once a week grocery/CVS trip, saving anywhere from 30$-75% of your previous grocery bill.

www.southernsavers.com lays a lot of the sales fliers and coupons out for you. I hope this blog on Publix also proves helpful.