Chandler Mom Shares Grocery Coupon Strategy

East Valley Tribune:

At a Bashas’ store in south Chandler, Laurie Meyers is walking away with $50 worth of groceries for $13.57.

This mother of three teenagers knows how to shop for a deal. She’s saved nearly $40 this trip, picking up lunchmeat for 49 cents, a jar of garlic seasoning for 12 cents, and six boxes of Tic Tac mints free. She didn’t pay full price for a single item in her cart.

Meyers did it by purchasing sale items, using coupons and shopping while the store was offering to redeem coupons at triple their value. It’s a strategy any shopper can employ to slash their grocery bill.

“People don’t realize how to use coupons the right way. They don’t realize how much money they could be saving,” says Meyers, who launched her own business, Coupon$ense, in 1998.

The subscription-based service cross-references weekly sales at eight local grocery chains with about six months’ worth of coupons, alerting members when, where and how to save the most money. Subscribers comparison shop sale ads, picking out items they have coupons for and buying up multiples while the item is discounted. The strategy allows them to stockpile enough pantry and freezer goods that they’re rarely caught having to pay full price for anything but fresh meat and produce.

Meyers often picks up groceries at deep discounts this way. Mustard and oatmeal are almost always free, she says, because she waits until they’re on sale for $1, then uses a 55-cents-off coupon at a store that doubles coupons up to $1.