Chandler mom shares grocery coupon strategy

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.

The company's Internet-based tracking system makes shopping this way quick and easy, but it's a strategy anyone serious about saving money can implement, provided they allocate enough time to mapping out a game plan.

"Your grocery budget doesn't have to be fixed. There are a lot of things - your car payment, your mortgage - that you don't have room to move on, but you can cut down what you spend on food," says Meyers.

Her tips for saving on your next trip to the store:

To start, ask friends, family and co-workers to save their newspaper coupon inserts for you. Within a month, you'll build a coupon bank.

With ample coupons on hand, scour grocery ads, matching sale items with coupons you already have. This dictates what you'll buy, with the exception of meat and produce since there are rarely coupons for those. Buy multiples of each item so that you begin to build a surplus of pantry goods.

Next, scan ads for affordable meat and produce. "The first couple weeks, you'll be planning your menus off of what's on sale," Meyers concedes, "until you build up a little bit of an inventory. If hamburger's on sale, you might have to get creative and think of three different ways to cook hamburger." As you stock up on pantry and freezer basics, she says, your meal options won't be limited.

Instead of one big shopping trip, pop into a different store each time you're out. It's the only way to get the lowest price on, say, milk in a given week.

Once lists are made and coupons clipped, separate them into envelopes labeled with each store's name. Keep them in your car, and you can hit a different store every time you're on an errand.

Devote a few hours to strategy. "It's going to take you a while to plan it all out at first, because you've never done it before," says Meyers.

Stretch your grocery dollars

Several local grocery chains are offering to help stretch your government stimulus check. Most deals require you to cash and spend your check at the grocery store in exchange for a 10 percent cash-back bonus and a 10 percent-off coupon. Inquire at your favorite grocery store for details; offers are good for a limited time.

Coupon services

Let's face it: Shopping this way is hard work. Unless you've got lots of time and a bargain-hunting gene that turns every trip to the grocery store into a thrilling game, coupons could leave you feeling like they're more trouble than they're worth. If you like the idea but lack the time, several Internet-based companies will do some of the work for you, for a fee.

Some examples:

• www.couponsense.com Chandler mom Laurie Meyers' Web site lets you see sales, coupons and savings for eight local chains and click to customize your own shopping lists.
• www.grocerycoupons.net or www.thecouponmaster.com - Select coupons at these online coupon stores, and the companies will mail them to you.
• www.thegrocerygame.com This Southern California-based company matches coupons to sales and provides color-coded shopping lists in all 50 states.

Where to wield your coupons

These stores double the face value of manufacturer's coupons, up to $1, every day:

• Bashas'
• Fry's
• Safeway

These stores redeem manufacturer's coupons at face value every day:

• AJ's Fine Foods
• Albertsons
• Food City Sprouts
• SuperTarget
• Trader Joe's
• Wal-Mart
• Neighborhood Market
• Wal-Mart Supercenter
• Whole Foods Market

In addition to honoring coupons, some stores will price match if you bring in another store's ad. In most cases, you simply have to ask.