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Coupon cutting queen spends $10 on groceries
Filed under: Work Life, Chores
I can't go into Target without spending $100, which is why I never, ever go to Target. But if I could get some lessons from coupon queen Chrissy Thompson, things might be different. She once bought $380 worth of merchandise at Target for -- are you ready for this? -- two cents.Thompson has coupon clipping down to a science and has whittled her $200-$250 per week grocery bill down to as little as $10. She combines weekly sales fliers, coupons, in-store discounts, and customer rewards to buy only the things her family needs. When she does come home with something extra that she got for free, she donates it.
It really all sounds thrilling. Imagine practically eliminating groceries from your household budget. This is where Thompson loses me, though: Each shopping trip takes up to four hours, with stops at seven different stores. My kids get cranky after three stops and I get cranky after two. Seven stops would push me to the brink of sanity, then give me a good, hard shove over the edge.
Still... a trip to Target for only two cents? It's tempting.
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
6-01-2008 @ 12:13PM
Deviya said...I use thegrocerygame.com which is such a huge life and financial saver. Been using it for 5 months and I have saved HUGE!!! BEEEG!!! I thought coupon clipping was for lamers and now I am part of the coupon clipping population and I am so proud. I have shocked people at stores with how much I have saved with coupons. I couldn't go for 4 hours trips at 7 stores but a few stores saving me tons of money makes the work all worth while. KUDOS to Chrissy Thompson!!!
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6-02-2008 @ 12:16AM
Kristin said...That's a great savings tip.... You should check out The Pay Yourself First Consumer Challenge (http://www.pyfchallenge.com/). All you have to do is create a one-minute video that shares what you’re saving for, and why you should be selected as one of the five challengers….. Upload your video by July 31 to win. Here are detailed instructions: http://www.pyfchallenge.com/details/index.html
6-01-2008 @ 2:37PM
Clarissa said...4 hours and 7 different stores. What she is saving by running around to all those stores she is putting into her gas tank.
I shop at one store for everything. I get great deals and save money by only making one trip to one store. You can save money at any store, you just have to look for the deals.
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6-01-2008 @ 11:37PM
Jenn said...See, the problem I've run into is that you can't ever find coupons, etc on healthy stuff! I go to the grocery store to buy produce, meat, dairy, and stuff like that. There are rarely coupons for that sort of thing, although I do take advantage of in-store specials and fliers, definitely.
Also, I don't understand why you would use a coupon to buy a name-brand item when the store-brand item is still cheaper.
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6-03-2008 @ 1:47PM
Brian said...Four hours in seven stores, yeah that's a bit of a timesuck - but most of the time she's in the store and thus NOT driving. I just wish they had provided a few more details on just how she got that Target bill down to two cents. Best I ever did with coupons there was save 45 bucks on a 180 dollar tab, and most of that was coupons on Halloween candy.
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6-03-2008 @ 9:56AM
bettrocks said...Omigod, who is this Chrissy Thompson and how can I get her to be my best friend?
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6-03-2008 @ 9:55PM
Judy said...I agree with someone else who said the problem is there aren't many coupons for healthy stuff. I've kept all my grocery receipts for the past month, and looking them over, there just aren't that many things we buy that they give coupons for. We buy store brand milk, not very much meat at all, and mostly "whole" foods - oats, fruit, veggies, other grains, beans. I suppose if we switched to canned fruits, already processed grains, canned beans, more meats, more processed foods, we might be able to use coupons and save money, but that defeats the purpose.
Seriously, do they give coupons for bananas?
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6-03-2008 @ 11:00PM
Judy said...I just now went to a couple of the coupon printing websites to browse, because I look through the coupon section of our Sunday paper and have a decent idea of whta's in that. In 9 pages of coupons for my area, the closest things to real food were individual, sweetened yogurt cups, organic canned tomatoes (not cheaper, even with the coupon, than the store brand), and the expensive loaves of bread.
Seriously, I'd love to know how these people do it AND eat a healthy diet, because I just don't see how you can save that much on fresh produce. I found another website once, where a mom blogger showed all the food she had gotten and how little she had paid for it. It sounded great, but the picture showed lots of mac and cheese, boxed meals, canned fruits and veggies, processed grains. There was very little whole food there, and it was so disappointing.
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