How to PLAN a Shopping Trip

Now that you have your binder with coupons ready to go, you need to plan a shopping trip!

Sales ads come out on Sunday and Wednesday.

Please keep in mind that sales are regional. Meaning, just because something is on sale for me in Southern MO, doesn't mean it will be on sale in CA. Same goes for stores and coupons.

Wednesday is the easiest day for me to plan. All the ads are out and my oldest daughter is at school.

I take the time to visit all of my local stores online and bookmark their weekly ad. It makes it a lot faster pulling them up every week.

I usually sit with my binder in front of me so it will be a quick reference.

As I look through the ad, I will write down everything that we use, need, or anything that I have coupons for that I can donate to a local charity.

It will look a little like this:

PC
      Chicken, tuna, hamburger helper 4.3-12.2 oz $ .99

HH
       ZZZ Quil Sleep Aid 6oz or 6ct $3.99
       Suave Professionals Shampoo/Conditioner 8.5-12.6oz $1.87

DG
       Palmolive 14oz $ .85
   


Since I only shop at Wal-Mart, I will ad match (AM) everything that I can there. If you choose to do this, you will need to pay particular attention to size, weight, brand and quantity. (I will go more in depth about this later)

Now that you have your list done, you will need to go through your binder to see if you can match your coupons to your list.

All the items listed above I have coupons for. So now I will make a new list with just the coupon match ups.

It will look a little like this:

PC
       9 $ .75/3  Chicken, tuna, hamburger helper 4.3-12.2 oz $ .99
         27 boxes $2.22 oop WYB3

HH
      4 $1/1 ZZZ Quil Sleep Aid 6oz or 6ct $3.99
         $3.99x 4 = $15.96 - 4 = $11.96 oop
     
      2 $1/1 Suave Professionals Shampoo/Conditioner 8.5-12.6oz $1.87
         $1.89x 2 = $3.78 - $2 = $1.78 oop WYB2

DG
       4 $ .25/1 Palmolive 14oz $ .85
          4x $ .85 = $3.40 - $1 = $2.40 oop WYB4
     

The red numbers are how many of that coupon that I have or can use per transaction.
Sometimes you will need to make more than one transaction if you would like to use all of your coupons.
The most popular ones that I have seen are 1, 2 and 4 like coupons per transaction.

When I am all done figuring the math of each item, I will make a total oop that way I will know what I will spend at the checkout so there is no guessing.

I hope this helps a bit!
Please let me know if you have any questions or tips!

I will be working on the actual trip next!