How to Save Money by shopping "The Cycles"

A huge part of saving money is shopping the sales cycles.  Sales cycles are basically a certain time of year that items usually go on sale.  You're already familiar with this concept when it comes to retail stores. You know Back to School stuff starts in July/August. Halloween items come out in August/September.  Christmas/Holiday items start as early as October.  And so it goes for all the major holidays.  I won't debate with you whether it's good or bad.  Some people like the extra time to shop sales and prepare and other's feel that they don't get to enjoy the season they're in because everywhere they go the next season is bearing down on them.  Regardless of your views on the subject you can make these cycles work to your advantage.

You can find a great month by month list of the national holidays, national food day or week holidays and what produce is in season from LivingRichWithCoupons.com here.


Shopping Sales Cycles
You will see that grocery stores actually try to work with the coupons available.  You'll find that a particular brand of ketchup is on sale and then you look at the coupons available, lo and behold the same brand has a coupon as well.  That's called what couponers call a "match-up."  Grocery stores plan their marketing around the sales cycles.  It will draw more customers to them.  You see great deals on things that you are already seeing advertised everywhere.  Think of the commercials that come on in summer: people outdoors and grilling, water sports and swimmng, camping etc.  You are seeing these commercials and thinking, "yeah, I want to grill or go to the beach" etc.  So now you need burgers, hot dogs, chicken and all the condiments to go with.  This is a good example since it is summer while I am writing this.  Condiments are a BIG deal in summer.  You'll see everything from BBQ sauce, ketchup and mustard to salad dressings, oil and vinegar are on sale in the summer.  You'll see lots of coupons for those same items.  This is the time to stock up on those items.  No, you probably don't need 8 bottles of barbecue sauce for this week or even this month.  However, barbecue sauce and other condiments are items that usually doesn't expire for about a year or so. (Quick tip: Always check expiration dates when you are purchasing for stock.  Most stores put the newer product behind the older so you can grab from the back if the expiration dates are too recent.  You should follow this same strategy at home so you are using your older items before they expire.  It's commonly referred to as FIFO, First In - First Out.)

You can find a great month by month list of the national holidays, national food day or week holidays and what produce is in season from LivingRichWithCoupons.com here.

Shopping "In-Season"

Another way to save is to shop produce that is in-season.  What does this mean exactly?  Well it means that you are buying produce that naturally is ripening and ready to pick at the particular time of year you are shopping. Here is a guide from CookingLight.com of what produce is in-season throughout the year. There are a million reasons to eat and buy in-season produce but I will focus on the money saving aspects.  The first is that they are going to be cheaper.  Since the produce is naturally ripening during this time it means that the better looking, larger-sized produce will be more abundantly available.  They may even be in excess.  There are more sources for grocery stores to get their produce from.  They can choose lower cost produce since they have so much more to choose from. This means sales to their customers and big savings for you.  (For an interesting aside, check out this article/video about a French grocery store chain that decided to sell "ugly" produce. I think it will help explain a bit of why produce can be expensive.)

It's no coincidence that you see a lot of corn in summer.  Does that mean all summer you can only eat corn & hot dogs with tons of ketchup and watermelon for dessert every night?  No.  (Although my son would be perfectly happy with that. LOL)  I'm not saying that saving money on your groceries should make you miserable.   I am saying the exact opposite.  You should be able to feed your family for about half the cost or less of regular retail sales pricing.  In fact throughout the year you should be creating a MANAGEABLE stock pile or pantry for your family so that you can buy items to replace your stock when they are at their lowest rock-bottom prices.  Fast forward and it's the middle of February, you have terrible cabin-fever and you have a hankering for hot dogs and corn.  You're just longing for summer.  You wander into the grocery store paying $5.00 for 3 ears of the tiniest, palest-looking corn on the cob you have ever seen.  You pay $7 for a package of 8 hot dogs and grab a $4 bottle of BBQ sauce and a $3 mini can of baked beans  Of course your thinking summer so $4 bag of potato chips and $2.50 for a bottle of soda.  Making your entire meal cost the same as if you had gone to a gourmet restaurant in Manhattan that takes 3 months to get a reservation.  Ok, maybe it's not quite that bad, but seriously spending Filet Mignon and Lobster money on a couple of hot dogs and some corn is crazy.  If you had purchased these items during their lowest prices with coupons in Summer, you'd have them for at least half of that price.  Your pantry and freezer can be invaluable.

Shopping for Stock & Everyday

When you start couponing you don't save a ton of money.  That doesn't mean you are doing it wrong!!  It actually means quite the contrary!  You should be spending about the same or slightly less but getting probably about twice to 3 times as much stuff.  This means, you can eat your meals every week and also start to stock up on items at lower prices.  This will save you money in the long-run.  You will in the future be able to pass on the "just ok" sales on items and wait until they are at their rock bottom prices because you have a pantry or stock-pile to work from.  If you see a great sale on some meat one day that you take advantage of you don't then have to go and buy all the sides to go with it.  You won't be paying full price for pasta or boxed potatoes because you will already have them at home that you got for free or next to nothing.  That's how you really save a lot of money, planning for the future.

My favorite way to stock up is to focus on  the items you use and will forever use but really don't expire or last a year or more.  We are talking toilet paper, paper towels, napkins, paper plates, plastic bags, garbage bags etc.  Think Shampoo, conditioner, soap, razors, hair products, makeup, moisturizers and lotions.  There are plenty more and of course with any of these items you buy what you use.  In my home we don't use paper products unless we are having a party where there are more people than dishes or mommy is down for the count can't fathom cleaning dishes.  So I don't typically stock up on those items unless I know I have an event coming I need them for.  Back to school time is great for shampoo, conditioner, soaps and other toiletries.  These things are great items to stock up on.  They don't really expire, meaning actually going bad.  They do lose their potency or effectiveness after the "best by" date.  It doesn't mean you can't use it though.  I mean unless of course it has been opened and you have found it smells bad or now contains mold.  Just use a bit of that good ol' common sense I hear people talking about.  Anyway, here's how I work with the sales cycles as an example.

Normally you would pay in my area between $4-$6 on shampoo and conditioner per bottle for a middle of the road quality for an average sized bottle.  I'm obviously not talking the stuff you buy at a salon or the little cheap, mostly water brands.  I'm talking the better brands found in your average pharmacy or grocery store and not the jumbo comes with a huge pump size bottle. I have long curly hair which requires truck loads of conditioner. Curly-haired girls will understand it's either you condition properly or you have a 'fro.  1 bottle will last me 2-3 weeks.  On average if I just shop when I need shampoo and conditioner I would spend probably about $15-$20 on hair products a month.  I can NOT afford that!  Even if I could, at this point, I wouldn't want to pay that. 

 Here's where the coupons come in.  I look through the coupon inserts, online coupon sites and I print and clip coupons for the brands I would buy or are willing to try.  Then I wait, like a hunter in the bush stalking it's prey.  I'm armed to the gills with coupons.  Ok, ok it's not that serious!  But I do check the sales flyers for the stores I shop every week and I look for the deals.  Most of the time you will see that quite a few of the coupons match-up with the sales at some point before they expire.  Some of those same products might also have e-coupons through your store and/or through other rebate apps. (Quick Tip:  I have other posts that talk about website and apps that are useful for couponing. So see those posts for further details.)  Then I stack most of these sales, paper coupons, e-coupons, and app rebates together to get my same shampoo for under $2 or sometimes FREE.  Yes, it's possible to get good quality products for FREE.  So now I got my entire months worth of hair products for about $6 or less.    I will take whatever limit they have. (Quick Tip: Every store has their limits of how much you can buy so it is always wise to check your store for their coupon policy.)  

Sometimes you can even find "catalina" deals.  This is where you will see something that says "Spend $XX on this brand's participating products and receive $X on your next order."  The items participating are usually listed in the sales flyer or online right below the advertisement.  Then you will buy your shampoo and the "catalina" will print out at the register.  Then you take the catalina like free money and run! Ok don't really run because it's not real money.  But you can use these catalinas to buy other items on your list that you don't have coupons for, like meat, dairy and produce, which are harder to come by.  That is how I can still save money and buy my regular groceries for the week but also keep my stock of non-expiring and non-perishable items. (Quick Tip:  To get the best deals you can't be "brand loyal."  You have to be a flexible consumer.  If you only buy one brand you will see that the coupons are hard to come by regularly and the sales are just as tough to find.  Be willing to try different brands and especially new products.  Companies give the biggest discounts and coupons on new items they are releasing to help draw customers to their new line or product!)

I hope this gives you all a glimpse into the world of couponing and starts to demystify some of the tricks of the trade.  Do you have tips or questions you'd like to share?  Comment below and Happy Savings!