Smart Shopping can help your bottom line

With prices for just about everything increasing and a dim economic outlook, more people than ever are looking to stretch their dollars as far as they can. To help those new to bargain shopping, here are some tips and ideas to help you get started.

1.    Reduce your trips, reduce your bill

A little planning can go a long way. Planning a menu for a week or two at a time can reduce the number of trips to the store for those one or two items you forgot. Grab your grocery store’s weekly ads and build your menu around what is on sale that week.

2.    Look for coupons

Smart shopping plus coupons equal’s big savings for you. The most convenient source for coupons is the Sunday paper. I recommend purchasing a Sunday Indianapolis Star as it had the most coupons of any paper in our area due to their large circulation. Coupons can also be printed online. Make sure you print your coupons from a reputable site and check with your stores coupon policy to see if they accept Internet coupons before you attempt to redeem them.

3.    Organization is Key

Your coupons are no good if you cannot find them to use them. Find a coupon organizational system that works for you. Some people sort clipped coupons in photo book binders, some people keep the whole coupon inserts in a folder and only clip the coupons they need as they need them. Once you decide on a method that works best for you, sort your coupons as they are clipped or as you receive them. Sorting as you go will save you time later.

4.    Know when to buy

Most people redeem coupons for items they buy the most often when they need to buy it. This casual coupon use can net you some savings of course, but hard core couponers track sales cycles, purchase (by paying a clipping fee) or trade for extra coupons and buy multiple items when they are at their best price not necessarily when they are needed. This stockpiling allows you to have the items you need, purchased at their best price, until they are on sale again.

5.    Find the deals

Watch the sale ads for all the stores in your area. Be willing to shop at a store you might not always shop at if they have better deals or are more coupon friendly. You may not realize that drug stores like Walgreens and CVS locally have excellent health and beauty deals especially when paired with their Easy Saver rebate (Walgreens) and Extra care bucks (CVS) programs.

Now that you have five great tips to get you started, head over to the Bedford online forums to read the shopping deals and resources I will be posting all this week. Please feel free to share your own shopping tips or post a question you may have. Happy Shopping!