How to coupon but less extreme {wife life}

We've all seen the show.

The dedicated ladies who haven't spent any coin on toilet paper or rice in years.

The spend hours a week clipping, sorting, shopping, and saving.

That's great and all but I don't have that time.

Now it is not a secret that teachers don't make a large salary.

I'm okay with that because the job is rewarding in a way that money can't buy.

I feel I can do things, like coupon, to save a few bucks and it makes my salary stretch a little longer.

Let me make it clear that I spend maybe half an hour per week {maybe even less} meal planning and looking how to best take advantage of sales.

I get my coupons from my Mom's and Grandma's Sunday paper. So about once every two weeks I sit down and quickly cut coupons on products that we actually use. At first when I saw save $2.50 or buy one get one free I would want to get it because I had a coupon. But that's not the way to save.

My plan to save us money is by mainly planning our weekly menu based off of sales ads. 

I have a Food City and Ingles within five minutes of my house so sometimes I will see can goods on sale at Food City and meat sales at Ingles and go to both. If I had to use more gas and effort to get these savings then they would not be good deals. We do have a Publix and Target 20 minutes from our house and if I'm that way already I will go shop there but if not I stay more local.

First, now the deals. Our Ingles is more expensive and the produce isn't good but they double coupons and have great meat. So when I can get chicken at $3 a pound I'll buy several and freeze them and that saves money. Or I can double a coupon and get cereal or breakfast bars for .50 then it is worth it.

Our Food City has amazing deals. They often have great sales on name brands that I can use a coupon with. I think the "Food City Brand" is just as good and cost less so it is tempting to want to use my coupon and buy the sale name brand but I have to break it down cost wise. Sometimes it only saves .25 but every bit adds up. It is just taking the time to figure out which is the better deal.

I don't shop at Target for grocery's regularly but I do love it. First, I have the Target Debit Card that saves me 5% instantly, the Cartwheel App, and they let you apply coupons. I think the Market Pantry brand rocks but we hate the meat they have. So again it is taking the 5 minutes to look online and browse the ads. I've got some crazy good deals on K-Cups and we love the bread they have. (usually on sale)

I plan our menu by what we already have and what is on sale.

Like I said above, if I found chicken on sale the week prior and have plenty in the freezer then I look for what is on sale to the store I'm going to and plan from there. 

Sounds time consuming but I promise it is easy. I keep my coupons organized in this $1 Target find that I keep in my purse. 

I sort the coupons into categories such as dry goods, cleaning/paper products, bathroom needs, cold/freezer items, etc. I pull what I know I will use before I go and have them right on hand. If I need to quickly look up something in the store the tabs and sorting I did make it really easy to find.

This saves us about $100 a month.

Not a crazy amount but it is equal to the gas I would put into my car for a month.

Any money saving tips? 

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