Blogging Away Debt Blogging Away Debt follows real people on their journey to debt freedom — with tips on the debt snowball, budgeting, cutting expenses, and staying motivated.

by Jeffrey Strain

Do you want to know what’s the biggest secret of the TV extreme couponers who are able to save incredible amounts of money on their shopping bill? The biggest secret is that most of the savings that they get doesn’t actually come from the coupons that they use. All those coupons that they clip from the Sunday papers, print online from sites like Grocery Coupon Network and store away in complicated fashion in a huge coupon binder aren’t actually where most of their great grocery bill savings come from. How do I know this? Because at one time, I was one of them. The fact is that even if you hate coupons and you know that there is no way that you would ever use them, you can still cut your shopping bill by half or more by simply changing the way that you shop.

The real secret that the extreme couponers use is that they only shop for the very best deals advertised at the stores each week. In other words, they don’t shop for ingredients for the meals that they decide they want to create each week, but instead they plan their meals from what they have in their pantry and freezer. Their meals each week are determined by what food they already have in their house. This may see like a minor difference, but it has a huge impact on the amount of money you will spend on food each week depending on which way you shop.

By cooking their meals from what they already have, their shopping list can be devoted to buying only the very best deals the store has to offer each week. This allows them to purchase food for a fraction of the price that it would normally cost. By simply shopping the best deals, they never pay full retail price for anything at the grocery store. Since most loss leaders and sales allow consumers to buy the product for half or more off its normal retail price, their grocery bills are tiny compared to most. They then use coupons as an added bonus that takes the price of the product from 50 % off down to 80% or more off its normal retail price.

That’s it. That’s the super-duper hidden stealth secret to their shopping savings. By simply changing the way that you cook your meals, you (or anyone) can save 50% or more off your grocery bill even without using any coupons. Take a moment to let that sink in. You can reduce your shopping bill in half if you simply change the way you decide what meals you are going to have each week.

Now, actually changing this habit will take some time and effort, but it’s well worth doing. Cooking meals with what you have on hand often takes a bit of creativity when all the ingredients you usually use may not be available. It also requires that you plan ahead and are a bit more organized than usual with your meal planning. If, however, you can succeed, you’ll be amazed at how your grocery bill shrinks from what you used to be paying. I highly encourage you to give it a try, and I think you’ll be astonished at how simply changing the way that you shop can make such a dramatic difference on what you pay at the grocery store.

This is probably the one thing that I now do which saves me the most money when grocery shopping. What are some of the methods you use to reduce the amount you pay each week at the grocery store?

As part of our ongoing giveaway series, this time we are offering a chance to win $100 in cash. Think about how far that could go in combination with this newly learned shopping secret that you just read. I wish you the best of luck in both the contest and in lowering your grocery bills: