With the upcoming school year beginning in just over 5 weeks (BLAH!), I've been thinking a
lot about how to get the best deals on school supplies (and other items, in general).
This will be my first year shopping for supplies since I've become a major couponer/deal hunter. Now, I've always tried to find good deals in the past, but sometimes convenience overtook my desire to save money and I know that I've paid more money than I should have in previous years. All of this got me thinking about how do we know when we've gotten a
good deal versus a
great deal?
In my experience, it will involve some time and effort...you'll really need to do some prep work: watching flyers/online sales & connecting with others on blogs/FB pages to help you figure out when an item has reached its rock-bottom sale price.
A great example of this is
pasta sauce. Depending on the brand you normally purchase for your family, the regular price per jar can range from
$2.50-$3.00. So, if a sale comes up in a local flyer to get
4 jars for $5 (or $1.25 each), it may
seem like a really great deal, when it's on a
good deal.
If you spend some time watching flyers and getting a feel for the
sale cycles of items (how often certain items go on sale throughout the year), you'll come to learn that about every 3-4 weeks, stores will have pasta sauce on sale for
99 cents (or less!). No Frills had a sale about 4 weeks' ago where they had their pasta sauce on sale for
3 cans for $2 (or $0.67 each)
...so, I got 4 cans for the price of 1 regular-priced can! ;-)
Now, it may
not be the brand you are used to buying for your family. What I've come to realize over the past few months is, that with couponing, you really need to decide what products you'll be brand loyal to, and which you're willing to switch up in order to save money. For me, pasta sauce is pasta sauce...I use it as the basis for making my own with extra veggies/spices/ground beef, so it doesn't much matter on the brand name. However, I will only ever buy Kraft Dinner brand macaroni & cheese, as my family prefers the taste...so I'm willing to spend more on that item versus a store-brand (although I'm always looking for sales on it!).
So, getting back to school supplies...there is such a short timeframe in order to get the best deals and stores will often adjust their pricing at the last minute in order to offer a better price than their competitors, that it can quickly become overwhelming. Also, some teachers will list specific brands of items they want for their class, which may mean that you need to spend a bit more for something like Crayola markers versus the store-brand markers.
My best piece of advice is to
just do the best that you can...if you're watching flyers and communicating with others as to where they've gotten their deals, then you'll be as prepared as you can be. That's my goal for the coming weeks...I figure any savings I can find will be an improvement over the last few years. When in doubt, I'll be keeping all my receipts, just in case a better sale comes along! ;-P LOL
Happy Shopping,
Andrea
