The Second Key to “Fly the Coup”
- Find the Rock Bottom Price Deals
- Stock Up at the Rock Bottom Price
The Rock Bottom Price
- Most items you buy typically go on a rock bottom sale price every 12 weeks
- This means you can consistently shop one grocery store and one drugstore each week and take advantage of the sale cycles of those particular stores.
- Of course, you can “cherry pick” any store in your area for freebies or extra good deals. But this is not a necessity for the ‘Fly the Coup’ Heavenly Cent system to work for you.
Finding the Rock Bottom Price
Pick a list that works for you. I like to use a pay-for list as my primary source list and supplement that with a specialty list like the deal lists posted on Heavenly Cent.
Why Pay for a List:
- The pay for lists present information in a spreadsheet style format that is easy to read
- Identify a rock bottom price based on a mathematical calculation using known prices of goods in your specific location.
- No need for the user to determine what percentage savings is a rock bottom price for a given item. For instance you can’t rely on percentage savings as an indicator of “rock bottom”. I never pay for toothpaste; I get it for free. Yet, other products are “rock bottom” at 30% off.
Pay-For Lists I Recommend:
Savings Angel:
Pros:
- Monthly fee gives you access to all available stores
- Larger choice of stores (at least in my area)
- Reference to All You magazine coupons
- Links to online coupons are imbedded in list
- A Savings Angel icon guides you to rock bottom prices
- You can search for an item across multiple stores. For instance, if you need dog food and don’t know who has it on sale, you can easily search all stores in your area.
Cons:
- More expensive if you only want one or two stores
The Grocery Game, Inc.
Pros:
- The list is color coordinated according to whether something is free, rock-bottom price, or on sale (but not a rock bottom price)
- The list can be sorted a variety of ways, with my favorite being to sort by color. Then I just shop off the “free” and “rock bottom” items.
- In my experience, the list is very accurate. I can literally “trust the list”.
- Can control the cost by only paying for 1 grocery store and 1 drugstore.
Cons:
- Not as large of an assortment of stores (at least in my area)
- No ALL YOU coupons
- Database of printable coupons requires you to go outside the list to another part of the website to find the coupon
- No ability to search across multiple stores
Specialty Lists:
Specialty lists, such as the ones on this blog, give shoppers another way to find good deals.
Pros:
- Free
- Often I find the best deals, with the biggest savings on blogs
Cons:
- Usually the user needs to have a sense of what is a good deal for the rest of the deals on the list
You can choose to follow one list or a combination of a pay-for list and specialty list. Do not be afraid to pay for a list; the few dollars you spend a week on the list will be repaid to you through your savings at the store.
Stocking Up
“Stockpiling” ~ is this a good thing, stirring up feelings of providing for your family in times of dire need? ~Or~ does the phrase stir up feelings of an obsessed, crazy person, hoarding boxes and boxes of more pasta that could be consumed in a lifetime?
Whatever your personal connotation of the word, “stockpiling” is an important part of a smart shopping strategy. Since products we purchase only get down to the rock bottom sales price every 12 weeks, it would probably be a good idea to buy enough items while the item is on sale to cover the next 12 weeks.
Most people do a form of stockpiling anyway. Who doesn’t have a few extra cans of tomatoes or mac & cheese in the cupboard? The key is to find a balance that works ~ buying enough to last, while respecting the family budget and not over buying.
