Seriously excellent savings today at Whole Foods Market. Since I recently discovered that Whole Foods accepts manufacturers' coupons as well as offer their own store coupons, I've been wanting to give it a try. My mission today was to see how much I could actually save. I downloaded their sales flier from the Whole Foods' website. I then matched their store coupons (visit my Organic and Eco-friendly Coupons page and scroll down to the Whole Foods link) with what was on sale and started my shopping list from there. These were mostly items I'd normally buy - maybe a different brand, but essentially the same thing. Some were items I've wanted to try, but price has prevented me from purchasing them on previous visits.
After compiling this list, I checked the manufacturers' coupons I had and matched them with items on my list. I also printed some more out from my Organic and Eco-friendly Coupons page. Couponing 101 tip: many stores allow you to use both store branded coupons and manufacturers' coupons for the same item.
An example from today's scenario: Barbara's Puffins Cereal was on sale for 2/$5. I printed 2 copies of the $1 off any Barbara's bakery product Whole Foods store coupon (they let you print multiples.) I then printed 2 copies of the $1 off any Barbara's product from the manufacturer's website via my coupon page (they also let you print multiples.) So, each box of cereal only cost me $0.50. Not a bad deal.
Not all employees know of the Whole Foods coupon policy. While at the register, the cashier wasn't going to take a bunch of my coupons because he didn't think he was allowed to combine store and manufacturer coupons. A more seasoned employee corrected the error of his ways and everyone was happy. Even the lady behind me in line. She couldn't believe Whole Foods has their own coupons.
Now, I did just watch Extreme Couponing for the first time - don't be intimidated, that's not me. But WOW can they save some money...on loads and loads of junky, processed foods. To each his own. The woman I watched chose to cut back by saving with coupons and sacrificing healthy eating for a fancy BMW. Again, to each his own.
I think I spent about 30 minutes putting this together...and saved 10% off my bill! $30 in savings is not too shabby for a handful of moments enjoyed with my morning coffee. And I know I saved even more with everything I bought on sale. This is not only a scenario for the Whole Foods shopper, but rather something you can take with you to most grocery stores.
Feel free to share you success stories!
2 comments:
Thanks for the coupon info! I wish I got onto this sooner; I went to Whole Foods today and boy was I lost! I was looking for the Vegannaise and couldn't find it!
@Jennifer
You're so welcome! I know...I've bought Vegenaise a bunch of times there and still had to ask someone on my last visit where it was. I feel your pain, but it's so worth it! :>)
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