Clipping coupons saves grocery costs for this Shelbyville family

Ann Haney feeds her family of eight on $60 a week using coupons and other sales. She is hosting a free workshop 630 p.m. July 14 at First Assembly of God to teach people her methods. (T-G Photo by Tamara Belinc) [Order this photo]

"Sixty dollars feeds six children, ranging in age from five to 21, and also my husband and myself," she said. "We've cut our bill by 2/3."

Haney has been homeschooling her children for 12 years and has lived in Shelbyville for the past six.

"Homeschooling is what gave me the nudge to want to save money," she said.

Coupon clipping isn't anything new for Haney.

"I've been doing it for years," she said, "but I found out I was doing it the wrong way. I was clipping coupons according to my list, not working my list around my coupons."

The women at the workshop gave her tips and pointed out what she was doing wrong.

"I used to hate getting groceries," she said. "It stressed me out so bad. The kids were asking by Thursday when it was grocery day because they said there wasn't anything to eat in the house. Now, there is always plenty in the house to eat, and if I'm sick, I don't have to worry about going because there is food in the pantry."

Her first week, she spent five hours organizing her coupons and making her list. Now, she spends about one hour every week. She keeps them in a big binder filled with plastic pages with pockets. She also keeps the ones she doesn't have room for in Ziploc bags, which are labeled. Another way she stays organized is a grocery list template she created for herself.

The women who ran the workshop in Chattanooga recommended she buy five Sunday papers for the coupons inside.

"I thought since I had a big family, I would buy 10," she said. "I come every Monday to The Times-Gazette to buy them. Fifty percent of my savings come from the Smart Source coupons in the paper."

Her children help out by cutting the coupons and organizing them.

"It's good scissor practice for my five-year-old," she said.

She visits a Web site, www.southernsavers.com, which she says is helpful in finding what's on sale and where. It also has printable grocery store coupons.

Other Web sites she visits include www.hotcouponworld.com, www.coupons.com, www.grocerysmarts.com, www.time2save.blogspot.com, www.redplum.com, www.pgesaver.com, www.cellfire.com and www.restaurant.com.

Her favorite place to shop is Publix.

"They double coupons up to 50 cents," she said. "They will also honor Target and Food Lion coupons. They also have a lot of buy one, get one free sales."

She recently made money by buying 28 bottles of mustard.

"I bought that many because I had 28 coupons, and it was on sale. We go through a lot of it," she said. "I won't have to buy any more mustard for a while, and if my church youth group is having hot dogs, I will always have mustard to give."

She didn't buy them all at one Publix store, though.

"When I'm doing something like that, I try not to buy it all in once place, so they don't run out," she said.

She has also stocked up on razors and shaving cream.

"My husband built cabinets for us to stock the bulk items," she said. "Smaller families won't need as much as I buy, so you just shape it according to what your family needs."

Another place she likes to shop is CVS, which has its Register Rewards.

"CVS is great," she said. "They always work really well with you. I save a lot of money there."

She said she hasn't run into many problems at the stores doing the coupons, although some workers don't know the store's exact policy.

"I try not to buck it," she said. "I just feel like I'm blessed to be saving money."

The stores and manufacturers actually benefit from her using coupons, she said.

"The stores get reimbursed for the amount of the coupon plus eight cents," she said, "and I use the product and have to buy more of it, so that benefits the manufacturer."

Haney is holding a free coupon workshop July 14 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., at First Assembly of God Church in Shelbyville. She will have free hand-outs and will be giving a power point demonstration.

"I will be selling custom coupon binders and the template for my shopping list," she said.

She hopes to teach people how to save money and also hopes churches will use this method to start food pantries.

Haney said some people do hate to get behind her, but many are amazed at what she is doing.

"I had one lady behind me the other day," she said, "and the store offered to let her go to another line, but she refused. She wanted to see how much money I was going to save. When we were finished, she was amazed and was convinced to try it."