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Once you are armed with a list and have your coupons all pulled, you need to figure out how to best plan your shopping trip.  The key to frugal shopping is to visit more than just one store, and to get the best deal at each.  So, you need to balance this need with other pressing needs, like your time and your gas mileage.  

I recommend setting aside 1 day a week to go to all of the stores you need to go to.  I like Sundays because that is when the week resets (the new sales start).  I set aside about 4 hours on Sunday morning, and I get up very early before the rest of the family.  If I time it right, I can be back just in time to make a wonderful Sunday brunch comprised of all the goodies I have purchased for free or pennies.  

Plan your route.  You should already know which stores you need to go to that week, usually a few drug stores, a super store and a grocery store (depending on what is available in your area).  Go to Google Maps or some other mapping software and plan out a route that makes sense and allows you to visit all the appropriate stores.  Don’t be afraid to look for multiples of the same store— if you have 2 CVS’ within a two-or-three block radius of each other, then you can plan to go to them all.  That way, if one is out of stock on an item you may find it at the other.  Or, if you want to do multiple transactions, you won’t have to “bother” the same store.  

Once you have your route planned, make it a part of your regular routine and do it every week.  You will get to know the cashiers and if you are nice to them and courteous (and they aren’t Coupon-Nazi’s) you will ideally develop a relationship with them where they trust that you are an honest couponer (and, of course you need to be an honest couponer since you’ll see the same people every week).  

Don’t be afraid to do multiple transactions within the store, if you need to maximize the use of money off coupons, or if you have more than 1 CVS card so you can do good deals with limits multiple times (CVS allows 1 card per person, not per household… everyone in my house has their own card, I’m just the only one that shops with them.)  The cashiers will always let you do this if you ask nicely, and offer to get back in line if needed to do your second transaction. 

If a store is out of something, get a raincheck and put it right in your coupon envelope.  Its OK to do this, even if you plan to go to a CVS right down the street that has it in stock.  That way, you will have a raincheck for a good deal that you can pull out at a later point when you need more of the item.  (Of course, this doesn’t work as well for Rite-Aid or Walgreens rebates where rainchecks can be kind of a pain, and where you are still limited to one rebate per household unless you have multiple addresses).  

Sometimes, for really amazing deals, you may want to see if you can work one or two extra trips into your week, maybe stopping after work or on your lunch hour.  I also like to leave open the possibility of going at the end of the week, in case anyone found a really good hidden deal during the week that I want to try.  But, although I leave these possibilities open, I always plan for my Sunday shopping trip.  The bonus to this is I get to pay for my Sunday paper with Extrabucks instead of cash.  Plus, the sale stuff isn’t usually sold out yet, and I have my supplies all set for the upcoming week.

If you can’t shop on Sundays, its a good idea to find out what day “truck-day” is.  Truck day is the day that new deliveries come in to the store, so you have a better chance of finding items in stock.  The downside to shopping on ‘truck days’ is that each different store usually has a different truck day, so you would be shopping much more often.  

When you are in the store, stick to your list.  You can also work on updating your price book, right in store.  We’ll talk about the creation of a price book in our next installment of How to Coupon and Have a Life, so be sure to check back or subscribe to the site so you don’t miss it!