Due to Covid-19, I was placed on an unpaid Leave Of Absence from my job, so I had to go onto a new emergency budget and apply things I wrote in Quit Your Job! You Really Can Afford Stay at Home Parenthood. https://youtu.be/hyYKXwhxtNQ

 I recently connected with Andrea Roseli (https://www.aroseli@primerica.com) who usually helps working families with investing for their future and getting out of debt. But in our conversation, she helped me further understand how to utilize app coupons and refund offers. She maximizes Target Circle Offers, so I decided to give it a try.

 Families can save much more than a single person can, but I needed to save in any way I could.   I am only spending money on food and essentials, so I focused on offers like 5% on storewide purchases; $10 off specific  food and beverage purchase; 15% off other grocery items; $.35 off peanut butter;  25% off lasagna; 30% off cranberry juice; etc.

I prepared my grocery list using their specials on only things I needed.  I stayed away from things I don’t need like ice cream and chips no matter how tempting they were. For the most part I also avoid processed foods, which aren’t healthy anyway.  Unfortunately, these are the most frequently discounted items.

After creating my grocery list, I went to the Ibotta App. This one of many Apps that provides money back for purchases made at the various stores that they represent.

So I went to the Target tab and looked through all the food and beverage items listed.  I focused on things like a turkey ($2.00 back); milk ($.10 back); butter ($.50); cheese ($.25); ground pork ($.10); avocados ($.75); fresh chicken ($1.25); chicken broth ($1.00); toilet paper ($.25); etc.

When I visited Target, I carefully compared an item with a discount or an item with a cash back offer to be sure that the store brand wasn’t cheaper even without the special offers.

Even for a single person I was able to save about $6.20 in discounts and $4.35 on cash back. That is $10.55 which I saved.

Grocery stores make it worth a bit of time in research too.  Be sure you register as a preferred customer to get deals at checkout. For instance, I just saved $25.39 on a $95.43 grocery bill.

Here’s a word of advice on cash back for purchases at big box stores. I just purchased a box of 6 packs of crackers for $9.49. I had a cash back offer of $1.00 per pack up to 5 packs. You sometimes have to scan the receipt and the bar codes on the packages. So I made sure to take out each pack of crackers up to 5 and scanned each individually. So I will get $5.00 back and I only paid $9.49.  That means I got 6 packs of crackers for the price of one pack at the grocery store.

So, imagine how much you can save buying for more than just one person.