"The second most expensive item we're buying today is $1.75," Bannister told The Missourian as we shadowed her on the shopping trip.
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The key to getting these kind of deals is to use coupons when the items are on sale and also to take advantage of store incentives - like Schnucks' policy for doubling coupon values on coupons that are 50 cents off or less up to 15 coupons.
"It's all about timing," Bannister remarked, noting she maximizes that value even more by having enough copies of each coupon to be able to buy multiples of a sale item so she can stock up.
Take, for example, the Band-Aids she bought that were on sale two for $3 or $1.50 each. Bannister had three 50 cents off coupons (which were each doubled to be $1), so she bought three boxes for 50 cents each.
It's also about being savvy.
Bannister took advantage of a Schnucks promotion that offered $5 store credit on your next purchase when you bought 10 General Mills items.
Bannister bought one box of Old El Paso taco shells (on sale four for $5) and nine boxes of cereal (on sale five for $10), had the cashier ring up those 10 items separately using three $1 off coupons and used the $5 store credit to help pay for the other items in her cart.
Bannister, who now lives in Independence with her husband and three kids and is a regional director for BeCentsAble, shares these kinds of tips and many more through BeCentsAble Coupon Workshops like the one she will hold Thursday, May 14, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at East Central College.
The cost of the workshop is $25 per person (or married couple), but Bannister said in her experience, people who take the workshop save that much or more on their next shopping trip by implementing the BeCentsAble know-how.
To register for the workshop, people should call Sharon Witte at 636-583-5195, extension 2410.
At the workshop, in addition to teaching people how to save money by maximizing their coupon value, Bannister shows people how to plan an efficient shopping trip so they save time, how to use coupons and store incentives, even specifically where to find coupons.
"I used to think I was a frugal shopper before BeCentsAble," said Bannister. "Now I know I wasn't. With BeCentsAble, I have been able to cut our household expenses by 30 percent."
Other shoppers claim to have cut their expenses by as much as 50 percent.
How It Works
The first step in saving money begins by planning your trip to the store, said Bannister. This doesn't have to take long, she stressed, noting for her trip to Schnucks last Saturday, she spent maybe 15 minutes familiarizing herself with what was on sale and seeing what she had coupons for.
She started by going to the Grocery Gathering section of the BeCentsAble Web site (www.becentsable.net).
"We have the weekly ads for all over the country listed there," said Bannister. "We have contributors who give us all the weekly deals listed in stores' fliers." Bannister clicked on the Schnucks listing and began making her list. Included with each sale item was a note of where shoppers could find a coupon for it. "That's one of the things we go into more detail on at the workshop," said Bannister, "where to find coupons."
People who have been unsuccessful with coupons in the past - either they find clipping them is too time-consuming or it's hard to keep track of them once you clipped them or you forget to bring them with you to the store - Bannister has a solution: a coupon organizer. The one she uses is called the Couponizer.
"When you have a stack like this," she said holding up the coupons she planned to use Saturday, "you won't forget it at home, because it's like cash." Bannister stockpiles coupons, much like she stockpiles her groceries and household cleaners. When she finds a coupon for something she wants to buy, she makes sure to get as many copies of that coupon as she can. "I buy three or four newspapers each week just so I can get the coupons," Bannister remarked.
On Saturday, one of the items Bannister wanted to buy, a certain brand of dental floss that was on sale and which she had a coupon for, was already sold out.
"I thought that might be the case because it's Saturday and the ad came out on Wednesday," she said. "But if I wanted to, I could get a raincheck from the store so when it was back in stock I would still get that price."
Some of the other tips Bannister has for ways shoppers can save money are: *ÊMake a list before you go to the store and stick to the list. This saves both time and money.
*ÊPlan your meals around what's on sale at the store that week.
* Certain times of the year, you can count on items going on sale: like barbecue sauce in the summer or baking goods around the holidays.
"Even if you don't have a coupon for those items, if you buy them on sale, you're saving money," said Bannister, "so buy enough when they're on sale to last you, say six months."
The BeCentsAble Web site has tips on how to do this, she noted.
*ÊDon't assume the larger size of an item will be a better deal than the smaller size, if the smaller one is on sale and you have a coupon.
Bannister purchased several bottles of the 10.3-ounce-size Dawn dish soap that was on sale for $1 and which she had coupons for, making the final price 50 cents. The larger size, which was about double that of the smaller size was $3, so she got close to the same amount for a third of the price.
Shoppers shouldn't feel guilty about getting these great deals, said Bannister. The stores are reimbursed for the value of the coupons they accept (even when they are doubled) from the manufacturers, so they're not losing money, she pointed out.
And the manufacturers spend lots of money on marketing to get shoppers hooked on their brands, expecting they'll come back to buy it even when it's not on sale or when the shopper doesn't have a coupon, Bannister explained. These days, many shoppers have to be more cost conscious, so that may not be the case, but still Bannister said shoppers shouldn't feel guilty.
"Times are hard right now, and these companies have to work hard to get our dollars," she stated.
Bannister said even the cashiers at the stores where she shops marvel at her ability to bring down the final price of her purchase.
"A lot of times I end up handing out my business cards to the cashier," said Bannister.
As a regional director with BeCentsAble, Bannister wants to teach everyone how to do the same thing, in part because of how good it makes a person feel to save money.
"It's very empowering," she remarked.
"This will totally revolutionize how you shop. It's almost like a sport."
Bannister noted that people are welcome to use all of the information available at becentsable.net, where the information is provided free of charge - even the Grocery Gathering section.
But if they want to learn how to use the BeCentsAble strategies quickly and most effectively, the best way is to attend a two-hour workshop like the one at ECC. There also are opportunities to attend a workshop online.
Mission Is to Share With Others
BeCentsAble was founded in 2008 by a couple of stay-at-home moms from the Kansas City area, Chrissy Pate and Kristen McKee, who wanted to spend less money at the grocery store. For eight months, the two researched strategies online and discovered ways to cut their household and personal care budget from $800 to $350.
Once they found the system worked for them, they wanted to share it with others. The BeCentsAble mission statement encourages people to teach others how to use its strategies and even donate some of their good deals to local food pantries or shelters.
"We will provide a one-stop savings resource to help families save time and money so they can focus on more important things," the BeCentsAble mission reads. "We encourage everyone to 'spread the wealth' by using their new money-saving skills to give back to their communities."
