Finding Deals

For me, I start deal hunting with the inserts in my Sunday paper. Because I’m a Savvy Shopper for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, I usually get the inserts Monday or Tuesday the week before they are published. So, I start deal finding then.

I realize, most people won’t be able to access inserts online until Thursday or Friday at an insert preview website, so while you are waiting, you should get plugged into Twitter and Facebook so you can see what’s going on deal-wise in the meantime.

When you are able to get your hands on some Sunday inserts for your local area, I highly recommend prioritizing them. Put the ones for stores you know you will shop on top, then the ones you might shop, then all the rest. I do this because I know I will go to Target, CVS, and Walgreens every week, so I look through those first. It also helps me to see competitors’ flyers in sequential order so I can remember if I saw a product for a cheaper price elsewhere.

While I’m going through the inserts, I use a black Sharpie marker to circle everything I’m interested in buying or reading more about. Once I’ve finished going through everything, I create a spreadsheet of Stores and their deals along with corresponding coupons. This becomes my weekly article for the paper. You can see it here.

Once that’s done, the next thing on the list is shopping!