We dont’ get the paper at our house. When DH and I were first married we subscribed to the newspaper (at that time in Huntsville AL!) and we never seemed to have time to read it. They just got stacked up in a pile that seemed to lurk their with an accusatory attitude. So finally we faced up to the fact that we just don’t get around to reading it most days and trashed the subscription. Now DH just grabs the paper on the occasional weekend. Most of the time he just goes to the Press & Sun Bulletin online (the Binghamton, NY newspaper) and reads the headlines etc for free.
The downside to not getting the paper is I don’t get the grocery store fliers or the coupon inserts.
Well, the coupons don’t bother me too much, because I am not particuarly brand loyal. Except for DH toothpaste, deoderant and shaving cream, I’ll pretty much buy whatever is cheapest. Usually, I can buy things at the regular price at Aldis or Save a lot, or buy a store brand or sale brand for cheaper than what the coupon would be.
Missing the store fliers, on the other hand, is a loss. Although I don’t miss seeing the ones from the discount stores (Target, Kmart, Walmart etc) because they usually just make me want stuff I really don’t need. However the grocery store fliers give good info on the loss leaders / sales.
Recently I realized that you can get the fliers to many grocery stores online! Viola! It does take a little bit longer to scan through them than it does to flip through a paper copy, but it saves time over driving around to all the stores and picking up their fliers (which I never did-I just missed out on the sales unless I happened to be going to the store anyway).
Here are the sites for some of the fliers in the Binghamton/Norwich area. For those of you in other areas, just google the names of your local grocery store chains and see what you can come up with. For this area, you cannot get the “Great American” flier online. For the TOPS food stores you need to have their grocery store card (which is free, you just have to go into the store to sign up for it). Here are the others:
ALDIs (click on the “specials” links on the very bottom)
Save-a-Lot
Price Chopper
Wegmans
P&C
TOPS
Jenn, I came over to your blog from Frugal Living, congratulations on getting it started. Just a comment about not getting the paper any longer – I too use the on-line store fliers – but a bonus here is that my local library has coupons! A volunteer goes in twice a month and clips coupons out of their papers, sorts them by category, and they are free for the taking. Maybe you could suggest it to your local library, or else just pick up the coupon inserts (the “FSI’s or free-standing-inserts” they are called in the food industry) a day or two after the papers have come in. Enjoy, Eileen
Great idea Eileen. Thanks for posting.