Your money or your time? These days, the grocery store is sucking up more of both as we troll sales, cut coupons, and compare unit prices (ugh) on ever-shrinking packages. Here are some sites to win back more of each for yourself:

The Grocery Game: Serious Coupon Pros Only

Try as I might to become a coupon cutter, a practice that does save cash, I am a mere dabbler. (I remember all the expired coupons for chocolate cluttering up the ugly coupon accordion I had when I was 13, and I just can’t go back there!) I realized this after trying out the Grocery Game. For $1, you get a month-long trial of what I’ll a coupon index of four grocery and convenience stores in your area code.

Each week, you get a list of everything on sale at each store, with codes pointing you to various coupon sources in your Sunday paper. Items listed in blue and green indicate free stuff (some after rebates) and groceries you should stock up on because the prices are so low. Items in black, so says the list, you should avoid until they go green or blue. The idea is to do it long enough so that your grocery list matches that of the game, and you’re never buying items in black. After the $1 trial, the service costs $10 every 8 weeks for the first store you choose, and $5 every 8 weeks for each additional store list.

I found I couldn’t keep up with the lists, and that since I was already using my Sunday circulars (a plug to re-up for your local newspaper, people!) and in-store sales, it didn’t make much sense for me. Also, I found the forbidden black items all that more alluring. Cub popcorn, mmm, now that’s a great idea!

On the other hand, if you thrive on scoring a triple-coupon play, this is your site. (I bet you’re really good at Monopoly, too!)

CouponMom: A True Maven

CouponMom feels your time-money pain, and is set up for users like me, who just want the coupons, thanks. But as you look around, you realize you’ll be returning to register (free) for the coupon database. Or to check out the restaurant deals, online coupon codes, deals by state, and the CouponMom blog. It also carries a military coupon program, syndicated articles on saving, and a Cut Out the Hunger program. All just waiting for your precious minute or two.

Mommysavers: A Frugal Mom Portal

There is waaaaay more than coupons here at Mommysavers. Tons of forums and blogs on all things family, books, ebooks, newsletters. I’m skimming the surface here of a site that requires real immersion, but I’ll at least sign up for a free newsletter and make it a point to check back in later.

Wesabe: Community for All Things Personal Finance

Wesabe is way cooler than Mint.com; I wish I’d discovered it before we piled and configured all our info in Mint. Wesabe not only lets you see your accounts and how you’re doing at a glance. It also has spots for goals, tips, and discussion groups, like frugal foodies, for example. Your goals show up as little pictures on the left-hand column when you log in, so you can always see those big priorities first. Click on the tags for your categories of spending, like groceries, and you’ll see how much other Wesabe members spend, on average, and what they think of the same stores you frequent. Clicking on one of your spending categories also automatically links you to tips about that category.

In fact, I’m making an early New Year’s resolution to get us set up on Wesabe (since my better half did all the work for Mint.com) and spend more time here.

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Tags:   coupons · grocery savings · grocery store8 Comments