An estimated 200 people came to the second annual Students With Families Conference to learn how to save time and money last Saturday.
“The people that have come have been enjoying themselves,” said Shelly Bennion, a U alumna.
Among several speakers at the conference was Ken Roesbery, the Grocery Guru. Roesbury taught participants how to cut their food budget by as much as 70 percent, while saving 40 hours a year in just nine steps.
“The [grocery] thing was awesome,” said Annette Brown, a senior majoring in human development.
The program is based on buying what’s on sale and adding store coupons and manufacturers’ coupons to get the best possible deal.
Step one is to have two subscriptions to a Sunday newspaper. Roesbery recommended having a subscription to both the Deseret Morning News and to The Salt Lake Tribune.
The second step is to get a three-ring binder and a three-hole punch. Every week, one should cut out the Valassis and Smart Source coupons from their Sunday newspapers.
After cutting them out, Roesbury said to write the date they appeared in the newspaper on the front cover of each coupon slick with a marker, punch holes in the coupon slicks and put them in the binder on top of the slicks from previous weeks. It is best to discard the last coupon slicks in the binder, once the binder has been built up from five weeks of coupons.
Step three is to pick a specific store to shop for the groceries. People who run from store to store trying to save money, will often find that they’ve spent more on gas, automobile usage and valuable time, Roesbury said.
The fourth step is to organize the food plans for the week. From the store one has selected for their shopping, they must create their menu plans from the advertisements in the Sunday papers. As the menu is arranged, one should plan to buy the items that are on sale that week from the store’s advertisements. Roesbury said this generally saves a person 50 percent before they even use coupons to save even more.
Step five is to develop a specific shopping list while creating the menu.
The sixth step is to not clip any coupons from the slicks until one is ready to head out to the grocery store. If one clips their coupons in advance and doesn’t make the shop, then it is difficult to keep track of the coupons location and date they were delivered in the newspaper, Roesbury said.
Step seven is to locate the coupons from the binder and cut them out after completing the menu and shopping list and are ready to shop.
The eighth step is to paperclip the coupons together after they have been cut out.
When combining store coupons with manufacturer’s coupons for a certain item, paperclip the store coupons separately. Hand the store coupons to the cashier at the beginning of your checkout. Give the cashier the manufacturers’ coupons at the end of the checkout process.
Step nine is to stay organized by keeping your binder updated.
If you would like more information on how the program works, visit www.gurusdeal.com.