Title: Pick Another Checkout Lane, Honey!
Author: Joanie Demer & Heather Wheeler
Publisher: Krazy Coupon Lady, LLC
Release Date: January 2012
Length: 329 pages
Genre: Self-Help/Improvement
Format: paperback
Source: borrowed from a friend
Find the book: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Synopsis
This is not you grandma’s coupon book! Pick Another Checkout Lane, Honey teaches you step-by-step how to:
o Find coupons and “stack” them with a sale for huge savings.
o Build a stockpile of food at rock-bottom prices to last you and your family up to a year.
o Make passers-by gape at your cart full of groceries you purchased for 75% off retail price.
o Get your cashiers to gasp and applaud as you purchase everyday items for pennies on the dollar.
o Gain the confidence to strut down the aisles, flaunt your coupons, and maybe even wear high heels to the grocery store!
Authors Joanie Demer and Heather Wheeler, founders of TheKrazyCouponLady.com, share their expertise along with hundreds of tried and true coupon tips in a fun, user-friendly format that will have shoppers high-fiving the grocery store cashier in no time.
Review
If you want to learn how to cash in for that expensive vacation, save up for a large household purchase or just cut back on monthly spending, this book can tell you one place to save big: the stores.
Yes, these women have been featured on Extreme Couponing. Yes, these women know how to wheel and deal. Yes, these women have families and still save big. Yes, they tell you how to do it ALL.
No, I will never be a Krazy Coupon Lady, and here’s why: Pick Another Checkout Lane, Honey advocates for stockpiling. I come from a family of hoarders, and I will soon marry a man who has hoarder tendencies (seriously, what is the fascination with empty odd-shaped boxes and discarded item packaging!?!). I cannot do hoarder. Plus, I have that Type A personality where everything has to be organized neatly and in its place. It just will never work out for me. However, in the book they talk about how having a stash of particular foods and household items (with amount suggestions!) can ease the burden if something were to suddenly happen to your family’s financial situation (as it did to them).
Now, here’s the burning question I know you are all wondering: How do I save money at the grocery store if I’m buying to stockpile? Well, it’s simple really, and this is what I fully plan to investigate and take advantage of: once you get settled with couponing, only buy products that you have a coupon for AND are on sale or promotion. AND you can use a store coupon AND a manufacturer’s coupon on an item – it’s legit.
They recommend multiple copies of your Sunday paper for the coupon inserts. One of the ladies gets six – I think that’s drastically too much for me. I’ve been buying two Sunday papers, at the recommendation of the friend who gave me the book to read and try. This friend has been doing this a while and truly cashes in at CVS and Walgreens, primarily. You can also buy coupons online and have them mailed to you. Apparently a lot of women do Krazy Couponing!
They share how to know if a coupon is authentic (especially for those bought online), how to select the right checkout lane, how to take care of your checkout purchases, how to talk to your checker or store manager.
One thing the book talked about was that people often complain that store brands are cheaper than name brands, even with coupons. Well, it all comes back to using a coupon for a name brand item during a sale/promotion. I’ve grown up on store brands most of my life, with a few exceptions, and I have a Partner Perks card for HEB so I save even more on store brand items – and that adds up nicely usually each visit – but with staking out the sales and coupons, it can be done. The other thing these fabulous ladies share is that stores run promotions and sales in a 3-4 month cycle, and they break it down in the book so you know what to look for and when.
They have tested various methods of couponing binder set-up and provide the two best methods they’ve tried. I started setting up my binder shortly after finishing the book, but I am still missing a few things before it can be completed. Right now, it’s all sitting in a heap in my closet. Be prepared: you will need a several inches thick binder. Thankfully I haven’t actually put anything into mine yet, but I already know I need to go back and get a bigger binder.
What I really liked about this book is that it sets everything up for you. If you’ve done your binder correctly, you’ve got your store policies and you’ve tested it all out at your favorite stores, you should be good to go – and SAVE!
The other thing I really liked about this book is that it shares how to involve your friends and family into couponing, and has an entire section dedicated to teaching your children money and saving lessons with suggestions. They recommend couponing be a family affair.
This was a very informative book – and I now know how to really get a bang for my buck even though I’m not going to go all-out krazy about it. No, you don’t have to be a Krazy Coupon Lady either, you can be a Savvy Coupon Lady like me, but getting the inside scoop from this book will set you up very well to start saving at the checkout.
About the Authors
Joanie Demer and Heather Wheeler, founders of TheKrazyCouponLady.com, are two stay-at-home moms on a mission to help you save $10,000 in a year. Once college roommates, Joanie and Heather now balance their booming business along with Pull-ups and sippy cups. They are both passionate about empowering women to take control of their financial lives!
Girl of 1000 Wonders 
[…] These are a few receipts from some of our grocery shopping trips since we moved in March. As you can see, I’ve gotten a little better at it! If you want to find out how to save some $$$ at the grocery store, go check out my review of Pick Another Checkout Lane. […]