COUPON QUEEN KEEN ON SAVING.Byline: Amy Raisin Darvish Staff Writer CANYON COUNTRY - Teri Gault n. 1. (Geol.) A series of beds of clay and marl in the South of England, between the upper and lower greensand of the Cretaceous period. was just another stay-at-home mom who turned to coupon clipping coupon clipping The removal of interest coupons attached to a bearer bond in order that they might be taken to a bank or sent to a paying agent for redemption. to stretch a dollar when times were tight. Today, the savvy saver has a staff to clip coupons and do her grocery shopping for her. Welcome to TheGroceryGame.com, Gault's own strategy for big savings that is franchised in 32 states and draws thousands of devotees every week. ``The second biggest monthly budget item in most homes is the grocery bill. I was cutting coupons and tracking sales information and feeding my family (of four) for $35 a week,'' said Gault, 44, who marvels at her newfound status as an entrepreneur. Without revealing her tricks of the trade, the mother of two said her strategy for winning The Grocery Game Grocery Game is a pricing game on the American television game show The Price Is Right. It is played for a four-digit prize, usually valued between $3,000 and $10,000, and uses grocery items. is based on understanding the supermarket industry and its reliance on sale items, both advertised and unadvertised un·ad·ver·tised adj. Not having been advertised to the public: unadvertised sale merchandise. . A visit to the The Grocery Game's online message boards reveals a language spoken by the more than 15,000 members who pay for a weekly, localized version of ``Teri's List,'' a color-coded Rosetta Stone Rosetta Stone: see under Rosetta. Rosetta Stone Inscribed stone slab, now in the British Museum, that provided an important key to the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs. that alerts players about sale items that are truly ``rock bottom'' cheap and which ones are ``phantom'' sales and only appear to be rock bottom. ``Supermarket sales generally work on a 12-week cycle,'' Gault said from her Canyon Country home, with vast views of the Santa Clarita Valley The Santa Clarita Valley is the valley of the Santa Clara River in Southern California. It stretches through Los Angeles County and Ventura County. Its main population center is the city of Santa Clarita. The valley was part of the 48,612-acre (19,672. . ``The sales come in weekly categories. You have to be aware of those trends and know when to use coupons to get the cheapest price.'' The game, Gault said, is driven by two shopping concepts: stockpiling and need shopping. ``Teri's List,'' generated by ZIP code zip code System of postal-zone codes (zip stands for “zone improvement plan”) introduced in the U.S. in 1963 to improve mail delivery and exploit electronic reading and sorting capabilities. , features rock- bottom items in blue and green, which alerts shoppers to stockpile those items regardless of current need. The trick to saving on groceries is patience. After three months, shoppers have stockpiled their own in-home ``stores'' and can purchase only the need-now items, like fresh vegetables, fruits and dairy products dairy products dairy npl → produits laitier dairy products dairy npl → Milchprodukte pl, Molkereiprodukte pl . ``By sticking to Teri's List, your need list gets smaller as your stockpile grows,'' Gault said. The Grocery Game offers a four-week trial membership for $1. Regular members pay $10 every eight weeks. Generated by databases that track categorical sales trends, cycles, coupons, rock-bottom and phantom prices, the list, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. some users, reduces grocery bills by as much as $400. Poster ``rosevum'' logged on to the ``Share your savings'' board on the game's Web site Sunday afternoon and shared her latest success with other devoted fans: ``OK, it's been a while since I have posted: total spent $157; total saved $137. By the way, I am now able to afford to have someone come to the house and clean once a week for me! Hurray for that. I figure if I save a minimum of $55 a week, it pays for my helper.'' The Web site includes tips on organizing coupons, a how-to section and a lengthy list of answers to frequently asked questions. Amy Raisin Darvish, (661) 257-5254 amy.raisin(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color in SAC edition only) Canyon Country resident Teri Gault built TheGroceryGame.com from her extensive knowledge on how to save and stock up at the right times. David R. Crane/Staff Photographer |
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