The Military Commissary - A Part of Your Benefits

by Lisa P | More from this Blogger

20 Jan 2007 12:10 PM

I'll admit it. I have no loyalty to any particular store when it comes to purchasing groceries. Sure, I may go to the King Sooper store that is only a few blocks away when I just need a gallon of milk. I like how they drop the price to $1.50 on it's sell by date. (When you have a little boy at home who goes through a gallon of milk every two days, that milk doesn't have time to go bad!) I also like to buy diapers at Sam's Club. It just makes good sense to buy something like this in bulk when you can get it cheaper that way.

I mainly do my grocery shopping at the military commissary at Buckley Air Force Base though. Even when local stores have sales, their sale prices rarely get as low as the commissary's regular prices - and even then, the commissary will usually run similar sales dropping their prices even lower.

I also have to admit that the cashiers don't like to see me coming. You see, when I go to the commissary to shop, I am all business. I use coupons. Yesterday, I used $60.75 in coupons. The lady behind me was annoyed at the time involved in the cashier scanning every coupon, but she and the cashier were both quite impressed with my savings.

Your military commissary is a great way to save money and by adding coupon savings to everyday low prices, you can save even more. Now, if you are really smart, you'll combine your commissary shopping with coupons and sales to really bring home the bacon! Did you know that DeCA plans commissary sales a year in advance? See the 2007 Commissary Sale Dates thread in the Families.com Deals section. I've already put those dates on my calendar so that I'll know exactly what sales to save my coupons for. You may want to do the same. If you want to get really tactical, you'll do a quick recon of your commissary on the first day of the sale and pick up the coupon fliers that they always have available that day. I'll usually do this with my son, early in the morning, while plenty of those coupon fliers are still available. Then I'll go home, clip the coupons, and plan my shopping attack for the next day.

Here is another thing that I do when shopping the commissary that few others do. You can actually download the floor plan of your commissary from the Official Commissaries Website. I've copied the Buckley AFB commissary floor plan and set my coupon binder up by row. Each page now contains a list of all the items available in a particular aisle. Then I've inserted a pocket page opposite the product listing page. This way I'm able to organize all my coupons by aisle. Then I've added a final pocket page to the back of my book. That pocket is where I put my coupons as I pick up the items. This way, when I get to the checkout, I can just reach into that pocket and give all the appropriate coupons to the cashier along with my ID card. (This saves everybody a good deal of time.) I should also mention that this binder of mine has reaped some unexpected benefits. On day a lady saw my binder and was so impressed that she gave me a handful of coupons that she didn't plan to use. In dollars and cents, that lady basically gave me a $5 bill because that is how much her coupons saved me that day!

Did you also know that overseas military commissaries will accept manufacturer coupons up to six months past their expiration date? Now if that isn't a benefit, I don't know what is!

When you see the commissary sign that says "A Part of Your Benefits", it isn't just talk. You'll save a bundle shopping there without coupons but you'll save even more if you shop smart, take advantage of coupons and plan your attack.

Please visit: Military Commissary Deals Forum

Learn more about Lisa P

Lisa used to be a freelance writer and Community Manager for Families.com, but she has finally made the jump to novelist.

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Hava Lyon (1545) 20 Jan 2007 12:05 PM

My dad was in the Marines for 20 years, and so growing up, I went shopping with my mom at the commissary every Friday. I didn't know that you could buy groceries at Wal-Mart or Albertsons or Fred Meyer until my father retired and we moved back to Idaho where the closest commissary was an hour away. Suddenly we were going to all of these new stores that I had never known existed before! LOL! I still miss shopping at the commissary, because yes, the prices there are incredible. Makes me wish I still had a military ID....

Thanks for bringing back the good memories!

Havs

Andrea Hermitt (5472) 20 Jan 2007 05:27 PM

My brother and his wife are in the military. I save up extra money to shop when I visit them and buy lots of name brand clothes, for even less than I could at Marshall's!