It’s My First Anniversary And I’m Giving Away $50 to Celebrate!
Today is the one year anniversary of this blog! I want to take a few paragraphs to just talk about why I started this blog and what I’ve done to help you readers save money at Walmart but if you aren’t interested in that I totally understand, skip to the end to enter for your chance to win a $50 Walmart Giftcard!
Most of you know my wife Dian and her blog, Grocery Shop for FREE! 10 years ago, neither one of us had ever used a coupon but due to a tightening household budget, Dian was determined to learn how to start coupon shopping. And learn she did! In fact, she got really good at it and after a few years she decided she wanted to help others learn how to save money on groceries also, and thus her site was born. At first I wasn’t really on board because it took up a lot of time but soon we started getting emails from readers thanking her for her site and telling us all the money they saved since they found her. Well that was enough for me so for several years I helped with some of the backend stuff, learning how to do basic things on the site and learning SEO practices so more people could find us. It was a lot of fun!
I Bit Off More Than I Could Chew
In December of 2010, Dian and I started kicking around ways I could be even more involved and I thought of doing smaller niche sites for individual stores like Walmart, Target, and Kroger. Now, I had absolutely no idea what I was suggesting. The manpower needed to run 3 new sites would be enormous but I was absolutely convinced I could do it. I was wrong! We had to wait a few months to launch because we had a couple conventions to go to but as soon as May rolled around and I had the time to devote to it, we launched Grocery Shop for FREE at Walmart and Grocery Shop for FREE at Kroger. We were soon informed by a few legal friends that we probably didn’t want Walmart’s name in the title so we changed it to “The Mart” as it is today. (I even had to “unfriend” a bunch of people on the FaceBook page to be able to change the name there. I hated that.)
After a few months, Kroger stopped Doubling or Tripling coupons in my area so I just abandoned that site and launched Grocery Shop for FREE at Target. Turns out I really don’t like shopping at Target so I abandoned that pretty quickly and just chose to focus on the Walmart site and grow it.
I Wanted to do Something New
Looking at the niche store-specific sites that existed at the time I noticed they all pretty much had the same format so I wanted to do something different to set me apart. So right from the beginning I was doing 2 things that no one else was doing at the time.
Reverse Coupon Matchups – At the time, the accepted way to do matchups was to take an ad, type up everything in the ad and list which coupons could be used for each items. Nothing wrong with that but since everyone was doing it, I wanted to be different. So instead of listing ad items with coupons, I took every coupon that came out that week and matched to the shelf price at Walmart. This allowed you to see every week what the hot coupons you should clip were and what coupons you could just ignore. I guess it was a good idea because now several sites have taken my idea and started their own “Reverse Coupon Matchups” but thankfully most have come up with different names for them. Next time you see a list like that on someone else’s site, just know that it wouldn’t have happened without this blog. 
Price Match Lists – The other thing I had from the start that no one else was doing were printable Price Match Lists that listed every item that is on sale at a different store for cheaper than what Walmart is selling it for. I can’t tell you how much money these lists have saved me personally and how many readers have told me how thankful they are to have them every week. This is another innovation that started appearing on other blogs so I’m happy to see the impact we are having here.
Over the last year, it has been a fantastic joy to see this site grow and to have been able to help so many of you save money on your weekly grocery bill. As a way to say thank you, I’m giving away a $50 Walmart giftcard to one lucky fan. All you need to do is use the Rafflecopter widget below and leave me a comment telling me either your favorite feature on this site or the one feature I don’t have that you would like to see. Features include the Reverse Coupon Matchups and Price Match Lists from above or some of the other goodies like my Expired Coupon List, FREE Printable Coupon List, Walmart Policy page, Weekly Shops, Videos, $1 and Under List or anything else you like. There are also bonus ways to enter as well.
Thanks again, you are the best readers in the world and you make this job a joy!
For more FREE Printable Coupons, visit Grocery Shop for FREE at The Mart!
Congratulations!
Congratulations on hitting the one year mark! Thanks for all that you do to help bring us some amazing deals 🙂
Congrats too! I like the printable coupons the best.
Congratulations…Wow…I love the deals you find for us but also all the helpful information on making this so much easier.
I love the reverse and $1 and under features. Congrats on one year!
oh and I like the Price match list (feature) the most.
Happy Anniversary
Congratulations!
I think your blog looks terrific!
I love the giveaways and the coupons, congrats!
Thank you for the blog! I love the $1 and under list and the printable list. I print mine out and take it with me every week.
Thank you for all your hard work, you have saved me hundreds and hundreds of $. I love yiur price match info.
Love it!!!
I like the price match list. Although prices vary by region and differ it’s a nice guide.
I like the rafflecopter form 🙂
I like the videos 🙂 congratulations on your one year!
I love the reverse coupon matchups.
I like the $1 and under section!
i love you!! you are so awesome and have enabled me to save soooo much money over the past year. Congrats, wow that year went by fast!!! I love, love, love the price match lists and the reverse matchups. I don’t know what we ever did without this info!!!
congrats! I like your expired coupon list. Comes in handy.
I like coupon match up list.
everything a $1 and under
I like the coupon database.
coupons – we all need those!
congrats! i love the coupons, i’m always looking at blogs for great deals and savings.
The reverse coupon match up list is my favorite. I especially like the link on the side of the blog so I can find it anytime I need to.
The price matching is great!
I like the price match ups
Love the less than $1 items!
Congratulations!!! First year of many more to come…
freebies and under $1!
I love the $1 or less items!
Love the price match ups. Congrats on your 1st year!!
I like reverse coupons and price match ups ( when the others stores are in my area) 🙂 And again congratulations on your first year!
Price matching!
Congratulations!!! This is a really hard question. I love so many things about this blog.. I know I look forward to all of your emails. I love that you price everything and post new deals when the coupons become available. And the Video you post when new inserts come out with which coupons are hot. Your site is a HUGE help to me.. Thank you so much for being so active and helpful. If I had to choose just ONE thing, it would have to be the emails…
Reverse coupons and price matching for me!
I love the $1 and under deals….
Reverse Coupon Matchups , I like that you take the effort to find out the shelf price. Thanks!
I like the $1 and under section
Congratulations! I like the price matches the best–saves me a lot of time!
reverse coupon matcher is great when i’m trying to figure out if i should clip that coupon or not!
I like the price match ups
I also love the $1 and under deals, that’s a big plus in my household. I always go grab the free and under $1 stuff first…thanks so much for your hard work1!!
My favorite is the “Everything $1.00 and under” posts!
I love the price matches
I recently found your site and love it!! Congrats on 1 year! I love the $1 and under, and how you do the reverse match-ups. We dont have any Krogers or any of the other grocery stores you frequent around here in NC so a lot of the times the price matching that you do doesnt apply, but Ive still managed to learn a lot and find some good deals from your site!
I can’t tell you how I hate that I don’t have the manpower to cover every store nation-wide. Tell your friends about me, as soon as I turn enough of a profit I’m hiring some help and covering more stores!
Freebies and everything under $1 are my favorite things about your site.
Congratulations and thank you for the chance at a generous prize!!
My favorite feature is seeing your shopping trips pictures.
I also love how easy your match ups are to understand/follow.
My favorite is the current reverse coupon Walmart matchups.
Printable coupons for sure! Love the blog.
price match lists
I like the printable coupons
Congrats on your first anniversary! 😀 I can’t suggest anything to improve, you’ve done an amazing job. And I’ve got to say, my favorite thing has to be the $1 and under page. It’s really been useful!
I like the price match feature the most.
I love the walmart for free site!! use it every time I see it post!
$1 and under feature
Congratulations!
congratul. i hope is coming more years
new to you, but so far i’m lov’n the linkable coupons listed right under your post pages, great site glad i found ya thanks
[email protected]
Thank you so much!
giveaways rock
The contest!
$1.00 and under is my fave!!
I just love it all! Thank you
I love the coupons!
love the coupons because they are ones that I can really really use
I like the deals that you show us and that you let us k now where you got the coupons and what you paid and how you worked the deals. Thanks so much and congrats
I like the coupon database.
Congratulations on your first year. LOVE your site. It has helped me soooooo much.
Love your site Congratulations, hope I win.
I like the $1 and under list and the price match up list. Congrats on your anniversary!
I like the deals you post and the coupons that you can print. Congrats on you 1yr and just want to say thanks for all your help and hard work you do 🙂
I just found your site. Congrats on your first year and giveaway!
i just found you web page. i’ve been couponing but this is a hole new ball game. $1 or less i the first thing i’m checking out.
Love your site! I like the $1 or less piece the best!
I love the giveaways best.
congrats
thanks for making it easy to view and print coupons. [email protected]
I love the price match lists! Thats how I save most of my money especially when I add the coupon deals that you post!
I like the “everything $1 and under”
I like the price matching lists for different stores!
Thank you 🙂
I love the $1 and Under Deals.
Im feeling lucky
i like coupons and congrats for 1-year…..
I love the reverse price list!!!!
Happy Anniversary and Congratulations! I love your site and currently I LOVE the $1 or less feature! Thank you for all you do!