OT: Waaay off topic, but was wondering...
Does anyone have any advice on how to really be effective in saving with coupons? I have been clipping for a couple of months & remembered to actually take them with me for the first time yesterday. LOL! I guess making step 1: Be sure to have your coupons when you go shopping.
We spent $170 & saved only $7.42. I spend $1.75 on the Sunday paper each week to get the coupons. With the 2 months of papers I've purchased I figure I'm out $6.58. :?
I've been told to only clip coupons for things we normally purchase. That way, we're not spending money on something just to be saving the .50 or .75 with a coupon. I used to see commercials all the time for grocery stores having double & triple coupon days, but I don't see those anymore.
Anyone have suggestions for really busting up a grocery bill & making the clipping time worth it?
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Regarding coupons, also
Regarding coupons, also factor in your time in going out to buy the paper, finding the coupons, clipping them, taking time to organize them, etc.
Just throwing that out there, because your time has value as well.
I have to say, sometimes I
I have to say, sometimes I find I end up spending more with the stupid coupons... like the coupon is for $1.00 off, but you have to buy 2. Do I need 2? Usually not.
Here's another prime example... I had a coupon for Dunkin Donuts to get a bagel and cream cheese for 99cents when you purchase a large coffee. So I thought, ok that's cool, I'd get a coffee anyway, and BS1 like the hashbrowns there. So I go get the bagel, coffee and hashbrowns, she rings it all up, it came to 5.94. I give her the coupon and it came to 5.54.... big friggin whip... I wouldn't have bought a stupid bagel if it wasn't for the coupon, I would have just got the coffee and hashbrowns on a normal trip... so I basically got suckered in to spending more with the coupon. I feel dumb now, but when I cut the coupon out it sounded like a good deal.... lol
^^^This is what happened to
^^^This is what happened to me^^^ LOL! Normally we check out right around $100 for the 2 of us. I tried saving with coupons & went $70 over. :?
I went to Publix after work
I went to Publix after work today, and spent $135.00 and saved $116.00. Today was a good day!
I do my best coupon shopping
I do my best coupon shopping by using the ones from the grocery store i shop in. We have a COunty Marketand a Save-A -Lot close to use. They have web sites and newspaper fliers that they put out every week and a coupon booklet every month. I will save anywhere from 50- 70 each month just from that 1 booklet. Its also easier I ythink anyway to get as many off the internet as I can.
I know that I go overboard
I know that I go overboard with the planning and everything...but I get some SCREAMING deals that way! And over time, I have stockpiled. Meaning, I save my coupons (always being aware of the exp date) until such time that the store has the item on sale. Then, depending on how good of a deal I get, I will get a bunch of whatever I get the deal on.
This involves some planning and making sure you know the sales cycles so you can buy enough to make it until the next sale.
NN used to give me grief about my buying habits. He would say, "Why are you getting 5 bottles of ketchup? We only need ONE! Do we have the money to get all of this stuff?" And I'd be like, "Ummm, yeah. The ketchup is only costing me 50 cents a bottle so I THINK we can afford $2.50 - especially when you consider we pay more than that for a bottle NOT on sale withOUT a coupon!"
If you PM me with more specific questions or want more websites and such, I can give those to you.
I also use the websites where others already have done the work of matching the sales with the coupons. If you use those sites, you can keep ALL your coupons together by booklet and just write the date at the top. Then when you are making your shopping list, you just use the website to find out which booklet the coupon was in, clip it and go. Then you don't have to have your coupons all clipped and organized, if you don't want to.
I do this too. I also do the
I do this too. I also do the CVS and Walgreens deals, and we are SWIMMING in free body wash, shampoo, razors, shaving cream, etc at my house.
There are some really good websites out there that match everything up.
I do Walgreens & CVS too.
I do Walgreens & CVS too. Walgreens is where I got my BEST shopping trip deal. (Back when they still had the Walgreens coupon booklets) Before price was $84.xx and after price was $12.xx PLUS I sent in a rebate for $14.99 that was in one of the boxes.
I love it, it is like a contest for me of how much I can get for as little money as possible.
I have cut my grocery bill in
I have cut my grocery bill in half by shopping at Costco. I only buy the fresh meat, bread, cold cuts, toilet paper, napkins & laundry detergent there. Then I go to Shop Rite and buy everything else. The meat at Costco is family size and I can make dinner for 2 nights with 1 pack. At Shop Rite I find that if I stick to the sales I can usually save a lot of money without bothering with the coupons. However, you do have to have a Price Plus card to get the sale prices. The card is free and if you forget it you just give them your home number and the account number pops up. I have a house full of men so my grocery bill is SCARY.
I think where I mess up is in
I think where I mess up is in not having a list to take with me. We just go & walk the isles throwing things into the cart that we want. When we've walked the store we make sure we have enough for a few dinners at least & hit the checkout.
I suppose a list is the first place to start.
I seriously hate shopping of ANY kind (except the craft/country stores), but absolutely despise the grocery store.
I've been checking around &
I've been checking around & it looks like none of the stores in our area do double coupons anymore. Our options are Walmart (cheapest), Food Lion (most convenient but fewer options), & Kroger (most expensive but gives points toward fuel). We do have Walgreens & CVS but I never really paid attention to their sales because their stuff always costs so much more. I guess I need to look at those again.
I would like to be able to start stocking up on some things. I'm tired of always having NOTHING on our shelves at the end of the week & HAVING to make a trip to the grocery store. I know several women at work shop the dollar stores & Big Lots for shampoo, soap, etc, however, I also know that those stores sell a lot of their products for more than a place like Walmart. People assume that because they're at a dollar store, they're getting great bargains & don't really pay attention to the prices.
I get a free membership to Sam's Club through work. If I can get a decent amount of money together I'd like to make a trip there to get some things in bulk, but again, they don't always have the best deals. People assume that since they're buying in bulk that's the place to go.
After this past weekend I feel like a complete sucker. LOL!
I did find that a lot of the coupons I clipped are for brands that cost more than our regular brand even with the coupon.
I'd say the biggest savings
I'd say the biggest savings comes when you pair a coupon with the item on sale. If the store has a coupon for anything, you can use 1 store coupon AND one manufacturer's coupon. That helps.
Also, with Sam's Club, maybe some people from your work would want to go together for certain items. Say, paper towels or whatever. You could go purchase, you guys could split the items and the cost.
That's a good idea on Sam's.
That's a good idea on Sam's. DH's mom & stepdad go there all the time. We could split a trip with them.
Having to be in "calculator
Having to be in "calculator mode" is what I really struggle with. I work in accounting every day at work. I keep the checkbook & pay the bills at home. Having to stop for groceries sucks tail anyway, & to have to throw numbers into that task as well...pfffft. LOL!
I guess making a list ahead of time will help prevent us from ending up at the checkout with a load of snacks & more for meals. We both need to lose some weight. Maybe the prepared list will help shut some of that snack stuff down too.
To be honest, I find shopping
To be honest, I find shopping at the Farmers market to be a whole lot cheaper.........i mean a whole lot. Last weekend, I walked out with beets, mexican green onions, cubanelle peppers, green and red peppers, ajices dulces, fresh coriander, fresh cilantro, fresh oregano, kiwis, yellow bananas, a bag of potatoes, a bag of taro root (alot of this stuff are for Puerto Rican dishes that you cant find in regular markets, turnips, raspberries, banana leaves, 1 pack of 3lbs chicken wings for .99 a pound, 2 packs of pork lion 3.50 each, green bananas, asian noodles, butternut squash, and someother stuff....my point is at a reg market I would have paid 2x the amount, but I only paid $54. After shopping there I had went to Wallie-world and spent $30 on cheese, milk, juice, seasonings, cookies, condensed milk, some quick side items and that was it......?!?!?!?!.....I felt so robbed
Just go online and type in farmers market in your town, and see what comes back. The food tastes a whole lot better and it is way cheaper than retail stores. but I must say for things like oil, and packaged stuff----go to Wallie World bc those things are a bit more at the farmers market.
LOL! Clipping them doesn't
LOL! Clipping them doesn't bother me at all. I get a paper every Sunday & it takes about 20 minutes to go through the coupon part. The part that makes my head hurt is going through Target, Walmart, etc trying to figure out where I need to go for what.
We are fortunate in that all of our grocery stores are within 5 miles of each other & I pass all of them everyday between home & work. I have Sam's Club, Target, Kmart, another Walmart, CVS, & Walgreens all within a 2 mile radius of where I work. So really, none of them are out of the way or inconvenient. I just hate shopping.
I use the website
I use the website www.pocketyourdollars.com
She is a writer/blogger from Minneapolis(?). She will list out deals (and give links to coupons if they are available for printing online) to different places.
Although I don't have the grocery stores she blogs about, she does also do Walgreens, Walmart, CVS and Target. I have noticed that we have a little higher prices at our town than where she shops. But otherwise, it saves me TONS of time when making up my shopping lists.
I don't buy anything full price at Walgreens or CVS because they ARE pricey. BUT they are also the places where you tend to get free items if you watch closely (toothpaste, deodorant, etc)
I'm looking through her site.
I'm looking through her site. I grew up just outside of Minneapolis & am familiar with the stores she talks about. It makes me a little bit homesick...but only because winter is coming to an end.