[darcytrue]

COUPONS!!

I always here people talk about how you should use as many coupons as you can when going grocery shopping. But here's my problem. I only buy store brands most of the time. Plus the stuff I want is never on a coupon. I buy the Sunday paper which has the coupon sections in it every week and I rarely find a coupon that I can even use. I refuse to go out and buy a lot of products simply because I "have" a coupon for them.

Does that make sense? DH was on me about this again today. He talks about it like it should be so easy to find them but I can never, ever find coupons on the things we need or want to buy.

I do buy in bulk and since I started doing that with paper items such as tp and paper towels and detergent I've noticed a difference in how much we are spending.

Our most common purchases are bread, eggs, meats, salad stuff, coffee (DH wants only the $8/bag brand) and other meal items. We eat all meals at home so we go through a dozen eggs in a couple of days.

How do people do it?

 

[zinemama]

I'm right with ya, sister. I've even gone to those coupon websites people talk about - nada. It's almost always for processed junk.

Personally, I think it's a better tactic to shop in bulk when stuff is on sale and to pick-your-own and freeze it.

 

[Liquesce]

I'm with you too. There are a couple of things my husband prefers name brands for, but for the most part it's sales or bust for us. Most of the time I couldn't even make up the cost of a Sunday paper in the coupons I would get out of it.

 

[ILoveMyBabyBird]

I get most of my coupons from the newspaper, but you can also check a products website and there are online printables too, but make sure your store takes them..Are you keeping the coupons until they are expired? Are you matching them to sales in the grocery/stores in your area? Do any of your stores double? These are things that are essential to making the savings rack up. In my area i regularly get eggs anywhere from .66-.99 a dozen on sale or with coupon/doubles. I can even sometimes get egglands best cage free for .99 a dozen after coupon and doubles. Before couponing, i bought mostly generic too, but now i rarely buy it because i find better deals on name brand items. It can be done! Good luck!

 

[JenniferLovie]

I don't use a lot of coupons because they're usually for products we don't use or that we buy generic. We do shop a lot at Kroger and they send us coupons tailored to the products we buy or for things like $5 off $50. We use those when we get them, but otherwise I shop sales.

 

[rebeccalynn]

To be honest, I do not use a lot of coupons b/c I buy a lot of store brand items also but I do use them when I have them and the item is a lower cost than the store brand. A few weeks ago, I got a free pack of gum, dh & I got $8 off of our new rechargeable toothbrushes (waited for a coupon), I use a lot of yogurt coupons b/c I like a certain brand, etc. I have a mental list of brand name items that we do use b/c we do not like the store brand and I seek out these coupons. I do not get the Sunday paper every week, I look here to see what coupons will be in the paper that week. When there are some that I use, then I buy the paper and I also ask a few friends or dh's coworkers if I can have those if they are not using them.

I mainly look at the grocery store's weekly fliers and buy according to their weekly specials. Couponmom.com has a database by state that matches up coupons with the weekly specials for some of the major stores and I will sometimes find items there that end up being cheaper with a coupon (if I have it) than the store brand. I spent a little time at first trying to figure out what worked for our family, but now I spend about 15 min a week clipping and sorting coupons and about 30 min a week making my grocery list - I usually do all of this while watching a tv show one night.

 

[leavemealone]

Depending on how many of the coupons I'll use, I have a couple of sources. I usually get the Sunday paper. Stores around here will double coupons and I'll use enough of the coupons to recoup the cost of the paper and then some. If I need a couple more coupons (but not a whole lot), I'll buy them from a source such as The Coupon Clippers or buy extra papers. If it's a coupon I will use a lot of, I might buy extras off ebay. There are lots of coupons for processed foods, but I've also seen a number of them for fresh chicken, fruit, and other healthy foods. We do use shampoo, conditioner, soap, etc from the grocery store so those coupons come in handy as well.

 

[PlayaMama]

me too.

i shop trader joe's (no coupons ever), costco (store coupon book- very rarely anything we buy), azure standard (no coupons ever), grocery outlet (doesn't take coupons) and whole foods for things like kale and raw cheeses (maybe coupons somewhere but i've never found them).

i've got to be honest, i've given up on the coupon idea. i never actually go to a regular grocery store and i don't really trust regular store or brand organics. even if i did trust them, we go to town to shop twice a month and it's tough to add another store onto the trip, and probably not worth it.

 

[ollineeba]

I use some coupons.. trying to get better about using them more regularly.
Yesterday, I printed a B1G1 Purex (laundry detergent) coupon from coupons.com
Then I took that coupon to CVS where they were having a B1G1 sale on Purex and walked out with two bottles for free. I don't make my own detergent, so this was worth my time to do that. It may or may not be for you.

Coupons are great for HBA items.
With anything, it's combining the sale items with your coupons- and when you do that, those brand-name items are almost always cheaper than the regularly priced generic form.
I get my coupons from the newspaper (I save the inserts for a few weeks to see if upcoming sales might work with the coupons), a few times I have gotten them from e-bay or the coupon clippers.
I'm nowhere close to a coupon pro yet, but I'm trying

 

[BetsyS]

I get the paper every week. To be honest, I get the paper, cause I love reading the SUnday paper. I use the coupons, cause it feels like it would be a waste to throw them away. I'm not sure if I would use them if I had to go out and buy them special. Oh, and also, I am in a big city, so I get good "big city" coupons. My mom, who is in a town an hour away, gets worse, "medium city" coupons. They aren't as good. I also live in a city where all the major chains double coupons, and where one of the main ones (Publix) seems to follow the coupons with their sales in a brief time (1-3 weeks). It's really, really (I mean, really) easy to coupon here. So easy that it seems silly not to.

If you wait for sales to use the coupons you have, then you can get good deals. I have no doubt that there are other ways to get your budget under control, though. And, if I lived somewhere that it wasn't so easy and/or I didn't read the paper every week, I wouldn't do it.

Recently, there was a coupon in my paper for 55 cents off Breakstone sour cream. Because of Passover, Breakstone was on sale for $0.99. I got the sour cream for $0.44. For me, that's cheaper than generic, so I bought it.

We do buy some processed stuff regularly. Cereal, oatmeal, crackers, cheese, sour cream, ice cream, frozen vegetables, dried pasta, even the occasional juice. Oh, also canned tomatoes. Tortilla chips. All these things I've found coupons for recently.

 

[avendesora]

The Coupon Clippers works well for me. I just bought 15 $1 off Nature's Path cereal and 15 $1 off Barbara's cereal for $4. They don' have much organic items there, but those cereals have some good prices at TJ's. I was able to get some 14 oz boxes of Optimum for $2 and the large boxes of Barbara's Shredded Spoonfuls for $2.69.

Aven

 

[gurumama]

I get coupons from eBay. Technically, you're not paying for the coupons, but for the time the person put into collecting, clipping,etc. the coupons.

I get loads of organic/near-organic foods. Some of the things I've bought over the past month include:

* Land o Lakes antibiotic-free, hormone free eggs ($1/dozen w/ coupon)
* Organic Olive Oil Pam ($1.90/can, but I also got a $10 off a $25 purchase coupon when I bought $25 worth)
* Tribe hummus ($1 per 8 ounce tub)
* Muir Glen organic canned tomatoes (free with coupons--my store doubles)
* Cascadian Farms organic frozen veggies ($.50/package)

I also stack coupons with store deals, like "Buy $25 of X list of foods, get $10 off your next order."

Slickdeals . net has a LOT of great advice on their drugstore/grocery threads.

 

[ollineeba]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gurumama Slickdeals . net has a LOT of great advice on their drugstore/grocery threads.

 

[SeekingJoy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by avendesora The Coupon Clippers works well for me. I just bought 15 $1 off Nature's Path cereal and 15 $1 off Barbara's cereal for $4. They don' have much organic items there, but those cereals have some good prices at TJ's. I was able to get some 14 oz boxes of Optimum for $2 and the large boxes of Barbara's Shredded Spoonfuls for $2.69. Aven

I use www.thecouponclippers.com as well. I like getting multiples of the handful of coupons I will use each week. I actually don't think there is anything coming out this Sunday I will use, but some weeks there are. Typical coupons I use include Muir Glen, frozen veggies, Kashi, Egglands Cage Free Organic Eggs, Horizon milk, Organic Valley milk, coffee, etc.

You can also check out www.hotcouponworld.com to learn how to stack store sales with coupons to get name brands for less than store brands. The key is to shop with an eye for the lowest price per unit, among a selection of acceptable brands.

 

[UberMama]

Funny you bring this up.

I've received over $70 in coupons over the past two weeks for FREE items. From garbage bags to personal hygiene items and more! This is about 15 coupons for $73 in savings, all items are completely free (not including the others I've rec'd which were B1G1, etc.).

All I'm doing is writing companies. I write them and praise them, tell them how we use their product, why we love it, etc. Sometimes they just reply with a "thanks" but other times you get coupons from them via regular postal mail. And some sends actual full size products in appreciation for your comments.

I do a lot of the above, but I also write companies. I do write to complain if needed but all of the emails I've sent over the past two weeks have been praise!

ETA: There ARE coupons for breads, veggies, fruits, etc. and things from the deli even. Definitely frequent HotCouponWorld to learn about these and others. I've found over the years that there are coupons for MANY items, you just can't simply rely on the newspaper sometimes. Also, organic companies send out the best coupons but a lot of them don't pay to put coupons in the paper.

 

[newbymom05]

So if I go to a website and can print out one Muire Glen product coupon, can I run it through my copier 15x and use them? It feels dishonest.

Sorry for the dumb question--I'm a coupon novice!

 

[fenwickmama]

no, that's fraud. you can usually print twice from each computer...

here's a good explanation http://www.momsneedtoknow.com/2009/0...dont-trust-us/ (hope it's ok to include that link).

 

[fruitfulmomma]

I hardly ever use coupons for the reasons you mentioned as well. I have no use for the vast majority of stuff that they are for because I buy mostly store brand and all of my home care and body care products are very specific brands due to allergies.

I do occasionally browse the websites of some of the brands we use and have gotten a few coupons, like I signed up for some free samples from Emergen-C and they asked me to do a survey and I ended up getting a free box of them because I was one of the first to respond.

We do also get the ones mailed from King Soopers (Krogers) because I do some shopping there for an older friend and we've gotten some free stuff that she wouldn't use from there.

 

[newbymom05]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fenwickmama no, that's fraud. you can usually print twice from each computer... here's a good explanation http://www.momsneedtoknow.com/2009/0...dont-trust-us/ (hope it's ok to include that link).

Thanks for the link. But is it fraudulent to buy 15 off of eBay or whatever? Not judging, just curious.

 

[Dar]

Usually the ones on ebay are from the inserts in the newspaper, so you can have as many of them as you want, if you buy enough papers.

I only use coupoms for health and beauty stuff, at Walgreens mostly - I did a lot of couponing over my winter break and built up a good supply of free toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, conditioner, and styling products, vitamins, aspirin, and cold medicine - all free, and in some cases they paid me to take it.

I did buy some Ragu coupons and some brand of PB coupons off ebay, because I could combine them with a Walgreens deal and pay .45 for 2 pounds of spaghetti sauce and .35 for a pound of PB, all stuff without HFCS. I stocked up on both of those, because I can't get them cheaper than that. I do most of my shopping at Aldi and Costco, though.

Dar