Why don't you use coupons?

[disneysteve]

Re: Why don't you use coupons?

Has anyone else noticed that more and more coupons require you to buy multiples of an item? For example, there was a coupon last week good on 2 bottles of Gulden's mustard. It takes us months to use a bottle of mustard. Two bottles would last us over a year.

[crow67]

Re: Why don't you use coupons?

There's not that many choices around here for coupons...we have 3 grocery stores plus super wally world and that's it and most of the time it's easier to comp at wally world then it is to go to grocery stores

plus most of the coupons we get are for things we don't need or use

but I did find a couple of good coupons for the new light bulbs that I'm slowly replacing in my house to save money in the long run

[Gruntina]

Re: Why don't you use coupons?

we only go shopping every 3 weeks on average. Both of us work full time and just absolutely hate shopping!!!! Only place we enjoy shopping at is Home Depot!

Also the closest chain foodstore is 45 min drive no matter which side of the hill we get off. There is two tiny stores in the small town of 4000 people near us. one is organic and the other one is half food store and half liquor store.

[Snoopy2645]

Re: Why don't you use coupons?

I used them big time each time I had a baby for things like formula & diapers & baby foods, I at different times will find some good sales & use them to get stuff almost free but I would say a majority of the time I dont

Reasons its too hard going to the store with a just turned 3 yr old who likes to run to sit thier & dig out coupons to save .25 & the other reasons are the cashiers act like they never seen one in thier life!! I got big into rebates they are much easier for me personally to do I get lots back every year doing that.

Oh I also use alot of coupons around xmas like I get the $10 of $10 at pennies & then I had a b1g1f for glade saved $12 with that then had a rebate so also got $12 back so it was like I got 2 for free. But for the most part I dont mess with them unless I will save like $2 or more on one item not 10 which I rarely get those kind so normallly we dont use them much these days!!

[ericmedem]

Re: Why don't you use coupons?

I usually hate coupons, but since my wife and I had our first kid we have been getting alot of the free formula ones off the back of our reciepts saving us about $12 everytime we use one.

Eric Medemar

[sakigt]

Re: Why don't you use coupons?

Just FYI, If anyone lives in the south and has a Publix nearby, they have a great Baby Club program. Tons of coupons for baby and baby related items. From diapers to fresh produce.

[tinapbeana]

Re: Why don't you use coupons?

as others have said, i don't buy a lot of processed foods which cuts down on the coupons available. i buy store brand for TP and canned beans, so none there.

my only real coupon savings come from walgreens in-house coupons for things like laundry detergent, shampoo, deoderant. also, CVS bonus bucks or in-house coupons, which i use for personal care and soda...

[MonkeyMama]

Re: Why don't you use coupons?

I am not big on coupons overall, but staying organized helps. We don't look for coupons 2 hours every sunday or anything, but we always come across tons and tons of coupons. When we see interesting ones we file them in a folder, by category. Example, I Was perusing a local publication and found haircut coupons which are really rare to come by. Woohoo. Easily could have been lost, but filed away so when we need a haircut we will check first. We also file a lot of coupons for tioletries and ordering pizza, etc. Just always check the coupons before we go gorcery shopping (generally lump all the food in 1 place) or before we buy certain items. We also peruse the Rite Aid & Target adds and coupons - have gotten great deals.

Overall 99% of the coupons are worthless, save money on name brands that cost more than generic. But at least with our system we have the good ocupons organized and easily accessible.

Those formula ones are like the BEST coupons ever - $5-$10 off those expensive things!

[shengmei]

Re: Why don't you use coupons?

Most of them expire too soon and don't correspond to sales.

The HEB store brand is too amazing.

[GoodBuyGirl]

Re: Why don't you use coupons?

Couponing is like any other job. The more you work at it the more you will get out of it. If you value your time more than your money than couponing is not for you.
I have more time than money so coupons are a great resource for saving money for my household.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Re: Why don't you use coupons?

Goodbuygirl, or anyone who does it a lot, I just wrote about this on my blog. This is what I bought this weekend, the only out of the ordinary purchases were the hoisin sauce and peanut oil and chips (superbowl)

We bought a 7 lb ham, half a pound of sliced steak, $2 off steak, beef and shrimp balls, 3 crowns of broccoli, cauliflower, 2 heads of lettuce, pack of carrots, 5 bananas, 10 yogurts, 3 lbs of grapes, 5 bags of chips, 1 dip (superbowl stuff), 5 cans of soup, milk, hoisin sauce, peanut oil, and that's it. So I guess I could have looked for coupons for the soup, peanut oil, chips (though it was $10 for the 5 bags and dip). But we don't usually buy chips and the soup is backup for when we don't make lunch.

How much could I save by couponing? I usually buy a lot of meat/seafood and fresh veggies. I do not buy frozen foods (occasionally 1 tub of ice cream), and soup well that lasts forever. I prefer cooking to heating food and DH doesn't do leftovers too much. Could I save a lot with coupons?

I've personally tried, but I just don't buy alot of items that are couponed.

[GoodBuyGirl]

Re: Why don't you use coupons?

Most meat coupons I find are in combination of other purchases like buy steak sauce get $ off beef. Or sometimes there are salad dressing Qs that are combined with money off fresh produce.
You can still save tons of money just on household items such as toilet paper, toothpaste, household cleaners,over the counter meds and batteries.
I usually try and buy meat and produce on sale and freeze what I can't use. If vegetables are out of season I buy canned or frozen which often have coupons.

[puppypal]

Re: Why don't you use coupons?

I tried the coupon thing really I did. Also along with that, I used the Walmart price match. I sat at the table two weeks in a row matching the coupons to the ads and figuring out the lowest advertised price where etc........All the while, curious about all the savings of couponing.
No doubling, here......Small town and just now lucky enough for our tiny walmart to but in a grocery dept. Only two other food stores in a 45 minute area.
I personally lost the concept of what I actually needed. I got on a roll of I want to get Hunts ketchup mad butcher ad at 97 cents and when using my coupon got .25 cents off so since it was a great buy I bought it. Forgeting I had 4 containers already.
Personally speaking, I really will not use 5 total containers of ketchup in 6 months and the money could of been spent reducing a debt instead of saving this amount now. I pantry shop and but a huge amount of dry beans and can goods on sale knowing I use a bunch. Toliet paper that doesn't go to waste now I load up on those things when the price is the best. But coupons have a limited time frame and name brand and sometimes there is no sale on it to begin with. I don't buy things like chicken strips or stewed tomatoes with seasoning when I can season my own...
So I figured out in the last month that a bit of couponing is ok if your pantry is in NEED of that thing at the time. But to get in the rush of it all, is too much for me.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Re: Why don't you use coupons?

Most meat coupons I find are in combination of other purchases like buy steak sauce get $ off beef. Or sometimes there are salad dressing Qs that are combined with money off fresh produce.
You can still save tons of money just on household items such as toilet paper, toothpaste, household cleaners,over the counter meds and batteries.
I usually try and buy meat and produce on sale and freeze what I can't use. If vegetables are out of season I buy canned or frozen which often have coupons.

I don't buy meat sauce so why pay more for something I'm not going to use? I also will not buy salad dressing if I don't use it, I make it. I also don't like to eat froze veggies, I buy it fresh, and I buy half off meat last day sale. Or I freeze it. But not veggies. I do buy a few canned veggies, but I happen to like to eat fresh veggies.

Toilet paper, household cleaners, meds, batteries I mostly buy at costco when they go on sale. Price is cheaper than the grocery store and stash it until i need it.

So what should I use coupons for? I don't like frozen pizza (we make out own), I don't really buy too many things that are out there for coupons like cereal, chips, etc. Our weekly list is pretty simple like you saw. I would use coupons, but not to buy food I wouldn't buy otherwise. It would be using more money than I planned for what?

[Lori63]

Re: Why don't you use coupons?

Couponing is like any other job. The more you work at it the more you will get out of it. If you value your time more than your money than couponing is not for you.
I have more time than money so coupons are a great resource for saving money for my household.

I agree (esp. the have more time than money part). I use to spend alot of time collecting and organizing, but I pretty much have it down to an art now. I save 40%-90% every week, so it's worth it for me.