How do you use your coupons to save money?

[Frugal]

I am in the process of becoming a "master couponer". I wanted to find out from all of you on here how you are using coupons to save money at the grocery store. I have noticed a lot more people using coupons lately when I shop at places I frequent like Target. I noticed a statistic online that said over seventy percent of people in the U.S. are currently using coupons to save them money, with how the economy is.

Do you use them, or see them as not necessary, or too time-consuming, perhaps?

I use them, and save a lot of money on each grocery bill.

I know people have highly charged opinions on coupons, but I would like to hear from people with differing opinions than mine, as well!

[nick__45]

First I decide what I need to buy. Then I just make sure I cut it carefully as to not mess up the bar-code.

[disneysteve]

We don't use coupons all that much and could probably do better but we just aren't that organized.

That said, I find that the vast majority of coupons are for expensive, brand name items that we don't use. When I go through the coupon inserts in the Sunday paper each week, I might find 2 or 3 coupons for products we actually buy. There has been a trend in the past couple of years to make the expiration dates shorter and shorter so that even the coupons for items we do buy may not be of any use because we don't need to buy those items before the coupon will expire. There has also been a trend for coupons to require bigger and bigger purchases. For example, there was just a coupon for the yogurt we buy but it was for $1.00 off when you buy 10. We never buy 10 at a time. They would go bad before we finished them, so that's a useless coupon.

We buy a lot of fresh produce. We buy a lot of store brand items. There are no coupons for those things. I think coupons often encourage people to buy more costly items when a store brand would be cheaper.

[kork13]

I also don't really use coupons very much... I generally only have 1-3 coupons for any given grocery run, which normally don't even cover the 5.5% tax. My thoughts: "whatever".

I'm sure I could do better if I tried, but the cost-benefit for me just isn't there, based on the stuff I normally buy.

[disneysteve]

We just saw part of an episode of Extreme Couponing. The woman bought over $1,100 worth of stuff for less than $5. While that is incredible, she got stuff that she couldn't possibly use. She got 55 bottles of laundry detergent and 112 bottles of nightime pain reliever among other things. She gives most of it away which is very generous but I don't have that kind of time.

[dawnwes]

I love couponing! I found that I got a bit too crazy for a while buying stuff we really wouldn't use or like and getting too many coupons to really keep track of.

I have found I am much better as a "lazy couponer." I have 2 papers delivered to my house and occasionally buy 2 more if it is a particularly good week for coupons.

Lazy Couponing consists of:

A hanging file box where I put each week's coupons in a file of its' own and label it. So, last week's coupon inserts will go under 6/11.

Then on Wed. (the start of the new week for our local grocery store), I go to SouthernSavers.com where they match sales with coupons and tell me which week's insert to find the coupon I want.

I make my list from SouthernSavers.com and print it out and then go to my coupon file box and clip only those coupons.

What you find after a while is that you end up with a mental "price point." I will now not spend more than $1 for a box of cereal. I will not spend more than .50 for toothpaste, etc.....

Where I really save is on is toiletries, paper goods, ziplock stuff and hair care. I get fewer deals on food because we are a bit pickier, but we do find them. They seem to always have coupons for condiments, cereal, yogurt, Jam, snacks (even if we won't eat them we have to take stuff to sports' activities and scouts, etc.....)

Dawn

[nick__45]

We just saw part of an episode of Extreme Couponing. The woman bought over $1,100 worth of stuff for less than $5. While that is incredible, she got stuff that she couldn't possibly use. She got 55 bottles of laundry detergent and 112 bottles of nightime pain reliever among other things. She gives most of it away which is very generous but I don't have that kind of time.

I saw the same episode when I was visiting my parents. I don't know how much truth are in that stuffs they show there. On the particular episode, I think the store ended up owning her a few bucks after the coupons. Beside the detergent, I don't think she has use for anything else. The show itself promote wasteful spending/shopping/whatever. We shop at Costco and BJ's so there are big saving already.

[snafu]

I check and use coupons for products we buy and use regularly. I notice many coupon items are sale priced or loss leader two or three weeks later and I can manage to be organized enough to take advantage of those savings. I find those couponer queens weird for buying items that will surely expire before they can use the quantity of headache pills for example. I don't have time, space or desire to hold a massive inventory of paper goods and toothbrushes.

People like me who primarily shop the perimeter of the store for fresh produce, meat and fish, there are no coupons. It's cheaper to buy non food items at a discount store or Costco & other wholesale type outlets. I save money by buying $50. worth of chicken when on sale or holiday food specials.

[jerrycates]

When I have a coupon I use it. It may sound cheap to think that for a minimal discount, a person would use it. Why not? Those establishments sends out coupons to advertise their products. They are happy to give the discounts, why let it pass? Both parties are happy!

[Coronet]

I agree with the coupons available aren't things I buy statement. I buy lots of generic, produce, fresh meat, etc. I don't really buy processed foods and the coupons available are usually for junk.

[disneysteve]

the coupons available are usually for junk.

Not only that but coupons are often for new products. They are done as part of the marketing plan to get you to try new things. The volume of new products that hits the stores each year is insane. And the vast majority of the new products are nonsense - processed foods, convenience items, etc. People need to go back to basics. This is part of why I no longer enjoy shopping - the choices are overwhelming. Just look at something like deodorant or toothpaste. Where there used to be maybe 8-10 options, there is now an aisle filled with 30-40 options. Really? Plain Colgate isn't good enough anymore. You need tartar control baking soda peroxide whitening vanilla mint with Scope crystals (which also comes in 4 other flavors). Each brand of deodorant now offers 10-15 different scents. Who the heck cares what your underarms smell like? My wife will only use unscented deodorant and has trouble finding that among the sea of perfumed products.

The new food products are even more baffling. There aren't really any new foods so the new products are just more and more processed and convenience crap so that people don't have to cook and can further ignore nutrition and healthy eating.

[bjl584]

I don't use coupons. I eat pretty healthy and I stick to basic foods. Brown rice, chicken breasts, oatmeal, fruits, vegetables, wheat bread, protein supplements. There aren't ever coupons for the foods that I buy. As far as other items like paper products and toiletries, I usually get them at the dollar store. They're are often cheaper their even if the name brand version has a sale or a coupon.

[Frugal]

Thanks for replying to the post.

On a side note, sometimes you can find coupons for these items, they are just somewhat harder to find. For instance, exactly a month ago I had a coupon to buy Mahatma brown rice at Walmart, and saved 75 cents and got it for about 75 cents for a package. I use this also like you described to eat healthier (and I am trying to eat gluten-free, which is expensive to begin with).

You can also shop cheaper grocery stores to get deals on produce. I had two cartons of MOLDY berries I had to return to Walmart in the past two week, and after checking out prices at a local grocery store, I found they are always cheaper on produce than Walmart. Their blackberries and raspberries and blueberries did not go bad, cost much less than Walmart, and were of a much better quality.

So I guess my point is...if there is not a coupon for meat or produce, there are ways to find to reduce your cost. I shop sales now for meat and stock WAY up when the prices are below $2.00/lb. for most types of meat (except steak).

[Frugal]

Dawnwes...I wouldn't say you are doing lazy couponing, but pretty efficient couponing, rather! I sometimes use a similar strategy. Sometimes, a bit more intense.

I agree with you guys that Extreme Couponing promotes waste and in my opinion, some obsessive-compulsive behavior that is hoarding. However, if people are able to gather a bunch of stuff to give to charity, I think that is somewhat smart. Not everyone on the show certainly is hoarding stuff, but it's hard to convince me otherwise when I see a room they stock full of stuff from floor to ceiling. I no longer allow myself to watch that show, because then I am too hard on myself, thinking I am not working hard enough on couponing, and that I need to be more like them. I don't think most of us can achieve what they do.

[dawnwes]

Honestly, I think the show is rigged. I think store managers bend the rules for the show (and let them use more coupons than they normally would allow someone walking in without a camera crew in tow), and they order items and make sure the shelves are stocked for the filming.

Our local store has limits on coupons. 20 per day can be doubled but only 3 of a kind can be doubled. So, doubling 27 coupons on juice boxes wouldn't work for us.

I also don't want to hoard. I will generally max out on one year's supply of some items like dish detergent or shampoo if I find a free or almost free deal. I have 2 of those metal shelving units that I purchased from Costco and they are more than adequate for my stockpiling needs.

Dawn