I am totally sick and tired of paying such high prices for things especially food. Does anyone here do extreme couponing? Money is so tight and I am tired of not buying certain foods because of the price. Can anyone give me suggestions.
I think the area you live in matters a lot. We have only one grocery chain, plus Walmart and Target. So, for me I don't have the advantage of competition. I kind of quit couponing for a while, because I hardly EVER by brand names. Even with a coupon they are rarely cheaper than the store brand. I did buy last Sunday's paper and thought I'd give it a try again.
I was briefly inspired to coupon last night after watching Extreme Couponing on TLC ($1,400 worth of groceries for $12.75!). But really, I am just not going to spend 20 hours a week on the coupons, then 4 hours in the store figuring costs. So my method of saving is store brands, the occasional BOGO, and doing without. Sorry I'm not more help. I guess I've gotten used to it and don't even think anymore about what we're not able to get.
I agree about the area you live in. Even the closest "big city" paper does not have the coupon inserts that urban areas do, even though it used to. I'm guessing the companies who put out the coupons don't get enough benefit from circulating them to rural areas. There was a great thread a while back about being frugal. Tons of ideas listed. I know I wrote that my group of friends have "deals" we make with a local grocery store to purchase the expiring dairy, produce, and meat at pennies on the dollar. We also buy bread from a bread store who sells the bread with today or yesterday's shelf date for under $3 a cart. We just freeze all those things immediately and they are perfectly fine. The produce gets worked up and frozen, given away, canned or eaten right away. Gardening, hunting and fishing are also huge money savers. I only use coupons that I would have used anyway. I also find that, in my area, store coupons and sales are the ones to watch. Hope this helps.
I doubled coupons once upon a time but all the grocery stores around here no longer allow doubling or combining. Ralphs was the only one left for a long time that doubled but they were too far from my house and they recently closed. I try to coupon the best I can, once in a while, and sometimes I am able to get a great deal. For the most part, I have given up on it and focus on saving money in other ways.
I actually noticed in the CVS ad that many of the items had a notice with "coupon in most Sunday papers". I think I only had coupons for 2 of the items in my paper--and I live in a major city.
leissa is right about time being a factor in looking for the deals with coupons. I guess it's all part of what ppl define as spending 'reasonable' time with the coupon thing.
Okay, I did the store sales today along with the coupons in the paper and I got my grocery bill cut in half. I was happy!
I think the biggest trick to those who do extream couponing is they BUY coupons from some websites that sell multiples....... I won't buy any also they buy 10 or more of something at one time, I don't have room for 10 jars of spaghetti sauce in my cabinet, I don't have a basement for overflow or even a pantry. they say "don't be brand specific"....... well its hard enough if you have picky kids but to say hey lets try this new sauce because it was free......... well if it really sucks, I've just wasted my time making a meal my family doesn't like. we usually save about half but that is because they over price things to start with...... especially if its a "card discount"......... but it still makes you feel good.
That is great that the coupons and sales ad worked for you! I just heard that in Tuscan, AZ WalMart has a new coupon policy, they double all coupons to $1. Its a test area right now but it might be made nationwide early next year. Right now they price match ads but you don't need to bring the ad in, just say the price and store name. I shop with Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op and also the mark downs at Fresh and Easy stores for produce and bread. I don't buy a lot of processed foods, we are on a real food eating plan and I make stuff myself ( salad dressing, sauces, muffins, pickles,waffles, pancakes, McMuffins, sausage, ground beef, etc) so that helps on the grocery store shopping budget. I use coupons mostly for personal care, clothes and pet food. I use Target printable coupons , along with manufacturer's coupons and their sales/clearance markdowns...I often get items for free ( with overage applied to overall bill) or under $1. I do the same thing at Walgreens and I spend maybe 2 hours a week matching coupons, sales ads and meal planning a week, often only an hour really.
I did some couponing to get free items before kids. But it does take a long time and a lot of effort. I ran out of time when I had kids. I find it much better to shop at Aldi which is always a deal, and grow a garden and put up food for winter. We have a freezer full of spagetti sauce, shredded zucchini, cut rhubarb and apples. MMMmmmmmm!
I agree with ediesbeads. Aldi's has some great deals and when you can add to your stock pile the garden foods, well it gets even better. I haven't found coupons to be worth it to me. I still use some but for the most part they aren't worth it for me. They are usually for things we don't use or I can get the store brand cheaper.
Some wal marts in Tucson do the double coupons thing but Frys also does the double coupons. I found a really great website that explanes how to do the coupon thing and save money I will have to find it agine to share it with you all.
Our local store doubles ours up to $1 on most items, but the prices here are so much even with that I am not saving much. Now I have been stocking up online at places like Amazon and such. It is cheaper for me (saves on gas...it costs me well over $140 to fill up my truck 2 times (walmart and sams is over 150 miles away), eat lunch and such to go shopping. I know most would say why fill up twice, well I live somewhere that you don't dare go far without a full tank of gas. There is nothing in between. Also the wind blows so hard here your gas mileage sucks.) So, for me ordering online is my cheapest option. But if I have to shop in town or near by I use as many coupons as I can get my hands on.
This is the case with my parents. They have to travel about an hour and a half to purchase groceries. They take an ice chest to keep dairy products and meats cool. They also fill up every time they go into the city and when they leave the city.
I coupon and find it saves a lot on my groceries. I have all the major stores here that coupon and a few small stores. I use these sites sistersshoppingonashoestring and athriftymom . They are the two that I like to use. The main thing is buying multiply papers (in 2's, like 2, 4, 6, 8, 10). Clip the coupons and on these sites, they tell you what to buy, which coupon to use and what your savings would be. When I couponed at the beginning of the year, I had stock piled so much stuff, we are still eating it and using the non-edible things, like toothpaste, shampoo, laundry soap. In my area, there are some really good deals.
moneysavingmom.com is a great resource for thoes in the SE southernsavers.com is great Before we relocated internationally, I taught couponing classes. TLC's Extreme Coupon show is kind of a joke. It really isn't realistic for the way most people coupon and save money.
I've been buying the sunday paper and clipping coupons for probably 2 months now and it seems like every coupon is for something we dont use and if we used it, we would be spending more on the more expensive product then the cheap product we use now. I don't know of any places around here that double either. I have a spiffy binder organizer though. It's looks awesome, lol.
I'm a couponer and lately the food items aren't worth it, however, I still clip coupons for toiletries and paper goods. It's worth it to stockpile these, especially when toothpaste goes on sale and with coupons, ending up free.
