How do you save money at the Grocery Store

[mickeyfan2]

To believe that income can only be derived from salary is a very shallow way of thinking.

I never said that I believed that. Since I do not spend $500/week for groceries I did not see how I could say I made that much money. Now you did live off that food for 2 years so you eventually ate it. We eat very little of that kind of food, so it would not work for us.

Living in the country makes yard sales not a great idea for us.

Some of your ideas I could make work and others I would not do (taking the coupons off the packages seems like I am cheating others vs. taking discarded coupons).

 

[sarahlovesmickey]

WOW Formernyer, your hubby must make some good money! I wish I could live this way, but just not realistic for us. =(

 

[WeRblam]

I have a 4" binder filled with clear baseball card sheets. It is organized by product type and each little baseball card section gets its own coupon (you can fit about 25 identical coupons in each section). I also keep a few pages which are either full sheets or 1/4 sheets, so that I can store forms. It takes a while to set up the system, but once you have it it's a breeze.

ALWAYS have ALL of your coupons with you, since you never know when you'll find something on an unexpected clearance that you can get free with your coupons!

What does everyone use to bring along their coupons? Any suggestions on a great coupon holder that fits in your purse? Right now I have an envelope and it drives me mad! I definately need something more productive and that will fit in my bag... Thanks for your help!

 

[Nicolepa]

I have a couple of questions... How do you organize your coupons to make them easy to find once you're ready to use them? I had been organizing them by category, but then ended up leaving them in the flyers because it took me almost as long to find them after I had cut them! Also, I have noticed that my store doesn't put all of the really good deals in the flyer. Do you bring all of your coupons to the store in the event that you find a good deal?

Thanks!

I organize mine alphabetically. That way I never have to figure out if I filed it under x or y. I have a small rubbermaid container. I put A-Z tabs in and filed them. Now that I'm getting back into coupons I need a bigger container, but I haven't figure out what to use yet. And yes, I try to take my coupons with me whenever I go. It never fails when I take just what I have on my list, I see things i could have gotten.

 

[formernyer]

The best coupons come from manufacturers. If I really like a product or if I have a problem with one I call the 800# on the package. Recently I had a bag of Doritos with something wrong. I called and they sent me four coupons for free bags of chips.


Buying/Selling them on ebay is technically illegal so you have to be careful about that.

You are correct about the coupons from manufacturers. If something is wrong, even if it's minor, always take the time to call or email the company.
You can even call them with compliments about their products and sometimes they will send you coupons. Just be very careful not to abuse this! I've seen on tv and read online about a lot of people who made calls to companies with fraudlent claims because they wanted free coupon items. Databases are maintained and you will eventually get caught if you try to take advantage of the companies. A few years ago I saw something on tv where a woman is serving jail time for stealing thousands of dollars in free product coupons from companies via fraudulent claims.


As for buying/selling coupons on eBay, I don't do it much because it's not usually worth my time and effort, but the way you get around the legality issue is by giving away the coupons for free, but charging for your time to clip the coupons.

 

[grumpy28]

I am so jealous of all of you savy couponers!! I wanna be like that!! These tips are great and I really appreciate you coupon pros teaching us coupon students, how to become better couponers! I am a SAHM and need all of the help I can get with extra income! Keep the tips coming!

 

[formernyer]

What does everyone use to bring along their coupons? Any suggestions on a great coupon holder that fits in your purse? Right now I have an envelope and it drives me mad! I definately need something more productive and that will fit in my bag... Thanks for your help!

Honestly, there's no way I could have ever used something that fits in my bag. I just leave my big binder in the car at all times and drag it into the store with me every time. I rest it in the front of the cart. I get a LOT of strange looks and a LOT of questions from people who want advice.

This is going to sound crazy, but if you go to a binder system, NEVER leave it unattended, even for a second. I know of a LOT of people from other boards who have had their binders stolen from their carts (or else the entire cart disappears and is found in another aisle without the binder). People who see a binder know the person is a hard-core couponer and will have a lot of good stuff. I guess for some people they are too tempting to pass up.

 

[HamTown]

With couponing, you really do have to live in the right place to really make it work. I have two stores that double coupons, but they don't give "overage" (once your coupon makes the item free, they don't give money back). Target seems to be hit or miss on overage, but you can combine Target coupons with manufacturers' coupons for good deals on sale items. But you still have to do your homework. A couple weeks ago, one store was offering triple coupons, but I ended up not using all the ones I had planned to because I knew that my regular store (food lion) could beat the prices they were offering with just a regular sale plus a face value coupon.

I use a binder and will buy an extra paper or two on the weekends with a proctor and gamble circular or any other really good coupon week. For things that we use a lot (Dora yogurt, for example) I will order some from a clipping service, but I'm not "hard core" by any means and I'm still saving approximately 40% on groceries, paper products and HBA. It's not worth it to me to buy everything that's "free" if I'm not going to use it within the next six months or so. I'll pick up "free" HBA at Rite-Aid to donate to the shelter, but it's one item every few months.

 

[mickeyfan2]

This is going to sound crazy, but if you go to a binder system, NEVER leave it unattended, even for a second. I know of a LOT of people from other boards who have had their binders stolen from their carts (or else the entire cart disappears and is found in another aisle without the binder). People who see a binder know the person is a hard-core couponer and will have a lot of good stuff. I guess for some people they are too tempting to pass up.

Now this is really sad.

 

[samanthacatangel]

I think a big part of saving $$ is also knowing what things cost to begin with. For instance, when Pathmark runs B1G1, I usually steer clear, b/c I know it actually comes out to more money per item than when the same item goes on sale. I save my coupons for items I use anyway, and when it is at the rockbottom prices.

I grew up in a house with my mom the couponer and refunder. Our garage was organized in a filing system for her "refunding" (rebates) and we were the family on the block with 12 boxes of cereal in the closet - and my brother, the vaccuum, ate it all!

I adapted her system for my family. I left a well-paying job to stay home with my daughter, and had to cut wherever possible. However, where my mom bought loads of processed crap (IMHO) I try to stick to more healthy options - organics when possible, whole grains, no processed foods, etc. If they are onsale and I have coupons, I do stock up.


To do this in the most cost effective manner, I do the following:

Of course, I have a store card and I shop the circular. When boneless chicken breast is $1.99/lb or under, guess what we eat? I buy a lot, repackage it and freeze some too.

I cook every day, and rarely eat out. This is the biggest $$ saver. I have a huge repertoire (sp?) of recipes for stuff I buy frequently (chicken, fish, bean-based meals) and I experiment so we aren't bored - Chinese dishes, Indian dishes, etc. I love www.allrecipes.com because they allow you to do an ingredients search where you can search by what you have on hand, and even eliminate things you don't have.

We have "planned-overs" where I will cook extra and freeze some for another time. Sometimes I take leftovers and make into totally new meals - a roast chicken will make quite a few meals.

We try to stay away from HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) and trans fats, so I am always stocked with baking staples. I use my bread machine to make whole wheat pizza dough and it makes great pizza and calzones. Mozzarella goes on sale for about $1.99 (plus coupons!) and it freezes very well. Ricotta goes on sale too, and stores well upside down in the fridge. Plain crushed tomatoes (very thin) makes a good sauce, as DD isn't a huge fan of sauce anyway.

I have a Pooh waffle iron, and make whole grain waffles every week for DD, and they freeze well. They are also amazingly good. I use this recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Whole-Grain-Waffles/Detail.aspx

Also, if you belong to Costco, check them out - but you have to know your prices - not everything is cheaper. Chicken there is $2.79 a pound, so no bargain. But they do get in some great organic stuff (like juice boxes, which my daughter needs for preschool) and it is hit or miss. They also have fantastic prices on organic salad and other produce. No coupons allowed at Costco, other than their own.


So, bottom line is to know your prices, and decide what will work best for your family. That way you will know if you are really getting what you use for the best price.

Samantha

 

[peggster]

I wanted to second Samantha's point about knowing your prices. It helps me a lot to know what I usually pay for the things I buy on a regular basis, so I know if on a certain week I'm better off buying it at SuperTarget at regular price or if it's cheaper on sale at the (usually more expensive) supermarket. This also helps in cases where one store doubles coupons and another doesn't.

Thanks for all the tips. I'm learning lots from this thread, and looking forward to much more!

Peggy

 

[momof2forever]

I agree with planning a menu. $3 a meal per person beats out going out to eat for $10+ per person. I actually have a repertoire for each day or thereabout. Weekends I have more time to cook so I choose new recipes, Mondays are taco nights, Tuesdays I serve a crockpot meal, Wednesday is stirfry, Thursday is spaghetti or vegetarian night, and so on. I do mix them up or change the menu often to prevent boredom.

I also have soup night or breakfast for dinner night to mix it up a bit. Soup can be easily made with leftover veggies and breakfast food like eggs, pancakes, and waffles are inexpensive if homemade.

OAMC, or once a month cooking, is also a huge money saver. My favorite website: http://snider.mardox.com/OAMC.htm Even mini sessions would be economical. I usually do OAMC during fall and winter when I am super busy with my classes, but I have more time since I take only a few classes now.

Vegetarian meals tend to be cheaper so I try to use recipes that use less meat. Beans and legumes are healthier for you anyway.

Here are some websites to help you along:

www.savingdinner.com menu mailers by subscription, but there are some free sample recipes there

www.mycoupons.com check out the forums for couponing help

recipe websites like www.hillbillyhousewife.com where you can even make your own yogurt, http://www.bbonline.com/recipe/ for 'bed and breakfast' type recipes, http://www.copykatchat.com/ , www.tasteofhome.com , and www.recipegoldmine.com

Thanks for the info.

 

[momof2forever]

I think a big part of saving $$ is also knowing what things cost to begin with. For instance, when Pathmark runs B1G1, I usually steer clear, b/c I know it actually comes out to more money per item than when the same item goes on sale. I save my coupons for items I use anyway, and when it is at the rockbottom prices.

I grew up in a house with my mom the couponer and refunder. Our garage was organized in a filing system for her "refunding" (rebates) and we were the family on the block with 12 boxes of cereal in the closet - and my brother, the vaccuum, ate it all!

I adapted her system for my family. I left a well-paying job to stay home with my daughter, and had to cut wherever possible. However, where my mom bought loads of processed crap (IMHO) I try to stick to more healthy options - organics when possible, whole grains, no processed foods, etc. If they are onsale and I have coupons, I do stock up.


To do this in the most cost effective manner, I do the following:

Of course, I have a store card and I shop the circular. When boneless chicken breast is $1.99/lb or under, guess what we eat? I buy a lot, repackage it and freeze some too.

I cook every day, and rarely eat out. This is the biggest $$ saver. I have a huge repertoire (sp?) of recipes for stuff I buy frequently (chicken, fish, bean-based meals) and I experiment so we aren't bored - Chinese dishes, Indian dishes, etc. I love www.allrecipes.com because they allow you to do an ingredients search where you can search by what you have on hand, and even eliminate things you don't have.

We have "planned-overs" where I will cook extra and freeze some for another time. Sometimes I take leftovers and make into totally new meals - a roast chicken will make quite a few meals.

We try to stay away from HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) and trans fats, so I am always stocked with baking staples. I use my bread machine to make whole wheat pizza dough and it makes great pizza and calzones. Mozzarella goes on sale for about $1.99 (plus coupons!) and it freezes very well. Ricotta goes on sale too, and stores well upside down in the fridge. Plain crushed tomatoes (very thin) makes a good sauce, as DD isn't a huge fan of sauce anyway.

I have a Pooh waffle iron, and make whole grain waffles every week for DD, and they freeze well. They are also amazingly good. I use this recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Whole-Grain-Waffles/Detail.aspx

Also, if you belong to Costco, check them out - but you have to know your prices - not everything is cheaper. Chicken there is $2.79 a pound, so no bargain. But they do get in some great organic stuff (like juice boxes, which my daughter needs for preschool) and it is hit or miss. They also have fantastic prices on organic salad and other produce. No coupons allowed at Costco, other than their own.


So, bottom line is to know your prices, and decide what will work best for your family. That way you will know if you are really getting what you use for the best price.

Samantha

Thanks for all the great tips and advice.

 

[5 at disney]

subbing

 

[FoundMyPrince]

There have been many good examples of ways to save money on groceries. I've enjoyed reading formernyer's replies. I began working at this when I was pregnant with our first child and quit my job. I began to learn about refunding and it has changed our way of shopping for groceries/cleaning supplies, etc. Right now there is a form from Coors (no beer purchase required) that you get $25 back when you buy $50 in meat, plastic wear, ice, a cooler or a few other items. You don't have to buy everything - just $50 of something on the list. Who doesn't have time to save this much money?

Also, try me free items are great. There are items in the grocery store with a "try me free" offer attached or you can find forms on the internet to print. It's a great way to get a few freebies each month.

I get a lot of my coupons from coupon services on the internet. I check sale ads and head to the computer to see if I can get coupons for the good sales. If it's a great sale I'll buy 50 coupons for .07 or so each. If I can use the item before the expiration date, I'll keep it. Otherwise, we'll donate it to a local food pantry (tax write-off).

Some stores have their own rebate programs. CVS has a very popular one (we don't have a CVS here). Walgreen's is also good. Free items each month, and good sales otherwise.

My parents, MIL and SIL like what I do, but they say they don't have time. So, I send in offers in their names and they give me the checks. They often question how they are getting all these checks each month, but they don't want to do the offers for their own self. So, for every form or free offer, I do it four times.

Stockpiling has made a huge difference to our pantry. I don't buy one jar of sauce, I'll buy enough until it expires. (i.e. we have 30 jars of spaghetti sauce in the cabinet right now - good for another 18 months). If it's free or very cheap, why buy only one?

There are a couple good couponing or refunding sites on the net. They list great deals that I wouldn't always find on my own. It's kind of a neat little underground of folks. Kind of like Disney - you don't know who all the Disney nuts are until you find a board like DIS. Same goes for coupon nuts - there are a lot of them out there! I'm always learning more on how to save money and how to make the most of what we have.

 

[Mcqueen Fans]

There have been many good examples of ways to save money on groceries. I've enjoyed reading formernyer's replies. I began working at this when I was pregnant with our first child and quit my job. I began to learn about refunding and it has changed our way of shopping for groceries/cleaning supplies, etc. Right now there is a form from Coors (no beer purchase required) that you get $25 back when you buy $50 in meat, plastic wear, ice, a cooler or a few other items. You don't have to buy everything - just $50 of something on the list. Who doesn't have time to save this much money?

Also, try me free items are great. There are items in the grocery store with a "try me free" offer attached or you can find forms on the internet to print. It's a great way to get a few freebies each month.

I get a lot of my coupons from coupon services on the internet. I check sale ads and head to the computer to see if I can get coupons for the good sales. If it's a great sale I'll buy 50 coupons for .07 or so each. If I can use the item before the expiration date, I'll keep it. Otherwise, we'll donate it to a local food pantry (tax write-off).

Some stores have their own rebate programs. CVS has a very popular one (we don't have a CVS here). Walgreen's is also good. Free items each month, and good sales otherwise.

My parents, MIL and SIL like what I do, but they say they don't have time. So, I send in offers in their names and they give me the checks. They often question how they are getting all these checks each month, but they don't want to do the offers for their own self. So, for every form or free offer, I do it four times.

Stockpiling has made a huge difference to our pantry. I don't buy one jar of sauce, I'll buy enough until it expires. (i.e. we have 30 jars of spaghetti sauce in the cabinet right now - good for another 18 months). If it's free or very cheap, why buy only one?

There are a couple good couponing or refunding sites on the net. They list great deals that I wouldn't always find on my own. It's kind of a neat little underground of folks. Kind of like Disney - you don't know who all the Disney nuts are until you find a board like DIS. Same goes for coupon nuts - there are a lot of them out there! I'm always learning more on how to save money and how to make the most of what we have.

i love ready all this great ides to save money. We are trying to work on a budget right now. What are some of the web sites that have coupons on them. I really have never used coupons but really want to start. WE have to start spending os much money on food.

 

[WeRblam]

I like the www.thecouponclippers.com They are fast, efficient and it helps support a SAHM.

She charges a modest fee to cover shipping and handling. I save more this way since I don't have to get the newspaper with coupons that I would never use. I go here and select the ones that I need and order through her site. Works for me!

 

[FoundMyPrince]

I'm new at posting here and didn't know if it was alright to post links to other sites or not - so I didn't write down the coupon sites I use.

www.refundcents.com is a great site for refunding and couponing. It requires a password and username, and a fee for each year. There is also a magazine you can subscribe to. (I only have internet access) Honestly, you will learn so much from the site that it will more than pay for itself in a few weeks. The site is updated throughout the day - people write in from all over the country with the good deals they've found. There are also areas on the site to trade forms that you find, boxtops for education, upc's (all sorts of things). Sounds corny, but the site totally changed the way we spend money.

www.thecouponmaster.com is where I buy my coupons. Technically, you cannot "buy" coupons, but you pay them a fee for hunting for, sorting of, shipping and the service of sending the coupons. There is a fee per coupon and shipping.

www.ebay.com is a source of coupons, too. I will use this only occasionally. Usually they are more expensive than the coupon services.

http://www.mycoupons.com/boards/ is an okay site for coupon deals. It's free, but there doesn't seem to be much traffic on the site and doesn't have many deals listed.

http://www.freefrequentflyermiles.com/index.htm is a site that I use to gain free frequent flier miles. My family of 5 flew to Disney in 2005 and 2006 for only $40 (cost of booking the tickets). We fly about once a year and thought there was no hope of gaining enough miles to fly for free, but this site has all kinds of opportunities listed. Updated often.

http://www.bestdealmagazines.com/ is where we order all our magazines from. They have a cheap "deal of the day" listed daily (duh). Also, they frequently have 18% off codes emailed to customers. There is also a 15% off code: REFCENTS15

http://coupons.50webs.org/ has Target store coupons. Super Target coupons are good at regular Target stores, too. You can use a store coupon (like Target coupon) with a manufacturer coupon (big savings). Listed right now is a .50 coupon for the Target brand of bread (.99 here). So, .49 for a loaf of bread, buns, etc. Stock up - keeps well in the freezer. There is a .75 coupon for Heinz ketchup; there are also manufacturer coupons out there. I bought ketchup (big bottles) for .91 each. Not free, but much better than $2.75! The Target coupons change every couple weeks or so.

There are many manufacturers that will send you coupons when you sign up on their website. Google about any company and they will have a sign up for "good deals and offers" button someplace on their site.


There are also many offers posted on the internet. Here are a few:

Post It: http://www.mypostitsecret.com/offers/5613_3m_Brinker_Lauren.pdf

Oral B toothbrush: http://pics.drugstore.com/prodimg/promo/Coupon_Images/oral_b_082206.jpg?u1=280451-14-0-ARTICLE-0Old

Scotch Bright offer: http://www.3m.com/us/home_leisure/scotchbrite/tsoffer.html

Spray n Wash offer:
http://www.spraynwash.com/Stain_Challenge_2007.pdf

Lipton tea offer:
http://www.liptont.com/downloads/special_offers/Mastercard_Rewards_2007q1.pdf

Country Bob's free bottle of sauce coupon:
http://www.countrybobs.com/

Ritz cracker form:
http://www.nabiscoworld.com/ritz/moneybackguarantee/Refund_Offer_form.pdf

 

[kinntj]

I'm not a coupon person, but I use a few for the items I buy alot of like the yogurt, etc.

One thing I'm starting this week (today actually) is to go to two different stores. We have a Meijer and Kroger right across the street from each other and I plan on getting their loss leaders and good sales items from each store. I'm not really using up extra gas to not make it worth the effort. On Tuesdays the ad comes for Kroger and Meijer's comes on Sunday in the paper. On Tuesdays I'll look at both papers and kinda meal plan in my head with the sale items and go shopping.

I keep the stapes fully stocked all the time. We have white rice and brown rice stocked all the time and we combine those for more nutritional value. I also buy lots of fruits and veggies every week; which is the bulk of our bill, but it's very healthy. Where I try to watch is on the meats and like someone else said, I sometimes buy the older marked down meats and make it that night, so it won't go bad. So tonight, we'll probably have some marked down meat meal with rice or potatoes and a salad.

We're not dessert eaters, so we don't worry about that and grab fruit when we want something sweet. We also have cut down on our grocery bill by not buying soda. Yep, we've completely cut it out and mainly drink water, milk and juice (on sale).

 

[abeyst]

My Meijer ad has terms & conditions at the bottom that says:

"You can get double coupon savings this week at Meijer. Bring in your manufacturers '50 cents off' or less coupons and get double the savings. Items must be purchased in sizes and quantities specified. Limit 1 coupon per item. Limit of 2 identical coupons will double. Additional coupons for identical items will be redeemed at face value. Not to include retailer/tobacco products, Meijer custom coupons, free or coupons exceeding the item value.

So I guess that means if I find good deals at Meijer I can only buy 2 items if I want the coupons doubled? And I'm also not going to get additional money back if the coupon is more than the item I'm buying?

Kroger doesn't have this 'fine print' in their add, it just says they'll double coupons up to 50 cents. Does anyone know if they limit how many of the same item they'll double like Meijer does?