Couponing doesn't seem worth it, what am I missing?

[budafam]

It's really worth it if you have the time. If you're working full time, I wouldn't even attempt to do coupons. I started doing it at the end of 2009. Just in 2010, I saved myself over $6000 by clipping coupons. I had several shopping trips that would've been well over $100 but with using coupons and deals I ended up spending $5 or less! It's mind boggling to people who don't get the concept nor want to spend the time on it. To me, it was a job. I saved my family money instead of working full time. I have since taken a bit of a break but still do a few deals here and there to save money & stock up. On average, I would say couponing takes at least a good 3-4 hours per week of just clipping, sorting, finding deals, making lists... not even adding in the actual shopping times.

I thought I would try out Aldi's to see how they compare to using coupons at higher priced stores and I actually spent triple at Aldi's on things I would normally have bought at a different grocery store with coupons. Aldi's is great for those who don't do the coupon thing but in no way are you saving enough money to say it's better than actually couponing. I get brand name items for free, not generic items for $1-$3 a piece (that adds up quick!)

 

[Donaldswife]

Couponing doesn't work too well around where I live. There is an Aldi's, but it is a small one and I haven't really found anything we like there. All of the grocery stores around me (Marsh & Kroger) do not take internet coupons, and have limits on the number of coupons you are allowed to use per transaction (the Kroger closest to my home is a 6 coupon limit.) I do keep coupons for things I buy, and I do use them at Kroger, WalMart or Marsh, but I don't do it a lot because it is generally not worth my time.

Now, you can defintely CVS in my area. I have gotten in on a few good bargains, but we have a small family (DH, myself and DD) do it doesn't make sense to stockpile TOO much since we will not go through it.

 

[disney11fan]

I have read some articles about extreme couponing and I just don't think it would work for me, so what am I missing? It is just my husband and I, we do almost all our grocery shopping at Aldi and only buy a few name brand things at the larger supermarkets, like my Pantene shampoo and conditioner, deodorant and fresh meat. We go with my mom to Sam's club and save a lot on paper products and store up on them. Since switching stores we do save at least $50 a month. We don't get a newspaper, and I just think it would take a lot of time and patience to clip the coupons, organize them, and then wait for a sale to take advantage of the biggest savings. I there a website or a blog that would give me some more information? We both work full time and make good money, but we also want to retire early, so every little bit helps!

don't waste your time cutting coupons. buy generic..shop off price stores and enjoy your free time. have dh or yourself put away at leat 16% of your pay in your 401k. enjoy retirement at an early age... i did at 55.

 

[crisi]

As other have said, it depends on where you live and what you buy. I didn't do CVS, but I did Walgreens for a while back when they had their good program. It took three months to buy enough cheap shampoo and toothpaste to last years. Our grocery stores don't tend to double coupons.

Much of our food is organic (we buy from Farmers Markets and Coops mostly) and unprocessed, most of our cleaning products are natural - there aren't a lot of hippie coupons out there for us.

 

[Disneyx6]

I have very recently gotten into coupons for all of my groceries. We are a family of 6 and our grocery bills were getting out of control. I am a stay at home mom so I have the time to research and shop. I actually shop 3 stores, Wal-Mart, ShopRite and BJ's. I only buy certain items at each of those places and use my coupons. I will shop @Target or CVS too if the deal is worth the stop. I have to say that I have been shocked at how much I have saved in the last 1 1/2 months!! It does take time but I'm not going crazy(yet!)and I think it is really helping that I don't stray from my list and don't stop at the store anymore for one item (which turns into 20!).
I'd rather save the $$ on groceries so I can spend it at Disney on our next trip!

 

[KellyWasHere]

It's definitely worth it for me because our grocery store has double coupons and matching that up with sales saves alot. I stay away from CVS, though, because it drives me MENTAL! I see how you can save alot of money but the CVS's by me (I've tried 4) never have the sale stuff in stock. Oooh, does it make me mad! I would get rainchecks but it would still be forever until they got the stuff in stock. Not worth it at all for the level of frustration and time running to the store. I know some people have lots of luck with CVS, though.

 

[Belle0101]

When I see that people saved so much I wonder too, where aren't they shopping?

By that I mean, I could, and have, spend extra time clipping coupons, reading websites for deals, organizing coupons, extra money on paper and ink to print coupons or for extra newspapers or buying coupons and then gas to drive to Kroger, easily the most expensive store in my area. I would then look at my receipt and realize I saved a bunch of money. (It prints on your receipt how much you saved.) That savings is based on full retail price plus the savings of it being on sale plus your coupons.

Or, I could go to a more local, and cheaper store, and not have spent the extra time and money and still save that much. My receipt won't reflect that though because their retail price for the items are cheaper than Kroger everyday.

I'm all for saving, don't get me wrong. But consider this scenario -

"ABC" normally sells widgets for $10.00 but this week they are on sale for $8.00. I need lots of widgets so I buy $1 off coupons from a coupon clipping service. I buy my widgets and my receipt reflects a $3 savings per widget.

"XYZ" sells that same widget for $7.00 everyday. I buy it at "XYZ" and it seems that I didn't save anything.

I think you have to know the prices in your area as well as the coupon policies at the stores you frequent and decide what works best for your situation.

 

[purplegirl247]

Last week my publix shopping was $46 and I saved $92- that was really good. On average I spend $50 at publix and save that same amount. I shop walmart for certain things and target for others and will shop other supermarkets for sales but Publix is my main - simply because they are the only one to have Boar's head products and Dh is a driver and he has a sandwich every day- dd13 won't buy the school lunch and I take a few sandwiches here or there.

Oooh, I'm jealous! We're in Florida too, so no double couponing here. Well done on saving so much at Publix! I usually pay about as much as I save, but it's the rare trip indeed that I save more than I pay, so kudos to you for saving sooooo much more than you paid!

To stay on topic, I think you just have to try out couponing and see if it works for you: your schedule, your products, your family. If it does, awesome. If not, just move on.

 

[travelbug]

I get brand name items for free, not generic items for $1-$3 a piece (that adds up quick!)

Yup. I'm not interested in paying for what I can get for free. Now I am fortunate because the grocery stores around here all double coupons up to $0.50.

Clipping coupons and scouting the store ads are what I often do while watching TV. I'm not one to just sit down and watch TV; I almost always have something else I'm doing at the same time. So I don't find it to be a big sacrifice of time. I do work full time.

I haven't paid for deodorant, toothpaste, and a few other things for years. Now I don't stock up on enormous quantities of things like the extreme couponers on the show but I do stock up enough on some things to avoid running out of them before the next sale rolls around.

Anyway, couponing works well for me. I even get occasional store coupons for free lettuce, milk, and great deals on poultry and fish. So couponing doesn't necessarily mean that one can't eat healthy.

 

[LisaNJ25]

I am no where estreme like on that tv show.. but I do like to stockpile during a sale. I also folllow a few websites that match coupons up. I order extra coupons form ebay or other clipping services weekly for the things I need.

My store doubles up to 4 of the same coupons and anothing up to .99 will double so I will make a few trips.

It may mean that I may have 8 tubes of toothpaste on the shelve that were free or close to it but it beats running to the store and paying $2 to $3 when its not on sale.

I also have a family of 6 so we go through things faster.

Its not different when I shop online.. I also can through cashback sites and look for coupons before I shop

I also shop at aldis weekly but with coupons I can get some things much cheaper at Shoprite.

 

[mrodgers]

It is a lot of work and quite an initial expense. $30-40 for printer ink, and extra $10-15 in gas to go where you may see sale items to use a coupon (only have 3 Walmarts, or run into town in the 4th direction which we never go to except for work which there's no time after work for me and my wife is not willing to grocery shop at 1 am, drive 45 minutes home, put groceries away, and get back up at 7 am.)

I have recently bought every newspaper available to me (3 different papers) and there was only 1 coupon insert and only 1-2 coupons that we would use.

Printing off the internet, as I said, cost the extra expense of printer ink and paper.

I've never seen a Walmart grocery ad. So, grocery shopping is a plan-on-the-fly kind of thing, difficult to do.

We don't eat the junk or use the products I always see coupons for.

I spent a week scouring the internet, buying newspapers, hunting for coupons. Spent several hours and saved.... about $3. I clocked in 5 minutes early at work today and made that. 5 minutes at work or hours and hours on the internet, I figure it's much easier to just clock in 5 minutes early.

No one around me doubles let alone triples coupons.

My wife just spent $270 grocery shopping for 4 for the week. We will be out of food next Wednesday and we have our own beef and don't purchase beef. Reading these threads on people who claim "I only by X when it's free..." and such is just depressing, because there is no way of doing it.

 

[neatokimmo]

Much of our food is organic (we buy from Farmers Markets and Coops mostly) and unprocessed, most of our cleaning products are natural - there aren't a lot of hippie coupons out there for us.

This

We are a can free, BPA free (like no plastic steamer bags), 75% box free household when it comes to food (working on the box thing, its mostly cereal).

I've been making all our cleaning supplies for a few months now and switching over to all natural no chemical, no fragrance bath stuff as things run out.

Right now the only coupons that I really use are for cat food.

 

[JennyKS]

You have to be willing to try. There are 3 or 4 blogs I go to that help show me the best prices. It's just me and my 5 yr old daughter, but to me, every penny helps. I literally work within walking distance to a Walmart, CVS and Walgreens. Target is on my way home from work. I find I do much better at Target then I do Walmart. Target has their own coupons and then will allow you to use a manufacturer coupon as well. I'm not a huge stockpiler, I really just started. But I have noticed a HUGE difference. Pretty much in my cleaning supplies, and kleenex. I mean really who would have thought that I could get them so cheap. You really do need to be OPEN to trying and OPEN to trying different brands. I am addicted to Nivea chapstick and with the coupon that was floating around I did end up getting 4 of them free.

No I do not feed my child all junk. You just have to try. Yes it's not for everyone, but for the ones that want to try and save money, I honestly say go for it.

My daughter enjoys finding our "bargains".

 

[mhsjax]

I have tried, over and over again. Very rarely do I find something on sale with a coupon that I use and I won't buy something just to save money. I know that not everyone does this, but there are a lot of people that do.

Stores around here (Publix is where I shop) don't double coupons. One time in particular, Southersavers listed a printable coupon for cereal that Publix had on sale BOGO. Essentially you got if for free. Well or Publix wouldn't honor it, it was on sale already and they weren't going to give it away, and I completely understood, in fact I felt silly for even trying it. Some people said they got 2 boxes for free, others couldn't do it.

Anyway, I am tired of looking at these sites to match up stuff. I clip the coupons I use out of the paper, which are few and far between and if I need something and it is on sale and I have a coupon, great, but if not, OH well. I need it, and I will buy it, within reason.

 

[angierae]

Clipping coupons and scouting the store ads are what I often do while watching TV. I'm not one to just sit down and watch TV; I almost always have something else I'm doing at the same time. So I don't find it to be a big sacrifice of time. I do work full time.

This, totally. I clip coupons and cruise the sale papers while we're watching TV in the evenings after everything else is done. That's wasted time anyway, might as well do something useful with it.

Match coupons to sales. I'm not as "extreme" as some people but I can save quite a bit of money off the regular price when I'm making an effort. I try not to buy ANYTHING except perishables that isn't on sale.

 

[brat]

Mostly shop at Fry's(Kroger brand store) and do not extreeme coupon but do coupon.Then send store coupons in the mail and have printables on their website. Now with spending time on coupons and putting my savings in piggy we have enough for our trip to Disney.

Last nights grocery trip, 6 coupons and 12 store specials equals a savings of $43.Coupon 1 (buy name brand bread and save a $1 on milk),coupon 2(buy kroger roasted chicken save $1)it was also on special for a $1 off,coupon 3 (Save $3 on fruit by buying name brand cereal)cereal and fruit were also on special,coupon 4(save 40 cents on carrots which store ups to save $1), coupon 5(save $2 on name brand spagetti sauce) also on special, coupon 6(save $10 on your next shopping trip for buying sale brand last week)works on anything you do not need to be 18 to buy.

 

[MEM]

This, totally. I clip coupons and cruise the sale papers while we're watching TV in the evenings after everything else is done. That's wasted time anyway, might as well do something useful with it.

Match coupons to sales. I'm not as "extreme" as some people but I can save quite a bit of money off the regular price when I'm making an effort. I try not to buy ANYTHING except perishables that isn't on sale.

Same here. Work full-time, have 2 children one of whom is special needs, a 14 room house, etc. etc. Couponing is now one of my hobbies as well as a great way to stretch our budget. The coupons and deals are not going to jump up and bite you on the bum - you have to put in some time and effort. Fortunately, forums like afullcup.com and slickdeals.net exist and the folks on those boards do most of the work for you!! I get very weary of non-couponers saying "I don't feed my family junk and those are the only coupons out there". Not true. Invest the time.

 

[angierae]

Also, in addition to coupons I very heavily shop the "buy 10 for $10" stuff. Meijer even does "buy ten for a dollar, get one free" and they're mix and match. So this week:

4 loaves of bread (aunt millies)
2 bags of baby carrots
3 of the dole "fruit naturals" cups (they often have coupons for these but I don't have any right now - they could have been even cheaper)
2 cucumbers
5 cans of fruit (pineapple and mandarin oranges, I think. I portion these out for myself in smaller containers for work lunches)
3 boxes of meijer brand ziploc bags
3 containers of hand soap.

So 22 items. Regular price on all that would be $41.11 (before tax on the non-food items) but with the special it's 22 items at .91 each, so $20.02.

Half price, basically, and all of it is stuff we'll use. This week is low on items I can put coupons on, but there are weeks that the 10/$10 stuff are things I have coupons for, which can be doubled up to 50c. If I have a 25c off coupon for one of those things, they are .91-.50, which is .41 for something that might have been $2.

 

[maggiew]

The people who save the most money are buying the most. I live by myself so I don't need as much food or other things a family of 4 would need. I would save little so I don't use coupons unless they are already on the product I am buying and I don't buy things I don't need or really want just to stock up. Buying 10 bottles of detergent on sale is great if you have children and do laundry everyday, but I have two-three loads a week! 10 large bottles of detergent would last me years! And large amounts of food would go bad before I could eat it all. So it just depends on your situation.

This is not necessarily true. Nothing is forcing you to buy 10 bottles of detergent. But when you can get detergent for free, then its time to buy 1 bottle.

For example, this week at CVS they have Crest Pro Health toothpaste free after ECB. You buy the toothpaste for $3.29 and then get back $3.29 in ECB. The key is to use your $3.29 ECB for items next week that are free after ECB.

Also, in the example above, the limit is 2. So I could buy one Crest Pro Health toothpaste for $3.29 and get back $3.29 eCB. Then I use that $3.29 ECB to pay for the second toothpaste and leave paying $0 OOP. PLUS I get another $3.29 ECB. I can use that next week to get the shampoo (or lotion or whatever) that is free after ECB. You continue to "roll" your ECB and end up paying very little OOP while getting free products. To even sweeten the pot, use a $1 coupon from the paper to MAKE MONEY BUYING THE PRODUCT.

I get 2 newspapers each week (local and chicago paper). I buy these for me and my dad to read - the coupons are bonus! As a result, I have enough shampoo, conditioner, mouthwash, pain reliever, cough medicine, to last us that I got for free (or made money buying). All of my "stockpile" fits under my bathroom cabinets. I don't have a garage-full of shelves with cereal, etc.!!

I will admit, however, that I don't do couponing for food items as much. I buy what is in the ads and try to stock up a little to last me until the next sale. Sales tend to cycle and you know how long it will be until the next sale.

I also don't reinvent the wheel. I read couponing websites where other people list coupon match ups and then I just go and do the deals. So it doesn't take much of my time. I don't clip all the coupons each week. I keep them in my inserts and then when the coupon matching websites tell me what coupons to use for that week, I go and clip out only those that I will use. I spend an hour or so on Saturdays actually writing my list and cutting coupons so that I am ready to hit the sales on Sunday when the sales start.

You don't have to be an extreme couponer to make it work for you.

Maggie

 

[vicki_c]

We are not extreme and only even go coupon shopping a few times a month because it is a lot of effort. And we use the Grocery Game subscription site, and I still think it's a lot of work (some of that is because we have many stores in our area, so it's a lot of info to go through and trying to compare the prices across the stores). But we saved over $4000 on our groceries in a year, not counting a few months when we were "off the wagon" (we spend on average about $175/week on groceries, so quite a bit - no $100 grocery months at our house). Most of our stores don't double coupons either.

It has helped me to become less brand-loyal which is important if you want to get the best deals. I just have a different mind set about things now - I understand better what I should/could pay for things, so I won't buy cereal that's more than $2/box and I like it when I get it for $1. I will not spend a cent on a razor or razor blades, or more than about $.50 for a toothbrush, because I know that if I'm patient, I can get things for those prices. It's really helpful for health & beauty items and cleaning stuff.