Does anyone use the grocery game list to save money on groceries?

[Mskanga]

I don't see where on that list they are counting on the doubling of coupons. Yes, some have a savings of more than $1 because they are combining the sale prices with coupons...some things are B1G1F and stuff. But nowhere are they saying "take your $.50 coupon and get $1.50 off" or anything. At least I don't see it.

Do the math and you will see, just to give you an example look at the very first item on the list:
Bernstein salad dressing
Original price: 3.39
Sale price : 2 for $5
Manufacturer coupon: $1
Final price: .50

This is assuming that the person buys two of the items , their $1 off coupon is doubled to $2 each ( = $4 off ) , making it a final price of .50 each bottle of dressing.
And item after item you will see that the discounts are based on manufacturers coupons doubled at full face value.

 

[disney4us2002]

Just read thru this whole thread and my head is spinning. I checked many of the sites and the grocery game site does list the store that I typically shop at every week. My question though is how much I can really save since I don't buy a lot of name brands. There are certain items of course, but I will buy the store brand to save money. Does anyone's list show store items? Stock piling is nice in theory but I also don't have an unlimited amount of storage. Are you talking 10-15 boxes of cereal and huge amounts of other large space items, like tp or paper towels? Thanks.

 

[Mskanga]

Sorry it took me a while to respond. I guess what I am saying is that to use this particular list and bill for the advertisement is wrong , I know that every list would be personalized based on their store. They should have used a list with coupons at face value , not doubling , and hey if they get a double coupon then that's a bonus.

 

[starwood]

It would be better if they didn't double the coupons. Our stores only double up to .99 so if the coupon is $1.00 it isn't doubled.

 

[wshupnastar]

The Grocery Game is also not available in my area. However, I was reading on the local news website and came acrossed www.thegroceryadvantage.com It seems to be the same idea...it is for those of us located in the Cincinnati area...also some surrounding areas, although I can't remember off of the top of my head what areas exactly. The main problem I see is that it costs $15 a month...which seems a little steep to me. That said, I did the free trial and I am going to extend my membership for one month and then decide if I think it is worth it or not. The Grocery Game seems to be growing and I do think if it is ever available in my area I would switch to it, simply because it seems to be cheaper!

I have done the couponing on my own for sometime now...already have a stockpile of shampoo and toothpaste and such, but I spend too much time in the grocery store. I think this would help me to cut that time way down, so I would be paying for the conveinence of the list, not so much to get the deals...although with my free trial I did stumble upon a few that I would have not found on my own!

I wish I had a grocery store like some of you have spoken about! My local store (Kroger) only doubles up to $1. They used to do Super Double Coupon specials a few times a year (where they would double up to $2) but they haven't done them in a LONG time...I think they are no more!

 

[InstImpres]

Do the math and you will see, just to give you an example look at the very first item on the list:
Bernstein salad dressing
Original price: 3.39
Sale price : 2 for $5
Manufacturer coupon: $1
Final price: .50

This is assuming that the person buys two of the items , their $1 off coupon is doubled to $2 each ( = $4 off ) , making it a final price of .50 each bottle of dressing.
And item after item you will see that the discounts are based on manufacturers coupons doubled at full face value.

Are they doubling or are you using 2 $1 coupons since you are buying 2 bottles of dressing?

 

[planning06]

I took a look and in my area they list the store I typically shop at. My question is two-fold. Like a previous poster, I'm worried about stockpiling. How much space is needed to do this effectively?

The second question. What day of the week should I sign up to maximize my return for the 4 weeks for $1 introductory offer? Should I sign up on Sunday, or does it really matter? I feel like signing up today would be a waste since I already did this weeks shopping.

 

[bjkj]

PLANNING06-

I don't have a whole lot of space for stockpiling. The laundry/cleaning items I stash in the laundry area, the personal items in the bathroom cabinets and food in the back of my pantry.

I would start next week if you've already completed your shopping.

Another good tip - you don't need to clip coupons before the list comes out. The list will tell you which coupon from which week from what source. For example: S 5/22 means Smart source May 22. So when I get the coupon sections I just write the date with a big marker. It only takes a few minutes to pull coupons.

Have fun!

 

[tracy51]

I'm about week 6 or 7 using the grocery game. Since I'm only a few weeks in I'm definately not an expert, but let me see if I can answer a few questions/clear a few things up.

Doubling coupons - I believe the lists are based on store in your area's specific 'official' policy. If your store only doubles up to .99 then the list will reflect that. For instance, the Albertson's by use just had their big triple couplon weekend. The official policy is to triple up to .75. However, my store 'unofficially' turns $1 off coupons to $2.25 off (very nice by the way, got a 12 pack of soda for .25 due to that ). Any $1 off coupons the list showed this week, were only $1 off when calculating the final price since that was official policy - not the $2.25 I actually got.

Limited space & small families - My house is 2 adults and 1 kid (every other week due to custody agreement). So our grocery shopping is pretty small. I usually by store brands. Also, I have a budgeted amount that I aim for every week when I grocery shop. I say aim for because if I needed laundry soap, dish detergent, tp, paper towels - non food stuff, I always went over. When we first started using the list, I'd go a bit over my budgeted amount. The last few weeks though its been at or below my budgeted amount. As a matter of fact, if I wasn't stocking up on tp and snacks for school this week I wouldn't have had to go grocery shopping and the amount I spent was a lot less than my normal budget. Right now I'd guess that we could go 2 weeks without grocery shopping except for milk & other perishables. Also, I don't have to worry about running out of shampoo, toothpaste, laundry detergent etc and spending too much because its not on sale then. So, for our small family its working. However, when we get back from Disney I do need to reorganize and find more space to stockpile

Overall, I think I could do this on my own if I went to the differnt sites and spent time going over everything. But for me, what I've been saving has been worth paying someone else to spend that time doing it for me.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Do the math and you will see, just to give you an example look at the very first item on the list:
Bernstein salad dressing
Original price: 3.39
Sale price : 2 for $5
Manufacturer coupon: $1
Final price: .50

This is assuming that the person buys two of the items , their $1 off coupon is doubled to $2 each ( = $4 off ) , making it a final price of .50 each bottle of dressing.
And item after item you will see that the discounts are based on manufacturers coupons doubled at full face value.

FYI--at publix...2fers...do not require you to purchase 2 items for the sale price. Only B1G1's require the purchase of 2 for the benefit.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Just read thru this whole thread and my head is spinning. I checked many of the sites and the grocery game site does list the store that I typically shop at every week. My question though is how much I can really save since I don't buy a lot of name brands. There are certain items of course, but I will buy the store brand to save money. Does anyone's list show store items? Stock piling is nice in theory but I also don't have an unlimited amount of storage. Are you talking 10-15 boxes of cereal and huge amounts of other large space items, like tp or paper towels? Thanks.

I don't have space either--but I just buy off what I use...the theory is though....that you can get the brand names for cheaper than storebrand.

It does say 1 item per 1 person in the house--and used toothpaste as an example. So you wouldn't be stocking 50 of everything.

I'm not at this...so cannot offer anymore tips as I just got started.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Are they doubling or are you using 2 $1 coupons since you are buying 2 bottles of dressing?

In the example it says 2/$5 Buy 1**

This notation means to only buy 1 b/c it is based on families getting one newspaper and saving coupons--so you'd only have 1 coupon. I know for Publix, you don't have to buy the quantity to get the sale price. Based on my game rule$ that came with my list--I can safely assume that only 1 was purchased.....AND b/c of MsKanga's careful observation (don't recant--you are right about the example) that a double coupon is used b/c there is no way to explain the final price.

 

[Southern4sure]

I just signed up yesterday and Im looking foward to saving money. I signed up for Publix and Winn Dixie but neither double or triple. If they did, I might could say my bill came to $200 but I only paid $50 but I have to say now my bill came to $200 and I only paid $150.....

Every penny saved helps!

 

[disney4us2002]

Perhaps I'm doing something wrong? I just finishing signing up and clicked on "teri's list" to see what I could buy. I try to shop Mon or Tues because the sales start on Sundays and the store is just mobbed all day! Anyway, the list says "valid 7/19-7/23" - isn't today the 25th? Are the lists updated only on a certain day of the week?

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Perhaps I'm doing something wrong? I just finishing signing up and clicked on "teri's list" to see what I could buy. I try to shop Mon or Tues because the sales start on Sundays and the store is just mobbed all day! Anyway, the list says "valid 7/19-7/23" - isn't today the 25th? Are the lists updated only on a certain day of the week?

perhaps they forgot to update the validity date. You can double check th list against an ad from yesterday maybe.

My validity dates are 7/24-7/27.

They say lists are updated by noon on Sunday (sometimes earlier--but noon is the deadline).

Maybe e-mail and ask?

 

[cruisnfamily]

Perhaps I'm doing something wrong? I just finishing signing up and clicked on "teri's list" to see what I could buy. I try to shop Mon or Tues because the sales start on Sundays and the store is just mobbed all day! Anyway, the list says "valid 7/19-7/23" - isn't today the 25th? Are the lists updated only on a certain day of the week?

Hmmm, that sounds wrong. I signed up yesterday and got my list for this week right away. I just went in on my list to see what it says and here's what it says:

July 24-July 27, 2005
Sunday 12 noon to Tues./Wed.** (See TERI'$ GAME RULE$ for details on shopping days in your area)

Perhaps the "shopping days in your area" are different? I guess you have to read your game rules to see. That's weird though because my list recommends shopping Sun-Tues/Wed. On the left side is a bar that says "customer service" and you can click there and fill out a form to ask them a question and I guess they'll help you figure it out. Good luck and let us know the answer!

 

[Clancycat]

When they post the new list depends on where you live. I live in MA and mine is posted on tuesdays (though it's usually up by late monday afternoon), even though the sales start on sunday at my list store.

Check your rules to see when they post for your area.

 

[geetey]

Lisa Loves Pooh,
Would you mind sharing which freebie site listed the same things as the Grocery Game? I am hoping they might include St. Louis, MO, since the grocery game does not.

Here in St Louis, the 2 big chains are local chains - Schnucks and Dierbergs. Kroger left years and years ago. You can find the occasional Shop n Save or Save a Lot. Maybe that's why the Grocery Game isn't here? I wish it were!

 

[tikilyn]

I signed up for this yesterday (thanks Disers ). I went and bought the Sunday paper clipped the coupons and got everything ready for today!! The only store in my area that she list is HEB so everything there is a pretty decent price. I went through her list and decided what I wanted to buy and believe it or not I saved a lot!!

My total bill was 65.58 and after all coupons my bill was 46.18!! I saved 18.10! The cashier was so amazed and congratulated me on a shopping well done!! Of course my dh is very sceptical about this program saying that we will end up buying things that we normally don't. He might have a point to that but If I just buy the stuff that I need and not go over board its all good.

The list I got some of the items were priced different like the glad wisp citrus starter kit. The price was suppose to be 6.58 on sale for 4.94 and then I was suppose to use a 3.00 coupon and only pay 1.94 for it. Well this item was priced for 6.58 and not on sale, bummer. I really wanted one of this . Also on the list was a Nivea mens shave gel 7oz store price was 1.68 sale price was 1.49 and Heb was suppose to have a 2.00 coupon to make this item free. They wouldn't take their own coupon and said it was because I would have gotten money back. Bummer again!! Oh well you win some and you lose some. I'm still happy with my purchases and the amount I saved!

 

[cruisnfamily]

The list I got some of the items were priced different like the glad wisp citrus starter kit. The price was suppose to be 6.58 on sale for 4.94 and then I was suppose to use a 3.00 coupon and only pay 1.94 for it. Well this item was priced for 6.58 and not on sale, bummer. I really wanted one of this . Also on the list was a Nivea mens shave gel 7oz store price was 1.68 sale price was 1.49 and Heb was suppose to have a 2.00 coupon to make this item free. They wouldn't take their own coupon and said it was because I would have gotten money back. Bummer again!! Oh well you win some and you lose some. I'm still happy with my purchases and the amount I saved!

I imagine sometimes the sales won't be right but I can't imagine they wouldn't take their own coupon. Seems like they should have taken it for $1.49 at least, if they didn't want to have you get money back....you wouldn't have walked away with the money anyway, it just would have come off of the rest of your groceries.