Extreme couponing

[Jaralen]

Ok, I know there are a lot of awesome couponers here and I have learned a lot and have gotten great deals, but reading about the great deals by using coupons at the grocery store and actually seeing it was sooo different. I sat in awe as I watched 4 ppl go grocery shopping and getting from $200 to over $1000 worth of groceries for almost nothing. I would love to have the discipline and knowledge to do it better. So now I'm definitly interested in learning more and I know it's going to take some time and practice, I'm excited and would appreciate any help and input. : )

 

[seashoreCM]

1. You spend a lot of time clipping and sorting and matching up coupons.

2. You may have to buy brands that are not exactly what you want, for example have more sodium or more fat or more artificial ingredients.

Food hints: http://www.cockam.com/food.htm

 

[hpfan100]

one of the things the people on the show have that I do not is a grocery store that will take more than 3 like coupons. SO I couldn't get 120 boxes of pasta and then use 120 coupons for them. I could only get three at a time.

I've just started couponing and I started with going to CVS, joining a coupon train on the DIS, and checking the ads every week.

Hope you get some good advice...I could use some too

 

[Jaralen]

one of the things the people on the show have that I do not is a grocery store that will take more than 3 like coupons. SO I couldn't get 120 boxes of pasta and then use 120 coupons for them. I could only get three at a time.

I've just started couponing and I started with going to CVS, joining a coupon train on the DIS, and checking the ads every week.

Hope you get some good advice...I could use some too

I face a similar problem by living in a small town, the 2 grocery stores we have do not take internet coupons, so I'm limited there, I usually drive to the next town to Walmart, not sure if it takes internet coupons but I think it's time to find out...: )

 

[Anjelica]

I think I know which show you are referring to and there was at least one lady/couple who I thought went wayyyy overboard and had an issue. That was the lady who had stockpiled so much in her "current" space that she was overflowing into her husbands room. I'm no psychologist but I wonder if she borders on hoarding.

I honestly think the one lady who got it right (out of all of them) was the older Black Lady who only bought what she needed for herself/to use. She was the one who had a grocery bill before coupons of $2xx.xx.

As some have said you can't be brand loyal and you really need a store that doubles/triples coupons with zero restrictions.

 

[TifffanyD]

I think I know which show you are referring to and there was at least one lady/couple who I thought went wayyyy overboard and had an issue. That was the lady who had stockpiled so much in her "current" space that she was overflowing into her husbands room. I'm no psychologist but I wonder if she borders on hoarding.

I honestly think the one lady who got it right (out of all of them) was the older Black Lady who only bought what she needed for herself/to use. She was the one who had a grocery bill before coupons of $2xx.xx.

As some have said you can't be brand loyal and you really need a store that doubles/triples coupons with zero restrictions.

But i thought she was the most obnoxious about it... butting into other people's shopping and such. Please!

 

[Jaralen]

I think I know which show you are referring to and there was at least one lady/couple who I thought went wayyyy overboard and had an issue. That was the lady who had stockpiled so much in her "current" space that she was overflowing into her husbands room. I'm no psychologist but I wonder if she borders on hoarding.

I honestly think the one lady who got it right (out of all of them) was the older Black Lady who only bought what she needed for herself/to use. She was the one who had a grocery bill before coupons of $2xx.xx.

As some have said you can't be brand loyal and you really need a store that doubles/triples coupons with zero restrictions.

Yes that was the one, and I agree, she didn't seem to have the addiction that the others had with stockpiling and what seemed to be a type of hoarding. I don't want to go that far. I don't have a problem with using different brands, I usually buy what's on sale and use many store brand products. The only thing my DH probably wouldn't let me stray from is his Kraft cheese, I've tried lol.

 

[IMALOVNDISNEY]

I think I know which show you are referring to and there was at least one lady/couple who I thought went wayyyy overboard and had an issue. That was the lady who had stockpiled so much in her "current" space that she was overflowing into her husbands room. I'm no psychologist but I wonder if she borders on hoarding.

I honestly think the one lady who got it right (out of all of them) was the older Black Lady who only bought what she needed for herself/to use. She was the one who had a grocery bill before coupons of $2xx.xx.

As some have said you can't be brand loyal and you really need a store that doubles/triples coupons with zero restrictions.

I watched that program today as well. That is why I posted earlier here asking about coupon clipping services. I'm willing to give them a try. I have always couponed. And I have a fair amount of stockpile too. But, come on purchasing over 200 boxes of pasta or anything else for that matter is crazy. Or putting your small child into a dumpster and being proud of that. Again, crazy. The black woman in the show seemed the only "normal" one to me. I shop the way she does. I buy what we or other family members will use. And I have been known get free cat food even though we don't have a cat and I'm deathly allergic to them. But, it was free and I donate it.
You can still eat healthy and be somewhat brand loyal and save a lot of money with coupons. The perception that you must be eating unhealthy if your saving that much money is just wrong IMO. I just went shopping this weekend and spent $13.00 and saved $60.00 all with coupons. The only stores around here that accept internet printed are Target and CVS.

 

[Allison]

I think it's great that people can save money couponing and I wish I did it more. But as I said on another thread this show should have been called "Organzied Hoarders". It really was extreme. 40 years of toilet paper and over 1000 bottles of shower gel is not something I would view as a good thing.

Sorry, OP, I don't have any good advice for you. Good luck.

 

[RangerPooh]

In order to make it work like they did yu have to find a grocery store that doubles or triples coupons. I don't know where you live but stores around here in WA don't do it. The stores where I grew up in CA don't do it. The stroes where I lived in south western MI only did it occassionally, and in MD they did it more often. So it depends on where you live.

I use coupons and combine with store coupons/sale items when possible. However my average coupon savings isn't that much but I'm still proud. Regardless of how much you save with coupons it's still nice to see the total decrease at the end of the transaction.

 

[tessiemez]

There's a good chance that there's a website for local couponing deals in your area. For the southeast, there's southernsavers.com -- even if you're not from the southeast, it's worth checking out because it explains everything you'd need to know about couponing. The website lists the weekly grocery store deals, lists the coupon matchups (tells you if they come from the internet, providing a link if they do, or tells you the date of the newspaper the insert was in), and allows you to create a shopping list. Once you understand the system, it takes maybe 30 minutes to an hour of planning each week to save at least 50% on your grocery bill.

I think the most important thing to know about couponing is understanding the etiquette. The sales come around every 6-9 weeks, so that means just get 6-9 week's worth of stuff. Watching that program, it annoyed me to see those people clearing entire shelves into their carts with no consideration for others who might be couponing because they need to for financial reasons. I wouldn't feel proud getting a year's worth of pasta sauce for 2.00, knowing that perhaps someone who came after me who really needed the deal but couldn't get it because I bought 60 jars of sauce.

I have gone to the store fifteen minutes after opening on the day the sale starts, only to see one person a few steps ahead of me, clearing the shelves of all the deals so they can stock up for a year. (I know, some people may need a lot, but even the Duggar family wouldn't need 60+ sticks of deodorant in six weeks, right?)

Good for you for wanting to coupon--it saves my family at least 50% on groceries every week. A little research to find a couponing site for your area goes a long way!

 

[dreamin_disney]

will wal-mart take Target coupons? I have some Target coupons for paper towels for $1.00 off

Dh gets 2 newspapers. In both papers there are McDonald coupons for
-free oatmeal (4 coupons)
-buy one sandwich get one free (we have 2 coupons)
-buy any hot or cold Iced McCafe beverage and get one regular sandwich free(2 coupons)
-buy any extra value meal or prmium salad and get free happy Meal

I told dh we need to organize the coupons so we can use on stuff we need. I will not go extreme though-lol!

 

[stitchlovestink]

I think I know which show you are referring to and there was at least one lady/couple who I thought went wayyyy overboard and had an issue. That was the lady who had stockpiled so much in her "current" space that she was overflowing into her husbands room. I'm no psychologist but I wonder if she borders on hoarding.

I honestly think the one lady who got it right (out of all of them) was the older Black Lady who only bought what she needed for herself/to use. She was the one who had a grocery bill before coupons of $2xx.xx.

As some have said you can't be brand loyal and you really need a store that doubles/triples coupons with zero restrictions.

bolding is mine...
I have to disagree with this...
you can be brand loyal, you just need to get enough to last until the next sale...
and you can still save an incredible amount w/ stores that double but have restrictions. We have stores that allow 4 or 5 of the same coupon in the same transaction and those stores also don't care if you want to do two transactions. or at least that has always been my experience and I use the same club card for both transactions.

I watched that program today as well. That is why I posted earlier here asking about coupon clipping services. I'm willing to give them a try. I have always couponed. And I have a fair amount of stockpile too. But, come on purchasing over 200 boxes of pasta or anything else for that matter is crazy. Or putting your small child into a dumpster and being proud of that. Again, crazy. The black woman in the show seemed the only "normal" one to me. I shop the way she does. I buy what we or other family members will use. And I have been known get free cat food even though we don't have a cat and I'm deathly allergic to them. But, it was free and I donate it.
You can still eat healthy and be somewhat brand loyal and save a lot of money with coupons. The perception that you must be eating unhealthy if your saving that much money is just wrong IMO. I just went shopping this weekend and spent $13.00 and saved $60.00 all with coupons. The only stores around here that accept internet printed are Target and CVS.

bolding is mine...
Completely AGREE!
last week at our local grocery store, I got Eggland's best eggs for .77 a dozen (on sale for 1.77 and then had a .55Q that they take double up to 1.) had a $1. off any produce purchase (used on Broccoli that was on sale for 1.09lb) and another $1 off any produce that I used for bananas, had $1 off 3 delmonte fresh fruit cups (DD takes these in her lunch) that were on sale for $1 ea. had a .60Q off of 2 greek yogurts (forgot the brand and they gave me a $1 credit for that Q and bought 2 for .75 cents, I think... my point being, yes it can be done. No chances are it's not going to be free, BUT you can cut your grocery bill by quite a bit.
My best deal last week was on Propel. Shop Rite had a deal where if you bought 8 6pks (2.49pk X 8pks = $20) you got a catalina coupon for $10.00 off of any future purchase. So basically it was like getting 8 pks for $10 after you used the catalina Q....not a bad deal but even better was that I used some manu Q and my first set cost $8.40 (instead of $20) and then when I rolled the Catalina $10 the next set of 8 was $3.60. I am drinking tons of it right now so this was a great deal for me. I ended up doing the deal multiple times (a couple of times on a couple of different days). I also found being polite and non-aggressive towards the cashiers goes a long way too, but I've also learned which cashiers are grumpy and hate their jobs!!

In order to make it work like they did yu have to find a grocery store that doubles or triples coupons. I don't know where you live but stores around here in WA don't do it. The stores where I grew up in CA don't do it. The stroes where I lived in south western MI only did it occassionally, and in MD they did it more often. So it depends on where you live.

I use coupons and combine with store coupons/sale items when possible. However my average coupon savings isn't that much but I'm still proud. Regardless of how much you save with coupons it's still nice to see the total decrease at the end of the transaction.

AGREED!! Even if it's only a couple of $$, I'd rather it be in my pocket instead of the store's!!

 

[SweetPeasMom2]

Here's ways that I have learned to make the most out of my couponing.

-Get multiple inserts. I buy 2 double papers so that gives me 4 inserts. Seems to be enough to get what I need.

-Use a couponing site that matches up the deals for you. There are several. I use SouthernSavers.com personally. I started with the Grocery Game. That is a pay for us site but it was worth it in the beginning. My savings paid for the subscription. There is others out there.

-Get what you need when it's at it's lowest price. Yes, we will have 20+ boxes of cereal in our house sometimes. But we eat a lot of cereal. I don't buy Hamburger Helper or other stuff like that, so I just don't clip that coupon.

-Remember that a lot of your grocery bill includes toilet paper, shampoo, toothpaste, etc. So you can save big on those things. You can stock up on those because they won't go bad (except toothpaste does have an expiration date on it).

There are tons of ways to save without buying things you don't use or want. You don't have to go extreme and buy 200 boxes of pasta (again expiration dates).

I love couponing. I love the game of it. See how much I can save in one trip. As you build your stockpile, then you are only buying needs or things that you can't stockpile (produce, milk, eggs, etc).

 

[MEM]

I have recently become serious about couponing - within the last year. I started by visiting the websites slickdeals and afullcup. Each has forums on supermarkets, superstores and pharmacies - just select the stores that are in your area. The people who post on those forums do much of the work for you! They even tell you where to find the coupons. For years I never bothered with internet coupons because the cashiers told me the store "doesn't take them". One day I heard a customer ask the front end manager who said "sure we do!" Now I feel like I have to educate each clueless cashier about his/her store's own policies. Where possible, I head for the same cashiers each time...the coupon-friendly ones. I order coupons I use from the various coupon-clipping services - buying the Boston Globe is a waste of $3.00 just for one set of inserts. Technically you are paying the clippers for their time and the postage since you cannot legally sell coupons. The stores I shop at limit you to six like coupons per transaction and will double up to 10 coupons per transaction. I'll admit I don't save money on everything I buy but certain items like teabags, rice, toothpaste, pasta sauce I get for free by combining a sale with a doubled coupon. I have also learned to love the reduced produce racks - some of the items are too far gone but many are at the perfect stage of ripeness to eat - and the reduced bakery racks are often a treasure trove of naan bread, roasted garlic ciabatta bread, etc. I work full-time outside the home so I consider my couponing a hobby as well as a part-time job.

 

[Mom of 3 Princesses]

1. You spend a lot of time clipping and sorting and matching up coupons.

2. You may have to buy brands that are not exactly what you want, for example have more sodium or more fat or more artificial ingredients.

Food hints: http://www.cockam.com/food.htm

Color and bold are mine.

This is the one major thing that I am afraid of. I am going to sound ignorant, so if I do, please correct me (don't bash me):

We are VERY picky about the amount of sodium and artificial ingredients that we allow our family to consume. This makes it tough to just shop "normally" but when looking into coupons it was even worse. When looking through the paper we saw coupons that would have saved us money if they were on brands that we used. For example, my toddler drinks Cranberry juice (YEP.. I know.. cranberry juice) and she HATES all the others. So for coupons we have found different brands of cranberry juice but most of them have a lower concentration of juice and are higher in sugars and fructose..ICK!!!

We also do not buy grated cheese.. but I see a lot of coupons for that. We don't buy canned dinners, i.e the soups and chef boyardee because even the small ones contain 900 mg of sodium in ONE serving.. Shiver. But I see a lot of coupons for that as well. We don't buy too many boxed items, such as mac and cheese or prepared dinners. We also do not buy cakes or cookies that are packaged or boxed at the store I.e. Dunkin Hines or Keebler.

I have gotten so frustrated with the whole thing even before I start. I have even watched people use their coupons at the store but have also taken a mental note on the products in their carts and really, we do not buy those things, chips, soda, lunch meat (packaged) or Lunchables (the makers of those things should be hung up by their nostrils for pushing that stuff...)

Toothpast we need, toilet paper we need, things like that, but because we don't need TOO much it is almost more of a hassle to do it than to save.

Any suggestions that may be able to help?

 

[mcever4]

Is TLC showing new episodes of Extreme Couponing, or is it the same one over and over? The one I have seen is with the black lady from Philadelphia, the dumpster diving mom, the hoarder, and the guy who bought 1200 boxes of total and made a pyramid in his driveway with it! Some of these folks are NUTS but it is fun to watch and see how much they save!

 

[tlbwriter]

Is TLC showing new episodes of Extreme Couponing, or is it the same one over and over? The one I have seen is with the black lady from Philadelphia, the dumpster diving mom, the hoarder, and the guy who bought 1200 boxes of total and made a pyramid in his driveway with it! Some of these folks are NUTS but it is fun to watch and see how much they save!

That's the show I saw this weekend. I didn't see the whole thing, but I agree that the lady from Philadelphia, who made it a point to only buy items she already likes and uses, was the most sane (and yes, also a bit rude and pushy!) Was that guy buying a bunch of deodorant? What makes him think it will even work by the time he gets to the bottom of the pile?

 

[mcever4]

[Was that guy buying a bunch of deodorant? What makes him think it will even work by the time he gets to the bottom of the pile?[/QUOTE]

 

[dislvr74]

I live in an area with only a few stores and none of them double or triple coupons. They do accept internet coupons and that helps quite a bit. I think most stores will accept internet coupons as long as they aren't for free items these days.

My new year's resolution was to keep track of my spending/savings on groceries and household items and it has been quite eye opening so far. In January, I purchased $1180 worth of goods for $422 using $368 in coupons and the rest of my savings was in store discounts/sales. I'm doing even better in February because I stocked up on so many basics in January and there was a really great sale two weeks ago. So far I have purchased $853 worth of goods for $146.

I do have a stockpile, but it's only what I know my family of four can consume in about 12 weeks because I know almost everything goes on sale again in 12 weeks. My grocery bill was $13 this week because I only needed to buy milk, eggs, yogurt, and fruit.

I too let the coupon bloggers do all the work of matching coupons to sales for me. I think I spend about 2-3 hours per week cutting/printing coupons, creating shopping lists, and actually shopping. That means I'm making roughly $60/hour couponing. I'm pretty happy with that kind of return on my investment of my time. I know I'm going to be really darn happy when I enjoy our Disney vacation next month that was completely paid for with coupon savings.

I get asked quite a lot what my family eats when I shop this way. I doubt it is much different from anyone else. Last night we had Mexican chicken casserole with frozen corn on the side. Tonight we are eating tinga tacos (tinga is a mexican pork dish) with refried beans and rice. Wednesday is pasta with garlic bread and green beans. Thursday is baked potatoes with toppings (chili, cheese, broccoli, etc) and salad. Friday is pizza night. Saturday is BBQ pork sandwiches that I make in the slow cooker with baked french fries and some sort of veggie. I think that we eat well balanced meals without a significant amount of processed food. In fact, I think we eat better now because I always have veggies in the freezer and I buy more fruit and yogurt. All of us bring our lunches to school/work, which also means we are eating healthier than before couponing.

I've posted these before, I'll post these once again. These are the sites I use when planning my shopping trips:
www.couponingtodisney.com
www.mypricesavings.com
www.savingmoneyinmissouri.com
www.iheartcvs.com
www.wildforwags.com
www.jillcataldo.com
www.mashupmom.com
www.mycouponlady.com

I order two sets of each insert each week because my local paper never contains all of the inserts. Two sets is just about right for my family of four. I get them from www.wholecouponinserts.com.