How much do you save using grocery coupons? Update! I saved 72% last week!

[Ka' eo]

I have never done coupons as it seems like mostly they are brand names, and when possible we use generic, as those items are typically cheaper. Our stores here do not do double coupons.

Very curious how it works for you.

Thanks.

I saved 43% on groceries and 60% at the drug store my first week! I may save as much as $4k this year because of this!

LAST WEEK I SAVED 72%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Store list websites

afullcup.com
couponmom.com
weusecoupons.com
hotcouponworld.com
becentsable.net
www.couponingtodisney.com
http://www.southernsavers.com/
http://www.survivingthestores.com/
http://bargainbriana.com/
grocerygame.com (4 week free trial, but is a paid subscription after that)

I LOVE THE BUDGET BOARD! You all rock!

 

[SparKeLLy]

I use coupons all the time. We do by generic if it's cheaper, but often enough a coupon will make the brand name the same price or somtimes even less than the generic....if not we don't use the coupon and just go with generic. I don't know of any of our local stores that do double coupons either. Would be nice! On our last shopping trip we saved about $17 using coupons.

 

[PrinceCharmingsMom]

I have just gotten into the coupon game recently, but last week alone we saved $21.63. I used to buy store brand to save money but lately the store brand is the same price and sometimes more than Name brand so I am very careful with that plus with coupons it makes it worth it. Also I joined couponmom.com heard about it from Oprah and you can print coupons at home on your printer for things you use. It's free and they email you when coupons are restocked. Also if you go to the website for products you use regularly and sign up for updates they will send you samples in the mail sometimes and coupons by mail and email. Comes in very handy, and it's kinda become a fun game for me now to see how much I can save. I don't store hop. I go to one store to do my grocery shopping and use the coupons I can there. I could probably save more if I had time to store hop and combine buy one get one free's with the coupons but I don't have time for that so I am happy with my savings I get at the big store.

 

[MsStinkerBelle]

I use coupons but they're usually the ones printed automatically at the grocery store or Target (which gives you coupons for the store brand ). I don't use a lot of them because the trend for me is, if I use a lot of coupons I wind up spending more money than I need to. So I set aside coupons for any 'name brand' items I just prefer to use (Swiffer, Oil of Olay, Fancy Feast cat food, Fresh Step litter, etc).

 

[Ka' eo]

I would be willing to invest time in coupons if I can save at least $5-10 a week. I am really busy (except this week since there is no school ) and in general just don't have the time.

Looking for more ideas. Thanks!

 

[vicki_c]

Using coupons and the Grocery Game website (which is a subscription), we have consistently saved 40-45% off our grocery bills since last summer. I'm sure there's some items that we might do better buying store brand - and we still do buy some store brand items -- overall, we've been saving a LOT of money off our bill.

Some GG members consistently save closer to 70% but we've only hit that type of savings a few weeks.

My husband went to the grocery store yesterday and spent $186 (cash out of pocket). Our savings on the receipt, between coupons, frequent shopper club discounts and all, was about $159.

It is a lot of effort though, even using the Grocery Game site, looking at the lists, cutting the coupons, etc. But if I didn't do it with Grocery Game, I wouldn't do it at all because it's just too much work to me to figure it all out with the store flyers.

 

[Ka' eo]

Using coupons and the Grocery Game website (which is a subscription), we have consistently saved 40-45% off our grocery bills since last summer. I'm sure there's some items that we might do better buying store brand - and we still do buy some store brand items -- overall, we've been saving a LOT of money off our bill.

Some GG members consistently save closer to 70% but we've only hit that type of savings a few weeks.

My husband went to the grocery store yesterday and spent $186 (cash out of pocket). Our savings on the receipt, between coupons, frequent shopper club discounts and all, was about $159.

It is a lot of effort though, even using the Grocery Game site, looking at the lists, cutting the coupons, etc. But if I didn't do it with Grocery Game, I wouldn't do it at all because it's just too much work to me to figure it all out with the store flyers.

Wow. That is huge. I am trying to reduce our grocery budget to $100 a week. We spend $200 a week and this is just way more than we need to spend for 5 of us.

I guess I will check out the GG and see if this is something that might work for us. Time is seriously an issue. PrincessCharmingmom and Sparkelly, 17-20 bucks would be awesome. That would mean close to 1k a year. That alone would be worth it. That's our flights to WDW.

 

[scard192]

I save about $15-20/month (just me). My daughter (family of 3) around $40-50/month at least. I get coupons in the local paper and we print quite a few from the Internet (thru My Points). Only use coupons if it makes the brand name cheaper than the generic.

 

[mykidsand_i]

I saved a total of $85 on groceries last month (in the month of Jan.) and that is about average for me. I have a set of 'coupon rules' I go by in order for me to actually be SAVING the money and not just using coupons because I have them.

#1 I only buy things that I know my family will use- I won't save a coupon if the product isn't something that I would buy with out a sale and coupon
#2 I save most coupons until there is a sale for the item (most of the time this pays off quite well!!!) There are a lot of products that combine with a sale + a coupon will be quite a bit cheaper than the store brand/generic products...
#3 a local grocery store here doubles coupons (up to 50 cents only, but it's still nice)3 days out of the week, so I shop on those days. There have been several times where an item (uncle bens rice for example) will be priced right around $1 and I'll have a 40 or 50 cent off coupon, so doubled that item will almost be free, or it will be free!
#4 If there are REALLY GOOD coupons in the Sunday paper- and there are sales coming up for those really good coupons, I'll buy 2 or 3 Sunday papers, because I'm saving a lot more than I'm spending to buy the paper! There were a few good buy one get one free coupons and those items were on sale, so I stocked up. It's nice to spend 40 cents on two items I know we'll be using that usually cost me $2-$3 each (toothpaste, toilet paper, canned soups, fruit, anything)!
#5 I will not bother with a coupon if (even after it's used) the store brand/generic will cost less.

I stock pile items (toilet paper, tissues, toothpaste, canned items, hamburger helpers, frozen items, dried goods like peas-beans, hair care products) when I get good sales mixed with coupons and I spend a lot less per year than I did before I started doing it. I've done it for 2 years now- and even with the economy being poor and prices going up, I still spend less per year than I did before couponing and stockpilling...

 

[Tinkerbelle32]

Well, I honestly don't spend more than 5-10 min. on Sunday's cutting them from the newspaper. I guess we are lucky because our commissary has coupons hanging on the shelf near the food item. So, you just pick up your item and tear off a coupon. I love using coupons, but am still very brand specific. If I need colgate toothpaste and I don't have a coupon, I buy it anyway. I know some folks only buy what they have coupons for. Last trip, I saved right at $100! I was shocked!

 

[NYCDiane]

It depends on what kind of shopping I'm doing ("big" or "small") but I typically save between $25-$60 with my coupons.

The way I do it is, I get the store circular beforehand. I know what I want and I check the sales. I make my list and then go through the list and put an * next to the items that I have coupons for. I've gotten many things for free with double coupons (an item on sale for $1 and I have a 50cents off coupon) and have gotten things for very cheap as well (something on sale for $1.99 and I have a 75cents off coupon that doubles to $1.50). A few weeks ago, I got a TON of Lysol cleaning supplies for free because of a sale and the coupons I had.

It's not as time consuming as people think it is. Once you have your coupons organized (in an index card box, a coupon file, or a binder w/baseball card sheets) and get in the habit of checking the circular before shopping, it would probably take you less than 30 minutes a week (maybe 15?). You can do this while watching the news or while waiting for the washer/dryer to finish. I think $25-$60 is worth 30 minutes of my time, don't you?

 

[vicki_c]

What mykids is describing is exactly like how the Grocery Game site works. You pay them and every week you get a list (or lists) showing how the BOGO or other store sales work in conjunction with the coupons from the paper and they recommend what items you should stockpile while the prices are really low.

It's not for everyone because you have to pay for the list, but like I said -- there is just no way I would ever sit down with the store flyers and the coupon sections and figure it out all for myself -- that would be much more time invested than I would be willing to do, even for the big amounts we're saving. So to me, it's worth it to pay for the service.

(and no, I don't work for them or anything - promise!)

 

[Ka' eo]

So, I looked at the GG. For those of you that subscribe, how many stores do you pay for? I see one grocery store and 2 drug stores I can use this for. All are very close and since my dh has now offered to do the shopping (I just spend too much on impulse food purchases and he can stick to the list) I could have it all mapped out for him.

I would definitely do this for $20 bucks a week, but it sounds like it could be more than that. Stockpiling makes alot of sense.

 

[apnep]

I am trying to reduce our grocery budget to $100 a week. We spend $200 a week and this is just way more than we need to spend for 5 of us.

My budget for groceries is $100/week but I tell you, I rarely ever make it. In truth I usually spend around 120-30,but I like keeping my budget that low because it makes me try harder. I find that the coupons are mostly junk food and processed foods so I don't really use them. I just try to get the good deals the grocery store is running each week. I try to never shop hungry, and plan, plan plan or there's no way I'll stick to my budget cuz I'll just buy everything in sight!

BTW, we are a famiy of 5.

Angela

 

[momejay]

I only cut out coupons for products I would use normally. I wait for the product to be on sale & get double savings. I find most of my coupon items are things I would tend to stock up on, like canned goods, pasta & cleaning supplies.

Some of the coupons I used...Skippy peanut butter, Smucker's jelly, Hunt's tomato paste, Ronzoni pasta (on sale 2 for $1, had $1 off coupons), Wegman's bread (2 free loaves), Wegman's ground turkey, Wegman's pasta sauce, Minute Rice, free bag of new potatoes, Sargento cheese snacks, Kraft cheese, Cherios multi grain (buy one get one), Dannon yogurt, Folger's coffee, Newman's Own pasta sauce, Chex Mix 100 calorie packs, Pledge, Flour, McCormick spices (got free allspice with purchase of garlic powder), Store brand Swiffer type cleaning cloths, Store brand adult diapers, & I got a free roasted chicken.

I saved over $30 on groceries this week!

 

[mykidsand_i]

What mykids is describing is exactly like how the Grocery Game site works. You pay them and every week you get a list (or lists) showing how the BOGO or other store sales work in conjunction with the coupons from the paper and they recommend what items you should stockpile while the prices are really low.

It's not for everyone because you have to pay for the list, but like I said -- there is just no way I would ever sit down with the store flyers and the coupon sections and figure it out all for myself -- that would be much more time invested than I would be willing to do, even for the big amounts we're saving. So to me, it's worth it to pay for the service.

(and no, I don't work for them or anything - promise!)

I've heard a lot of really good things about the grocery game site. I have two friends that subscribed to it. There are two really good sites that I go to that are free- they are kind of local for me- they have my grocery stores, walmart, target and a few other places on them. The people who run it go through the ads, mark down the coupons that are available to match sales with coupons...then, if there's ones that they've missed- others are allowed to leave comments about other deals they've found in the store. I've never really had to pay to subscribe to a site to find out what the deals are and I'm greatful for those two sites. I gave them to my friends and they no longer subscribe to the Grocery G. I'm sure that if some of you checked online and searched a little, there are probably localized sites to where you live that are free that offer this service to you. (I am not againsed the grocery game- I think it's a great service if there are no other free sites for grocery store deals in your area!!!)

 

[mykidsand_i]

I think it would be fun to have peoples grocery stores on here- as a budget helping thing- then others could comment about deals they've received at those grocery store chains and coupons they've used. All of us who are 'budget minded' and trying to help others would probably love to comment on and help others out with saving money...

 

[MyDizneyBoyz]

I think it also helps to join a coupon train, like the one NYCDiane and I are on here on the Dis, even though it does take a little bit of time every week to do. That way I can get multiples of coupons that I use and also get ones from other folks that I may not get locally.

I sit down every Sunday night after the kids are in bed, make a cup of coffee and browse the circulars for my 3 favorite stores (ShopRite, A&P and CVS), make a list of what's on sale that I need, and if I have coupons for those things I put a little "C" next to the item on my list. Our stores are great about doubling coupons up to $.99 so if I have some really great coupons that are expiring soon, I may use them regardless of whether the item is on sale or not.

I recently started planning our meals for the week ahead of time and that has really helped the bottom line. I usually do my grocery shopping on Monday or Tuesday night and I get everything I need for the week all in one go. Not having to run out for "just one thing" keeps impulse purchases down and so long as I stick to my list, our budget is happy.

We have it set so that Mondays are Korean food (DH is Korean), Tuesdays are a crockpot meal based on whatever meat is on sale that week (yesterday was pulled pork sandwiches - yum!), Wednesdays are stir fry, Thursdays are fish, Fridays are Italian (the boys love meatballs so I make my own and stock up on ground turkey when it's on sale), etc.

CVS is great with sales, coupons and their ECB bonus bucks program. It takes a little while to figure it out but there are a few threads here that can really help.

I did use the Grocery Game to get started back in the day, but planning my shopping trips has since become my own streamlined routine that I no longer need it. I think it's a great tool to get you started to see how much money you can save with a little bit of time and effort, though.

Good luck and have fun! With the right mindset, it doesn't have to be a chore but rather it can be satisfying to know that you're getting the most out of your hard-earned dollars.

 

[delmar411]

I think it would be fun to have peoples grocery stores on here- as a budget helping thing- then others could comment about deals they've received at those grocery store chains and coupons they've used. All of us who are 'budget minded' and trying to help others would probably love to comment on and help others out with saving money...

try hotcouponworld , it's already setup and it's free.

every store is listed out plus broken down by region when necessary. Circulars are posted with coupon match ups. Makes it super easy to pick and choose where you want to shop.

HTH!

 

[delmar411]

we save a good bit each month w/ coupons. I just shopped a major sale at one of our grocery stores and saved 70-100+% on all my orders. I only bought stuff we needed unless they were paying me to take it and I used the overage to bring down my prices on other items.

Everyone's coupon 'rules' for their families will work differently. Like I wont pay more than .10 per box of pasta. I can get pasta free after sale and coupons multiple times per year so if I've miscalculated my stockpile than we can just go w/o for a week or so.

Savings all depend on how your store runs sales, how often you are will to shop, how long you have to shop (to maximize savings you might have to run 5 transactions at the same time which can take a while), whether or not your store doubles coupons, etc.