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

[dillydaleri]

I am glad to have found this thread! I am liking all the tips so far. I sometimes feel like I am at a bit of a disadvantage because I live in a small town in nothern MN and we have only have two grocery stores and then a Wal-Mart and Target and that's it. But we have a Walgreen's that is being built and looks like it will probably open this spring!

 

[vsimeone]

My last shopping trip I got $185 worth of groceries and paid $94 out of pocket. I saved $91 with coupons and sales. It MORE than paid for my GG subscription (probably several years worth) and I earned about $45 an hour (since it took me about 2) to clip and organize my coupons. BUT, I also did it while sitting in front of the TV. I'll earn $45 an hour doing THAT job ANY day!

 

[mykidsand_i]

I am glad to have found this thread! I am liking all the tips so far. I sometimes feel like I am at a bit of a disadvantage because I live in a small town in nothern MN and we have only have two grocery stores and then a Wal-Mart and Target and that's it. But we have a Walgreen's that is being built and looks like it will probably open this spring!

I was raised in a small northern MN town...and lets just say you're lucky to hav a Walmart and Target!!!! We had to drive 2 hours to the closest WM and Target (Grand Forks for us!!!)

 

[Kitikat]

My budget used to be $250 for 2 weeks for 6 ppl. Now I spend $125 for 2 weeks. With sales and coupons and coupon doubling we save so much. The other half of our budget money we put into saving for our 2 Dis trips this year. Believe me we are not starving. Like others have said i stalk pile when good sales. And only buy things I know my family will eat.

There are many free couponing sites out there. Here are a few I use

www.couponingtodisney.com
http://www.southernsavers.com/
http://www.survivingthestores.com/
http://bargainbriana.com/

And they have facebook updates that keep you updated during the day.

Kathie

 

[nortney]

I have between 60% and 80%. I started years ago when my children were little and I had a big family. Back then you matched the coupons to the ads and that's all you could do.

A year or so ago I started couponing again and the internet has made it so much easier. Now I stockpile items that I need and won't expire (detergent, toothpaste, toilet paper, etc) and buy everything else at deep discount. I just log on to my favorite website (it's afullcup.com right now) and click on the store in my area. They list most of the sales and match it with coupons. I also read the message boards and you'll get great deals with catalinas (the coupons that print out of the little printer by the machine.

I don't buy newspapers, I buy complete inserts (usually 10-25 cents a piece) from an out of town supplier I found online. I also will buy coupons in bulk for things that are free or close to it. (They usually only cost pennies).

An example of the great deals I found this week are:

Krogers
Purex Laundry detergent - $2.49 - $0.35 coupon doubled = $1.79 BUT then you buy 2 and you get a catalina (spits out of the coupon machine by register) for $4.00 off your next purchase of anything! That's a money maker of about $.09 after tax but it's FREE detergent. I've bought about 50 bottles

Pillsbury Grands - buy 6 small rolls at $0.69 = $4.14 = 2 $0.35 coupons doubled ($1.40) for a total of about $3.00 with tax. Then you get a catalina for $4.00 off you next purchase. That's free busicuts and about $1.00 extra!

Everything of course isn't always free, but there are a lot of deals out there. I save so much money, I can't imagine not couponing. I view it as every $$$$ I save at the grocery store pays for something my family needs I can't save money one.

Also, I use another site www.slickdeals.com to save in other ways. I save $$$$ Xmas on things. They list deals at internet and bricks and mortar stores on here. Another example of savings for me is that this weekend, Big Lots is having a Friends and Family sale which will save you 20% off everything in the store during certain hours. My 11 year old wants a futon for her room. It's 300. I'll save 20% off that and get $40 in reward coupons for a future purchase (Buzz Club rewards). That's a total of $100.00 off just for buying it on a certain day!

Yes, I'm a little "rabid" about couponing but when I look at how much money I've saved I can't help it...lol.

 

[MickQuinn]

I have been saving about 50% or more on groceries since really doing the coupon thing. As other posters have said, it really is a matter of collecting them, organizing (so you can find them when you need them) and waiting for a good sale on the item.

The krazycouponlady.com website has been very helpful. They do a daily update of deals and also have a page called "KCL 101" that walks you through the steps of using coupons effectively.

Only one store in my area doubles coupons, but I have managed to score quite a few freebies (toothpaste, paper towels, etc) as well as many great deals to stock up when they are cheap. Today at Shaw's I got Kellogg's cereal for 49 cents a box, free tissues, pop secret 3-packs for 50 cents each as well as 49 cent baby spinach among others.

It changes the way you shop, but I think it's worth it.

 

[Kitikat]

I totally understand about how excited one can get from couponing and saving money. I call it a "high like no other". Last week i went to Walgreens when they had eggs on sale for $.99. I had 2 bogo coupons from becoming eggs friends on facebook and 1 free oreo coupon (also from fb). Walked out with 4 dozen eggs and 1 golden oreos for $2.16. I had to text my DH and tell him, my 18yr DD didn't understand the big deal. Oh also we went out to dinner monday for DD 9th bday. We had 2 bogo coupons so it ended up being $20 for 6 of us at Ryan's (a buffet place)
Those are just 2 examples from last week.

Kathie

 

[DawnM]

Well, let's see....today the retail cost was $102 and I paid $24. This included veggies and milk that I didn't use coupons for.

YOu have to match current sales with coupons for best value and take advantage of super double (double up to $1.99) and triples (triple up to .99) that happen every few months. I go to the grocery store DAILY during these weeks because it saves me so much. It is all about stock piling.

Dawn

 

[DawnM]

Oh, and then at CVS today, retail was $62 and I paid $16. This was for 6 Digorno pizzas and 6 pounds of chocolate.

The chocolate will go in their Easter Baskets even though it is shaped like hearts!

The pizzas will be our pizza night Friday pizzas for $2 each instead of Pappa John's $10 and up pizzas, and we don't have to go pick them up!

Dawn

 

[a1970model]

I followed a link here on DIS about three years ago that took me to the Grocery Game. I'm so glad it did! Couponing (along with other budget strategies) has helped us pay off our credit card debt, put our daughter through two years of college, and go to Disneyworld three times.

Even though I'm aware of the free sites, I still like http://www.thegrocerygame.com list for my local grocery store. It's worth the investment to me. I also think it's a great, supportive environment for newcomers to learn how to coupon effectively. My current free site that I've become increasingly delighted about is http://www.southernsavers.com. It's very helpful, even if you're not in the south.

Two weeks ago I spent $200 and saved $159 in coupons alone...no doubles or triples and no internet printables.... just straight coupons clipped from the Sunday paper. There is a method and it's definitely worth learning how to do it. Even though I work full-time, take two grad classes, and keep my family's household afloat and still answer to "Mom!" a billion times a day ... I still find time to clip my coupons. I find it well worth the time I make for it.

 

[ohlas]

ok in the last 30 days i paid 380.37 in grocery and paper for family of 4 coupon used 49.35...

i will be going on friday running out of all stuff normally in the ice box...
but oranges have a ton of those like 30 plus oranges, friend dad has oranges trees in fla picked them all and daughter will not eat them so gave me the million oranges. I love them but im thinking orange juice soon lol

 

[Jacoby 46]

i will be going on friday running out of all stuff normally in the ice box...

I have nothing to add to this, just wanted to say that when I read "ice box" it reminds me of my Dad!! He always says "ice box" when talking about the fridge!!

 

[wdwfan16]

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.

Do you include the sale price in that savings? If they have roast at BOGOF do you call that a ~50% savings?

 

[Shmily1]

I've been doing it for a while but mostly for non-edibles since those are the easiest to get for little to nothing. I also look at the website weusecoupons dot com that someone mentioned on the Dis. It's a great site with lots of good information. I love the CVS thread here too! That's my first favorite!

Yesterday, I went to Wags and got two boxes of pop tarts, one roll of aluminum foil, and two large tubes of Crest with free trial sizes attached. My OOP was .80. I can live with that!!

Your best bet is to see what is on sale and use your coupons for that. We don't have any stores that do doubles or triples without me driving an hour to do it so no going daily here for that. Also, if you can find an organization method that works well for you, you will stick with it longer and be able to find better deals.

 

[kwhite1022]

About 2 months ago I would have said I averaged a saving of over $35 per week using coupons. However, now after the first of the year, my hubby and I are changing our lifestyle and eating completely different, and I find Im unable to save like I used to. I have a hard time when I see my weekly bill, which went from $80 to $120....but I have lost 12 pounds and my hubby around 23, so although its harder on the budget, it has its rewards! I do think if I lived in a bigger city, Id still do a little better, my town only has one grocerystore, and then we have a Walmart (not Supercenter) with limited food. I hope when we do a garden this summer my bill will go down.

 

[dillydaleri]

I was raised in a small northern MN town...and lets just say you're lucky to hav a Walmart and Target!!!! We had to drive 2 hours to the closest WM and Target (Grand Forks for us!!!)

Oh, I know! When we first moved here all there was besdies the grocery store was a KMart. I am so happy to have the Wal-Mart and Target now!

 

[budbeerlady]

I do savings angel and I usually save almost half. There is stuff like the paper towel, toilet paper, that I am not good at finding deals on so that skews my total.

I have been doing this long enough that I have some stock piled so my list from yesterday will look weird:

4 Grand Biscuits
3 Hines Frostings
4 Fruit by the Foots
2 Fruity Pebbles Cereals
2 Pilsbury ready to bake cookie dough
6 Yoplait Yogurts
4 Chex Mix bags
12 Green Giant frozen veggies
2 swiss miss hot cocos

then my non coupon items were:
1 toilet paper 4 pack
1 roll of paper towel
1 Birthday card for my MOm (didnt check the back and paid $4.49 for it, oh well...)
1 box valentines for dd next year $.64

I spent $33.56 for the 47 items, I had coupons for $10.10, store savings of $29.32 ($ savings total on my reciept is $39.42) and I recieved catalina coupons for $9.25 off my next shopping order from Pilsbury and General mills. (So my total oop if I include the free money for next time is $24.31.)

I know people behind me in line move when they see that coupon stack but why not use them? Its like refusing free money! We had a great meal last night for so cheap!

Steak (I bought it on sale someplace but dont remember what I paid, It was 1 cut into a small piece for Dd and then Dh ate the rest) with hines brown gravy I paid $.45 for the jar, Betty Crocker mashed potatoes ($.45 for the 2 pack box) a $.50 box of green giant frozen butter corn niblets and Grands Biscuits ($.75) So aside from the steak our meal for 3 was $1.93

I wish we had double coupons but its not done on this side of the state.

What I like best about savings angel is it tells me where to find the coupon. So I dont clip all mine, I keep them bundled by date in the flyer. They are laid out in a table like this:

Pillsbury Simply Cookies 14 oz pkg. All varieties.

$1 on 2 Boxtops4education.com, $1 on 2 Pillsbury.com, $1 on 2 SavingsAngel SmartSource.com, $1 on 2 (SS 12/6), Simply: .55 (SS 12/6), Simply: $1 (GM 12/13), $1 on 2 (GM 12/13), .55 on 2 (GM 12/13), $1 on 2 SavingsAngel Coupons.com, $1 on 2 (GM 2/7), Possible Catalina, $1 on 2 Meijermealbox.com

Retail: $2.50
Sale: $2.00
Final Price: $0.50

80% Savings

 

[kalliyan1]

I subscribed to GG awhile back and saved money...the thing I DON"T get is if you go and are supposed to focus on stockpiling, how do you get what you need for actual meals, stockpile and still save money? If cereal is on sale, you buy enough to last until the next sale comes (6-8 wks), I get that, but if I spend all my budget grocery money that way, when I leave, I will have saved a bunch but also only have cereal, tp, toothpaste, etc. I could not figure this out for the life of me and that's why I stopped the GG. I'm just starting out again so any help would be appreciated.
TIA

 

[delmar411]

I subscribed to GG awhile back and saved money...the thing I DON"T get is if you go and are supposed to focus on stockpiling, how do you get what you need for actual meals, stockpile and still save money? If cereal is on sale, you buy enough to last until the next sale comes (6-8 wks), I get that, but if I spend all my budget grocery money that way, when I leave, I will have saved a bunch but also only have cereal, tp, toothpaste, etc. I could not figure this out for the life of me and that's why I stopped the GG. I'm just starting out again so any help would be appreciated.
TIA

You aren't supposed to pay that much for stockpiling that it takes over your food budget. That would be the first problem.

I don't know how much cereal you go through in a week but I don't pay more than .50 for a large brand name box of cereal and the kids could eat a few boxes per week if that's the only thing they ate for breakfast. Most of the time I get it for free or pennies though. So if you are stockpiling when it's $2/box then that's not a good stockpile item. Make sense?

I've not looked at GG because it's a pay to use site but there are lots of free sites that will tell you when this stuff is free or a money maker. That's when you are supposed to stock up and you're using up your time not your money to do it.

There are very few HBA items that you should be paying for if you are stockpiling. If you are doing the 'game' as intended, all those items would be free.

HTH!

I'd suggest hotcouponworld for a detailed look at every store but afullcup has friendlier people for asking questions. HCW is pretty tight on their rules and regulations so even asking a 'bad' question will get you in hot water. That's not terribly welcoming for a newbie so I'd start out at someplace like afullcup and then look into HCW to make sure you've got all the deals listed that you might need.

 

[budbeerlady]

It was hard the first couple of months. Your correct you still need to buy your normal stuff until your stockpile really gets going. So I would try to buy 3 cereals and try to stockpile slowly where as now I would pick up 6 or 8 if I had the coupons. Once I didnt need to buy cereal every week that free'd up the cereal money to buy the next deal the next week.

And it took me a little to figure out my best buy stock pile price on stuff. I was so excited to get my brand of butter for $.50 that I bought 4, stock piled a little. Then 2 weeks later it was 16 cents for the same stuff. So I bought alot more then and was kinda kicking myself for paying the 50 cents. You learn as you go. Dd loves having her spray butter on her veggies and for 16 cents the drawer in the fridge is full.