Is extreme couponing worth it?

[roomthreeseventeen]

To those of you who extreme coupon: how many hours a week do you spend clipping coupons/organizing coupons? Do you work full time as well? Also, if you could tell me where you LIVE, that would be awesome.

I ask because I'm thinking of exploring it, but I'm not sure it's worth it for us. We live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. We live two blocks from Fairway Market (which is fantastic, lots of fresh, organic foods), which doesn't take coupons at ALL, and across the street from Trader Joe's, which takes almost no coupons. There are a few grocery stores somewhat nearby that take coupons, but their produce and meats aren't nearly as good.

Aside from hair products and makeup, we hardly ever purchase brand name.

So, if you do extreme coupon, do you think that the savings are worth the loss of quality, if you experience that?

 

[AmandaRG]

I do not and will not "extreme" coupon. It has made it a bit rough for those of us that try to reduce our grocery costs and it can be quite frustrating to go to buy something the first day only to find the shelves bare!!!

What I do is stockpile a FEW items that I can get at a great price. For some of my best deals I have used Walgreens and CVS. It has been years since my trip to Manhattan so I don't know what stores you have. Even if all you save on is personal care/cleaning supplies/paper products it is something.

I clip coupons to use in conjunction with a sale price. That is how it is usually best for us. I live in west TN.

Good luck! Not being brand loyal has helped us a great deal!

 

[labdogs42]

Regular coupon clipping and CVS-ing? Yes. The extremes shown on TV? No. And also not realistic, IMO.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I do regular couponing and until I got sick of doing it, did stockpile spaghetti sauce, spaghetti noodles and taco mix - enough for the summer.

I was going to try doing toothpaste and toilet paper but we are picky about those so I didn't. I just buy one or two extras when they are on sale and i have a coupon but I've never gotten them free.

Where I live, there isn't double couponing and the stores have limits on how much of each item on sale that you can buy.

I could probably do better than what I am but I just don't want to spend more than an hour a week on it.

 

[Crystal824]

I don't extreme coupon but I do regular coupon. I clip the coupons from the paper and if the paper has really good coupons I might buy another paper or two, but I don't order 100s of coupons from a clipping service.

A couple of weeks ago, my coupon made toothpaste free and I happened to have 4 coupons so I got 4 free toothpastes. That is about the extent of my stockpile two or three items I get for a good price. I do get decent deals frequently.

 

[DisneySarah80]

I've only watched the show once, but I have a feeling that all those women live in the mid west / south / No where near manhattan! I'm in Jersey, and have a hard time finding enough coupons / saving enough money to make it worth the time I'm spending.

 

[darlaya]

I always use coupons and definitely find that we have a well stocked house, not sure i am always saving money because I stockpile when there are really good deals.

I spend about 30-45 minutes per week clipping coupons and comparing flyers. I don't believe the extreme couponing shows...if they are true, they most certainly will change what stores and manufacturers do.

I also do think location matters. Having lived in NYC myself, I am not sure that it is as easy to get to a variety of stores to take advantage of good deals. Living in NH where you drive everywhere, I am always passing several stores that provides easy opportunity to pop in and purchase sale items with coupons.

I personally would not put a lot of extra work on myself to get a good deal. If its easy...I go for it! If its hard or complicated...I don't. I usually do not do any rebates that require mailing receipts in...way too much work...unless it is a decent rebate...$20 or more.

 

[21hearts]

I spend about 5 to 10 hours a week clipping coupons, printing coupons, sorting, filing them, looking at ads and doing match ups. It sounds like a lot but I try to do it here and there (before the kids wake up, nap time and after they go to bed. I spend no more then 2 hours a day on it). I've found that I save between $60 to $100 a week.

 

[*Seanaci*]

Since you are not picky about hair care/body care items it may be worth it coupon for those items. Produce and meats though I woud keep doing what you are doing.

Another suggestion if any of the stores nearest you have a debit or CC that offers a percentage off every time you shop check it out. We have a Target debit card...comes right out of our checking account...and saves us 5% every time we use it at Target (or the Starbucks inside some of the Target stores). We have had our card about 6 months now and have saved hundreds so far.

 

[AshtonsMom99]

I coupon, but I don't extreme coupon, I think the term is a bit of a misnomer anyway.....What I do do however is coupon very strategically and very well.

I set a $200 food budget and a $50 dollar toiletry/household item monthly budget I use the coupons I have and manage to always stay under....what ever is left over automatically goes to my Disney/vacation fund for trips or whatever else....we of course have other savings, but that is where the grocery budget lies.... The better saving I get the more for Disney... Or anywhere else....and Im a travel agent so I tend to know where the deals are before the general public....so yay...

 

[*NikkiBell*]

I'm not as "extreme" as those you'll see on TV, but do coupon. I usually cut my weekly bill in half and use a few coupon sites for help. I only get coupons from online or the weekly paper. I spend maybe an hour a week on it and don't go crazy stockpiling (although I do have over 5 boxes of pasta I got for a few cents each in the pantry right now lol).

 

[pezaddict231]

I just started couponing a few months ago and absolutely find it to be worthwhile. I have cut our grocery bill in half and we spend almost nothing on personal care items. I live on Long Island, and I don't think it's really possible to do extreme couponing like you see on tv, but that doesn't mean you can't save money.

I work full time and spend a few hours a week, clipping, organizing and matching sales, but you could definitely just read a few blogs where they match everything for you. I actually enjoy it. I would recommend starting out with a drugstore like CVS. There are lots of blogs that will post match-ups and it's easy to do. Once you have gotten the hang of that you can branch out to grocery stores. The key is to match coupons with sales and for things that don't have coupons, stock up when there is a sale or only buy what's on sale. I buy produce each week but will buy what's on sale. Same for meat, but if there is a good deal I will buy more and freeze some.

We are not too picky with brands, but I find the coupons are mostly for the brands that I bought anyway, so it doesn't really feel like compromising. I also find it to be worthwhile because the money saved can be used for something we'll really enjoy.

One of my favorite websites for couponing is livingrichwithcoupons.com, she is located in NJ, so the prices and match-ups are more similar to what I can find in my stores.

 

[fakereadhed]

Since you live in the city, I don't think it will save you any money UNLESS you have a car and a store within driving distance (30mi or less) that takes double coupons up to $1 and you could stock up once a month. For 2 people that would work. That would give you an entire month to clip and prepare for your next trip. If that's possible it would be worth a try once to see if there would be coupon items you would actually use. Then you could add in produce from nearby stores weekly. There are coupons for all sorts of things for cooking- from eggs to sour cream to olive oil. It's not all chips and cookies.

 

[sydneysmom]

Personally, I think the whole "extreme coupon" shows have given the average couponer a very bad name. These shows are truly no different than any other extreme behavior... it's like "Hoarding : the grocery addition".

I do use coupons religiously. I find that if you can match your coupons to what is on sale at your grocery store or CVS, you truly can get great deals. Our average is 75% savings at CVS and 49% savings at Kroger. For me, I think that's fantastic. Now, I did stock up on WISK and ALL when our Kroger had them on sale for $ 3.49 for the 64 load... I had $2.00 coupons. So for a product that's normally $ 9.00 / bottle at Kroger, I got them for $ 1.49. I did get 12 of those... they won't go bad.

I have found that for me, if I can save my family money and NOT have to raise our food shopping budget, in this economy, then I'm doing well. We budget $ 125 / week for 3 of us. This includes groceries / toiletries / meat / etc. With coupons, I'm more than able to do this PLUS take $20/ week out of this for our "Disney fund". (won't my DH be surprised!!)

If you can't coupon great at your grocery store, try doing it at CVS / Walgreens / Rite Aid. Even if you live in a city, you still have those stores. I can tell you this, we haven't paid for toothpaste / deoderant / floss / mouth rinse in probably a year. Because if you pair your coupon w/ the CVS extra care bucks, you can usually get these products for free. Now to me, this is what chews up your food shopping budget. So if you can do a little research, you can basically eliminate them from your list.

It doesn't work for everyone and it's sometimes a big pain in the "you know what" trying to match these sales up w/ coupons. For me, it's worth it. You have to decide if the time you have to put in is worth it. My advice though, start SMALL and work up. Get used to it first and buy only what you will need and use. otherwise, you're not saving money. No one needs 150 bottles of Mylanta !!

I found that subscribing to different blogs helped tremendously. www.hip2save.com and www.krazycouponlady.com are two that I subscribe to. They pair up the sales w/ coupons and basically do the work for you. it makes it VERY easy. They even link coupons to print online.

 

[miralys]

I don't think I do extreme couponing. For one thing, I live in the land of no doubles and the stores around here are super strict about what they accept as competitor's coupons. For another, I am not sure anyone should extreme coupon. It seems like a waste of resources, but that is another can of worms.

But I am a regular couponer and I think it is worth it. I would recommend it to anyone. Do you purchase toothpaste, toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning supplies, makeup, shampoo? Then you could benefit from couponing.

Each week I purchase two papers (so I can maximize on BOGO sales). I spend less than two hours a week on it, including actually purchasing items at the grocery store. In the beginning it was hard, but after about a month I got into the groove and now it's second nature.

My advice to you would be to start small. Pick one store and really get to know the ins and outs of couponing there. Then you can pick another one and go from there. Don't get caught in the trap of trying to coupon at every store in town. You will burn out! I coupon at CVS and Publix and then take the money I save from there to shop at the vegetable market or Bravo for things that don't get coupons.

 

[GatorMama]

I'm also not an extreme couponer. I try to buy organic when I can (especially dairy) and we don't buy near the processed foods that the people on those shows do (200 boxes of Maruchuan noodles? ::barf: We do eat sugary processed cereal though. And there are coupons for those in nearly every Sunday paper. And toothpaste? I don't really care what kind I use, so I've stocked up when I've seen a decent price. I am passing up the toothpaste coupons now though because I'm starting to feel like a hoarder with 6 spare tubes of toothpaste in my cabinet. (I paid $1 each for two tubes of Tom's, $0.49 each for 2 tubes of Colgate and 1 tube of Crest and got one tube of Colgate for free) I DID have 6 boxes of cold cereal in my stash cabinet, but we go through it so fast that it's gone now except for the one box I put away to take on vacation. I bought another box today at the store but only because it is DH's favorite and it was on sale for $2/box... a price I almost never see for that type. I aim for $1.50/box... we're more picky about cereal than others. If you consider that last year at this time, I was spending almost $4/box on cereal, then I'm really saving buckets JUST by watching for sales/coupons for cereal. I started a small coupon train with some friends, and just in July, three of us have saved over $120... that's JUST coupons, not sales.

I do have one store that doubles so I take advantage of that when I can, but if they don't have what I want, I don't stress. I was sad I didn't get free V8 Fusion last week though. :-(

 

[MEM]

Regular coupon clipping and CVS-ing? Yes. The extremes shown on TV? No. And also not realistic, IMO.

Exactly! I don't know any "real" people who are "extreme couponers". Just regular folks like me who might use as many as 24 coupons per transaction and hit 2 or 3 different stores on one shopping trip. There are 3 different grocery store chains in my town and none of them allow more than 4 "like" or "alike" coupons per day. Used to be 6, but the TLC show forced my stores to restrict coupon use even further.

 

[ChrizJen]

I'm like the others here. I "coupon", and I do it fairly well I think. But I will never "extreme coupon". The people on that show make me sick, and give the rest of us a bad name. I consider them hoarders. I can understand a small stockpile, which I have. I can also understand trying to get as much free/cheap as you can. But have some consideration for others. No one ever NEEDS to buy 86 bottles of mustard just because it's cheap. Buy what you think your family will use, and save some for the rest of us.

I'm also with some of the others who question just how the people on the show are able to do it. We have 3 grocery chains locally. Only 2 of them double coupons, and those are only the ones that are for $.40 off or less. And they will only double your first 15 coupons. So none of those, "Oh I have 125 coupons, so I need to buy 125 bottles of ketchup". None of our stores have loyalty/rewards cards. So we're fairly limited when it comes to groceries. We find deals where we can. But I feel it's been worth it for us just for the deals we've gotten at Walgreens and CVS.

I'd say I spend about 4-5 hours a week clipping and organizing. I'm a mom and I work a full time job, so I probably don't do as well as I would if I had more time to devote, but it works for us. Now that we have the process streamlined to work for us, we're going to sit down and re-evaluate our budget so that we can maybe better allocate all of the money we're saving.

 

[HeatherFeather]

I will use coupons but I consider my time worth something as well. Time is spent finding deals, finding the coupons, cutting or printing them, and the actual shopping. It is just not worth it to me to spend all that time and there are almost never coupons for fresh meat or produce. I am so over hamburger helper and kraft mac and cheese, though my daughter might disagree.

Extreme couponing falls into the "just because you can doesn't mean you should" category of life.

 

[aclov]

I'm a regular couponer and prefer Target coupons. I don't stockpile much except on tolietries which I pass to my parents lots of times since they are on a fixed income. If I can save $20 on my shopping trip I'm happy.
Definately sign up for some coupon sites as they provide lots of leads!