Need coupon tips

[Derby4me]

Hey all! I am a new stay at home Mom and have decided to cut coupons to save a little money. I know we have some experienced savers on the boards and was hoping you wouldn't mind sharing your wisdom. I live in Ohio and primarily shop at Kroger but am open to other stores if they offer great savings. Thanks in advance for all of the tips!

 

[mskayjay]

Hi there! I am a member and Forum Leader on a website titled weusecoupons.com. There is a very active Kroger forum on that site and we do a lot over all to help each other with deals in all types of stores. You can also hook up with various members to do trades and such. One of our members has a wonderful program set up where she trades coupons for donations to American Cancer Society. Fabulous fabulous thing that she does and you can get exactly what you want as well.

My handle (name) is the same over there as it is here if you decide to come over and I run the RAOK (Random Acts of Kindness) forum. Please come and join us!
K

 

[LadyBeBop]

How close are you to Cincinnati?

There is an active group of couponers at the Cincy MomsLikeMe webpage. http://cincinnati.momslikeme.com/members/homepage.aspx

 

[Derby4me]

Thank you MsKayJay! I will look into that for sure!

LadyBeBop - I am actually located in Northern Ohio so that won't work for me but I really appreciate the tip.

 

[NYCDiane]

My coupon tips:

Get the early edition of the Sunday paper on Saturday. Check out the coupons. If there are many that you will use, you can buy extra papers on Sunday. I did that when my dd was a baby for the coupons for baby food, diapers, wipes, baby soap, etc.

Join one of the coupon trains here on the Dis boards!

Go to the grocery store, get the weekly circular and take it home. Compare what's on sale to what you're going to buy to what you have coupons for.

Get a box to organize your coupons by category. I use an index card box and use an index file to separate them (the a to z index file.. I just turn them around and wrote my categories on them). It sits right in the seat of the shopping cart and makes it easier to find coupons as I'm shopping.

Check your coupons each week to make sure you're dumping expired coupons.

Don't use a coupon to buy something you wouldn't ordinarily use just because it's a good deal (unless it's totally free and you want to try the product). I know this sounds like common sense, but it's amazing how many people will buy something just because they have a coupon for it. I know, I don't get it either.

Check your local store website for any special coupons they're not offering in their circular.

Check out website for items you use regularly to see if you can get coupons.

Call companies like Pampers, Huggies, Luvs, Beech Nut, Carnation, Johnson & Johnson, etc to see if they'll mail you samples and coupons. I used to get freebbies & coupons this way all the time when my dd was a baby.

 

[alyssa810]

I agree with DianeNYC's tips!! I also joined a coupons exchange here on the disboards; I send coupons to someone in another state, and get coupons sent to me from someone in another state as well. I've also had good luck with couponsuzy.com for printable coupons.

 

[kaismahma]

Check your coupons each week to make sure you're dumping expired coupons.

NYCDiane those are some great tips. My only thought was don't tossed expired coupons until you are aware of your store's coupon policy. My grocery store will accept coupons for 3 months past their expiration date. You can also donate your expired coupons to Toni (http://thehappyhousewife.com/) and she will send them onto the military bases. (They can use them upto 6 months past expiration date.)

I use www.afullcup.com as my primary coupon forum. We don't have Kroger in my area but I know that they have a Kroger forum there. Don't forget though that there are many stores that accept coupons besides grocery stores. CVS, Target, Walmart, Kohl's (I have used Leap Frog Coupons here), Menards, Walgreens, etc...
Don't limit your shopping to just one place if you don't have too. Start off slow and join one of the forums and read the couponing tutorials. I never new there was so much to learn about couponing. It helped so much. Most specific store forums will have the stores policies listed in them. Educate your self to save those pennies.

 

[NYCDiane]

Absolutely! Walgreen, CVS, Target, WalMart all accept coupons and sometimes (many times!) have better deals than the grocery stores.

Thanks for the tip about the expired coupons. I had no idea that some stores may still accept them or that they could be used on military bases. I'll def look into that!

I'm also going to check out those couponing sites.

Here's the sites for the "Coupon Queen": (watch her videos, she is something else! LOL)!


www.refundlebundle.com

www.selectcouponprogram.com

 

[dyna]

If possible wait till the item is on sale then use coupon an save even more DH does this an shops on senior citizen day an gets another 10% off his purchase.

Even better if a store near you does double coupon days then shop then.

If possible shop in bulk for nonpersiable items buy on sale with multi coupons.

 

[mskayjay]

Just to give you an idea of what you can do with this couponing stuff....

My bills for the grocery store last week totaled like this:

Subtotal before coupons: $483.35
Actual total paid w/ tax: $193.64
Total amt. saved : $296.57
My savings % for week: ~60%

 

[Derby4me]

Wow! Karen, that savings is amazing! I can't believe you do that by cutting $.50 coupons alone. There has to be more to it!

Thanks for all of the tips everyone! I have to admit it all sounds a little overwhelming. I'm sure just like everything else, you get a hang of it after you just jump in for awhile. I will have to check out the suggested websites. Thank you all for the help!

 

[kydisneyfans]

Not sure where's you are at in Northern Ohio, but if you have Kroger then Meijer and Giant Eagle may be close by too. I live in KY and just got paid $2 to take $101 in groceries from Giant Eagle yesterday while visiting family in Canton.

Before Advantage Card and coupons $101.73
After AC and coupons: 36.67
Found a beer rebate form that gives a $25 rebate to KY residents without buying the beer -25.00
got .60/gallon off gas as I added a couple of store gift cards-9.00
Got catalinas totalling 4.50 off the next purchase.
Everything added up gives me a negative balance. The items bought were things we use everyday: pet treats, Ragu, popcorn, powerade, band aids, string cheese, and more.

-Note-both Kroger and Giant Eagle have gift card programs to rack up gas discounts. If you are going to eat at Cracker Barrel, stop at the store and pickup a gift card to pay for the meal, earning some gas discounts in the process. The Giant Eagle program is much better than Kroger as the discount is .20/gallon for every $50 purchased and is stackable. Kroger is .10/per $100 and is not stackable.

Tips: buy a big city paper with coupons-it may be tough in your area as most papers up there only have 1 book now.
Use the internet to find current printables-there is a thread on slickdeals.
Match the ads with coupons, stock up when something is cheap. Get multiple coupons through coupon services or EBay.

It takes awhile to get things rolling, but is very easy and profitable to do once you are established. I saved over $100 yesterday with about 2 hours of work. Filling the tank for $1.73 a gallon was a nice bonus.

 

[tiggspring]

LOVE LOVE LOVE Giant Eagle fule/food perks.free safe (great safty rules and visable care) eagles nest daycare too!! Needed to replace washer and dryer last year. Waited til they we're onsale at best buy got gift cards that were double perks ended up w $13+ off gal of gas. Free gas all summer!!!!!
I loved grocerygame.com it cost money but takes all the work out of coupons. I can't get redplum coupons in my area (tried to get mailed) so stopped using grocery game. Now use couponmom.com which is free but more confusing. Save by buying anything I can with cards meals,clothes etc. Many new cards this year. I occasionally buy on ebay for thing my fam five use a lot juice, milk.
If you like JCPENNY wait for $10-15 off coupon buy only things onsale (4-6 wk cycles) then have them divide up your order to fit coupon and reuse coupon. My 3 kids got all there school clothes for $260 saved $480!!!

 

[PinkRhombus]

I've never bought extra papers until yesterday. The cat food I use (Good Life) had a $3 coupon in the Red Plum section. I bought 3 more papers for $1 each, so I'm still $6 ahead on just the cat food.

Bought mine at Dollar Tree...happened to be where I was at...but Walmart has them for 99-cents.

 

[mskayjay]

I've never bought extra papers until yesterday. The cat food I use (Good Life) had a $3 coupon in the Red Plum section. I bought 3 more papers for $1 each, so I'm still $6 ahead on just the cat food.

Bought mine at Dollar Tree...happened to be where I was at...but Walmart has them for 99-cents.

Which Good Life coupon? I have some if you'd like them.
K

PS-see this is what being on a coupon train is like or being a member on weusecoupons.com You let someone know you have a need, if they have a match they either RAOK it to you or offer a trade. Works great!


******EDIT: Just went back and checked and I only got one RedPlum this week. It was the Smart Source that I had a ton of. So sorry.