Puzzled over Extreme Couponing

[maggiew]

Yes. Stores that double eat the cost of the doubled part of the coupon.

Maggie

 

[ClarabelleCowFan]

You request the coupon book here

http://www.stockingspree.com/

& they email you the coupon

Thanks so much! Just did.

 

[Nayan]

The best advice is to find out what your store coupon policy is. Publix just changed theirs and my store only allows coupons from stores within a certain mile radius and I hardly ever see coupons for those stores.

 

[summerrluvv]

Not sure if anyone noticed but ALL of the new Proctor & Gamble coupons now say limit of 4 like coupons per transaction. I suspect other companies will follow suit.

 

[PatsMom]

I've been couponing for years. I don't buy coupons but I do print from the internet. I don't do nearly as good as the extreme couponers but I do save a fair amount of money. And it is not all on "junk" food. Although if you read the posts in this thread, flavored waters are listed as junk by one poster. The flavored water I am drinking right now that cost pennies after the coupon, is sugar free and low sodium.

In my coupon envelope right now I know I have Shaw's ground beef coupons, Shaw's steak, Springer Mountain Farms fresh chicken, cherry tomato from someone, and a few other good produce coupons. I'll use some this weekend probably.

I don't watch the reality shows very often but they are clearly not meant to show a typical week's shopping I don't think. They are staged for TV. And people with continually harp on the one participant who was apparently cheating the system.

By the way, I have a cousin who is a much better couponer than I. A few years back she had access to multiple inserts in the Sunday paper because her step-father had a paper route and gave her his extras after he stuffed his newspapers. She also had a bunch of store coupons. She went to our local Shaw's (which doubles up to $1.00) and at the end of the transaction they owed her a dime! They didn't know what to do so she bought a candy bar for her kids. They still sometimes credit overages - depends on how the computer is programmed.

 

[momejay]

I do occasionally get coupons for produce items. Recently I used some to get free baking potatoes & cheaper bananas. (I had to buy cereal to get the free bananas.) I use dairy refrigerated foods coupons all the time for yogurt, eggs, Silk milk, cheeses...
I use coupons the most for things like cereal, shampoo, cleaning solutions, deodorant, paper products & pasta. I got a free pack of Bounty towels yesterday with 12 rolls in the pack.
If I have to buy it anyway why not use a coupon & save a few cents? A penny saved...
On my last shopping trip my total came to $85 before coupons.
I had a save $5 on $50 at that store coupon.
I had a $25 gift card earned with the store's "savings card"
Free Bounty towels
10 boxes of pasta at 10 for $10 using coupons for $2 off 2 boxes they were free
Free bag of Lays potato chips
2 free marinated chicken breasts
Free BBQ sauce
Free 3 oz sunscreen
yogurt for $.19 a container
Free Lipton iced tea 16 oz. (I got 2)
With purchase of granola bars I got $3 off for my next purchase.
I bought 9lbs of 85% lean ground beef on sale. (3lb family packs buy 2 get one free & combined with a $3 off beef coupon)
I paid about $17 and got $5 worth of printed coupons for my next visit.

 

[PatsMom]

I do occasionally get coupons for produce items. Recently I used some to get free baking potatoes & cheaper bananas. (I had to buy cereal to get the free bananas.) I use dairy refrigerated foods coupons all the time for yogurt, eggs, Silk milk, cheeses...
I use coupons the most for things like cereal, shampoo, cleaning solutions, deodorant, paper products & pasta. I got a free pack of Bounty towels yesterday with 12 rolls in the pack.
If I have to buy it anyway why not use a coupon & save a few cents? A penny saved...
On my last shopping trip my total came to $85 before coupons.
I had a save $5 on $50 at that store coupon.
I had a $25 gift card earned with the store's "savings card"
Free Bounty towels
10 boxes of pasta at 10 for $10 using coupons for $2 off 2 boxes they were free
Free bag of Lays potato chips
2 free marinated chicken breasts
Free BBQ sauce
Free 3 oz sunscreen
yogurt for $.19 a container
Free Lipton iced tea 16 oz. (I got 2)
With purchase of granola bars I got $3 off for my next purchase.
I bought 9lbs of 85% lean ground beef on sale. (3lb family packs buy 2 get one free & combined with a $3 off beef coupon)
I paid about $17 and got $5 worth of printed coupons for my next visit.

Sounds like you had a great trip! I don't usually do that good but I have the same basic philosophy. In exchange for a little time sorting coupons and making lists I save a few bucks. To me it is definitely worth it. Especially since I multi-task and clip and sort coupons when I am watching TV which is pretty much wasted time anyhow. Just means I am not paying as much attention to Alex Trebek during final Jeopardy.

 

[daughtersrus]

I watch the show as well but I don't get why the sales tax goes down as the coupons are scanned. The stores here only take coupons at face value and the sales tax before coupons is the same as it was after. Must depend on state law I guess.

Also, how do they get the HUGE packages of toilet paper for free? I never see high value coupons for these items. Is it because some stores allow them to use the overages from other coupons?

 

[Meetmeinmontauk]

The best advice is to find out what your store coupon policy is. Publix just changed theirs and my store only allows coupons from stores within a certain mile radius and I hardly ever see coupons for those stores.

Before Publix changed their coupon policy, our store always did the 5 mile radius competitors. There hasn't been much change since the new policy was implemented around here. I like that you can use multiple Walgreens Register Rewards as these are Manufacturer Coupons!

 

[Meetmeinmontauk]

I watch the show as well but I don't get why the sales tax goes down as the coupons are scanned. The stores here only take coupons at face value and the sales tax before coupons is the same as it was after. Must depend on state law I guess.

Also, how do they get the HUGE packages of toilet paper for free? I never see high value coupons for these items. Is it because some stores allow them to use the overages from other coupons?

At our store, any time a competitor coupon is used the tax comes off as well... still don't know why that is. & they are probably using their overage to buy the toilet paper. Publix & Walmart both state in the coupon policy that overage is allowed. A lot of times I've had overage & used that on items I didn't necessarily have a coupon for!

 

[Marionnette]

I watch the show as well but I don't get why the sales tax goes down as the coupons are scanned. The stores here only take coupons at face value and the sales tax before coupons is the same as it was after. Must depend on state law I guess.

Also, how do they get the HUGE packages of toilet paper for free? I never see high value coupons for these items. Is it because some stores allow them to use the overages from other coupons?

Sale tax rules vary with the state you are making your purchase in. PA charges sales tax on the after-coupon price.

The toilet paper and paper towels were most likely NOT free just by themselves. The ones in the shopping cart were either paid for using overrages or with Catalinas. The TP that you saw stacked in shower stalls and under beds was most likely obtained by paying OOP for them after coupons and probably generated Catalinas to be used on the next shopping trip.

 

[Shyvioletisme]

well see, here our stores have never doubled or tripled coupons. Never given overages. You can only use 1 store and 1 manufacturer coupon per product (unless it specifically states it can be used for more than 1 item). It's just not possible at our stores here to get that great of a deal on stuff. So seeing these kinds of shows and hearing about this kind of couponing is completely foreign and crazy to me.

 

[njmom47]

My kids think I'm obsessed with toothbrushes because I buy them frequently.
Glad I'm not the only one!

 

[java]

Our store limits like coupons to 4 so the most you could buy of a specific item is 4 with a coupon. Per shopping trip= so I suppose if you had all day you could ring them up 4 at a time. But that's not happening. I am happy if I save 50%. I am usually around 45%. Lately have been trying to get it higher.
I do buy food to feed my family, the coupons are mostly on cleaners, paper products, health and beauty, baking and meat coupons! (couldn't believe it but I am getting tons of meat ones lately- perdue, bacon coupons, sausage coupons, dairy.

My "hoard" potential is also the free toothbrushes and toothpaste. I can't believe I used to pay for that stuff.

 

[starwood]

The stores around here have doubled up to .99 for years but have never allowed for overage. If you had a $1 item and a $1.25 coupon you only got the $1 off. I've had many arguments with clerks about this. They would try to say I couldn't use the coupon because it was over the cost of the item. I told them it just made the item free.

 

[Marionnette]

well see, here our stores have never doubled or tripled coupons. Never given overages. You can only use 1 store and 1 manufacturer coupon per product (unless it specifically states it can be used for more than 1 item). It's just not possible at our stores here to get that great of a deal on stuff. So seeing these kinds of shows and hearing about this kind of couponing is completely foreign and crazy to me.

Just about every store around here doubles in some manner. Some will double only up to a value of $1, so that a 55-cent coupon gets 45-cents added to it while a 30-cent coupon gets another 20-cents added to it.

Another store "fully doubles" any coupon with a value up to 99 cents. So a 75-cent coupon gets another 75 cents taken off. A 99-cent coupon doubles to $1.98 off.

One store near me gives overage but most do not. I had $1 Tic Tac coupons the other day and since the store charges 99 cents for Tic Tacs, the front end manager had to come over and adjust each one down by a penny.

I don't know of any stores that will permit you to use two cents-off coupons on the same item. But sometimes you can use a Buy-1-Get-1-Free coupon with a cents-off coupon. It really depends on how the coupon is coded.

But let me tell you, my greatest savings is not because I get overage or from doubling. The real savings is from matching the coupons to the sales and taking advantage of Catalina offers when they are available.

I went shopping for our Father's Day BBQ yesterday. Bought 2 pounds of Italian sausage, peppers, onions, 3 racks of ribs, 2 pork tenderloins, 3 cans of baked beans, blueberries, tabasco sauce, cabbage, cole slaw dressing, lettuce, corn on the cob, tomatoes, and 2 pineapples. Using coupons and Catalinas, I paid over $40 for everything. Every single item was on sale. The ribs alone would have been more than $60 before the sale price and Catalina. So there's an example of real-life extreme couponing. I got $140.17 worth of groceries for $40.06 - a 70% savings.

 

[LadyBeBop]

Also, how do they get the HUGE packages of toilet paper for free? I never see high value coupons for these items. Is it because some stores allow them to use the overages from other coupons?

Where I live, the two-pack of toilet paper is $1.00 at a store that doubles. When we got $.50/1 coupons for the two-pack, that meant free toilet paper. And the shelves would be cleared.

No more $.50/1 coupons...they're now $1.00/2.

 

[MIannie]

One fact that hasn't been discussed on the show, is the fact that these people with the large stockpiles have large garage sales. Yes, they donate large amounts, but the garage sales bring in extra income. No one would hang on to 100 deodorants, they dry out. Its not illegal.

 

[Marionnette]

One fact that hasn't been discussed on the show, is the fact that these people with the large stockpiles have large garage sales. Yes, they donate large amounts, but the garage sales bring in extra income. No one would hang on to 100 deodorants, they dry out. Its not illegal.

Where are you getting that information from? Or is it just conjecture on your part and you're putting it out there as if it were fact?

In TLC's "Meet the Couponers" blog interview the same question is put to each of the extreme couponers:
"What do you do with most of your stockpile? " Not one of them said that the re-sell the stuff at garage sales.

You can read their responses here:
http://blogs.discovery.com/extreme-couponing/2011/06/meet-the-couponers-rebecca-davidson.html

 

[MIannie]

No, not conjecture. I have been a refunder and couponer fo 35 years. I read couponing blogs daily. Many couponers report on selling their stashs once or twice a year. Many items are bought from Walgreens, CVS,and Riteaid for free. They don't let most items sit and go bad.