Tell us all about it! Are you good at it? Wanna share your secrets? Is it worth it? Anyone who isn’t one ever think about getting into it (especially in this economy)?
I seldom find coupons for name-brand items that are any cheaper than cheaper brands. Occasionally I’ll see a coupon for the hair color brand I use, but that’s about it. Even when I save them, I hardly ever remember to use them. I find them expired in my wallet. I guess it’s safe to say I’m not a coupon queen.
Canvas, did you post this 'cause you watched some show about extreme couponers yesterday? I walked in on my wife and daughter going ga-ga over these people, but the one guy I saw was a glutton for whom I had little respect.
I have never used a coupon at a brick and mortar store in my life. I was always mortified in my youth because every time we shopped, my mom brought like 50 coupons to the grocery store register. And she would nickel-and-dime them to DEATH about expiration dates, or saving 10 cents on a piece of fruit. Fuck that penny-pinching thrift-at-all-costs attitude. Yes, it is worth saving 5 minutes of my life and not causing an underpaid cashier grief to pay an extra 25 cents for a 4-pack of tomatoes.
I will use online coupon codes if I stumble upon one (like for pizza hut or newegg), but if I need to cut corners for regular grocery shopping then I just go to aldi’s.
I’m not an extreme couponer, but I do have a large bundle of coupons for local restaurants that I use. I just bought two coupons on a local groupon-esque site for a gyros place we frequent. CostCo coupons are great too. I also have the Entertainment book in my car. There’s a stack of restaurant.com coupons under the visor and a couple mailers from local places where we signed up for their frequent diner discounts (Red Robin is one of the better ones out there actually).
Before I buy anything online, I do a google search for coupons as well and will spend time trying out different codes to see what works best before purchasing.
I’m a fairly regular coupon shopper, although it’s more of a hobby than a compulsion. If I get busy or forgetful, no coupons and no big deal. When I have the time, I like seeing how much I can save.
I average 35% savings on my regular grocery bills, always look for coupon codes online before ordering anything and save a ton on health & beauty aids at the drugstore. Stacking manufacturers coupons from the regular Sunday paper with the deals offered by my regular drugstore chains means getting toothpaste, shampoo, razors and such for 75-90% off. I have a few shelves in an upstairs linen closet full of nothing but stuff like that, since I’ll always take the good deal whether we need it or not. Luckily we’re not too picky about which deodorant or toothbrush we use, I stick to a wide range of favorites and it works well for us.
I’m curious about what you buy in a typical week. Do you find coupons much for fresh foods? Every week I buy fruit, veggies, meat, milk, eggs, and not much else. I don’t see a lot of coupons for that stuff, and it’s >80% of my grocery expenditures.
You say you have a whole closet full of stuff you don’t need that you got great deals on, but I wonder how much money you would have saved by simply not buying it in the first place.
Knowing Queen Tonya personally, and having seen her closet o’ stuff (as well as having been the recipient of said stuff when I needed stuff) I believe what she was saying was that these are not things she needs at the time she is buying them, in that she hasn’t run out of toothpaste or deodorant yet. They are things her family uses all the time; she keeps the overstock in the closet.
:eek:
How’dja guess? My daughter and I were both just saying “but WhY? why?”. From what we could see, most of the stuff they had was junk, not even chunky fat old grandma’s (sung to the tune of Funky Cold Medina), like me would eat.
The one lady, well she really REALLY did NOT need 50 candy bars, even if they were free. I didn’t even know it was still possible to actually coupon to the point where you could get free stuff. I was under the impression that most coupons had limits and that most stores’ sales prevent combined sale/coupon use.
But I do remember back in the days before the internet reading a book that explained how to do it (get stuff free that is). Though it involved a lot of mathlike talk about how to do “doubles” and stuff which went right over my head.
And yeah, that last guy, he was just sad. Why would you need 150 years worth of deodorant?
Most of the coupons I see are for things that I don’t want and don’t use. I do clip coupons for things that won’t go bad, things like toothpaste and shampoo and such, if I see them. But most of the food that we buy is what I call ingredients…that is, flour and ground beef and fresh fruits/veggies, stuff like that. Usually I don’t buy prepared stuff, with only a few exceptions. I buy Ragu spaghetti sauce, for instance, because that’s what my husband loves. I doctor it up, though. And I buy A1 sauce. If I see a coupon for stuff that I use, I’ll clip it. But I will no longer clip coupons for something unless I’m actually going to buy it. I used to spend a couple of hours a week clipping coupons for everything that I MIGHT buy, and then I’d have to go through the stacks and throw out the expired coupons.
It’s totally harder to save at the grocery store, absolutely. Coupons for fresh stuff are rare, although the loyalty card program at my local one likes to send coupons like “$2 off any $10 spent in meat department” or “$1 off bag of baby carrots” so those are appreciated. Name brand fruits, like Dole products or Cuties clementine oranges, they come around seasonally. Same for things like Tyson chicken or Hormel bacon, name brands mean occasional coupons.
Most of my savings at the grocery store are in the B1G1 variety, or just plain sale pricing. We vary what kind of meat, fruit and veg we buy each week by looking at the sale ads, which means a typical 25% off the total. Coupons for bread, cereal and yogurt, for instance, help me bump that savings total up another 5-10% easily. I enjoy the variety, learning to cook new things since that’s what was on sale helps me stay out of the what to make for dinner rut.
I don’t hoard, I have a shelf and a half in a linen closet full of products we actually like and use, accumulated when I got them for free or next to nothing. I couldn’t have saved much money through not getting stuff for free. The folks on some of those shows getting 100 of the same deal are kinda crazy, and spending a LOT more time and effort to score those free deodorants than the average coupon user who gets one.
I clip and save coupons, but end up using only one or two a month. Restaurant coupons, like buy one entree, get the other free, are certainly worth clipping! … I really would like to try Pete’s Plastic Pudding Cups, but (and I hate to sound whiny and impoverished) by the time I buy the basic necessities (fresh food/paper goods/pet food), there really isn’t much left over to spend frivolously (organic snack crackers/Crest Whitestrips/room smellies). It comes down to: buy a couple of extra items just because I have the coupons for them? Or, should I use that money I’d be spending to instead buy enough gas to get me home? … If I buy a bottle of Bayer aspirin with a coupon which will end up costing, say, $3 - I can buy the store brand, which is already $3. Depends on whether you like store brands, or are one of those name-brand-only types.