I know that a lot of you are incredibly thrifty shoppers so please help me! I've tried the whole coupon thing several times and each time I don't see much of a difference and eventually give up. But after repeatedly hearing how much I can save on groceries if I would just use coupons I've decided to give it another go. So I am hoping that some of you thrifty shoppers can give me some tips on how to make coupons work. Here are some of the problems I've had in the past:
1. Where do I find coupons? We don't get the newspaper and while I've tried several on-line sites I'm not sure I'm finding the right places.
2. The coupons I find aren't for items that I normally buy, so I feel like I'm wasting money buying extra stuff rather than saving money. Also, most of the coupons are for name brand things and as I usually buy the store brand the coupons really wouldn't help us.
3. Planning around sales. I always just make my menu and shopping list and then hope things are on sale. How do you plan your menus and shopping lists around what is on sale?
4. How often do you look for coupons? Where do you keep them? How do you remember to use them?
So please help me, you thrifty shoppers! And if you have any other thrifty tips I'd love to have them too!
5 years ago
7 comments:
yeah, I'm interested to see what helps you get on this. In Utah we got the newspaper and it totally paid for itself with the coupons. There were good, usefully coupons in the paper- yes they were brand names but with the coupons most of them ended up being cheaper than the store brand... I usually just buy store brand too, but there are some things I buy brand- ie; PACE picante, CAMPBELLS cream soups (for most recipes) HERBAL ESSENCE shampoo, RHODES rolls etc. anyways, I now just use online stuff but haven't had the best luck. I use coupon mom but most coupons are not super usefull b/c they are for expensive items that are just junk... BUT- they do have some good cereal coupons if you buy general mills, which we always do. Also, using coupons, I have a little mini acordian folder that I organize coupons in and then I just look b/f I go to the store. I've also been trying to plan meals around sales but it just takes more work. WE get kroger/shnucks adds ever tuesday (you have the same stores?) so I just brouse that. I know that often times walmart is generally cheap but I refuse to go groceryshopping there anymore. what a headache! (I'm going to do a price comparison at Kroger, Wal-mart, and Target of common items. I'll send it to you if you want. but it won't be done for a month or so:) sorry for the rambling with no usefull advice
Does your local paper have coupons? If it does it may be worth you to subscribe to it. We dont get the paper but both our parents live local. They both give us their coupons. I also get coupons off Susiecoupon.com. I just store them in a expandable mini file thing I bought at walmart-nothing fancy. I use coupons and then when the local stores send out their sald adds I make a grocery list and go through coupons. I pricematch and use coupons. *I save about 50 dollars every 2 weeks atleast. It takes a lot of time. But, once you get your system down it will be worth it. The other week i bought 2 blocks of cheese for 5 dollars each which is unheard of these days. If you have questions or if i am confusing you can email me. I think it is defintely worth it
This link might be helpful..
http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/2009/02/a-fun-coupon-box-and-ideas-for-finding-more-coupons.html
I don't have any ideas. This is something that I also struggle with. I would love to hear what you find out.
Bonnie, I'm a coupon addict, but you really have to find a good group in your area who knows the system and the deals. Its really easy in UT, because there are tons of people who find the deals first and then pass them along, I'm not so sure how TN works. I would try couponmom.com and see how that works. It takes your grocery store ads and pairs them with coupons for savings. Bettycrocker.com has really good coupons on line, but you have to register. Pinchingyourpennies.com has a good basic intro called Coupons 101. Check it out. It will probably explain better than I will.
As for the coupons are usually for stuff you don't normally buy, well you kind of have to change your mind set. If you usually buy goldfish for snacks, but you can get Quaker granola bars for .10 a box, then you eat granola bars for snack instead.
It would be useless to only have one coupon for a box of granola bars, because one box isn't going to save you tons of money, so you need to find a way to get more coupons. I order the Sunday paper only for about $30 for the year and then have Aaron's coworkers bring in their unused coupons from their papers. (If Reid doesn't want to ask, be persistent, it took Aaron about 6 months). SO now I can get 5 boxes of granola bars for .10 each and we have snacks for a long time. So that's another key, when the item is really on sale, buy as much as you can so you can wait it out until the next big thing comes on sale. We usually have over 20 boxes of cereal in our pantry all purchased for less than .50 a box.
Another thing to find out. Many grocery stores automatically double your coupons up to $1. WHen a brand name item is on sale, and you get $1 off of it, it's usually way cheaper than the store brand.
Sorry Bonnie,
I am a sucky shopper and I get a lecture when I come home from the grocery store on saving money to which I usually reply, "Then you do the shopping!" I haven't looked at any blogs for awhile, but I got your birth announcement yesterday. Owen is so cute!! What a sweet little man and he has lots of hair!! Your family is darling. How is it having two children? I am panicked for that.
I've just started to "TRY" this coupon thing. I have found that couponmom.com is the best for me. Although, I do subscribe to the paper on Sunday so that I can get the coupons. Then couponmom.com compares the sales at your local stores to recent coupons so you can get the biggest discount. If you choose this website, read her little 10 page booklet explanation, it really helped me understand the whole process. BTW, my friend Lara Dahl says that she met you in her in-laws ward! Small world, huh?
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