Coupon question

**kittiesmom** · 05-04-2009, 06:50 PM

Alright ladies and gents...where can I get coupons besides the sunday paper and coupons.com type sites? I would love to get into the minds of grocery shoppers who can buy a full cart of groceries for like $30. I've seen stories about this and I'm madly jealous

.
I try and budget $50-$80 a week for the three of us without comprimising health...plus I'm a

veggie-tarian

and it's not cheap to eat that way. I would appriciate ANY and ALL insight!!
Thanks!
Resa

**TigerGirl1226** · 05-04-2009, 06:52 PM

Go to the website for brands you use. Often they have a coupon link portion for their products or look for the "contact us" part and compliement the products you like. Often they will send a coupon to you along with a thank you letter.

**marjorie** · 05-04-2009, 07:07 PM

Also as a vegetarian, you might also try to see what farmer's markets and the like are near you. We hit pick-it-yourself farms quite often in the summertime. If you only coupon to save on toiletries, rebate and get staples, you'll be ahead of the game. Start with toiletries combining coupons, sometimes store coupons (grocery stores, places like Target) an dyou can often combine store coupons, manufacturer's coupons and/or store sales. Last month I could have gotten 5 industrial sized cans at BJs be using their store coupon and any I could find for DelMonte vegies. Instead of $3.09 for the large cans with the store coupon and the purchase of 5 it would have cost $5.45 altogether. Not too shabby. If you can stockpile while your items are cheap your overall grocery cost will go down.

**checkerkitty** · 05-04-2009, 07:20 PM

Resa,

I would add a word of caution about using coupons. I have always wanted to do what those other people did and get a load of groceries for pennies on the dollar. However, in my town, there is not a single store that doubles or triples coupons like all of those people in the stories seem to shop at. I have also found that most of the coupons in the newspapers are for products I will not buy due to sugar or salt content. I have occasionally found a great coupon and then bought extras on ebay or from a coupon site. Like last year around November, there was a $1 off frozen Green Giant Steamers veggies. The bags were priced $1 each locally so I bought extras off of ebay. Deals like this have been few and far between, though. Also, I really don't ever see coupons for fresh veggies and fruit, chicken, milk, eggs, dry beans and rice, or flour. I try to buy in this area as often as possible and cook from scratch. The better coupons I find on a regular basis are peelies on packages already at the store or store coupons my grocery store prints on their own.

Your budget sounds great to me, especially considering your lifestyle and dietary choices. I would keep an eye out for farmers markets. Also, try freecycle listing for people with fruit trees in their yards who don't want the fruit. You would be surprised how much is wasted this way. Have you thought about starting a garden? Even a couple of tomato plants can save you some serious cash. Have you checked out the sales at ALL of the grocery stores in your area? Just some thoughts.

Christy

**Sara Noel** · 05-04-2009, 07:26 PM

You can trade for them here, buy them on eBay
http://www.frugalvillage.com/coupon-auctions.html
or buy them from people that sell them, too.
http://www.frugalvillage.com/forums/...coupon-inserts

**MommaStumpf** · 05-05-2009, 09:59 AM

Check your local library or churches and see if they have a coupon box. (when we lived near pittsburgh we had a coupon box in our library, church and wic office) and if you watch closely there are coupons for pantry staples (some are not as frequent but at different times of the year there have been flour coupons, there are frozen veggie coupons at least once a month, certain kinds of rice, I have found bread coupons in the stores) you just really have to pay attention.

Also ask around and see if anyone in your circle of friends and family gets the paper and doesn't use the coupons. (my mom has a lady at work that brings her the ones she doesn't use and then my mom mails them to me and one of the elderly men at church brings my mom in law his sunday paper inserts that he gets and doesn't use)

**kittiesmom** · 05-05-2009, 04:13 PM

These were all wonderful ideas! Thank you!
CheckerKitty- I actually do have a garden...tomatoes, pole beans, spinach, swiss chard, cucumber, zucchini, and pepper. I do agree though about not finding many coupons for fresh stuff. Everyonce in awhile I can find one for Boca or Morningstar which I snatch up. Honestly sometimes I wonder if I won't just save more doing my primary shopping at Aldi's instead of trying to match store sales and coupons in a regular store. I'm not a brand snob, so it's easier to do that instead.
Thanks again guys!

**marjorie** · 05-05-2009, 05:19 PM

I would also let friends and neighbors know you're open to receiving produce or whatever. I'm always surprised how much benefit someone can get by saying the right thing to the right person at the right time.

**kittiesmom** · 05-05-2009, 11:19 PM

Originally Posted by marjorie

I would also let friends and neighbors know you're open to receiving produce or whatever. I'm always surprised how much benefit someone can get by saying the right thing to the right person at the right time.

My neighboor owns an organic farm...and I just remembered she offered my free veggies if I worked there for awhile...*rolls eyes* Boy I'm braindead on occasions.

**marjorie** · 05-05-2009, 11:27 PM

That's exactly the kind of deal I'd like to jump on myself!

**khaski** · 05-07-2009, 07:34 AM

Check online coupon sites you can BUY coupons off of- google 'coupon clippers', it's one I use every so often. I know it sounds weird to BUY coupons, but I always come out far on top on that one, and use my coupons when things go one sale.

Print online coupons- one new one I found is couponsuzy.com. I have never gotten the $192 of groceries for $13.72 like they show on tv, but I CAN, and often do, reduce my grocery bill by 10-20%. Every $ counts!

**lilyrose** · 05-15-2009, 09:08 PM

There is a site called Thegrocerygame.com

I don't know if this would apply to your area. They offer the first 4 weeks free as a trial. Check it out. But the best way is to save all the coupons from each week of the paper, 'cause it references older coupons that are not yet expired.

**savvy_sniper** · 05-16-2009, 09:47 AM

I buy dog food coupons on eBay. I just bought $20 worth of coupons for less than $2. Then I look for the item on sale and stock up. So I save $18 using the coupons PLUS get the sale price.

I used to do the same thing with the diabetic shakes when I cared for my mom. I would buy a bunch of coupons and then buy cases when on sale (checking the expiration date and picking out the cases with the farthest out date). After mom died, I still had a bunch of cases and I was able to sell them on eBay for a profit because I had saved so much money when I purchased them.

Since I cook from scratch and use mostly fresh fruits and veggies I don't use coupons much. I also mostly buy store brands because they are generally cheaper than the name brand stuff on sale with a coupon.