[KimZ]

Can you really save money using coupons? I don't want to extreme shop because 1- I don't have the storage 2- I am not sure that it is healthy mentally .... based on what I have seen except for those wonderful people that donate to the local food banks

What is the average you save a week and how much have you actually reduced you grocery bill?

 

[Giro]

I used to use coupons but I don't really use them anymore. I would buy crap that I would never use and then end up giving it away. Generally, food coupons are only available for processed, packaged foods. I seldom see coupons for fruit and veggies or meats.

There are coupons for paper products and health and beauty. You could combine sales and coupons to get those items cheaply, especially if you do CVS or Walgreens. You would only need to do it for a few weeks and you would have enough for the entire year. I would google websites for drugstore deals. They usually lay out exactly which coupons to use and what to buy.

 

[Spirit Deer]

We use a few coupons that are printed in the newspaper, but seldom use the shiny glossy ones from national companies.

We don't have the option to double or triple coupons here.

As Giro stated, most food coupons are for processed foods we rarely buy anyway.

House brands are often just as tasty as the national brands and much cheaper. In those cases, buying the national brand using a coupon actually costs money, not saves it. Who cares what name is on the label?

For us, we save the most money by buying close-dated or expired food items which are deeply discounted, watching the sale ads, and not being brand loyal (with a very few exceptions).

 

[KimZ]

How do you get a discount of Close dated items? Our national stores here... seem to try to sell things full price even if its expired or looks brown

 

[Russ]

At the back of Meijers they usually have a large rack with discounted items. Ask your grocery store manager.

 

[imagine]

How do you get a discount of Close dated items? Our national stores here... seem to try to sell things full price even if its expired or looks brown

One day at my store they had bread that was a day past it's sell by date. They were giving them away for free (so they would not have to throw them out)

The other grocery stores give their expired food and going bad produce to a charity in town the newspaper advertises that they have it and it is free for pick up at the charity.

Now things that are expiring soon at my stores have special tags ( different colors at different stores just in with the normal stuff) Day old breads are on a shelf in the stores and it keeps moving around. So you have to look or ask where it is.

 

[Spirit Deer]

One of our stores goes through the meat counters and puts the close-dated stuff out on Saturday mornings. If we get there early, which we rarely do, we often find great bargains then. Other stuff gets put out as they find it outdated on the shelves on other days. They just pile it in carts around the store with the reduced prices on the boxes. For example, we picked up five or six boxes of mini Mint Oreos for .99/box on Saturday last week (not a need, I know, and we wouldn't have bought them if money was tight.) We also got four-packs of Greek yogurt for .99, sirloins steaks for $2.29 (regular $5), bologna 16 oz/.50, baby carrots 2 lbs/.70, lean hamburger for about $2.30/lb., BSCB for $2/lb, Triscuits for .99/box, and some other stuff I can't recall now. Frequently that store sells outdated items at far less than half price. They have bunkers set out at different places in the store and three carts of discounted foods at the front of the store right before the checkout. We've learned where to look over the years.

The other store in town often has outdated items at half price, and we take advantage of those, too. Lately we've gotten several containers of couscous half price, hot catsup, bottles of liquid smoke for .50 each, canned cat food at .35 each, chocolate chips for .99/bag, a small bag of Doritos for .50, several kinds of gourmet rice, bottled salad dressings, and things like that. Last Saturday we got seven five-packs of Quaker chocolate chip granola bars for .99/box there. They were expiring the day we got them. The ones still on the shelf were on sale for $2.50/box. They also had 3-pack Cracker Jacks and Cheesey Poofs for .99, but we didn't buy any of those.

Ask the meat staff when/if they put out discounted meats. Ask at the store's bakery about baked goods, too. We are often able to find hamburger buns and other baked goods at .99/package.

If you're trying to cut grocery costs, don't have the mindset that if it's in the grocery store, it must be a need and therefore it's okay to spend whatever. Milk and eggs are needs. Candy, pastries, ice cream, snack crackers, potato chips, and things like that are wants. Minimize the wants and then limit the servings at home. That will help you money-wise and health-wise, too.

Also learn to cook from scratch. Much cheaper and better food, too.

 

[frugalwarrior2]

Our Kroger moved it to an area in an aisle near the front. If you have a coupon for it you can use it even if it's clearanced. I got zyrtec at about 1/2 off in date plus they all had $3.00 off coupons on them I used.
We use Fantastic Sams coupons,Great clips coupons for hair
We use oil change and $20. off repairs from Belle Tires
Food coupons for restaurants.
Also pays to ask if they take competitors coupons.
My favorite are loyalty coupons. Because I shop at Kroger a lot (groc/gas/meds) I get coupons like Spend $130. get $13. back. or they track what I buy through my Kroger card and send me specific coupons based on past purchases.

I use far less coupons than I used to but If they present themselves why not.

 

[KimZ]

I live in the south and we have basically Publix, Walmart, Wholefoods, Target and Winn Dixie - all of which seem to be higher then anywhere else in the country.... I wont shop at walmart - even if I have to spend more on Principle.... does anyone shop at the others? I follow I Heart Publix - she has a great site but mostly processed stuff... I would LOVE to find other sites like this or someone with her kind of knowledge

 

[frugalwarrior2]

does your Target have the groceries. I follow this site which is local but does Target. I dont know if your ads would be the same ads. BARGAINSTOBOUNTY. I would think you could find similar coupon/savings tracking sites locally by typing in your state.

I don't think anywhere here doubles anymore but lots of stores do sale plus store coupon plus manufacters' coupons stacks. I learned the most on you tube by typing in extreme couponing. I saw you said no extreme couponing but watch it and snatch and grab the tips you like.

 

[Raiquee]

You can if you eat a lot of processed foods. And name brand things. Cereal and HBA are really the only things I use coupons for anymore.

 

[Raiquee]

I just got ground beef at target for $2.39/lb. it was marked down as it expired the next day so it had $2.00 off each package, then it was one sale buy one get one 20% off, then it was on cartwheel for 5% off, then I used my red debit card to get another 5% off.

 

[KimZ]

I just got ground beef at target for $2.39/lb. it was marked down as it expired the next day so it had $2.00 off each package, then it was one sale buy one get one 20% off, then it was on cartwheel for 5% off, then I used my red debit card to get another 5% off.

WOW that is AWESOME! I am in AWE

 

[khaski]

Oh, yes, you can save a ton with coupons, and you needn't purchase 10 papers a week or buy 92 bottles of ketchup at time. I am not in your area, but find and follow bloggers that do the work for you for the stores you frequent. They will post the weekly add, point out the good sale items, and match up the coupons available to go with the sales so you pay the lowest price possible. Many of the coupons they list will be printable, so all you have to do is click, print, snip- no paper needed. Buy a few extra to tide you over until the next time the item's on sale when you can. Store extras wherever there's room! For instance, 12 packs of soda or seltzer and juice box packs live under our bed.

I am without a doubt the 'nerd' in my house (I saw elsewhere you've begun Dave Ramsey). So I track our grocery spending each month, and the money I saved using coupons. If you can find a store that will double, all the better. I aim to spend an average of $120 a week on groceries for 2 adults and 2 elementary school aged kids. I usually hit the mark, and we eat a good variety of foods including meat, dairy, fresh fruits and veggies, grains and sometimes junk.

So here's what I've saved the last few months in coupons, and keep in mind that probably 99% of them were 'printables'.

Jan- $90.78, +$19.50 store doubled
Feb- $44.75 + $5.65 store dbld
March- $13.61 (I think I got lazy that month!)
April- $67.40, +$26.15 store dbld

So, I've already saved over $200 using coupons this year so far, plus another roughly $50 when the store doubled them. I spend perhaps 45 minutes-an hour a week making my lists, checking the blogs and printing my coupons. I shop mainly one store, sometimes another if the sales/coupon match ups are good. So even without spending all day clipping tons of coupons and driving store to store all over town for the best deals, I've basically gotten 2 weeks of free groceries (based on my $120 a week budget). And it's only 5/1.

Yes, well worth it for me, even without going 'extreme'.

 

[knotme]

Also watch what the coupons are even for. I have a BIL who is the king of couponers. He would get all this stuff for practically free or free. But he wouldn't eat any of it because he didn't like it. and would pawn it off on others in the family and demand that we take it because he didn't like it and we did. ( no we didn't like it) So it really does no good if you don't like the product you got for free if all it is going to do sit on a shelf.

 

[frugalwarrior2]

well Knotme-that's when i donate it. It's important for couponers and stockpilers to give back. IMHO.

 

[knotme]

the food banks didn't want it.

 

[newstudent]

We saved over $1500 last year using coupons, No we do not eat crap or all processed stuff. You just have to look online there are lots of good coupon sites.

 

[frugalwarrior2]

Knotme-what was it? I just never heard that one. Our food banks have way more demand than they can fill. I brought dollar store jelly in a couple years ago and everyone was like wow we never get jelly. DD made me get more lol (we give a cart full for our bdays and 12 dinners every Thanksgiving.) Well,hopefully this year too>??

 

[knotme]

Try strawberry pancake syrup ( when everyone wants the maple flavour) and it was just past the best by date. Our food banks won't take if it is past the best by date.