Extreme or Just Couponing

Updated on June 24, 2011
E.M. asks from Mesa, AZ
14 answers

Like us all I really would like to save some money. But I have a full time job so I cannot devote a lot of extra time to couponing. I am already super thrifty; I even buy 90% of my children’s clothes second hand. If there is a corner I have learned to cut it, except with groceries. I would like to stock pile things like toiletries and diapers because these things seem to cost the most and go the fastest. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get started and what really is realistic? I guess I need a training session  to wrap my head around this all. I appreciate the help everyone!!

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A.S.

answers from Detroit on

If you have store savings cards, you can download coupons directly to them. That's the fastest and easiest. P&G has a website that will send you trial packs of stuff and has downloadable coupons... On lots of toiletries!!! Also, they'll send you coupons in the mail.

Another thing I've done is if there's a particular product I like over any others, I will send an email (directly to that company) telling how wonderful I think X product is. And they'll send a big book of coupons that don't expire for years!!!

Those are mostly online, so it's a bit easier to get done.

Good luck!

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P.K.

answers from New York on

In my area of the country, there are lots of coupons for toiletries. We do not
have coupons that you see on extreme couponing. These people have
several computers and pay for some coupon sites I think they are also
OCD and hoarders to some extreme. I do admire the people that donate most of their purchases to charities I watch for sales in different stores ad
can usually do OK. If you eat relatively healthy you will not find coupons.
On EX COU these people buy 150 candy bars, soda, Ramen noodles, a
lot of prepackaged food.
a

2 moms found this helpful

M.L.

answers from Houston on

couponmom.com
coupondiva.com
couponistqueen.blogspot.com

My friends get the Sunday paper (or two or three) and compare coupons to what day the item is on sale at the store. Some sites help track the dates, but I can't remember those very well right now. Many stores like cvs/walgreens/walmart have coupons online you can print too. So essentially, you are using a coupon on a sale item.

Sometimes, I think it's wrong, for instance, my friend got like 12 for free toothpastes and THEN they gave her back like $2 in change, b/c she had figured out the red tape of the coupon lapse. These ladies are brutal and will argue for the deal. Not worth the hassle to me to go that far.

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B.C.

answers from Los Angeles on

To save money on groceries you have to watch the sales and buy at the time the stores use the items you use as loss leaders. A loss leader is an item the grocery stores sell below their cost so you will come in for that item. They off set their loss by your buying their other grocery items that they have large mark ups on.

Examples:
Turkey is priced lower at Thanksgiving than at any other time of the year. I usually buy three or four and So I can have them at other times of the year. (I smoke my turkeys and always have lots of family over when they know I'm smoking a turkey.)
Toilet paper goes on a real good sale twice per year. I buy 6 months worth when they are on sale.
BBQ charcoal briquets go on sale on Memorial day and 4th of July. I use about 120 to 150 pounds per year. I buy them all at that time.
Corned beef goes on sale once per year. Usually the two or three weeks before St Patricks Day. I usually buy enough for 4 meals. Then I have corned beef and cabbage when the grocery stores put cabbage on sale.
Chocolate chips go on sale two-four weeks before Thanksgiving. I buy 12 months worth at that time.

You get the idea. I always plan my meals based on what's on sale. You can save 25% to 50% just by doing that. I always check the marked down groceries to see if I can save more. I change my menus if I find a deal.

Ignore expiration dates on food. Its just another government program gone amuck. When they opened up King Tut's tomb, they found wheat in containers in his tomb. According to our USDA the wheat was centuries out of date and they would have had the wheat thrown away. Scientists used the wheat to give new disease resistance to our modern wheat. My wife and I were invited to a friend's house for a BBQ. The wife took four T-Bone steaks out of the freezer, looked at them and then threw them in the trash. I asked her why. She said they were out of date and not fit to eat. She sent her husband out to get more steaks. When she left the room I pulled one of the steaks out of the trash. It expired the day before. It had been in a functioning freezer. There was nothing wrong with them. It was purely ignorance on her part. What a waste of money!

If you want to know more, e-mail me. Good luck to you and yours.

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B.B.

answers from Tucson on

Check out couponsense.com They do all the hard work, like matching coupons and sales together, for you. It is a monthly subscription, but it's very reasonable and it saves me a ton of time. You also can get a discount on the az republic through them. They even have "coupon coaches" who can help you get started. Good luck!!

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C.M.

answers from Phoenix on

You totally should do subscribe and save on amazon.com for diapers. My son wears a size 4 and I get a box of 192 pampers for $31. That box lasts forever! It's only $6 more than walmart but you get almost double the diapers. You Can cancel t any time but I never need to. You can skip a shipment if you don't need more at that time or you can click the "send a shipment now" button if you find you are running low. The best part? Living where we do! There is an amazon facility in Phoenix. When you place your order and don't do expedited shipping it will tell you it will take 2 weeks to receive it. It usually only takes 2 days!

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K.E.

answers from Phoenix on

Another good/fun site to check is hip2save.com. She helps match up the stores and sales, lets you know how to get free samples and lets you know how to get deals on all kinds of things. She also does a weekly video were she explains how things work or you go with her on her shopping trips. Lot's of fun!

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C.M.

answers from Chicago on

jillcataldo.com is local for me, she's mostly Chicago deals but her methods and advice are perfect for the beginner. She uses the clipless method which means you don't spend lots of time cutting out coupons and organizing them. You just save the inserts marked with the date in a folder and only pull out what you need. If you go to her site she explains the "code" for knowing where to find each coupon for the deals. She also posts all the coupons and matchups for the week. While some of the deals are local to Chicago, many are national.

To stockpile you'll need 5-10 of the same paper. I don't have room to stockpile so I just get 2 of each paper and 2 of each deal. Currently I have a stockpile of detergent, body washes and cat food :)

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L.N.

answers from Phoenix on

I did see someone else mention Coupon Sense-- https://couponsense.com. It's $15 a month (plus whatever you spend on newspapers), but to get you started it's TOTALLY worth it. Your first month is only $4. Especially if you work full time they do all the work for you. I stay home and work very part-time, so once I felt confident about it I dropped the service and go to all sorts of websites/blogs and do my couponing that way. I am not "extreme", but I do what I can with our weekly budget. I do try to stock up on things we use a lot in the kitchen, and definitely toiletries. I try to plan my dinner menus using what is on sale that week in the stores. But I usually save between 60-70% on my grocery bill every time. And I basically only shop at Fry's.

Some of my fave sites: (There are SOOOO many, it can be overwhelming for sure.)
http://thekrazycouponlady.com/
http://www.savingcentswithsense.net/
http://www.commonsensewithmoney.com/
http://www.pinchingyourpennies.com/

Good luck! It's worth it!

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K.H.

answers from Phoenix on

Hi, I have been with Coupon Sense for 1.5 years and I save about $200 per month. It costs me $15 per month for the Coupon program and about $15 per month for 2 newspapers to get the coupons. I spend about 2 hours per week collating, organizing and making a shopping list. It is very organized, easy and saves money. Some people save even more every month, but it does take extra time. My Instructor is very good and has training classes every week. Her name is Nin brannock and her phone# is ###-###-#### or www.thecouponlady.info. You can try the program and make it fit your needs and how much time you have. Go to a training session and decide if you want to join.

R.R.

answers from Los Angeles on

I've been an avid coupon user for many years and have watched "Extreme Couponing" but don't have the time to devout to that. Yet the show and shoppers offer great tips we can all use.

~ Definitely subscribe to or buy the Sunday newspaper. Here in SoCal the 99 Cents Only Store sells them for, yep, 99 cents, so if you use even just one $1 coupon you've paid for your paper, all the rest are gravy. They also carry them until they run out, so if you check your coupons on Sunday and see good ones you should be able to run back in the next day or so and buy more papers.
~ Ask your friends and co-workers to give you their coupon inserts IF they don't use them. I sometimes get free items I won't use and give them to them as a "thank you."
~ The trick to saving the maximum amount is using a coupon when the price of the item is low. In order to know you'll need to check the ads on Tuesday or Wednesday, as the ads usually run from Wednesday through the following Tuesday. (At least here in SoCal they do.) I check to see what's on sale, right now it's hot dogs, buns, mustard and sodas. Make your list from the deals and compare it to your coupons (I put a small "c" next to the items I have coupons for so I don't forget to use the coupons.)
~ If you live near a "rewards" store like Ralph's, Krogers, etc., don't forget to use your card to take advantage of extra savings. I shopped yesterday at Ralph's and saw that the 8-pack of 8.75 oz. boxes of Juicy Juice (100% juice) were $2.49, BUT that if you bought 5 the price dropped down to $1.49. I hadn't planned on buying them but did the math and figured out this meant a box of juice was less than 20 cents so I bought 5 and plan to go back for more while the special is on with coupons. It's summer, the kids love them and they store without refrigeration until needed.
~ Use your "Catalinas," the coupons that print out with your receipt based on the items you buy. I used to forget about them until one day I was cleaning out my purse and found several that would have gotten me free items or substantial savings. Used with specials and/or manufacturer coupons you save even more.
~ For diapers you really need to know the price per diaper. Even with coupons (that often require a wipe purchase along with the diapers so you end up spending more) you may not actually save on the size you buy. Divide the cost by the number of diapers on the different size bags or boxes available. Use your coupons on the size with the best price per diaper to maximize your savings.
~ Also consider trying Amazon Mom, and "Subscribe & Save" on www.amazon.com to save on diapers. Amazon Mom gives free shipping for a year, and "Subscribe & Save" gives 30% off the price per box. You set deliveries to your preference, from 1 month to 6 months, and can request an additional delivery at any time. I have been getting Pampers with Dry Max and Extra Protection ones (for overnight) at about 1/2 the price I would have paid for them in-store, even with coupons.
~ If you're on Facebook "like" Frugal Girls - they post deals, freebies, coupons to print, and alert you to items on sale you can use your coupons on for maximum savings (particularly CVS and Walgreens.)
https://www.facebook.com/thefrugalgirls
and if you're not on FB their website is: http://www.TheFrugalGirls.com

Hunt4Freebies also offers coupons to print, deals and freebies.
https://www.facebook.com/Hunt4Freebies
or their websites:
http://hunt4freebies.com/ and http://hunt4freebies.com/coupons/

*And, check out the list of Birthday Freebies that Frugal Girls has, I just got some free meals, burgers & sandwiches, ice cream, a FREE Brow Arch at ULTA, etc. for my recent birthday. I didn't (couldn't) use all the offers, but the ones I did use saved me at least $100.00 : )
http://thefrugalgirls.com/birthday-freebies

F.H.

answers from Phoenix on

I'm blessed with a decent size pantry and a laundry room that can hold cases of TP, papertowels, napkins, etc. I also have 2 full shelves in the hallway closet between the kids bathroom where all the shampoo, conditioner, body wash, TP, toothpaste, etc. that they need for their bathroom. So my point is that I have storage for when I find things on sale. I too work full time and can't seem to clip coupons. If I do, I forget to use them then they expire. And it tends to stress me out more than just paying extra!!! So I have not used them. I shop at Fry's and they have TONS of sales on the things I tend to buy most frequently. So I go up and down every isle and look for my usual items and if its on sale, I buy a BUNCH. My hubby and I are going to get a full size freezer so we can load up our own instead of my moms! My favorite bread is over $5 per loaf but I am NOT going to pay that! On occasion, it goes on sale for $2.24 so I get about 4 of them. They also have a lot of 10 for $10, or $1 each. So I just strole the isles and get what is on sale. Same thing for the meat. And even the desserts. They have "managers specials", big orange stickers, that you can get for more than 50% off. Almost always for a party I'm having a get the dessert because its only marked down because of close to expire. Well, the party is the next day so it works perfect. So I don't really have a lot of tips but my husband is always amazed that for a family of 5 I spend very little on groceries and we eat very well! :o)

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C.T.

answers from Phoenix on

The trick is to get into it so you learn the ropes, and then back off a bit. If you don't, you'll find yourself spending countless hours preparing and will get jaded by the whole process.

I personally rarely ever ad-match. I know Wal-Mart does it, but I try not to shop there anyway...so I go to multiple stores.

For toiletries, I've found the best thing to do is search the ads for items that are on sale, and combined with a coupon will be less than $1.00, or 1/4 of their normal price. For example: Suave body wash on a good sale is 99 cents a bottle. There are usually coupons for 25 cents off. Most grocery stores double or triple up to a dollar, so you could be paying 25-50 cents for a bottle, which normally costs $2.99.

Pharmacies like Wal-greens and CVS have their own type of in-store cash. Wal-greens are called Rapid Rewards and can be used on a subsequent purchase, usually a few days later and are good for like 2 weeks. CVS are called Extra Care Bucks ECBs. You can use them immediately on another transaction. For example, the promo may be something like this: if you a buy Band-Aid brand product for $2.99, you'll get $1.00 ECB. Combine a coupon of $1.00 off the Band-Aid product, and you total out of pocket for the Band-Aid item $1.99, and you have $1.00 to spend on something else.

There are often cash back deals on razors, body wash, all sorts of things at the pharmacy stores. Even Sonicare toothbrushes sometimes! And often, you'll pay less than 80% retail price for the item.

Sites like CouponSense or TheGroceryGame are great to get you going and to maximize your savings. You'll need 1 newspaper subscription for a family of 4 (don't pay more than $1.00/week per paper). And there are many coupons online that you can print from your home computer. Remember though, most stores will only accept one of each coupon per transaction. So if you print two, or receive two newspapers, you may only use one of each indentical coupon per transaction. So to get multiple items, you'll find yourself going through the checkout line twice, or splitting up your transactions.

To save money on produce, there are a few indoor farmers markets in the East Valley, that are open daily and have amazing deals on produce. There is also Bountiful Baskets and some local co-op gardening ventures.

If you eat meat, watch for the deals and buy and freeze. Chicken breasts under $1.50/lb is a good deal. Chicken thighs/drumsticks are often under $1.00/lb. And whole chickens under .80/lb. Buy ham during Easter or Christmas when it is .99/lb. Same for whole turkeys. You can get Foster Farms natural ground turkey at Costco for the best price I've seen it on sale...and it's almost always there.

After you've done it for a few months you'll start to recognize the deals and may find that you no longer need your subscription to the online site. Prepare you list, organize your clipped coupons, and stick to your list at the store. Watch your time. If after a month, it takes you more than an hour per store to prepare to go shopping...you'll need to change your approach.

After two years of it, I rarely coupon anymore. When we start to get low on our stockpile, I'll search the ads for the good deals and find coupons online. I cancelled our newspaper subscription because I don't use it often enough anymore, and it was such a waste of a natural resource and carbon emissions.

I've become a health nut. So most of my shopping is produce at the farmer's market. Some items at Sprouts, and I pick up a few regular items at Costco once a month. I don't buy many processed foods, and prepare most meals from scratch. Even w/o couponing, for my family of 4, we rarely spend more than $400/month. And we eat out twice a week (with coupons of course.) It's not just about saving money with coupons, its about buying items that are the right price and those that nourish your family.

Although I am the first to admit that there is occasionally a place for a box of mac n cheese in our kitchen....it's hardly nourishing, so as often as possible, I stay away from those items that though may be really cheap and even free with couponing, they are not helping my family in the long run.

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A.

answers from Albuquerque on

Disposable diapers and wipes cost about $2000 per child from 0-about age 3. CLOTH DIAPER. You haven't cut that corner yet. If you can't full time, do it part time. You are already doing laundry and so adding a few diapers to the load is not a burden. And you won't ever have an emergency where you have to run to the store and buy disposables full price because you'll have cloth there until you can find a good deal. There is a small initial investment but it pays off big time in the long run. And if you buy them second hand, the savings are even greater. Finally, cloth diapered babies often potty train sooner, so you'll stop paying for diapers all that much sooner. No matter what you are thinking, the extra laundry is really insignificant because you're already doing the laundry for the baby!

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