amandasgramma

I agree with cjomomma...I tried couponing and it cost me more because they only couponed name brand items. Also, most of the "foods" on the coupons have major additives (pre-packaged food). I do mostly natural -- make my own sauces, etc. But if it saved you money, GOOD!

dreamer2009

great job !!

laurac

where would i find coupons for fresh veggies and fruit?
right now i'm gluten free and starting to be free of corn, eggs and milk (health reasons)
any ideas?

Rachielou

In response to the "where do you find the coupons" posts... it VERY much depends on what you are looking for. BUT you have to remember that your not going to save a LOT of money couponing if you plan your meals and then try to find coupons to match. Flip it around. Go online and find coupons. Cut coupons out of your newspaper. Get a pile of them and see what you have and compare them to the local grocery paper ads. (yes this takes some time) Example: I am having my daughter's 1 year old birthday party this saturday. Instead of sitting down and planning a meal, I looked at the sales first. Cub had a buy one get one bags of broccoli. Guess we're making broccoli salad. Cub also had buy one get one potatos-looks like we're having potato salad too. Then I found coupons for Goldn Plump chicken online for $1 off. Super One foods was running a sale for Gold n plump drumsticks for 1.66. So i bought 4 packages for $0.66 each and we're having barbeque chicken as the main course. I also found coupons for bacon, pop, cheese, crackers, and mayo. In addition to those items, I stocked up on things my other kids go thru like crazy such as cereal (for $.75 per box) Oatmeal, granola bars etc.

I totally agree about the being one step away from the hoarding show! I don't think it makes much sense to buy 40 of anything.

After my inital post, I ended up at the evil empire (Walmart) and managed to get 5 bottles of body wash for free due to coupons. Again, with myself, the bf, and the 2 kids it won't take long to use all that up.

The best website I found for doing some research is couponmom.com. Check it out!

CarrieAnne

WTG!

jaciqltznok

CLIP all the coupons you can from the paper, magazines etc..then you can go online and swap/trade them for things...it is a HUGE thing for the twenty somethings to do,like they invented couponing..hehehe

we eat mainly fresh, and I make our laundry soap, but there is still TP, kleenex, vitamins, frozen berries, and things you can find coupons for!

Like I said, I clip them all every Sunday and then bring the kiddy ones to a single dad across the street, and put the rest on FREECYCLE....

jaciqltznok

what is the difference between additives and GMO foods?

Rose_P

I used to use coupons - nothing extreme - just clipping what came with the Sunday paper, and always tried to use only the ones for products I would buy normally. There was some savings, maybe about 5-10% on a typical shopping trip. However, I resented the 40 minutes a week or so that I spent clipping the coupons and all the extra time it took to shop with them. So I quit. Hubby wanted to know why, and since he's retired I told him if he wanted to get into coupons he was welcome to. He did very briefly. Our time is worth more than we were saving. Also, I resent knowing that the cost of all that advertizing is added to our bottom line, whether we use the coupons or not. I buy lots of house brands instead. I buy mostly fresh, whole food, but there are plenty of coupons for items like cheese, milk, and eggs - the more expensive brands. Phony savings, imho. Not all house brands are wonderful, but a few are actually better than the name brand. At very least if you're considering a coupon item, check to see if the house brand is less than the name brand minus the coupon, and give it a try if it is.

luvTooQuilt

I use to be a nut when it came to couponing.. I would swap weekly and hit aprox 5-9 stores a week . I was lucky tho, I was able to use expired coupons up to 6 month past the expiration date and those, alot of people were giving away for free.. I had stock piles of stuff, but no where near hoarder boarder.. Biggest savings was I paid $56 for $200 dollars worth of stuff.. Never could beat that again.. Free this if you bought that, and had a coupon for that plus you could use the stores coupon too. triple whammy.. Not to mention its was either doubled or tripled coupon.. I had a huge tote with all my coupons separated by month then by the store departments.. SO there I was for hours in the grocery store checkin prices and comparing.. it was soooooo time consuming.. Been there wont do it again. If I have one and I use the product well then I'll use it, but I will not invest the hours and hours and hours to save the $100..i'd rather be quilting..

I remember having sooo many coupons I confused the register.. The manager had to manually ok/over-ride all the coupons in the register individually after the 50th one..

I always felt bad for the person behind me, the items rung up fine but all those coupons had to be scanned, and I never had less than 25..