Coupons

[Weston]

So I've been seeing a lot of moms in Wal-mart and the grocery store, pushing there shopping carts around with a fist-full of coupons.

Decided to look into clipping coupons myself today from the Sunday paper to see how much we could save on groceries. I came up with a wopping 3 coupons worth less than 2 dollars total and probably spent close to an hour looking thru all of them.

Where do people get all of these coupons from??!!
Anyone else clip coupons and are successful at saving enough money for it to be worth it? Whats your trick?

[Don-Dad]

Ok. I admit, I clip coupons :oops: I usually forget to bring the coupon holder to the store most times though. Usually save $2 or $3. If I know I need medicines, diapers or other personal items, I definitely check the coupons.

I reinvest that $2 or $3 savings in the lottery :D

I think some folks buy stuff just cause they have coupons.

[dad305]

I clip coupons too. It's become like a weird addiction...I've thought of creating a group for people like me who don't admit it publicly.

Funny Iam always looking around not to let people see me shufling the coupons trying to find the one for the yougurt or the juice...I know...I know...

I really think that coupons are good. I wait for stuff to go on special like a two for one Oreo Cookies for example and then I hit them with the .75 cents coupon...It feels goooooood!!! I feel like I beat the system (Weird uh?).

I almost scream with excitement when the cashier told me the other day that I saved $16 beween store sales and coupons (coupons accounted for about $7).

My problem is that coupon holder man...like Don I forget it so my planner has a pocket of coupons eager to be timidly presented at the register.

Is this normal?

[Weston]

Must be normal Dad305...I see enough ppl doing what you do.

But I agree with Don....seems like coupons are just a way to make you feel like you are saving money, when in reality you are buying things you normally wouldn't just because you are saving a little.

[tt3]

If I've got one for diapers, I'll use it, but otherwise not so much. Or we'll make the grocery list and then scan through the store's add to see if anything works. Usually not. The local grocery stores try to get you to buy a bunch of useless stuff by having 2 for 1, or buy this get this free, stuff you'd never really use. Funny too, when they do the 2 for 1 coupon, the regular price drops too, so you only end up saving a fraction...
all just to get your money.

[Awwc]

I clip coupons. It first started off with me ranting about how every week we get this newspaperish food circular that the wife and I NEVER used. What's gotta be so great that it's forced on me every week? I started to look through it hoping to find a phone number I could call and possibly stop having it delivered.

It was then I noticed Safeway had a buy one get one free gallon of milk coupon.

Cripes, that's about 3 bucks right there. I was hooked. End of story.

I made sure to not buy stuff that we don't normally purchase, just because it had a coupon. If it was a coupon for a product that we use, maybe a different brand, *snip snip*.

Something I've been contemplating asking the wife was if I could track how much money we'd save using the coupons, we'd take that exact amount every time we shopped and dump it into an account. Money we'd normally spend anyway right?

Since I clip the coupons and do the shopping, I'm hoping to get the green light on some better workbench tools. :wink:

[tt3]

...Since I clip the coupons and do the shopping, I'm hoping to get the green light on some better workbench tools. :wink:

Thats the way to think! :lol:

[dad305]

Hey I like that savings account idea. That's great Awwc!

[Patrickz]

I used to clip coupons but I stoped because I fell into the trap of buying things I didnt need. Now I buy store brand stuff that is comprable and Wal-Mart is just across the street. I save more that way :lol:

[Indy]

One of the things I learned when working in a grocery store and a retail store was that most of the "store brands" were made by the same companies that offered the name brand. The trick is to look at the packaging and see if it looks similar to the name brand packaging. That'll tip you off to who likely made it.

[homewithtwins]

I only clip coupons that I will use and I get the coupons out that are on my list before leaving the house.

This past week Proctor and Gamble had a huge insert in the Sunday paper. Coupons on almost everything they make. If you are like we are that covers your Tide, Crest toothpaste, bounce, head and shoulders shampoo, pampers, and a few other items. If you sign up for the Publix baby club they will send you tons of coupons every month. Including some generic ones like $1 off any produce item.

I saved 5% on this week's grocery bill.

[Anonymous]

I use the coupons that come inside product packaging. Chances are if I bought the product once I’ll be buying it again.

My wife got me in the habit of using a calculator to work out the per-unit cost of bulk items. Diapers for example; every brand puts a different count of diapers in a package. Some brands put different counts in the packaging for different retailers; Wal-Mart, the grocery store, and Costco carry different sized packages of the same product. All this inconsistency make price comparison impossible unless you’re comparing the per diaper cost. The bottom line; a box of 120 Pampers at the local grocery store with a dollar off coupon is the best deal in the city.

Who said you’d never use high school trig in real life?

[SideShowCecil]

oops! That was me up there, I forgot to sign in.

[tt3]

Cecil, I did that math before Tara was born to see if we should get that Sam's club membership, uber bulk stuff... turned out the cost per diaper was a few cents more than getting it at Walmart. Don't know if thats changed, but its silly how they figure they can bump the cost up since everyone figures paying bulk is better.
Laundry soap is another good one that I've noticed. The 100oz cheaper per than the 300oz.
Crazy!

[SideShowCecil]

My wife’s employer springs for the Costco membership every year, part of the benefits package.

We found the same thing; those ludicrous sized packages actually work out to be a few cents per unit more expensive than the local grocery store. Baby formula was 4 dollars more per can! But hey, who can resist a can of tuna the size of car tire!

[Weston]

You know I was just thinking about the buying in bulk theory the other day.... another cost that I figured would be hard to afford is the cost of all the storage it takes when you buy in bulk!

We don't have much storage as it is. Guess if you had a garage or a big pantry to store all this stuff then it might be worth it, but if you have to pay for xtra square footage in your house for just this reason...well, seems kind of rediculous to me.