I’ve given myself some ground rules for this trip:
1. No “free product” coupons. Even though these are issued by the manufacturer, they aren’t coupons you will see every day, or have readily available. Most “super saver” results are based on hundreds of dollars saved with all the free product coupons they have accumulated over a year. To be perfectly honest, not everyone can do that. The “free product” coupon process is one we will teach you, but not one that most will be able to use for day to day savings.
2. Our stores do not take printable Internet coupons. Manufacturer printed only. Even though it’s possible to get “printable” coupons direct by mail, I am not using those today.
3. Our stores double up to 50 cents (i.e., doubles to become $1). No super deals there, but it does help reduce costs and doubling may not be available in some parts of the country.
4. I have “shoppers cards” at each store.
5. Most stores offering Buy One Get One Free (BOGO) allow you to use a coupon on each item. It’s greatly to their benefit. The BOGO increases the amount of product they move (versus ½ price), the manufacturer reimburses the cost of each coupon redeemed, and the grocer recovers a portion of his “free” item cost. The stores that I shop here do allow a coupon be used on each item, but this may not be the case everywhere.
6. I wanted to purchase a bit of everything, across all categories (food, health, organic, produce…), again, keeping it real.
7. I always take DH for the best savings. He is my best reality check, and I’m his. Price, needs, available storage space (I always think we have more than we do). It’s a team effort. Besides, four hands are great for tracking spending/saving and holding coupons and lists.
We walk every aisle, and we look. Any sale tags hanging? Any surprise sales? They exist if you take the time to look and find them.
Here’s what we found:
wow…. I never see $1 or $2 off coupons anywhere….
To get cashback, you do need to be a member. Even without the membership, though, the prescription prices tend to be lower than most places, especially on non-generic brands.
It became necessary for me to start using coupons again since my husband got laid-off and went without a job for almost a year. I find TONS of them on line doing google searches. Since there were many 100s of coupons I found large envelopes or files no longer worked, it took me HOURS to locate the Q’s that matched up to sales etc. I have found that that a large binder filled with the sheets of plastic pockets that people use to collect their baseball cards is the simplest way to know where to find my Q’s. In between categories I put title sheets such as “dairy products” or “beverages” and slip them into a sheet protector. This $20.00- $30.00 investment for material is beyond worth it.
I never used coupons because I didn’t have time but now I have time because I found sites that do the work for me. I just have to purchase the Sunday paper each week and I end up saving between $50 and $100 each shopping trip. I am just learning so I know I will be able to do even better once I learn more. Also, check out faithfulprovisions.com – It is free and the lady who does it sends out e-mail notices every few days with great deals she has found and awesome information. I did a lot of my kids Christmas shopping through her deals and spent very little. I have loved this. Hope you all have as much fun with it as I have.
Anna
Hi, I’m wondering if you are monitoring these emails, I have written comments twice and they aren’t showing up. Am I writing something that is not allowed? Please let me know – thanks.
Where do you get grocery coupons consistently for $1,00, $2.00 and above? I rarely see a grocery coupon for that amount. Also, I don’t know of any stores here that double coupons.
Great job at the supermarket but I think the rebate should fall under the same perameters as your own first guideline: Most “super saver” results are based on hundreds of dollars saved with all the free product coupons they have accumulated over a year. The annual Costco rebate is an annual accumulation of savings over a year and yes it should be factored into the annual grocery budget but should not be used in your example.
I find couponing sites have been very helpful to me. It has helped me to cut my grocery bills by at least 25% consistently each week. Wonderful–good luck!
I’m just curious: why do supermarkets place items on sale? Isn’t it because they want to get rid of it as it is getting old/stale? If that is the case, wouldn’t buying those affect your own health? Using coupons is probably different..
@John
There are a huge number of reasons. Mostly it is to attract shoppers to the store with the knowledge that most will buy other things while they are there as well to make up for the loss leaders.
Could “flash” please explain the cash back/rebates at Costco? I thought no stores gave cash back when the coupons are greater than the purchase? And $176.21 worth of rebates? Really??
I get redplum inserts on sunday. Occasionally I will see a SS insert. How can I go about getting inserts mailed directly to me.
Remember one thing people.Most of the off brand good’s are canned in the same place as your big name brands and all a company will do is change the name of the lable it’s the same food.Foud this out after working in a canning plant.I may not find coupon’s for off name brand’s but I’m buying the same thing for 1/2 the price and getting 2 for what most people are paying for one. Also check out your local Dollar store,Look to see what sub.brand a major brand may own the off band is just as good!
I like the idea of using two coupons, but don’t most coupons say “1 per customer”, so you can’t use two on a BOGO free…
Unless most stores don’t follow this rule?
I live in a small town, and the only grocery stores we have is walmart(where i refuse to go), Country mart; a typical low key small town grocer, and Aldi – where they have very low prices, but dont accept coupons.. any advice?
Melissa: Ever read “Tightwad Gazette”? Might be a better fit for your situation, and compliments everything in these articles very well.
Hello,
Is there anyway I could get coupons mailed to me? People dont really save when they are wasting ink to print out the coupons.
Jennifer: It depends. Got to do the math to see if printing works for you.
Laser printers are BY FAR less expensive per page than inkjets or laserjets. We got a nice used HP laser printer for $50 off Craigslist. HP laser printers are solid.
You can also buy coupons on eBay; my wife does it all the time.
Don’t throw away expired coupons. Militarty Commissaries overseas except coupons up to 6 months expired. Please check out couponing.about.com/cs/aboutcouponing/a/militaryexpcoup.htm to send your expired coupons to others who can use them. =)
I was wondering if they would mail coupons to my house.I am on a fixed income and I want to become an extreme coupon clipper/saver. I want to be able to stack coupons what is the best way to do this? I will be shopping at a Kroger store, which is about an hour drive for me.So the more coupons I have the better.
I personally have problems using coupons here in Louisville Ky. I’m 52 years of age and have been using coupons since I started buying any thing about age of 13. Yes,I had a full time job at 13.
Over the year I have gotten five desktop pc totally free by rebating. Free dvd players and other items. But these deals are far and few in the p[ass years. But back to my problem,Target is the number one problem in using coupons,even ones from their own website. Yes,they claim they dont have to take any printed coupons from the internet. In fact they will bar you from making a mulituple purchase if they feel the item is going to be free. And have called police claiming internet coupon fraud on some coupon lovers!
Where can I find a copy of the ferdeal coupon laws?
Thanks for showing me how to coupon.
I highly agree with your plan as I never shop without coupons. My last grocery trip I saved 54% off my grocery bill. I have never shopped without coupons but that was my best trip ever. It CAN be done.
Hey, Can someone help me with understanding what coupons and deals are the best to do? I would love to be able to spend 300.00 and only have to pay 25.00 dollars out of pocket… I just need it broken down to me, in steps…WhAT STORES USE DOUBLE COUPONS?
Christine — start here: https://www.grocerycouponguide.com/articles/lazy-couponing-introduction-how-to-coupon-for-the-rest-of-us/
This will also give you an idea how it all works: https://www.grocerycouponguide.com/articles/eating-well-on-1-a-day/
Your best bet is to contact Target headquarters and explain what is happening at your local Target store so they can retrain the managers and cashiers.
I am new at couponing and am very impressed with the savings I hear everyone recieving. HOwever, the only coupons I ever come across are for deoderant, body wash, toothpaste, etc. Where do you find the everyday FOOD item coupons?
i do not have the same stores here in rural jasper tn.i have a walmart,ingles cvs anda mom an pop store a publix but an ho lo 45 mins driour away and a bve very fer coupons available i really need to find coupons free ones to stack with my sundays circulars.not much in them either.i am close ot being a food bank recieptent i am on a small s.s.i budget.can u pls help
and iv learn a lot today from you exceot where do i find the coupons to stack>??
sorry newby and desperate
Coupons are a great way to save money at the supermarket. If you utilize the newspapers, internet, and manufactures they are great ways to save money. Also, using the buy one get one free is fantastic. Only purchase items that are on sale and use a coupon with for the item.
this is a farce, I have tried using these so called coupons and have never in my 66 yrs have been able to get 150. dollars worth of food for 75.00
What do you do get coupons from the factory”?? or print them up yourself”
I would really like to get 200 dollars worth of food for 25.00 I hear people doing this but have NO clue as how and where to get these coupons…..
J ust like the P C H games claiming to give people 2 million dollars It is fake.
It can be done, but you have to shop for what’s available instead of what you want: https://www.grocerycouponguide.com/articles/eating-well-on-1-a-day/