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Does anybody cut coupons?

tigian

tigian

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Feb 25, 2009
Messages
2,731
I was flipping through channels last night and there was a show about people utilizing coupons. They were cutting them out of weekly papers as well as finding them online. They seemed obsessed with saving money and stocking up on goods. They ended up saving a ton of money and now I'm intrigued. I'm not sure if I'm ready to jump into recycling dumpsters to get my coupons, like one lady was, but I always love a good bargain.
If you do, what is your method? Any tips?
 
I saw that too. I couldn't ever see myself dumpster diving just to save a few bucks at the grocery store. That seemed a bit much. I love the idea of getting a bargain but I don't have the patience to look through coupons, and I probably would forget them and leave them at home anyway.
 
My SO's mother is a huge coupon clipper! She even clips out coupons that she thinks would be beneficial for us, which I think is very nice of her. For the most part they're for things that we wouldn't normally buy (different brands) or things that we don't even need so we would ultimately be spending money that we wouldn't have in the first place. We also forget them at home when we need them, SO cut out a coupon for bick's pickles and by the time we finally remembered to bring it into the store it was expired.

I have however used coupons to get free wine bottles (as a new customer) for a make-it-yourself wine place, and this weekend I'm also using a coupon with my girlfriends to get a free gourmet wood fired pizza with the purchase of a bottle of wine ... I see a pattern here :lol:
 
My mom used to shop at ralphs a lot w/ their double coupons, but not sure if they still have that. Combining the sunday Times w/ the weekly store ads, she would save a ton. The best one was cut from $178 to $43!! :eek:

I'm too lazy, so i shop at trader joe's. When i see coupons for cosmetics and stuff in magazines, i will clip them out and use them. Most of the time, before i purchase anything online, i always check if there are coupon codes or free shipping. Mrrebates and ebates are my friends... you get a certain % back if you click on them before buying stuff on various sites. for 2010, i've received close to $500 back.
 
yes. I started using the advice from thekrazycouponlady.com. They basically tell you how to combine coupons with sales so that you can get items for very little money. Clipping coupons to save twenty cents isn't worth it in my opinion, but clipping coupons to get cereal for 99 cents a box is. A lot of times too you can get items for free, such as toothpaste, shampoo, and body wash.

Where they really clean up is at CVS because that store has extra bucks. The rewards bucks that are printed out at the end of your shopping trip that are good on your next visit. Here are some explanations on how to do it: http://beautyandbedlam.com/category/cvs-tutorial/ the krazy coupon lady site explains it too. Basically, after the first trip, you use your coupons and those extra bucks and you spend just a couple of dollars per visit at CVS. The challenge is that you can't be brand picky.

I haven't really built up my stock pile yet because I'm getting ready to move. As soon as we're moved though, I'm going to hit the ground running with this. Food and household items are a variable expense in the budget. I always thought we were bound to spend a certain amount (very large amount for 6 people.) These ladies have proven different.
 
yeah, I clip them every week. I only save about $20 a month, but that's better than nothing. My fav are the 40% off coupons for Michael's.
 
yes I do...weekly. we get the sunday newspaper at my office, and the shopping section usually goes to me. I also look for coupon codes for any of my online shopping needs, and I also subscribed to my local grocery store that does electronic coupons, load them up onto my shoppers card and I don't have to carry coupons, it gets deducted automatically at the checkout. I also print them off the internet. I also do points for various products like coke and pampers, got some nice free things from coupons. I cut box tops for my kids school but its much easier just to give them $ sometimes...lol. My grocery store usually does the bonus coupons savings where if your coupon is .50cents off they give you an additional .50 cnt off up to $1.00 max in savings. and its really great!I get entertainment books and my local grocery stores is in there with 4 additional $10 off $100 through out the years, plus much more. I used to belong to a coupon forum and post coupon codes all the time, but haven't been on for a few months now.
 
I go through the Costco and Target coupons and pull out coupons for anything we already buy, and then I stuff them in our coupon drawer for DH to go through before he goes shopping. (I won't shop at Costco, I hate it there. And DH really likes going to Target, so more power to him!)

We've gotten a couple great coupons for Morton's, which is my favorite steakhouse, and used those.

My local bookstore sends me coupons and I use those, as well.

I never use coupons to buy things we don't already buy, though.

Overall, it's pretty hit or miss. If I happen to come across a usable coupon, I clip it. Otherwise, I just go shopping and buy what we need.
 
I save coupons that are printed out when I'm grocery shopping. I only save the ones for things I actually buy, but often they're good deals like $1-5 off. The store is pretty good about honoring expired coupons too.

I never go to Bed Bath and Beyond without one of those 20% coupons.

I try to buy clothes when I get emails from Banana or JCrew that they are having a sale.

I certainly don't live by coupons or purchase everything at a discount, but I try to use the easy coupons that are available to me. I don't buy things with coupons that I wasn't planning to buy anyway.
 
I don't buy much processed food so I don't use coupons much anymore. I used a lot of cereal coupons before but have not really seen them lately. Sometimes I go online and load electronic coupons onto my grocery shopping card. No need to clip coupons, it automatically takes the discount if you purchase the product.
 
My daughter and I watched that show! I don't think I could ever put as much time and energy into it as the people on the show, and I really am not interested in stock-piling like they do, but I did find it impressive and fascinating. I can't remember the exact figures, but the guy at the end bought $5000 dollars of groceries for about $200 dollars. And another woman bought over $200 dollars worth and paid, like, a few dollars or something after all her coupons were calculated. My daughter and I felt that food banks and churches should hire these people to do their shopping for them!

I normally don't use coupons, but because of the show I think I'll start. If I can save a little money here and there, why not? As I said, I will never be in their league, but I may as well take advantage of whatever savings I can get.

eta: Socool, you made the same point as my daughter...Many of the groceries the people on the show were buying were processed foods, so the coupons wouldn't be as helpful if you eat primarily fresh unprocessed food. But I figure I could save on things like health and beauty, paper products, etc. I don't know, but I'm going to give it a try.
 
I coupon clip and plan around the deals. When I did well I could get a week's worth of groceries for me and SO for about 20 dollars. I haven't as much since we moved home though.
 
No, but i really want to. I was watching a show on EXTREME couponing, and man, these people save so much money. Oddly, i have the time,hmmmm, maybe i should get started.
 
I clip coupons every week, lost my coupon holder about a month ago and I was pissed...lost alot of good coupons lol, I also cut out coupons for my son, but I am pretty sure he never uses them :rolleyes:
 
diamondrnglover|1293735250|2810018 said:
I clip coupons every week, lost my coupon holder about a month ago and I was pissed...lost alot of good coupons lol, I also cut out coupons for my son, but I am pretty sure he never uses them :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Diamond- do you save a lot of money when you do this? I mean, in your own personal experince.
 
MC|1293732325|2809954 said:
yeah, I clip them every week. I only save about $20 a month, but that's better than nothing. My fav are the 40% off coupons for Michael's.
Click to expand...

Me, too!

I clip all the time. We use a Pur water filter, I get coupons for that every month or so for replacement filters. I also clip coupons for places to eat, because it's something we like to do, but can't always afford. I also watch for coupons on baby stuff, like formula and diapers.
 
I always use online coupons when shopping for clothes, but I never thought to look at grocery store websites for possible savings. Thanks for the tips, ladies. Keep 'em coming. :appl: :appl: :appl:
 
I saved $200 buying for my brothers and mom using coupons. I bought 4 shirts from Express that would have came to $150 but paid $48 for my brothers. For my mom and cousin, I would have spent $200 but paid $80.

My methods:

-I only shop for clothes at certain stores so I sign up for their newsletters and in the process get their coupons
-Before going grocery or clothes shopping, I jump online. Malls request coupons from stores to put on their site. If you go to tyour mall's website you can find $30 off $75 purchase, 40% off coupons, etc. Same with grocery stores

And the newest is facebook. If you like a company on FB, they often post deals on their walls. Carter's, for example, just posted a 25% off $50 purchase for getting 75k likes on their page. The best part is that I don't have to print it out. I can just show the cashier.

The companies also have the "checked in" function. If you check in a certain number of times via FB, you get a coupon for $x off. I haven't (and won't) do that but I have friends who do.

I have friends who are serious about it. The other day she would have spent $100 at CVS buying household stuff but ended up paying just $9 and walked away with $12 cvs bucks. So really, they gave her $3. I'm not that disciplined but you can really save money.
 
The reason I don't bother with coupons is they are usually to get me to buy something I wouldn't ordinarily buy.
That's not saving money.

I don't see coupons for a gallon of milk, fresh eggs, fresh produce or a bag of brown rice.
We buy almost no manufactured or processed foods from the big corporations.
 
Elrohwen|1293734252|2809991 said:
I save coupons that are printed out when I'm grocery shopping. I only save the ones for things I actually buy, but often they're good deals like $1-5 off. The store is pretty good about honoring expired coupons too.

I never go to Bed Bath and Beyond without one of those 20% coupons.

I try to buy clothes when I get emails from Banana or JCrew that they are having a sale.

I certainly don't live by coupons or purchase everything at a discount, but I try to use the easy coupons that are available to me. I don't buy things with coupons that I wasn't planning to buy anyway.
Click to expand...

Ditto...I'd add that I only buy the fruits/veggies/meats that are on sale at the store (if it isn't on sale, we have to wait til it is!), I will stock up on canned goods that I use when they're on sale and I have coupons...there's plenty more that I could probably do, but I'm too lazy.
 
I wish we could do this in Ontario, Canada (not that I have the time)! Every single coupon that I have ever seen says "limit one coupon per purchase" which means, I could not buy 300 of the same item using 300 different coupons (unless I went through the register 300 times). Most also say - "not valid with any other in store offer" which would pretty much mean you would only ever get max $1.00 off one item in one transaction. :(

I love the idea of getting things for free - but I cannot fathom the reason these people on that show need to buy things they will NEVER use just because they are free! I was happy to see that at least one of them was donating to the food bank!
 
I clipped coupons while we were saving the DP on our house. I usually saved about 10% each grocery bill (which was about $450-$500 per year if I kept it up). It IS a lot of work and I just don't put forth the effort anymore. We have made a concerted effort recently to eat healthier and I'm not sure we would still save the 10% if we were clipping now. The majority of the coupons you do see are for processed foods but I always liked clipping the ones for health & beauty items like toothpaste or items I'd have to buy anyway.
 
I love coupons. I think Zoe may have started a similar thread recently. Stacking coupons is where I get the most savings. Using 2 coupons for one item that is on sale is a thrilling experience (I am COMPLETELY aware how pathetic that sounds!) I equate using coupons is the same excitement as finding a $20 bill in the street. I will still buy what I like even if it is not on sale or I don't have a coupon so I am not too coupon crazed but when I can, I will always try to save money when I can. Having a baby really motivated me because buying diapers full price physically hurt. :tongue: I soon realized that if I shopped the sales, clipped coupons, joined mailing lists, stocked up when I saw a killer deal, that I would never have to pay full price again. :appl: :appl: :appl:
 
I clip them when it's convenient. I don't go out of my way.
A friend's elderly grandmother sends her envelopes full of coupons every month or so. She gives me the coupons she doesn't want.
On a regular bi-monthly big grocery shopping trip I usually save $10-20.
 
totally clip. usually save $10-20 per shopping trip of about usually $80. we're cheap-o's when it comes to stuff like groceries, so coupons help us get the brands and types of foods we prefer. for example, if something isn't on sale or we don't have a coupon (or I know another store has it significantly cheaper), we just don't get it that week. it's as simple as that. but stuff like produce, dairy and meat we just buy b/c there are rarely sales and that's the neccessaries in our house.
 
kenny|1293751612|2810337 said:
The reason I don't bother with coupons is they are usually to get me to buy something I wouldn't ordinarily buy.
That's not saving money.

I don't see coupons for a gallon of milk, fresh eggs, fresh produce or a bag of brown rice.
We buy almost no manufactured or processed foods from the big corporations.
Click to expand...

Actually, I find coupons for milk and eggs all the time.
 
I used to be the coupon queen, but now I find it much more efficient to :

1) sign up for email updates, so I get a notice of sales. Especially Sephora, Express, Gap, restaurants, that type of thing

2) buy it on Amazon but only if I get free shipping. They usually have everything cheaper than stores.

3) buy it at Costco. I bought a double pack of plastic wrap for $12. It lasted us -- no joke -- 4 years. I used to buy a plastic wrap every 2 months at the grocery store, usually $3-$4 each. I recently bought a 12 lb lasagne there. I figured out it would cost me more to make it than it cost me to buy it at Costco. I also love their jumbo food court pizza for $10. With careful use of your freezer, you can really save.

Sadly, I think I'm now a Costco queen. . . . :(sad
 
No, because there aren't so many available in the UK and those that are available aren't ever for anything I want. Also, life is probably too short. I saw a similar thing on TV and saw it as a lesson to loosen the pursestrings just a little, rather than an incentive to clip coupons. ;))
 
I'm a big coupon clipper/saver. I save about $200 a month since I started last year. Most of my savings come from Publixs B1G1
free sales (and using 2 coupons) and from CVS using their extra care bucks. With CVS, after you initally get some bucks you
keep buying things that give you back bucks...you use the bucks from the last transaction to pay for the new items(basically recycling
the bucks).

Also wanted to mention you can use 2 coupons on one item if one is a manufactors coupon and one is a store coupon. Publixs
and Target put out store coupons that you can combine with a manufactors to get some things really cheaply.

I keep records of my shopping trips expenditures and savings. Its kind of fun when you see how much you can save but
its also a lot of work. I'm a stay at home Mom so I'm taking it on as my job. Plus, I feel less guilty when I want to spend
money on myself!

If you want to get started there are some really good websites to help you out. I like Southern Savers. There is
on for Publixs called I Love Publixs.

Also...for xmas I didnt have any really big ticket items to save money on but I did manage to save around $100 or so
using coupons.

saved:
$8 - bought 3 zhu zhu pets for $10 - would have been $18
$5 - had b1g1 free coupon for littlest pet shop
$3 - B1g1 free Axe bath gel for older son
$5 - Hasbro coupon - made Pictureka card game free at Target
$10 - had (2) $5 kids toy copons from kmart from the birthday club.
(bought 2 zoobles - made them free)
$18 - Bought a $40 shoe.com for $20 from groupon (bought sketcher twinkle toes) usually $38
$10 - had coupon for Bealls - bought my son Oneill t-shirts
$10 - coupon from sears - bought son boxer shorts
$5 - target sale and coupon on legos for other son
$15 - Wii Kirbys Epic Yarn - $50 locally but found it on ebays game of the day sale for $35 (free del)
$15 - DH sent link to Staples wireless keyboard/mouse for $35...got on ebay for $20 (free del)
Edit - more
$5 - used 20% off at Bed bath and B...for a Pillow Pet
 
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