Last night I watched TLC’s Extreme Couponing. I was fascinated and intrigued. I love listening to stories of how people save obsene amounts of money with coupons and sales and matching and doubling and all the other tricks. What I can’t grasp is how people have 6 hours a day to stroll through a grocery store. I barely have enough time in a day to cook, clean and keep the kids safe I don’t know how I could squeeze in hours of couponing. Oh I know, I could stop blogging 🙂 and reading the internet.
Honestly I’ve tried couponing in the past but on a smaller scale but I find that there aren’t coupons and sales available for the things that we buy. We don’t drink soda or juice boxes. We don’t eat a lot of processed or ready to eat foods. And we really just don’t have the space for all the bulk shopping. We do shop healthier than most of the people I watched on this show so I’m not sure how our lifestyle would benefit. I don’t find coupons for fresh produce and fresh meats. Maybe I’m not looking; I’m sure I don’t know where to look actually.
What I really want to save money on is dishwasher detergent, laundry detergent, feminine products (hate paying for this stuff), trash bags, toothpaste and deodorant. We spends tons of money on these things and I’d love to start here! Someone wanna train me in couponing? Point me in the right direction!
Couponing isn’t for everyone
December 30, 2010 by 18 Comments
I really enjoyed the show too! It was great that one guy donates some of his free stuff to the food cupboard too. Sharing the wealth, sorta! I like using coupons, especially doubling and matching sales, but I don’t have the storage like thay had. Even if I were getting free shampoo I wouldn’t buy more than 10! You can get some great coupons that you’d actually use from coupon clipping services and even on ebay. I’ve saved a lot on health and beauty products at Shaws. They double coupons up to 99 cents and if you use the coupons when the item is on sale it can make for a big savings. Like last week they had 2 liter Pepsi for .88. I would have loved to have about 20 – 50 cent off coupons! LOL But then I don’t know where I’d put it all!
I’m sure some coupon savvy reader will help you out. Good luck!
I’m waiting for the advice to start rolling in LOL those people should do a how to show
I have not seen it but have it recorded. I coupon but not extreme for the same reasons you listed. It is hard to find organic coupons and not at Whole Foods since I do not have one close.
the show mentioned writing the company and asking them for coupons. stuff like organic yogurt, juices and snacks might be a good idea.
We watched it too..I was pulled in by it. I have read and researched in the past but just can’t figure out the process of getting things for free or barely nothing, Maybe its just over my head or I need someone to guide me. Like you though I don’t ever see coupons for things we usually purchase a lot of.
Here I have had stores even decline coupons that you can print online and since that happened a couple of times I am honestly scared to try again. I know stores take them or brands wouldn’t offer them on their site or facebook but they just dont take them much where I live.
I remember getting a really good diaper coupon online a couple years ago and the store wouldn’t take it. I still see signs in stores saying they don’t take them due to fakes. Why offer them then.
I have wondered that too. That was the reason behind not taking mine that time too.
Melinda:
Shop the dollar stores – seriously – you can save on stuff like foil, cleaning supplies, shampoo etc. Target’s has the best prices on ALL cereals so shop there for that. Also, if you have a CVS around you enroll in their program – when you buy something, a coupon is attached to the receipt. Now, i can’t use them all the time because they are usually restricted to something i don’t use BUT, one time i had $15 in coupons on one receipt! My husband went in the next day and bought all sorts of stuff we needed! It’s a hassle but what the heck. Also, visit Erin Chase’s site (http://www.5dollardinners.com/) – she has a sign up where you can get healthy receipes AND coupons. Her book is great too – she talks about couponing and how she goes online to the brand name companies to get coupons (like for canned tomatoes, and such). It’s a great resource site plus she’s pretty amazing. Can you tell i’m a fan??? LOL
I’ve tried some dollar store products and just don’t like the quality, foil specifically. Some things we actually do like, snacks, dried fruits, canned sauces and throwaway things are usually what we reach for there. I need to sign up to things tha are going to be helpful but there is still the issue of time.
I buy generic a lot. There are only a few items that I won’t buy generic and that is because we tried them and didn’t like them. We were checking out at walmart last week and Angelica mentioned something about store brand..I looked at her and told her we didn’t buy store brand..HA! She knew I was joking because all you could see during check out was walmart brand products except for a few things..but I do pay attention to price. Sometimes when the store has a name brand on sale you can get it cheaper than store brand.
yeah – time is the issue for shopping. I try to do it all at once or send the husband to pick up stuff (like he did using the $15 at CVS). but it is hard. I only go to the Dollar store when i need some cleaning supplies. I hear Costco/Sams are good, but I can’t get out of there for under $100 so we don’t shop there anymore. My brother-in-law goes to the Farmer’s Market on Saturdays with his Dad and it’s become a ritual for them. Bonding time i guess. But at least they have fresh produce locally grown and usually cheaper than they can find in the super markets.
My local IGA started refusing internet coupons. Shaws did for awhile due to fraud but they revised that and now accept internet coupons up to $5.00 value. So next time I get a free hair dye I’ll take it to Rite Aid! 😉
check out http://www.slickdeals.net and http://www.fatwallet.com
They are forums that pretty much break it down for you by store. Kroger grocery stores double coupons, which can be a big help. Check these sites though, they pretty much lay it out for you by saying
item x is on sale at place y, use coupon a located here and only pay $ amount
I’ve been couponing seriously for over a year now and love how much I’ve been able to save. There are definitely coupons out there for the dishwasher stuff, girly products and more that you are needing. And yes, you can snag good coupons like produce, milk and other items on occassion. It typically will be something like-buy this product and get $1 off produce or free milk if you buy two Nabisco cookies. Facebook has been offering tons lately. The best printable coupon site is coupons.com, they update all the time w/new ones so save them as a fav. I’m not sure if you have publix grocery store in your area, but Iheartpublix.com is awesome-she does all the work for you so you save tons of time!! Another great one is southernsavers.com, she does several different grocery lists. Hope this helps!! Here’s some encouragement-Since I’ve begun couponing my bill has gone from $100’s to roughly $30-$50 a week!! 🙂
I was fascinated too! I really dislike grocery shopping, so the idea of spending that much time in the store really made me twitch. I agree with you – there are other products I’d love to stock up on, but I didn’t see them buying those. What about meat and produce? I didn’t see a whole lot of that either. Oh, and I’m also not about to dig through a dumpster for coupons.
The other thing that is annoying to me is in California (or at least where I live), stores don’t double coupons. I don’t think it’s possible to do that well here.
Nonetheless, it was very interesting!
I have found coupons for things like Avocados and Fruit- it takes a bit of looking but when they turn up I use them. Often they’re at sites like local farmers’ markets or apple growers’ or local small markets. I do tend to do my shopping around the coupons I find- always have- but yeah, we were always fresh food, whole foods, not packaged and processed.
I do use uPromise, Groupon and eBates to double cashback/earn rebates/earn for my grandson’s school. I guess that’s a kind of modern couponing.
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