Every Sunday, I grab all the newspaper inserts with the coupons. Then I put them in a pile with last weeks and the week before, and the week before that. :lol2:

 

Do you use coupons? What's your strategy? Do you save a lot, or just a couple bucks on your favorite items?

My wife oversees it, but we do a good job of it. We get the weekend papers and cut through everything we need and places it in a divider type contraption. My wife also uses the Ibotta app. We've built up $70 or so since last summer. Gotta love a good coupon deal.

 

Each receipt she also inserts it in to Excel to see how much we save. Ends up being $300 or so for a year. I do have to watch her though. She will start cutting coupons for stuff we do not even buy. She brings it home and I say, "why did you buy this?"

 

"We saved X amount of dollar on this."

 

"That's great, but we do not even use that."

My wife oversees it, but we do a good job of it. We get the weekend papers and cut through everything we need and places it in a divider type contraption. My wife also uses the Ibotta app. We've built up $70 or so since last summer. Gotta love a good coupon deal.

 

Each receipt she also inserts it in to Excel to see how much we save. Ends up being $300 or so for a year. I do have to watch her though. She will start cutting coupons for stuff we do not even buy. She brings it home and I say, "why did you buy this?"

 

"We saved X amount of dollar on this."

 

"That's great, but we do not even use that."

This is exactly my situation except for the only part I'm involved in is making sure we don't just buy stuff because it has a coupon. Also, to tell her when to stop stockpiling things. As it currently sits, I'm pretty sure we have enough laundry detergent to last the state for the next decade or so.

The wife cuts them occasionally puts the in the junk drawer that everyone seems to have and that's the end of it. I've never seen her use a coupon once since we started dating.

My wife oversees it, but we do a good job of it. We get the weekend papers and cut through everything we need and places it in a divider type contraption. My wife also uses the Ibotta app. We've built up $70 or so since last summer. Gotta love a good coupon deal.

 

Each receipt she also inserts it in to Excel to see how much we save. Ends up being $300 or so for a year. I do have to watch her though. She will start cutting coupons for stuff we do not even buy. She brings it home and I say, "why did you buy this?"

 

"We saved X amount of dollar on this."

 

"That's great, but we do not even use that."

 

C'mon man you know this is a woman mindset that men will never get. Just gotta roll with it. I have heard ",but it was on sale" a million times.

My wife oversees it, but we do a good job of it. We get the weekend papers and cut through everything we need and places it in a divider type contraption. My wife also uses the Ibotta app. We've built up $70 or so since last summer. Gotta love a good coupon deal.

 

Each receipt she also inserts it in to Excel to see how much we save. Ends up being $300 or so for a year. I do have to watch her though. She will start cutting coupons for stuff we do not even buy. She brings it home and I say, "why did you buy this?"

 

"We saved X amount of dollar on this."

 

"That's great, but we do not even use that."

I have to be careful of that as well---buying something just because we have a coupon.

Kroger is pretty much our only store that we shop. We use the coupons that we get in the mail from Kroger, and the catalinas from the check out. We buy so much Kroger brand stuff so we are not as motivated to go through all the name brand coupons in the newspaper.

My wife loads coupons on her smartphone for Krogers, but she does not go searching for coupons. Other than that, she will briefly look through the junk mail bags that are thrown into our driveway or the Val-u-Pack envelopes. I probably do more couponing than her, because I pull out coupons for places where we might eat. Thursday night is garbage night - time to throw away unused expired coupons.

For the most part I load my Kroger card with online coupons.

 

I typically also load the "Free Friday" download coupon.

 

I hang onto any store coupons they give me at checkout to possibly use before their expiration.

 

I but some non-parishable items in bulk to save.

 

I try to avoid being tempted to purchase things I don't normally buy unless the coupon is intriguing enough to make me want to try it.

 

I almost never buy cereal at full price and look for closeout deals only if it's a healthy enough cereal with a decent amount of fiber and protein.

 

Sometime healthy items do find their way to closeout, and the discount rack since less people buy them, and the store needs to move them off the shelf.

 

If I do try a new item it's typically If I find it on the discounted shelf.

 

Although it can be a headache, if I shop at a Kroger in a bad neighborhood I can typically benefit from from examining my receipt before leaving the store for errors in pricing, then I take it to customer service and get total price that I paid back, and the item for free for pointing out the error. Errors tend to happen more so in the more poorly managed Kroger stores.

 

About 5 years ago I had 4 buy one get on free $10 flameless scented candles coupons that I wanted to buy as Xmas stocking stuffers.

 

The coupons could only be printed once per IPS address on your computer.

 

I printed them from 4 separate IPS address at my job site.

 

If purchased individually the total cost would've been $80 bucks for 8 candles.

 

I discovered during my first purchase that the store pricing was in error so I essentially for reporting it, got both candles for free... the one that I originally purchased, and the 2nd one free from the coupon.

 

I trusted my hunch and went to 3 other Kroger stores and found the shelf pricing in error at each of the other 3. I ended up with 8 free candles. Not bad...eh? I found the loopholes and did the all the running around to get it done and earn my take.

 

Shady dealings?... Not sure, but my conscience didn't have be believing that Hell for me was inevitable.

 

I don't recall exactly, but I do think that I was still responsible for the taxes on each candle, which ultimately amounted to less the $5 total. Still not a bad deal.

 

When buying vitamins I always get the buy one get one free, and use either a digital $2 off coupon, or a paper one previously awarded me at checkout.

 

I only stock up on frozen dinners when they're on sale, and never buy them at full price.

 

In the winter I only buy blueberries in bulk from the frozen section because they're too expensive otherwise. I wait until they are discounted and pair it with a digital coupon for more savings.

 

Outside of frozen dinners, I typically only purchase store brand items.

 

I do stock up on Progresso soup and brand name greek yogurts when they're on sale and I have a coupon to go along with it. Sometimes I get the super inexpensive greek yogurts marked down if they still have a decent enough shelf life. I study that closely so not to take home expired crap.

 

I never buy a real newspaper, so I know that I'm missing out the coupons I could be getting, but since I typically only reach for store brands, that's not really an issue.

Yes, I use coupons. Sunday paper and digital especially Kroger. Typically speaking saving $30 per visit which I go once a week so it adds up. The added bonus at Kroger is the fuel points. I love my Kroger card!

Just an FYI to those with kids: McDonald's accepts competitor coupons so go grab those 8 for a $1 coupons that Frisch's is selling right now for Valentine's Day and head over to Mac and Don's for a free happy meal!

For as much of a tightwad as I am, we don't coupon.

For as much of a tightwad as I am, we don't coupon.

 

You are too young to be handling scissors.

You are too young to be handling scissors.

 

:lol2::lol2::lol2:

You are too young to be handling scissors.

 

Funny, nkypete!

Now that it's just Mrs C and I, we don't worry about it too much. If they are convenient and handy I will use them if not oh well.

 

Back when all 4 boys were in the house, we used them religiously. Wednesday and Sunday fliers, anything on line (wasn't much then) took advantage of almost anything and would shop at multiple locations, since they were all near each other.

 

We planned menus for the week around what was on sale and what we had coupons for. We would load up on items that we had multiple coupons, often getting items for free or next to nothing.

 

We never bought crappy products, but if pork and chicken were on sale this week, we were having pork and chicken for dinner fixed in different ways.

 

I would venture that we spent around 3 hours a week on groceries. That is counting the sorting, the clipping, the menu line up, and the shopping.

 

Mrs C kept track of it all for a few months at one and broke it down. I remember the average percent savings was 46% of the total. I'm pretty sure 18% was because of stuff on sale, and 28% was coupons. On average we spent around $120 a week on groceries. So, sales savings were about $40 a week and coupons savings were around $60 a week.

 

It takes a bit of practice and getting used to, but if you have everything organized and ready in envelopes or a card file you get really good at it pretty quick.