So I have spent the last 2 days searching through couponing sites, printing coupons, and pouring over ads. It is so hard.. and my fear is that I will be spending all of this time clipping coupons and organizing and planning my shopping trips and either buy things I don't need or either not save much money in comparison to my time spent. I don't know.. I'm going to try this for a month and see how it goes. I need to subscribe to a Sunday paper- I've also looked into a few magazine subscriptions that have a lot of really good coupons. Like I've said before my stores here do not double coupons and also if I stockpile, I just have a room full of processed foods (household goods too, but that's okay). I try to cook with as many real and fresh ingredients as I can. All the couponing sites say don't even make a menu or a list of things you want until you check the sales and then plan your menus around the sales and your coupons.. ugh I don't know if I can do that, but I WANT TO BE AN EXTREME COUPONER!! Conundrum. Oh wait and the other side to it is let's say I save $10 a shopping trip- which isn't a lot- I would save like $500 a year. That's awesome.So yeah.. sorry for the rambles. Does anyone have any couponing advice? Also- I need a Hunt's coupon- anyone know where they are??
I did a posy a week or so ago about couponing! Def. Subscribe to a Sunday paper. Worth it for the coupons and sale papers.
ReplyDeleteI am right there with ya!!!!! HOW DO THEY DO IT?
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It's funny that I'm reading this today because my husband and I just got done talking about this same thing. I tried couponing for awhile, but it wasn't worth it to us for 3 reasons:
ReplyDelete1. the enormous amount of time it takes to really do the extreme couponing (we saw a show today where a lady spent 6 hours just walking around grocery stores to find out what the sale were, then came home and made up a game plan and then went back out to the stores). Amazing to watch, but I just don't have 6+ hours to dedicate to it.
2. Like you, we love to cook and eat homemade and fresh. Which means we don't buy processed foods. And nearly all the coupons I see are for frozen dinners, sugary foods, or some other highly processed product.
3. When we do buy groceries we nearly always buy the store brand because it's cheaper than the name brand (even with the coupon).
The unfortunate concession I have to make is that I shop at Walmart. We tried Kroger and Target, but they were always more expensive. The Walmarts here have terrible customer service, crazy long lines and they are frequently out of stuff. BUT! I spend $10-$20 less a week on groceries shopping there than I do at Kroger or Target. And that really does add up. I rarely buy my veggies or fruit there, though, since their produce is so bad. I try to buy locally for stuff like that.
However, with all that said, we've discovered the place couponing would really come in handy is with hygiene and cleaning products. I've tried store brands with stuff like this and I'm never as satisfied. So I need to be better about looking for coupons for my tried and true name brand hygiene and cleaning products that I love. :)
I REALLY hope you have better luck than I did with using coupons on grocery shopping! I really look forward to reading about it. Maybe you'll inspire me to give it another go if it works out well for you. :)
Ps. sorry I wrote a book in that comment, haha!
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