Saving Money

I feel dumb asking but the rules of engagement has changed in the family again LOL! The kids are growing and since I am homeschooling also I need to find a place that prices havent jumped 65% (i.e. Walmart) I live in NC so not too much variety! I guess you can say.

I do the Farmers Market sometimes when I can get the kids to act right!

trying to find somewhere other than the dreaded WALMART!

I am trying to get on the brandwagon with couponing but I am having a hard time figuring it out.

But is Costco or Sams really that good on saving money especially with twins and a growing 9 yr old boy and his father.... these guys can eat the house if I can let them.

How do you use coupons anyway?!

Thanks

 

I use coupons all the time, though its a struggle to keep them organized (my purse is a black hole) AND remember to give them to the cashier upon checkout. We pretty much do the bulk of our shopping at Target (diapers, wipes, detergent, housewares) and Krogers (groceries). I kept having issues though with not being able to find diaper coupons amidst all of my grocery coupons, for example. I just recently decided to separate the coupons into 2 small envelopes, one for Target and one for Kroger, which has helped a lot. Though I will admit that sometimes seeing a good coupon will make me buy something we totally don't need. Or its a coupon for a name brand but after the coupon it ends up being the same price as the generic brand that is just as good (so I clipped coupons and wasted time organizing coupons for nothing, LOL). But if a coupon is under 75 cent and not something we ordinarily use then I don't fool with the hassle.

We don't have a Sam's or a Cosco nearby but I would dearly love to have a Cosco! I've heard good things about them and love some of the foods I've had that others bought from their local Cosco.

 

So is the Sunday paper my best bet I see online coupons all the time. But I dont know if it is worth the trouble. Plus I hear about a lot of people saving so much with coupons how is that. I mean really??? But do you know if Costco or Sams does coupons too?!~

 

We buy 2-3 sunday papers each week and cut coupons from them. This time of year is usually pretty good, they'll have coupons for thanksgiving and christmas staples that we'll use all year long (like stove top stuffing, pumpkin filling..etc.). We have to shop at walmart, it's cheaper than anything else around here, but if one of the smaller stores runs a buy1 get 1 sale, I'll run there and get the sale items plus use my coupons for them.

We do have a costco membership but the closest one is over an hour away, so by the time we go we have a $200-300 bill, which we can't afford very often :/

 

I'm a rank amateur when it comes to couponing; there are people who can get most of their grocery shopping trips for free (if you believe the hype). From what I understand you have to be super organized, stock up on tons of stuff while it's on sale, and do a lot of doubling up (rebates + coupons, etc.). I've heard that the best coupons are almost always from the Sunday paper, so that's where I get most of my coupons. DH likes to get the paper, and I figure as long as the coupons make it pay for itself, then at least I've broken even. ardon:

I also go to manufacturer's websites when there is a specific product I need. Sometimes they'll have coupons or special offers for signing up for their mailing list. Costco offers coupons (not sure about Sams) and I hold off on buying most things from there until I have a coupon for it (they're sent in the mail once or twice a month).

I do think there are some sites and blogs that can help you get started and share tips/techniques. Do some Googling and see what you come up with!

Hope this helps!

 

Coupons frustrate me to no end. :laughing: I search for coupons online before every grocery trip and have found that they rarely ever change. It's the same thing week after week. I still search and clip though because the items that are offered are regular items that I purchase. And from time to time I will find a really good coupon like a $2.50 coupon for huggies diapers. I also always look for stray coupons in magazines and newspaper, although, I never purchase the actual Sunday newspaper because you can find those same coupons online for free. (I would double check your Sunday paper against the online coupons though because maybe you'll find they are different in your area.) I'm not really sure how those people actually get $300 worth of groceries for $37. That's never happened for me but I always try to buy items on sale and I do try to double up on coupons. You'll notice that a lot of coupons say you're not allowed to double or triple but I still try. I will print the same coupon out from two different sites (they look different) or maybe I'll have one from the paper and than try to use them. I also always try to go into a check lane that has a younger checker as they often don't look at exp. dates or whether you're trying to use two coupons. I know, terrible. But when you're pinching pennies, it's worth a shot to try and beat the grocery system at least! :laughing: Good luck at the grocery game! HTH!

 

I only get Sunday coupons if my mom drops them off from their Sunday paper, because I don't think the Sunday paper is worth $2.50 and I don't have time to read it anyway The majority of my coupons are sent to me from Target and Krogers, and they are good coupons for stuff I usually buy anyway. Every month or so I get a Target booklet of coupons, and I presume I ended up on their mailing list when I setup a baby registry there. As for Kroger they send me great coupons based on what I buy already, even coupons for free stuff (I always use my Kroger card which they use for marketing data). And recently I saw a link at target.com to print out coupons, so I checked it out and selected the coupons I wanted to print. I also sign up at some websites (huggies, gerber, etc) and give my correct home address but a bogus email address (or an email account I never check and only use for junk mail). I can't say I save a ton of money doing this, but I probably save at least $20 a week in coupons and every little bit helps.

 

I get my coupons from the Sunday paper, plus my Mom gives me some and my BF and I do a coupon exchange. At Target you can double up on coupons, use a Target coupon and a manufacturer coupon for the same item. Two of the local grocery stores by me do double coupons, one doubles up to a dollar and the other will double the amount of the coupon, so I save extra that way. I get all of the supermarket ads and try to match my needs with the coupons I have. I can usually save 40-80.00 a week between store and manufacturer coupons and I do believe every little bit helps.
I do have a membership to Sam's...Sam's does take coupons but only if you have the plus membership. To us, it's not worth it to upgrade the membership because we do not have a lot of space to store many items from Sam's
PS: Redbook, Weight Watchers and Rachael Ray magazines sometimes have coupons in them too.

 

I get coupons from smartsource.com (it is the sunday coupons, online and you print them yourself). The problem I have is that I do not buy enough processed and name brand foods to warrant coupon use. I generally buy store brand. I shop at wegmans most of the time and their store brand items rival name brand. I had their canned green beans tonight and they were just as good as the freshcut delmonte green beans (i was trying canned to see if the babies would eat those since they wont eat fresh or frozen). For things I do shop that are name brand or would have a coupon (diapers, creams, shampoo, etc), I go to the manufacturer site and try to get coupons from there.

Costco is wonderful. I bought 8 cans of 100 dishwasher tables ($12 each) when they were 2 for one. So I paid $48 for 4 but the 8 cans will last me over a year. You spend a lot per trip but often, I spend $400 and the items from that trip will last me 3 months for perishable food and 6 months for things like soaps/shampoos etc.

The biggest expense for us is staples like bread, milk and fresh fruit/veggies. I've actually started buying frozen veggies because we seem to get enough to serve for the family.

Good luck, I find it is trial and error on trying to save money.

 

I use www.southernsavers.com southernsavers and the lady who does the free coupon site is AWESOME! she has grocery stores and other stores all listed out with what their weekly ads are and then what coupons you can use to match up with the sales.

Like the whole wheat pasta I got last week at Publix. It was BOGO (buy 1 get 1 free) so I got 2 boxes for $1.39, THEN I used 2 coupons (since you're really buying 2) for $.50 each and paid $.39 for 2 boxes!!!! anyway, there is a bit of a trick to it.

She has a tutorial on her website. but basically you need to buy and keep the coupons from 2 papers a week, so that you have 2 coupons to use for BOGO items... and then I keep the coupon sections by date and when the website says to reference the 9/1/10 coupon for Red Plum then I just go and find that coupon section and find the coupons for the items...

Not sure if the SouthernSavers website helps in your area, but maybe there's another site for your area.

the other thing that's great is that the website has a spot where you actually make your shopping list by clicking the boxes and creating a list to print. It also links up lots of printable coupons.

good luck! When I am doing a good job I get my stuff for close to 50% off... buying lots of BOGOs with coupons and then adding in fresh items that aren't discounted...

 

I voted that I don't use coupons because I typically don't... I've found that most coupons are for junk food, or stuff we don't use, or products that are cheaper if you buy the generic of, so it's rare that I actually find one I could use, and it's too annoying to go through 100 coupons to find one we will use. We have a BJs membership though and yeah, what we buy there is usually quite cheaper (although you can find things cheaper if you buy on sale in regular stores), especially when we buy their generic... and they have coupons too.

 

We also have a family of 5 (all boys 'cept me and we went through doz eggs in 2 days! ardon: I use coupons for things like crackers and other speciality items. I mostly look for sale items and buy several. I also buy in bulk. We do shop at Costco and it is very worth it in our book. We don't always spend that much (typically $100-150), but it is on the way home from DH's job so it's not a big deal to stop 2x/month or so. This weekiend we stopped by and purchased (all organic which is important to us) almond butter (2 20 oz jars), yogurt (2 quarts), milk (2 gallons), strawberry jam (we use a lot of it!), 24 eggs, meat and cheese for $110. We promised ourselves to price check at our local store, but we think we probably saved $50-75. If you use paper diapers - you buy a large box, but its a lot cheaper. You do need to make room to store stuff if you go less frequent and buy larger quantities. I save money by using cloth diapers, and making a lot of our food from scratch. We buy very few processed foods, but the onces they do offer at Costco are generally good quality and definitely save time in a pinch.

 

I get mine from the Sunday paper. I used to look online also but my printer broke and we can't afford a new one. Costco offers coupons and so does BJ's but at BJ's you can also bring in clipped coupons and stack them. That is where I get the best deals on diapers and wipes. We have also started using more store brand items. Not everything is good but some things are. The one thing I always buy store brand is medicine so much cheaper. I don't always do great cuz I am brand loyal on certain items. I know the best way to save is to buy items on sale with coupon even if it isn't your regular brand.

 

No, I've found that the savings aren't enough for me to deal with the hassle. I do buy in bulk though, through Costco or BJ's.


ETA: Irene, I love Wegmans. And I've been thinking, do you go out to the Costco by us? I think I was one of those annoying "OMG I HAVE TWINS" people to you in line.