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Can anyone teach me how to shop with coupons?



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amother
Mauve


 

Post Mon, May 23 2016, 10:04 am
When you read these stories of people saving hundreds of dollars on groceries is it true? Does anyone here use coupons like that, and if so can you give tips, I.e. where to get them, when to use them etc . . .
Thanks!
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PinkFridge




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, May 23 2016, 10:18 am
I'm going to follow this myself. I use coupons but not like the coupon queens. A few things:
COUPON SOURCES
- they talk about buying multiple Sunday papers. And said papers are available from dollar stores. You have to make sure no one's got to the coupons first.
- then they also talk about getting coupons off ebay and other things. Haven't tried this yet.
- there are on-line sites that might be helpful and useful to get on.

PRODUCTS
- do you use these products or not? I like generic grape nuts. Available for 2.49 a box, often a sale, occasionally the local chain gives coupons to members of their program for a box of free cereal. I have yet to see actual Grape Nuts coupons.

SALES and STACKING
Circulars will often tell you what's on sale and if there's a Sunday coupon. That can work out well. You can often stack that with drugstore coupons (the kind that you get on receipts) for some good deals

OK, this is a disjointed start. Got to go.
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lfab




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, May 23 2016, 10:31 am
While it is possible to save money with couponing I find it hard to save tons on groceries when living a frum, kosher lifestyle. Most of the grocery coupons I find are not for products that I use. Yes, you can find cereal coupons and such but many are for canned goods, non-kosher deli meats, etc. I try to put most of my efforts into couponing for household and baby items as I find this to be a better use of my time.

Coupons can be found in the Sunday paper as well as online. Websites such as coupons.com, redplum.com, and smartsource.com have free printable coupons. You can also follow couponing websites that will do much of the work for you by matching up current sales with coupons (and even give you a heads up on upcoming sales/coupons). Some websites are store specific, such as, totallytarget.com (mostly target deals), wildforwags.com (walgreens), riteaidsavings.com (rite aid), bargainboutiquedeals.com, shopthehotdeals.com and jungledealsandsteals (these are amazon). Others, such as, hip2save.com, kosheronabudget.com, dailycheapskate.com, kollelbudget.com have deals from various places including online and instore deals.

Hope this gives you a place to start.
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cm




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, May 23 2016, 10:33 am
I have found that in general I get better deals by using generic products and shopping the store specials.
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LittleDucky




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, May 23 2016, 11:04 am
Couponer here. Major Couponer... :-)
I get a newspaper just for coupons and then trade with friends. Not every newspaper gets everything so figure out which local paper is the best for you. My dollar store doesn't have any.
Red plum.com, coupons.com, and product sites all have printable coupons. You CAN NEVER photocopy a coupon, even a printable. It's like photocopying a dollar bill. Never used clipping services- my newspaper is pretty decent.
General rule of thumb is one store and one manufacturer coupon per item you pay for but a "buy 2" coupon counts against BOTH items like BOGOs, save $1 off 2 etc. Most places won't let you use a coupon for the "free item" in a BOGO deal.
Many stores have printable coupons as well- target for one.
My advice is to start small. I picked one store and learned their policies inside out. Did a whole bunch of couponing then added a store. Then kept going.

Start with something not too complicated or difficult (distance, convenience etc).
Target is a great one to start- they have sale items and "Buy X get a gift card" deals that you stack with store coupons, cartwheel, and manufacturer coupons. You can use one of each! Plus if you have the red card get a bonus 5% off and bring your own bag for 5 cents off each. It all adds up quickly.

Yes, as a frum consumer we can't save 80% on groceries. But 40-50% is better than nothing! I try not to buy anything household related without coupons. I don't pay for toothpaste (Colgate, crest), got a bottle of body wash for like 50 cents last time, shampoo is also less than a dollar. Diapers I aim for 10-20 cents a diaper (closer to 10 cents for size 1, 20 for size 5) and wipes for a penny a wipe. Trick is to get it while on sale so you don't pay full price next week.

Even if you don't go crazy like I do sometimes even jus finding the cheapest store this week on something you need and stacking a coupon adds up.

And yes, I have seen a coupon for grape nuts but It was a long time ago. coupons are regional. You can also contact the company for coupons- sometimes they will send them out!
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amother
cornflower


 

Post Mon, May 23 2016, 12:03 pm
I've found the coupon match-up sites to be the most helpful. I've couponed extensively and have saved (and made) significant amounts of money. It does take time so when my life is more hectic, it is one of the things that fall to the wayside. Find a coupon match-up site for where you live. I like livingrichwithcoupons the best for the east coast.

Choose one store to coupon at and start small. Eventually, you'll feel comfortable enough there and you may add another store, or you may just keep yourself stock-piled from that one store.
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Amarante




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, May 23 2016, 12:30 pm
I didn't find devoting energy to coupons to be worth it except for the odd coupon that falls into my lap.

I don't tend to buy items for which there are coupons as I buy fresh produce and when I buy frozen, I find store brands to be cheaper or almost as cheap without my having to devote time and thought to saving ten cents.

Name brand household items do generally have coupons but I now buy online from Amazon or Walmart.com and prices seem good.

In order to save hundreds of dollars, you need to devote significant time and energy and also from what I have read and seen, buy and use a lot of ****. There was a tv show about super couponers and the people saved because they didn't care what they were buying.

Also the big savings are stores which double or triple value and no stores in my area do that.

I shop sales and buy a lot from TJ and for me that provides savings without my worrying and spending time on it.
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amother
Mauve


 

Post Mon, May 23 2016, 1:02 pm
Thank you so much everyone!!
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amother
Brunette


 

Post Thu, Jul 04 2019, 10:42 pm
I know this thread is from a while ago, but I just found this. There is a cute little coupon card that comes in the back of the BP in Lakewood every other week with some pretty good discounts to regular local Jewish stores. Of course, only use them for things you are buying anyway, or you're defeating the purpose. As DH always says, the only thing better than saving 50% on something you need is saving 100% on something you don't Smile
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TwinsMommy




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jul 04 2019, 11:59 pm
AFTER you've shopped (not coupon related but after the shop related!), you can then enter your receipts into Fetch Rewards, Receipt Hog, CoinOut, Ibotta, Shopkick (log into Shopkick in the store), etc. I just keep all those apps in one folder on my phone and give myself a good 20 minutes to sit down with each receipt. Recruit your friends to each of these for bonuses. Check them out!

plus here's an imamother type forum just for couponing. https://www.hotcouponworld.com/community/
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baby12x




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Jul 05 2019, 2:51 am
For toiletries and household goods, check out hip2save.com

Its a deal site but they also include coupons and ibotta and show you how to stack them for specific deals.
You have to check daily to see if there is anything good and when there is then stock up.
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