Coupon Queen on Duty!

[verwon]

I can provide deal hunting information as well as Grocery shopping tips and strategies to get the most for your bucks!

[kualalumpar]

Do you know of any sites that send coupons? I came across a few that you can **print** coupons from, however, our two grocery stores in this area have signs posted that they do not accept printed coupons (I tried, and they would not take them).

Also, I would LOVE to be one of those women who can go into a grocery store and get the weeks groceries for very little. How do they do that?


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[cutie_pie]

I need to pare down my grocery bill, so any tips that you can offer would be great.

The best deal I have got so far is Campbells Soup at Hand for .19
but I only had one coupon It was on sale for 1.19, and I had a 75 cent coupon, 25 cent "bonus" from the store. I wish I could do that more often!

[verwon]

Well I will answer the how do we cheapskates do that question first.

Make sure to get all your sales flyers for the new weeks sale as early as possible for each store you shop. Then you can take your time to match your coupons with sales and get the best deals possible.

Stockpile!! If there are items you know you use a lot or that you can get a great deal on, get as many coupons for them as possible. You can do this by getting multiple papers on Sundays, trading online or raiding recycling bins if it's legal where you live. Instead of buying one item now when it is such a good deal, buy as many as you have coupons for, then next month when the coupons are expired and the sale is over you won't have to pay full price for it. For the first two or three months, it will seem you are spending the same amount of money or more than usual but after you build a nice supply base you will see your grocery bill greatly drop and quite often your coupon value coming off will be more than what you are spending. If you have ever watched Oprah or another show where they showed a Coupon Queen getting a ton of groceries for little money, you probably wondered how she could make meals or live on the weird variety she had in her cart. She can because she has already built up a pile of the stuff to go with it with previous sales and coupons.

For instance we all like to snack on Mike&Ikes candy and recently there were coupons in the Sunday inserts for .25/1. The Bi-Lo here where I live doubles up to an including 50cents so each coupon was worth double the printed value. They had a BOGO sale on Mike&Ikes for $1.29 and they will let me use two coupons since it still scans as two items so I was paying .29 for each two boxes. So I was getting roughly 9 boxes for the price they usually charge for one box.

My goal at the grocery store is to spend $1 or less on average for each item I buy. Some items like Stouffers French Bread Pizza are over $3 a box so I will not buy them unless I have a sale and coupon that takes the price to $1 or less each box. When I have a deal like that, I will often get tons of coupons by trading and buy 25 or 30 boxes at once. I do this same thing for pasta, spaghetti sauces and etc. This also leaves you leeway for the high meat prices without spending an exhobitant amount on your groceries.

Check your stores coupon policy, find out whether they double or triple and how high they do as well as any limits. One small store I go to limits it to three identical coupons doubled in one trip but my others have no limits. Jubilee Foods in Pa. double up to and including .99.

Don't forget your dollar stores like Family Dollar or Dollar General. They often have the necessities like toothpastes, toothbrushes and snacks for low prices and most of them take coupons but just don't double. I have several years worth of shampoo, soaps, hairspray, toothbrushes, toothpastes, cough drops, hair dye, children's shampoo and tons of other items that I have all gotten free with coupons or nearly so.

When I can get cereal for less than $1 a box, I will buy 10 or 20 boxes to avoid spending $3 or more a box later.

Stay organized, keep track of expiration dates and how many of each coupon you have. I use a free software called Ca$hIn that I can type my coupons into as well as the value, expiration and how many of each I have. I use a three ring binder with baseball card pages to hold my coupons, each numbered according to the coupon number assigned by the software. When I am ready to go shopping, I print by grocery category and when I am shopping I just write the number of that coupon I need to pull out beside each pocket number so I am ready to check out in a minute or two. This way I never forget a coupon or let one expire that would be a great deal.

I started major couponing over a year ago and the first week I tried it, I saved over $70, by the end of the year I had saved over $1,400. Now in the first month or two, I did not have items that were all used each month and I still had to spend some extra to make sure we had what we needed but about three months in, I was able to shop just the sale and coupon items and not have to worry about running out of other essentials because I was reluctant to spend full price. They were already stored around the house when I got great deals on them and waiting to be used.

As of tonight viewing the log in my Ca$hIn software I have saved $343.24 for September and $2,357.53 for the year. And that is just coupons I have used, not store sales or card specials.

Even if you did this just for personal items like soaps, shampoos and etc., you could save several hundred $$ a year which is that much more you can free up for other groceries, savings or having a special fun treat.


As for getting coupons by mail here is a thread from mycoupons.com about companies and manufacturers who mail them:
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Another one to have them mailed to you is:
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Select the ones you want from their list and you will get them in a few days.

When trading online be sure to specify with individuals that you can't use printed coupons.


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[NaomiMarie]

Hope nobody minds if I butt in
I've purchased coupons on eBay in the past......spent a lil to $ave a LOT!
Try this site:
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(one of the eBay sellers started this site, you can purchase coupons, for .05 each)
Specifies the exp. date, whether or not it can be doubled,etc......

Great because my store triples up to 6 coupons
Last week, between using my scan card and coupons I saved $76+
HTH,
Naomi


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If you've never registered at eBay, you are missing out on the world's greatest garage sale! A must-use for all bargain hunters, you can register for FREE today. Sell your stuff. Buy new stuff. It's that simple.

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[verwon]

Thanks Naomi!! I was trying to remember the name of that site but couldn't recall it for the life of me.

[kilmuir]

As a stockpiler from waaay back when, one tip I'd like to pass
along to those just starting: date each and every item that
you buy, including nonfood items such as toothpaste, shampoo,
cleaning supplies, etc. I use a Sharpie and date each item
as I unpack the groceries, even frozen food. Keep your supplies
in date order so that you use the oldest first. A little bit of
effort will prevent you from winding up with 3 year old cans
of food or a 2 year old frozen pizza with freezer burn!


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[Corganiacs]

do you have tips for me? someone who doesnt have time to grocery shop anymore. i dont even use coupons anymore bc i never know when im going grocery shopping- whenever i have time i guess. then i ended up paying so much more for stuff which will go to waste too - cuz i dont have time to cook.


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[verwon]

Well Corg, the best tips I can give you is to always shop at grocery stores. Skip the convenience stores as the mark ups are way to high. Coupon clipping and gathering will not take more than say 20 minutes to half and hour a week and since you don't know when you are shopping, how about leaving them in your car or purse? That way they are there waiting whenever you need to pop in and grab something. One friend of mine doesn't even clip all of them, she keeps her inserts and a pair of scissors in the car and just clips as she sees a good deal in the sale flyer.

To avoid letting stuff go to waste because you don't have time to cook it and use it, why don't you stick with packaged foods? Canned, frozen and hermetically sealed?? These will last longer and avoid so much waste. I often buy 5lb packs of bacon and then seperate it into meal sized packages. There are also tons of frozen foods already seperated into meal sized packages to make it easier for the family on the go.


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Save $5 off of your first purchase of $10 or more at Half.com with coupon code FIVEFREE.

[NaomiMarie]

Originally posted by verwon
Thanks Naomi!! I was trying to remember the name of that site but couldn't recall it for the life of me.

Kewl, glad I was able to help

[doglover22]

Great information! I'm going to check out those sites now!!


Naomi, how do you pay for the coupons at the couponclipers site?


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[NaomiMarie]

Originally posted by doglover22
Great information! I'm going to check out those sites now!!


Naomi, how do you pay for the coupons at the couponclipers site?


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I prefer PayPal but there are other options......

We offer 6 ways to make payments. You can pay using a credit card via

C2it.com, Bidpay, you can use paypal, send a check, money order, or cash.

HOW TO PLACE AN ORDER:

Simply find your products you would like to purchase and add them to the shopping cart. When you are done shopping click on check out and fill in all the required information. You will receive a confirmation number and you will also receive an email with the order. When this is complete just choose one of the 6 payment methods. If you are using c2it or paypal you items will be shipped the same day payment is received. If you are sending a check or money order we will hold the coupons for 6 days from the day the order is received. If payment is not received within 6 days we will put the coupons back in stock available for purchase by others and we will return your payment to you. If you need assistance in purchasing coupons you can email us at [Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now] and we can assist.

CREDIT CARD PAYMENTS (C2IT.COM):

You can make credit card payments you can use your checking account easy and free using citibanks C2IT. This service is free for everyone to use. It is also a very secure sight as it is owned by one of the largest credit card companies in the world. Click on the link below to setup and account (which is free). When using this method please send the money to [Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now]




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You can make payments using Paypal.com. We can accept payments through paypal using balance transfers or bank accounts only. If you already have a paypal account and use credit cards we can not accept them through this service. Please use C2it.com for credit cards. Payment through this service is also sent to [Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now]

Pay me securely with any bank account through PayPal!




CHECK, MONEY ORDER, OR CASH:

You can send a Personal or Business check. There is no hold on any orders under $15.00. All orders over $15.00 are subject to a 7 day hold till funds have cleared. Any checks that do not clear are subject to a $25.00 fee and will be turned over to the proper authorities. You can also send a cashiers check or money order. If you elect to send cash please be advised that we are not responsible for lost or stolen payments. Please send any of the above mentioned payments to

Jason Barbiaux

267 Grandview Ave

Indiana, Pa 15701

[doglover22]

Thanks!

[cutie_pie]

Thanks for the great info !!! I am starting to look for a place in our small apartment to store items I hope to stock up on.

[cata5]

Another one butting in ...This is one of my favorite subjects- although I am nowhere near the coupon Queen!!lol

If your stores don't double coupons(like those in my area ), you can still save by buying store brands. In most cases, even with a sale on brand name products, coupons don't give enough savings over store brands. When my store has a sale on the store brands (which doesn't happen all that often) I stock up!


Meal plan around the sales to save BIG!!

Combine store coupons AND manufacturers coupons on the same item. This is where things work nicely for me.


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