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My bf and I recently got hooked on TLC's "Extreme Couponing" and I'm really interested in saving a few bucks since my paycheck is currently not what it used to be and I'm in charge of the food buying. I've never used coupons and we're definitely guilty of the occasional expensive Whole Foods trip. I typically spend around $800/month on food (we don't eat out often, I love cooking), which seems exuberant when I hear folks on TV say that they have a $100 budget for a family of 6. I also try to plan out meals using the new New York Times cookbook. This week's dinner menus included Arnaki Araka, Paella, Quail with Rosemary on Polenta, Sauteed Cod, Spicy clams w/ pasta, etc.
I got a newspaper to check out some of the deals and logged onto coupons.com and I'm feeling misled. I'm not interested in buying things like frozen pizza or velveeta cheese or 400 cans of koolaid. Maybe I'm not looking in the right place but where do I find coupons for fresh produce or organic meats and wild-caught fish? Do they not exist? Anybody else here use coupons to make meals that don't contain processed ingredients? What are you cooking and where do you shop?
ps- I checked out my local food co-op and unfortunately it's as expensive as Whole Foods!
They don't have those types of coupons (although I did find a coupon for fresh tomatoes this week!)
Most of the time, these super couponers are gaming the system. Legally, though. First off, they usually live where coupons are doubled or tripled. Secondly, they purchase coupons, or coupon flyers to get multiples of coupons, or get extra coupons flyers from the newspapers. So lets say you have ten coupons for canned veggies at 30 cents off. You wait for your grocery store to have those veggies on sale for say 50 cents a can. In most places -- you buy that 50 cent, and present the 30 cent off coupon, which they double the value of, you actually MAKE 10 cents. On ten cans that's a buck.
If you can find enough "high value" coupons that will be doubled you will get more money back that you use to pay for your none couponed items.
Now -- I have to be honest. The few people I know that do this and do it well, buy a lot of crap to get the money to cover other things, and then turn around and donate the crap to places and take a write off. And they use a lot of useless crap I wouldn't bother with -- like Febreze. And fabric softener. (Did you know the home made recipe for Febreze was 1 cup of fabric softener in a bottle and two cups of water, shake well and spray?)
AND there are those people who are improperly using coupons. There's one woman who's been blasted for doing it and TEACHING IT, and manufacturers and stores are updating their coupons and registers so it won't work anymore.
Coupons work with bar codes and the register reads it. But a lot of the time the bar codes come in "families", so it might work for other products. So the coupon that reads 5 bucks off L'Oreal hair color, might work on a Loreal eye pencil sharpener at 2 bucks, and if you buy a bunch of them, you can clean up. But this is NOT legal. It's coupon fraud.
I use coupons and I save a few dollars. But I can't imagine the work some people put into it, and then the hours spent shopping.... I just can't deal with that.
My bf and I recently got hooked on TLC's "Extreme Couponing" and I'm really interested in saving a few bucks since my paycheck is currently not what it used to be and I'm in charge of the food buying. I've never used coupons and we're definitely guilty of the occasional expensive Whole Foods trip. I typically spend around $800/month on food (we don't eat out often, I love cooking), which seems exuberant when I hear folks on TV say that they have a $100 budget for a family of 6. I also try to plan out meals using the new New York Times cookbook. This week's dinner menus included Arnaki Araka, Paella, Quail with Rosemary on Polenta, Sauteed Cod, Spicy clams w/ pasta, etc.
I got a newspaper to check out some of the deals and logged onto coupons.com and I'm feeling misled. I'm not interested in buying things like frozen pizza or velveeta cheese or 400 cans of koolaid. Maybe I'm not looking in the right place but where do I find coupons for fresh produce or organic meats and wild-caught fish? Do they not exist? Anybody else here use coupons to make meals that don't contain processed ingredients? What are you cooking and where do you shop?
ps- I checked out my local food co-op and unfortunately it's as expensive as Whole Foods!
I hate the show, I find it ridiculous how they are buying 150 boxes of raisin bran. Even if you are getting it cheap you are not going to eat that much before it goes bad.
There's no sense in saving money if you are buying stuff you woudln't normally buy just to save money and if you are buying so much of it it's going to spoil before you eat it.
I'm all for saving money but these people devote as much time and energy to couponing as you do to your job.
The other thing I find funny, people are clapping for these people in the store. I wound up behind one of these people at the store the other day and was about to choke the $&%*...lol.
I went at night so only one register open. This lady was buying 63 boxes of Claritin. Every box had to be run up individually and paid for individually so she would pay, he would ring the coupon, her change falls out of those automated change things, she grabs it and they do it again. 63 times again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was not clapping, I did have a hand gestur for her though.
You heard what that one lady said " I just CANNOT have any items on this belt that do NOT have a coupon " .
The coupon thing becomes a *rush* . They will never use 133 jars of mustard but it's the * high * of getting it for free.
No matter that your garage looks like a Walmart Cosmetics Aisle..... No matter you are scoping out ALL the Sunday Papers because you want to get the rush 50 times instead of one...
I did the coupon thing. I started accumulating all this * stuff * ...thankfully I got bored with it after awhile ( And most likely because the store stopped the double and triple stuff ) that blows the wind right out of your sails...
Using a coupon is cool. Using a small handful is cool. Using 7 carts and employees to help you carry out your 240 deodorant sticks is just wrong.
Now if you worked at a Homeless Shelter I could see this...Or a huge family like the Duggers who have 19 kids,.....
Dumpster diving to get coupon inserts...
Buying 5 computers so that you can do 10 downloads of each coupon (limit 2 per computer)...
Buying another 80 sticks of deodorant when you already have 1500 in your storeroom...
Dumpster diving to get coupon inserts...
Buying 5 computers so that you can do 10 downloads of each coupon (limit 2 per computer)...
Buying another 80 sticks of deodorant when you already have 1500 in your storeroom...
to me, that is hoarding with a sprinkling of OCD
Right on ! Or belonging to 600 freebie clubs where you are on 9 forums collecting 400 coupons thru mass underground exchanges.
The TRUE compulsion is getting upset that you have to buy something without a coupon !
I don't use them anymore . Been years. I do like the Meal Deals though...You buy a bag of chicken tenders and get 4 items free. You don't need a coupon though
The people on the show are certainly extreme, and not necessarily in a good way. We use coupons, and I generally save about 45% on my bill by combining sales, discounts, and coupons. I will stock up a little bit on items that do well in long-term storage (toothpaste, deodorant, detergent), but not more than a year's worth. I just don't have the space or the inclination to use the space in that way.
Now, I will buy things that will pay me to take them away, and then give those things away. Candy bars? My nieces will get them. Kid cereal? Yep, nieces. This gives me a further discount on items I actually want, like meat, dairy, and produce. Fry's (Kroger) makes all cents-off coupons $1.00.
The only good thing on that show is that our coupon inserts are getting better -- they were gawd awful for years. Page after page of Checks-In-The-Mail, Blair clothing, the Hamilton plate of whatever the headline was that week, and air fresheners....
TONS of air fresheners. Why the hell don't people just clean their houses instead of covering it up with "nose pollution"?
I hate the show, I find it ridiculous how they are buying 150 boxes of raisin bran. Even if you are getting it cheap you are not going to eat that much before it goes bad.
There's no sense in saving money if you are buying stuff you woudln't normally buy just to save money and if you are buying so much of it it's going to spoil before you eat it.
I'm all for saving money but these people devote as much time and energy to couponing as you do to your job.
The other thing I find funny, people are clapping for these people in the store. I wound up behind one of these people at the store the other day and was about to choke the $&%*...lol.
I went at night so only one register open. This lady was buying 63 boxes of Claritin. Every box had to be run up individually and paid for individually so she would pay, he would ring the coupon, her change falls out of those automated change things, she grabs it and they do it again. 63 times again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was not clapping, I did have a hand gestur for her though.
OMG! I would have asked them to open another register!
where do I find coupons for fresh produce or organic meats and wild-caught fish? Do they not exist? Anybody else here use coupons to make meals that don't contain processed ingredients? What are you cooking and where do you shop?
Do you have room for a garden? Even a small apt balcony with South exposure can offer Container Gardening of edible veggies.
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Or belonging to 600 freebie clubs where you are on 9 forums collecting 400 coupons thru mass underground exchanges.
