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My Mom used to do this... and yes, she would walk out of Vons with $300++ of groceries for under $50. The majority of it was toiletry supplies, but I haven't had to buy toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap or deodorant ...well....ever. Neither has my brother or sister, we call it 'Mini Costco'
Unfortunately, it also took her many hours on a Saturday to hunt down and put together a shopping list so she doesn't do it anymore.
toothpaste, tooth brushes, soap, deodorant are the type items you can get free most of the time and it is ok to stock up.
Colgate toothpaste is on sale alot 2 for $3.00. We have, very often, a coupon for .75/1 any Colgate and since the stores double are coupons up to .99, the toothpaste is free. It is a stockpiling item, so I will get 15-20.
I have a life time supply of shave cream and razors. There are tricks to the trade, and it just takes a little time to learn the ropes.
I just bought 6 Right Guard and got 6 free with the Buy 1 Get 1 free coupon that was in a May insert. Yes, I paid $4.40 each for the 6, but got 6 free. Saved 50%.
The type items that can be had for free or close to zero are ketchup, BBQ sauce, rice, instant potatoes, frozen and canned vegetables, orange juice, ice cream, frozen dinners, paper towels, toilet paper, shave cream, razors, just to name a few. It takes some time to get organized and match sales with coupons. It's like anything, it is not going to just hand you the savings, you have to put a little time into it.
Kroger has store coupons, as well as Lowes Foods. These coupons can be used on the same item if you also have a manufacturer's coupon, so two coupons can be used on the same item. It's called "stacking."
Someone mentioned Walmart. We have 4 store chains that double up to .99 every day and have periodic triple coupons and super double coupons, and plenty of buy one get one free items. EVEN this week, one store has Coke 12 packs buy 2 get 3 free. So in my area, Walmart gets NONE of my food dollars. I do not need to go to Walmart. They basically have no sales circular eack week and do not double coupons. When I can use 10 of the same coupon and get it doubled at store XYZ, Walmart won't see me.
If I am there for other things and need a few food items, I'll buy them.
One of my best Walmart deals was the Dannon smoothies. The price was .99 and I had coupons $1/1. I got 20. The cashier was not amused. There was a lady in line behind me with two kids. After I got my 20 free bottles, I gave her and her two kids, 2 bottles each.
This really steamed off the cashier.
Some of the store employees get so offended when you get an item for free, as if the discount is out of their pocket.
walmart accepts coupons, im not familiar with h.e.b. walmart doesnt double the coupon but they generally have pretty low prices so i would use a coupon there if its expiring soon, im going to get the product one way or another and there are no better deals at my local grocery stores. i always go through the circulars every week for all my local stores.
i get a lot of coupons online at those coupon sites, at the manufacturer web sites and i also get the sunday paper. the less married to any particular product you are the easier it will be to take advantage of coupons. one good thing coupons has done for me is added more variety. coupons are usually better to use on smaller products so i get a lot of different small products where i used to buy more stuff in bulk at costco.
I am a cashier at Wal Mart. We accept regular and online coupons and we also "ad match". We will charge the lowest price of any grocery store in town. We have four local stores so there are a TON of ads, which I could never ever memorize but I trust my customers to read the ads and let me know. It amazes me how many people don't know, or pay attention, and I just automatically do ad matches for them anyway. Things like bread, eggs, milk and produce are easy to memorize because we sell so much of that stuff. Milk averages $2.53 a gallon around here but sales price is generally around $1.59-1.69. None this week though. It really pays to do ad matching AND use coupons. I'm pretty sure ad matching for Wal Mart is nationwide. Try it, you might like it! lol
My own coupon use is very minimal. They just don't often have coupons for stuff I actually use and I'm not one to "try it" just because it's cheap. I don't use things like lunch meat or prepared foods and too many foods have way too much sodium in it for me. I don't buy frozen dinners and the like either. I have to say that I save the most on meats at Safeway. I can generally save around 50% on that alone. Wal Mart has the best deal on boneless skinless chicken breasts though. $1.88 lb. for the big family pack that will be 6-8 meals for me! It averages out around $8-9 for a package.
toothpaste, tooth brushes, soap, deodorant are the type items you can get free most of the time and it is ok to stock up.
Colgate toothpaste is on sale alot 2 for $3.00. We have, very often, a coupon for .75/1 any Colgate and since the stores double are coupons up to .99, the toothpaste is free. It is a stockpiling item, so I will get 15-20.
I have a life time supply of shave cream and razors. There are tricks to the trade, and it just takes a little time to learn the ropes.
I just bought 6 Right Guard and got 6 free with the Buy 1 Get 1 free coupon that was in a May insert. Yes, I paid $4.40 each for the 6, but got 6 free. Saved 50%.
The type items that can be had for free or close to zero are ketchup, BBQ sauce, rice, instant potatoes, frozen and canned vegetables, orange juice, ice cream, frozen dinners, paper towels, toilet paper, shave cream, razors, just to name a few. It takes some time to get organized and match sales with coupons. It's like anything, it is not going to just hand you the savings, you have to put a little time into it.
Kroger has store coupons, as well as Lowes Foods. These coupons can be used on the same item if you also have a manufacturer's coupon, so two coupons can be used on the same item. It's called "stacking."
Someone mentioned Walmart. We have 4 store chains that double up to .99 every day and have periodic triple coupons and super double coupons, and plenty of buy one get one free items. EVEN this week, one store has Coke 12 packs buy 2 get 3 free. So in my area, Walmart gets NONE of my food dollars. I do not need to go to Walmart. They basically have no sales circular eack week and do not double coupons. When I can use 10 of the same coupon and get it doubled at store XYZ, Walmart won't see me.
If I am there for other things and need a few food items, I'll buy them.
One of my best Walmart deals was the Dannon smoothies. The price was .99 and I had coupons $1/1. I got 20. The cashier was not amused. There was a lady in line behind me with two kids. After I got my 20 free bottles, I gave her and her two kids, 2 bottles each.
This really steamed off the cashier.
Some of the store employees get so offended when you get an item for free, as if the discount is out of their pocket.
You CAN get Coke 12 packs with the buy 2 get 3 free. Wal Mart ad matches. No we don't double coupons and I've noticed a LOT of coupons that state on them "Do not double".
Why it should bother a cashier when people manage to get discounts/freebies is beyond me. It doesn't bother me in the least and I generally compliment them on their buys.
So, Walmart will honor all of Harris Teeter Buy 2 Get 3 free specials, like Coke, Pepsi, Palermo pizzas and more?
Since I have 4 different grocery chains that double up to .99 every day and have Super Doubles about one a month (double up to $1.98), these stores are logical for matching weekly sales and coupons.
So, Walmart will honor all of Harris Teeter Buy 2 Get 3 free specials, like Coke, Pepsi, Palermo pizzas and more?
Since I have 4 different grocery chains that double up to .99 every day and have Super Doubles about one a month (double up to $1.98), these stores are logical for matching weekly sales and coupons.
They SHOULD ad match Harris Teeter. They won't double coupons but they'll match the price without a coupon and we've even taken other stores coupons so who knows? This week I've accepted coupons from Target, Walgreen's and CVS. They just have to be entered into the register in a different way.
Some of the store employees get so offended when you get an item for free, as if the discount is out of their pocket.
Not so much that you (general you, not you in particular) are getting it for free as the fact that many extreme couponers sweep the shelf, which means that the cashier has to spend the rest of the day, or the rest of the week, listening to everybody else gripe because the item is now out of stock.
Which brings up another point. Mdse for ads is often ordered months in advance. The popularity of this coupon show has jacked up the number of people using coupons way beyond normal. There are now people coming in and buying up in a matter of a few days or hours what normally would have kept the store supplied for the entire week. It's frustrating for the store, for the people that just want to pick up one or two of an ad item, and probably very frustrating for the extreme couponers that get there after somebody else beat them to sweeping the shelf.
I've stumbled upon a program about extreme couponing. Extreme couponers were showing off their stashes. All I can say, you got to pay me to buy that stuff. I can live WITHOUT all and every item on their shelves. If you are into buying junk, you may try it. I know that I'm losing $ by buying piles of stuff I don't need/like.
Not so much that you (general you, not you in particular) are getting it for free as the fact that many extreme couponers sweep the shelf, which means that the cashier has to spend the rest of the day, or the rest of the week, listening to everybody else gripe because the item is now out of stock.
Which brings up another point. Mdse for ads is often ordered months in advance. The popularity of this coupon show has jacked up the number of people using coupons way beyond normal. There are now people coming in and buying up in a matter of a few days or hours what normally would have kept the store supplied for the entire week. It's frustrating for the store, for the people that just want to pick up one or two of an ad item, and probably very frustrating for the extreme couponers that get there after somebody else beat them to sweeping the shelf.
I've only had this happen once, so far. One lady bought about 30 frozen dinners, 20 packs of ice cream bars and a few other things in multiples. She got the ad match price AND the coupons off but she still didn't get anything NEAR free. I did ask her, jokingly, if she left anything for anyone else and she said "A few...". lol
I don't know which stores you shop at, but Fry's has electronic coupons (sign up with loyalty card on their website) and will mail you coupons, Safeway puts store coupons in their circulars, and the weekly circulars usually come with a coupon insert, too. Oh, we're on the Northwest side of town.
Southeast here. It's Fry's, because that one has a bank in it, too. Got the little swipetty card, that's where the savings come from. I wouldn't even consider trying to get other stores' specials honored, it's completely self service, and there's one person overseeing dozens of DIY check outs. We also get a ton of fliers in the mail a couple times/week, and with very few exceptions - like signing up for one of the TV sources or coupons for specific restaurants - there just aren't any coupons in them. I've seen the Safeway circulars, and I haven't seen any coupons in them, maybe they have different versions for different areas. But even the specials aren't for things I'd get.
I refuse to sign up for anything that involves emailings - I thought once it would be easier to enter the PCH sweepstakes online. Boyoboy, was I wrong! Apparently they sold my email addy to a jobber, and 2 years later I'm still trying to get them stopped. There are a couple I can't, because they are offshore and there's no option to unsubscribe.
I've only had this happen once, so far. One lady bought about 30 frozen dinners, 20 packs of ice cream bars and a few other things in multiples. She got the ad match price AND the coupons off but she still didn't get anything NEAR free. I did ask her, jokingly, if she left anything for anyone else and she said "A few...". lol
Our stores have limits depending on the store:
3 like coupons during triples.
10 like coupons during normal doubling.
20 total doubled coupons per day on your store card.
etc.
It not as eeeeeextreme as they imply.
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