Just a bit of a brag.
Went to Rite Aid, CVS & Walgreens this morning before the big family dinner to hit their Black Friday sales.

Value of items: $346.40
After coupons and rebates, I turned a profit of $81.28

I got paid $81 to shop today.

Holy ****.

November numbers:

Merchandise value $1,785.89
Rebates earned $75.96
Out of pocket cost $88.32

This month was, like last month, all everyday groceries, household, health & beauty in addition to adding a huge amount to the stockpile of shampoo, razors, tooth care, soap, paper products, OTC meds, sugar, coffee, hot cocoa, peanut butter, cereal, rice, condiments.
This also includes all our Xmas shopping - 8x10 framed photos (free), "luxury" beauty goods for the ladies (free), Mom is getting the Sonicare rechargeable toothbrush she wants ($80 retail, $1 profit after coupons & rebate), Gramps is getting a huge basket filled with his favorite snacks (free), and everyone is getting a tube of toothpaste because they all make fun of me for having like 50 tubes.
I'll also have several more bags to take to the food pantry; I took 5 bags of food & toothpaste earlier this month already.

My fella was complaining some recently that I won't buy anything without a coupon, and sometimes he just doesn't give a **** whether we have a coupon or not. So tonight we went to the grocery store and I told him to get what he wanted. Our total came to $58 for nothing - just a few bags of crap (not counting my free mouthwash, lotion & soap). Neither of us had realized how bad things had gotten at the grocery store in the last few months, or we just got used to spending $20 for an overflowing cart. He got one box of cereal that was $5.89!! We just got 12 boxes of cereal for $.99ea last week (Corn Flakes, Raisin Bran), but he had to have Crispix.
As we put the 3 or 4 bags in the car, his only comment was "Wow, that was, uh, kind of expensive."

We'll see if he still gives a **** about having a coupon or not.

chellie...

that's amazing....i have to ask you though, what on earth do you eat? i do not eat wheat or corn, i'm pretty much all vegetables, fish, beef, chicken, some dairy....i RARELY see coupons for the foods on the perimeter aisles of the grocery....it would seem you would have to be living on a diet of mostly packaged foods to get your type of coupon savings....please correct me if i'm wrong, as i would love to get coupon discounts ...i did find one the other day for eggs which i will use, but it was a whole 25 cents ....(yes i know it all adds up, but as i said.. i rarely see coupons for fresh food....not looking in the right places?)

We eat pretty well.
I got a bunch of Hamburger Helper one time since I started really couponing "hardcore." It was free. I made one box of it and it was gross, so the remaining boxes went to the food pantry. We don't eat Hamburger Helper.

Monday I made "taco pasta" with pasta, 92% lean ground beef, cumin and other taco spices, a little cream cheese, onions, tomatoes, and corn. It was enough for five very hearty meals and it cost less than $3 for the whole thing. The beef I loaded up on for $1.99lb on sale, the frozen corn was like $.12, the tomatoes were about a quarter, the onion was about a quarter, the spices were a few cents' worth. Everything else was free or at a profit.
Last week I made a big pork shoulder roast ($5 for the meat) with some mixed veggies ($.12) and homemade bread (a few pennies).
At some point soon I'm making a Thai peanut noodle dish which will cost under a buck for everything.
Right now I'm having lunch - a mix of almonds, peanuts, walnuts, pecans & soynuts. Not only was it free, but I got paid to take a whole mess of 'em out of the store.

I dunno, we eat normal stuff. I make most of it from scratch - but sometimes we get a craving for Kraft mac & cheese, sometimes I get packets of taco seasoning, sometimes I want to eat a damn Hot Pocket. We don't have any dietary restrictions and we like a wide range of foods so it's a lot easier.

Perimeter aisles. Yep, those are the tricky ones. Coupons are few and far between. They exist, but I don't rely on coupons for produce & dairy. That's where the "profitable" items come into play.

Vicks Sinex (OTC sinus meds) were on sale for $5ea at my grocery store. If you bought two, you got a coupon for $4 off your next order (these are called Cats or OYNOs). I had a bunch of coupons for $4 off each box. Two boxes = $10, minus two $4 coupons = $2 cash paid, and you get that $4 coupon back. So you buy two, get your $4 back, buy two more and $2 worth of produce, pay with the $4 OYNO, get another $4 back, and repeat. Or you buy 10 boxes of the Sinex, pay $10 after coupons, and get back $20 in the OYNO coupons which you then use to pay for milk, eggs, veggies, meat, etc. In the end, you'll have spent $10 and you've got 10 boxes of OTC meds and $20 worth of meat or fresh veggies or whatever.

Most major grocery stores run sales like this where if you buy certain items you get "$3 off your next order" or whatever. The trick is to combine those items with coupons to bring your price down, hopefully below the amount you get back. I look at those OYNOs as store credit - they're just like cash to the store, but usually you can only use them at that same store chain (exception being that military commissaries will take them). The extra money, as in the example above, is what you use to pay for the stuff that never seems to have a coupon.

I also don't look only at the grocery store for food. All 3 major drug store chains carry some food, and almost always milk. They do similar deals - buy a certain product or certain number of products, get store credit back. Some examples:
On Thanksgiving weekend, Walgreens had a bunch of different items on sale and you'd get Walgreens store credit (called Register Rewards) back for your purchases. I bought 1 tube of Crest toothpaste for $2.99, 1 Oral-B toothbrush for $2.25, 1 bottle of Secret body spray for $3.49, and 1 bottle of Olay body wash for $3.49. My total was $12.22. I used a $1 off coupon for the Crest, and a coupon for $5 off Olay body wash when you buy any Secret product. That brought my total down to $6.22. Once paid, I got back Register Reward coupons for $3, $2.25, $2.50, and $3.50 for a total of $11.25. Okay, I paid just over $6 and I got back $11.25 in store credit. I then bought a bottle of Herbal Essence shampoo for $2.49, a tube of Colgate for $2.99, a package of ponytail rubber bands for $1.99, and a package of Bic disposable razors for $2.99. My total was $10.46. I used a coupon for $2 off the shampoo, $1 off the toothpaste, and $2 off the razors - total due down to $5.46. I paid for that with some of the store credit I'd earned before and got back $2.50, $2, $2, $2 in reward coupons for a total of $8.50. At this point I've got all this stuff that I paid about $6 for in cash (assuming you didn't have any reward dollars to start with - I did, so I was paying in loose change for any odd amounts) and I still have $8 in store credit sitting in my hand that I haven't used yet. That $8 will buy a couple cartons of milk, a dozen eggs, and a package of shredded cheese from the dairy case at Walgreens.
I did the above two purchases 5 times and also some other ones to get some other stuff. In the end I had $232 worth of merchandise that I paid for in loose change and store credits/Register Rewards, and I still had $47 in store credit left over. All that stuff for free, yes, and $47 left over to buy milk, trash bags, or whatever else Walgreens carries that I don't want to spend my actual money on.
(and, as a bonus, there's a $20 rebate when you spend $50 on certain items including the Olay, Secret & Herbal Essence - since the spending is counted before coupons, I've got an additional $20 cash coming back to me on top of everything else!)
Or Rite Aid, last week. They had a bunch of varieties of Planters nuts on sale for $3.99 (ref: today's lunch), and you get back a $2 store credit for each can you buy. I had coupons for $1 off each can. I bought 7 cans = $27.93, used a coupon for $5 off a $25 purchase and seven $1 off Planters coupons to bring the total down to $15.93. I got back $14 in store credit AND a one-time bonus of $5 in store credit for spending $25 on Planters for a total of $19 in store credit. That's 7 canisters of nuts (including 1lb cans of cashews - YUM!!!!) for a $3 profit. I did the same transaction again using my fella's store card to get another $5 bonus and wound up with 14 cans for a $6 profit (in store credit). That's $6 I can use towards milk, cheese, lunchmeat, etc at Rite Aid if I so choose.

And even if you don't want to buy milk at a drug store - think of the things you buy that can be purchased at a drugstore. I assume you shave daily? Razors are ****ing expensive - $9, $10 each now or more. For the sake of simplicity, let's say you use 1 new razor per month at $10.
This week Rite Aid has Gillette Fusion Proglide razors on sale for $9. There was a $4 coupon in Sunday's paper, and you get back a $5 store credit for each razor you buy. $9 - $4 coupon - $5 store credit = free razor. Use the $5 store credit to buy another razor with another coupon and that's 2 razors for $5 cash out of your pocket and $5 in store credit left over. Buy whatever with the $5 you have or hang on to it to buy some more stuff next week. Now that's two months' worth of razors you don't have to budget for. Multiply that out by the soap, shampoo, toothpaste, laundry/dish soap, deodorant, and all the other non-food items you go through on a monthly basis. Most of those items can be had for no cash cost to you when you combine sales with coupons and the store credit dollars. That frees up all sorts of YOUR cash money that you can then use to buy produce and meat. Hey, $10 a month in free razors doesn't sound like much, but if it's $50 more you can spend on veggies instead of health & hygiene (because you got all that stuff for free), that's starting to make a difference. Are you married? Have you SEEN the price on tampons lately? Get those suckers for free and HOW much does that save you each month?

It's all a matter of budget shifting, really. My biggest cash expenditures each month are at the grocery store - sometimes as much as $50. But, since I'm getting our other daily non-food needs like razors, tampons, shampoo, etc for free at the drug stores as well as supplementing the food some there (milk especially) with the "profitable" transactions, I have plenty of the budget freed up to buy $40 worth of meat.

I've linked it before (and I hope Steph doesn't mind if I link it again), but I've got a blog where I track all my spending.
http://angrycheapskate.blogspot.com/
The most recent post right now is about the worst example of frugality that one can imagine - that's the trip that my fella got to load the cart.

Mdrive, this week I loaded up on free carnation evaporated milk and free bumble bee tuna. I also got 20 bags of 3lb kingsford charcoal for $.29 cents each. I regularly get free Birdseye steamfresh veggies (have about 100 bags in my freezer). I've got some nice rice coupons that I'm waiting for a sale on. In my state there are rebates for meat offered fairly regularly from beer manufacturers (no beer purchase required). Oh yeah, I also got about 50 cans of Bushs beans for free over the last few weeks.

I probably won't be shopping the upcoming week. Nothing really good on sale. I'll just do a fresh fruit/veggie, milk run over the weekend.

wow...chellie...it appears that you are buying a LOT of sundries....

don't get me wrong, i think its great that you are getting the money back for staples in doing that, but realistically...

how many tubes of paste do you want to keep on hand, or razors, or nyquils, or deodorants....i mean TEN BOXES OF SINEX???

and no, i don't shave...i had my body lasered about 10 years ago for $750 and it was worth every penny....lol...so i'm sure i save a lot on venus razors, but i doubt i will ever get my 'money back' unless i live to a hundred and fifty <g>

i used to stock up on the products i used, and was always 'experimenting' with new shampoos, conditioners, skin care products etc....a couple of years ago, i decided i would not buy another bottle of shampoo until i used every bit of existing product i have...i haven't purchased shampoo or conditioner in over a year...

since i don't eat packaged foods (other than things like brown rice occasionally) its perimeter shopping for me....

for someone like me, the best bet seems to be shopping at places like costco....ground beef is about half the price as my local grocery store, same with chicken and fish....i buy a huge bag of spinach there for $4, a puny bag at the local grocer is usually around $3 for 1/8 the amount i get at costco...

same with almonds and walnuts...no coupon will get me the value i can get by purchasing a tiny bag of nuts (unless of course it's free) as buying in quantity for non perishables....i picked up coffee there with $4.50 (store coupon off the regular discounted price off each bag), i bought 3 bags....i purchase all cheeses and frozen berries, etc there..no nothing is 'free' but for example, they have the best frozen blueberries and they are CHEAP (relative to my local grocer)

i admit i'm really particular about the food i eat and the toiletries i use...for example i have enough keihl's creme de corps body lotion to last several years...(i get stuff like that as 'gifts')

i spend a fair amount on vitamins and supplements, but there again, i am brand specific for most of what i take, so usually the best deals are at costco or online

@wakeupcall...

no way i would do 100 bags of steamfresh veggies, i'm curious how you got them though....i can't imagine how i could use that many bags before going freezer burned, i'm sure i would be giving them away....how did you get the free Bush's beans? i use black beans a lot and no problem with going bad

They go on sale for $1 all the time. There are coupons, .50/1, that come out all the time. Krogers, Farm Fresh and Harris Teeter all double coupons. So, when a good coupon comes out, I load up & just wait for the sale. Been doing it for about 3 years now. We eat about 5 bags a week. So, that is 4-5 months worth. They won't freezer burn in that short amount of time.

Whenever I decide to stockpile something, 1) Only buy foods/items that I know our family will eat; 2) Check the expiration date and only purchase as much as I know we can use before the product expires.

I don't load up on meds. I admit I did when I first started couponing...the thrill of something free is pretty intoxicating-lol. I no longer load up on deoderant either. I usually keep about 10 tubes of toothpaste around. I haven't paid for a toothbrush in 5-6 years-lol...still have a box under the sink full of them.

When I find a good deal, I WILL load up on the following: laundry soap, dryer sheets, toilet paper, wipes, paper towels, napkins, dishwasher detergent, foil. You can never have too much of these items & they never expire.

As for coffee...I found a coupon on ebay for $2 off Millstone...fine print lists various sizes...one of which is 1/2 lb loose coffee. I've been getting it for dh for about $2/lb after coupons.

I'm also particular about my shampoos. I go for the salon products & there usually aren't coupons...but I did find some Nexxus $3/1 on ebay last month & loaded up on shampoo/conditioner when CVS had them on sale.

I do 2 kinds of shopping trips. My regular, once a week, get the basic-fruits, veggies, dairy...not so many coupons on those trips. Then I do my stockpiling trips...loaded with coupons & the receipt total is very very low...many times even just pennies for bags of groceries. When I first started couponing, I shopped alot more. Now that I have a stockpile, I can literally go a month or two w/o a stockpiling grocery trip. I just keep an eye on what coupons are coming out & an eye on what I figuring I'll be running low on in a few weeks. When a good deal comes along (for me...good is free...the best is free with overage:-), then I will make multiple trips and load up. This last week it just happened to be tuna and carnation milk. This week, I won't be shopping. In fact, I probably won't shop over the holidays much at all. I don't really have any holes in my stockpile, so nothing to fill.

Bush beans? A coupon came out a couple months ago for $1/1 Grillin' Beans (ranch beans). I got them on ebay...I think for about 7 cents each (w/shipping). They went on sale at Harris Teeter for .99 cents each. Also, they were $2 at Farm Fresh & they double $1 coupons on Wednesdays. So, every Wednesday I'd get a few cans while getting my fruit/veggies.

thanks, wakeupcall...i would have never thought to go coupon hunting for foods on ebay....i pick up coupons for lowes/homedepot there...

i need to get some new brushes for my oral b electric ( i like the dual brush) and so far have come up empty....(other than being forced to buy more product than i want or need 'buy over $50 get $5 rebate') i've found them for as low as $19 and some change online, $23 at target....$23+$23 is $46.....funny how that works...

<edit>

i found 2 packs on ebay for $26....no coupons...excellent deal

To be fair, I didn't buy 10 boxes of Sinex.
I bought 24. Well, I got paid $24 to take 24 boxes out of the store.
And, also to be fair, I have something called CVID which causes me to be sick 4-6 months out of the year - mostly with sinus infections in my case. The Sinex I bought is good through 2012; I'll use it well before it expires. Same deal with all the ibuprofen I've bought up. My illness also causes arthritis (previous career choices haven't exactly helped me in that regard) and ibuprofen is what works for me. It'll get used.
Toothpaste I only "buy" if it makes me money at this point. If a tube is $3 and I get $3 back in store credit, plus I have a $1 coupon, I'll go ahead and take some. That gives me more $ to spend on other stuff, and the excess toothpaste goes to a local food pantry that takes household donations as well.
Items like razors, tampons, toothbrushes, floss, etc don't expire. I'm pretty happy keeping a bunch of those on hand that I got for free or less now rather than pay for them in a year or two.

I'm not particular about my prettifying stuff. I'm still a tomboy. If the Nivea lotion is free I'll use the Nivea lotion, I don't care one way or the other.

For your situation, Mdrive, it does sound like you're doing best with Costco. Since we don't have any dietary restrictions it's a lot easier to use coupons to keep our spending super low. You might find some use for these type of savings on things like tampons, trash bags, and things like that.

This "hardcore couponing" isn't for everyone and everyone who does it has a different approach. Mine is primarily freeing up cash each month to use for meats, produce, dairy, etc and putting the overflow of items into my community for those who need them. Some buy and eat all the free Hamburger Helper because they can't afford more than that.
I also love a challenge, and to me it's a challenge to see just how much free **** I can walk away with. Since food isn't taxed in my state, I'll buy any food that's free after coupon whether we eat it or not and give it to the pantry. Toiletries and such I'm a bit more selective about due to those being taxed, but if it's something we don't use or don't need more of and it's better than free, I'll take it and donate it.

24 boxes??? dayam, are you selling that stuff on a street corner?



seriously, more power to you! i'm definitely going to be more pro-active about finding coupons and rebates...you've inspired me.<g>

and good for you giving the extra away...

my husband told me he was in walgreens picking up some nyquil the other day, and there was a chick in front of him who had a HUGE stack of coupons, he and the guy behind him were getting really*****ed, finally the other guy yelled at the cashier "IS THERE ANYONE ELSE WHO CAN RING UP A NORMAL CASH PAYING CUSTOMER!!"

she called the manager up, and my husband said they were still ringing up the woman's coupons as he was walking out the door

Heh, nice writeup here about the same sales I hit at Walgreens on Thanksgiving.

http://consumerist.com/2010/12/coupon-gr....

My trip wasn't so big, but someone else at the store I was at that day had one bigger. She had two completely full carts of these sale items. I was in the store for about 45 minutes all told and there was barely a dent made in her carts when I left. The store had set aside one register and one cashier to ring out this lady, and when I talked to that cashier a few days later I found out the customer had pre-ordered the items she wanted so she wouldn't completely wipe the store out of stock. It took something like 10 hours to ring everything out!! I don't know if she was donating the items or what, but it was pretty impressive. There had to be $3000 worth of merchandise involved which is going to look GREAT for that store's sales!


In re: "NORMAL CASH PAYING CUSTOMER" - the stores get reimbursed from the manufacturer for all those coupons (as well as the various reward dollars). Overall stores LOVE honest couponers. Charity dude in the link above jacked up that one store's sales for the day by $1700; even if he only gave the store $20 cash, they get back the other $1680 from the manufacturer. He probably buys thousands and thousands of dollars in merchandise each year from Walgreens as opposed to an average shopper who pops in for a bottle of Tylenol once a month. Lots of sales = more hours for the employees.

But that was a big faux pas on the store's part AND the couponer's part. On my second trip to Walgreens for the Black Friday sales, I had 5 separate transactions. The store was very quiet overall with one register open, but when someone got in line behind me I stepped to the back of the line so they could be cashed out without waiting for me and my coupons. That's proper etiquette in the coupon world. The store could also have checked the couponer out at a different register to keep things moving. They know me at my Rite Aid, and when I come in they open an additional register for my 10 minute checkout so people buying a pack of cigarettes aren't held up. If that's not an option for whatever reason, though, I either step to the back of the line between transactions or send people ahead of me. I have infinite patience and an additional 10 minutes isn't going to affect my day.

I think about this thread a lot... is there a local pharmacist you are ignoring because Walgreen's and the sort have captured you with their coupons? I applaud you for your savings but I can't help but wonder... what small businessman (pharmacist/owner) cannot compete with these guys and are being put out of business?

I am very aware of my neighbors/business owners and try to buy from them first but I realize that they cannot offer this sort of discount and I wonder which of my neighbors they lose to this.

Try to remember the pharmacist that spent many years in school, opened a business and lost it to the "CVS" researcher that saw a successful pharmacy and opened up nearby...

just sayin"

In Florida Publix has the BP gift card sale going on again...buy 25 bucks worth of groceries, get a 50.00 BP card for 40 bucks. Loading up on them again as gas prices go yet higher. The timing couldnt be better.

Farm Fresh is having a similar promotion; buy a gift card for $100, get $10 off groceries. Inc gift cards are JCPenneys, Applebees, Barnes & Noble & a few others. I think I might just pick up a couple of the JCP...its a place a shop at regularly anyway.

End of the month, I made my last shopping trips of the year tonight.

Totals for December
Merchandise value - $1,325.43
Total cost after sales & coupons - $466.67
Rewards earned - $397.78
Rebates earned - $26
Out of pocket cost - $42.89, for a savings of $1,282.74, or 97%


To put this in more real terms:
The money we've saved in the past couple months with my couponing has allowed us to add an additional three months' of cash living expenses (assuming the country doesn't go completely Mad Max) to our existing emergency fund.

We have several months' worth of nonperishable food stocked up, plus enough of our daily non-food necessities and OTC meds for 6 months to 2 years.

We got some bad news today. A neighbor's adult child was in dire financial straits and chose to take their own life this week, leaving behind a spouse and children with no money, no insurance, and right now no hope. I'll be putting together a load of nonperishable food and health/beauty needs for the family from my overflowing stock of items. It's not much, and it won't bring the deceased back to them, but I hope it'll help ease their mind a little bit. I believe strongly in helping those in my community in need, and couponing like this allows me to do so. I feel terrible for this family, but I feel a little hope that I can help them in some small way when they need it the most.

Chellie I'm sure they'll appreciate that, it's so sad to hear that another person has given up due to the economic conditions.

Tj, I took 6 bags of stuff over to my neighbor yesterday - cereal, rice, soup, pasta, some chocolate & candy, shampoo & conditioner, soaps, lotions, toothpaste/brushes/floss, feminine products, cough drops, cold & flu medicine, aspirin & ibuprofen, a bunch of school supplies, dish soap, laundry soap, a few other bits & pieces. I also offered birthday cakes for the children as needed this year. They should be able to get emergency SNAP to get the food side of things covered, but that doesn't buy the non-food essentials.
Cost to me: $0 (well, a few bucks & a few hours for the cakes)

Other neighbors are donating gift cards and an Avon rep is making a gift basket of Avon products, all of which will be raffled off later this month to raise money for the family.

It does my heart good to see this little group of people who don't have much themselves banding together like this. It almost gives me hope that the country isn't completely ****ed....

Anyone who likes Hickory Farm stuff, they've got their entire site at 75% off. No idea how long it'll last, but there are some good deals for preserved meat products.

http://www.hickoryfarms.com/

No codes or coupons required. They did this two years ago (later in January, though....) and I got a couple boxes for the Superbowl party for just a few bucks.

A lot of people saw this coming, once TLC's new show was announced.

From Coupons, Deals, and More
http://couponsdealsandmore.com/library/n....

Quote:

The Backlash Begins

Word on the street *cough* is that the reaction to the Extreme Couponing show has really disturbed the manufacturers. As in really, really, REALLY disturbed them. There are a number of changes that are being considered to dial-back the massive savings people can enjoy, including the end of National Catalina offers. Apparently one of the manufacturers was unhappy with paying someone a ton of cash (the manufacturer reimburses the store for those Catalinas) to buy their products, and having that shown over and over nationwide, and they want to change how they offer Catalinas.
Safeway has already begun one of the changes being considered on a national level across all manufacturers:
If you have a shopper’s club card, and get an alert for an offer, you are allowed to do that Catalina deal. There is a limit of 4 sets of deals for those who have been offered the deal. If you do not get an alert for a particular offer, you will not receive a Catalina for the offer (note: this is currently limited and not all Safeway offers are like this).
Apparently this will soon be a coming to a store near you for the tiered offers. The National Catalinas are tiered offers (b3 get $1, b4 get $1.50, etc). This may soon be the end of national offers for all.
There are also a few other overreactions being bandied about by the manufacturers including following P&Gs lead to put coupon redemption limits per customer on each coupon. The ones we now see as “limit 1 per customer”? They want to word more coupons like that AND have it hard coded into the coupon (which is a doable beginning this year) so the machine will beep after more than the limit of alike coupons are used, regardless of whether or not the person purchase the correct items.
Believe it or not overreactions like this from the manufacturers have happened before. In the early 90s, a woman was doing a massive rebating business selling forms + (reproduced) CRTs (called complete cash tape deals) and ended up going to jail for it. The manufacturers put a stop to lucrative rebate offers for a number of years after her arrest and conviction. What we see now is a fraction the rebates we enjoyed 20+ years ago, and it was laid at one person’s feet. She wasn’t the only person doing it, I am sure, but she was the one that got caught and blamed.
Apparently the same thing is happening now… manufacturers were vaguely aware that there are “extreme” couponers out there, but never realized people could profit from grocery shopping. Apparently the TLC show brought home to them that getting paid to shop is real, and they are unhappy about this. Instead of embracing the idea that people coupon, the manufacturers are upset and distraught over the situation.
The show has been given 12 more episodes, which I am certain did not please the manufacturers. Maybe TLC plans on dialing it back to the original concept of teaching people how to reasonably save money weekly? Or maybe they will not be able to resist continuing the buzz the show has generated, and we will see even more extreme examples?
Stay tuned, this is going to be a bumpy coupon ride in 2011 as manufacturers, retailers and customers collide, adjust and readjust to the Wonderful World of Couponing. We will see what, if any, of the discussed changes will be implemented.

what is a National Catalina?

Quote:

....manufacturers were vaguely aware that there are “extreme” couponers out there, but never realized people could profit from grocery shopping.

Ehhh, that's not totally true.

They're completely aware of "extreme" couponers and know that a very tiny percentage of the hardcore shoppers truly profit from grocery shopping. One can cut their grocery bill in half without too much effort, but to get foods at a profit requires a perfect alignment of sale, coupon, and Catalina (the "save $X off your next order" thingies that print out). It doesn't happen often and when it does it takes quite a bit of work to do it right.
In the grand scheme of things, a fraction of a percent of overall shoppers turn a profit at the grocery store.

I'm sure more manufacturers will print limits on coupons and, really, it's not a big deal. Proctor & Gamble already do and couponers are able to work within their guidelines without a problem.

The TLC show is rather annoying in the short term, but people are lazy. It takes a decent amount of effort and attention to shop like the "Extreme Couponers" on a regular basis and once the thrill wears off, most new couponers won't keep it up. Every year gyms get crowded in January and wind up empty by February or March. The really hardcore couponing that this show covers will work out the same way.

i don't see how i can get this extreme savings on my bill.

I eat a pretty simple and clean diet:

lean red meat and boneless skinless chicken breasts
oats, brown rice, and veggies.

i don't eat a bunch of processed or boxed stuff which seems to be what most of the savings is coming from.


the only savings i can make is from cleaning supplies and personal hygene stuff. I spend 200, maybe 300 a year on that stuff though so i don't get how to save 200 a month? Anyone have discounts for proglide razors?

Quote:

i don't eat a bunch of processed or boxed stuff which seems to be what most of the savings is coming from.

We've discussed that in previous pages.
If you're willing to do the footwork, you can find coupons for oats, rice, sometimes even meat. I just got some 2lb bags of brown rice for $.39ea the other week. I have some coupons that will get me 1lb bags of rice for free in coming weeks. Oats? Yep, Quaker just put out a bunch of coupons that will get most people oats for free or pennies.

I can get frozen Birds Eye or Green Giant veggies for free or pennies every other month.

And I assume you never eat items like pasta, ketchup/mustard, hot sauce, canned tuna, sour cream, shredded cheese, peanut butter, and so on? These are all items I've gotten for free or pennies in the last couple months.

ANYONE can save on their grocery bill if they're willing to do a little research and a little footwork ahead of time. Anyone. I know of couponers on dairy-free diets, gluten-free diets, etc and they manage to save money.

You only spend $200-300 per year on razors, shave cream, deodorant, shampoo/conditioner, trash bags, laundry detergent, dish detergent, soap, pain relievers, cold/flu meds, multivitamins, dental care, toilet paper, paper towels, Kleenex, makeup/tampons/lotion/girly stuff (if you've got a lady in your life), pet care (if you have pets)? That little?
I mean, those are all items I've gotten for free in the last two months. If you only spend a couple hundred bucks a year on all that then keep doing what you're doing, but even for my immediate family of two we spend more (before sales/coupon) on just trash bags and TP alone.


I'll go back to my favorite example of how one makes the savings add up.
Walgreens has Dayquil/Nyquil Sinex on sale for $5 per box this week. If you buy four boxes for $20, you get a $10 "store credit" coupon in return.
You buy four boxes, use four coupons for $4 off each box, pay $4 in cash and get that $10 "store credit" coupon back. Then you turn around and use that $10 to buy some milk and eggs. Or trash bags, or a bag of flour, or whatever. That $6 you don't have to spend on milk & eggs (or whatever) at the grocery store becomes $6 more in your budget to get a couple pounds of chicken.
(Also, if one is lucky enough to be able to shop at the commissary, those "store credit" coupons from Walgreens can be used as cash there.)
And no, I didn't get more Sinex. I have plenty for now.

Quote:

Anyone have discounts for proglide razors?

I got a ****load of 'em for free recently. Is that a good discount?
They're currently $.99ea after coupon & rewards at Walgreens through Saturday. That's too expensive for me, though.

Same here Chellie, it astonishes me that people actually pay for razors, especially since I've been able to buy pro-glides for free at least every few weeks for the past 9 months or so... great post!