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I thought I would start off a post about couponing and saving money at the grocery store.
I know there are many DUers who are "couponers", and they can contribute useful information.
Before I began couponing--our grocery bill (all food, paper products, pet supplies, personal health and grooming items; and household items such as batteries, light bulbs, etc) was $550-$600 for a family of four + one cat.
By obtaining multiple copies of the Sunday coupon inserts--our grocery bill is now $50 per week--and I have a good-sized room, with floor-to ceiling shelves--and it is stocked like a mini conveience store. We could easily live off of our stockpile for 6 months.
Many couponers save more money than I do, using coupons--because they have access to stores that double coupons. I can only dream about those stores! Many people who really know how to use coupons--and have access to double-coupon stores--can get their grocery bill a lot lower than mine. However, I drastically reduced our bill...so if you don't have access to a store that doubles, you can still save a truck load of money.
Others on DU will have excellent insight into couponing.
My general Couponing 101 thoughts are:
1.) You must find a way to obtain multiple copies of the coupons that are in the Sunday newspapers. Almost every Sunday, there are two coupon inserts. They're little magazine-like booklets that contain sometimes hundreds of coupons for brand-name products. Here is the 2005 schedule for the coupon inserts. www.taylortowncoupons.com
I get my coupon inserts from Quick Trips in our area. The store managers allow me to come in at midnight on Sunday, and remove the coupons from the unsold newspapers. I used to go to a McDonald's on Sunday morning and take the coupons from the newspapers that the restaurant provides the customers. I asked for permission to do this, and McDonald's was happy to oblige.
A friend recently began couponing and she gets her inserts from her paper boy. She bakes him cookies every week, and in exchange--he gives her several extra newspapers. Cool huh?
Others dumpster dive. I know, that sounds nutty, but if your town/city has a recycling program, dumpster diving isn't that bad when you're looking through mostly newspapers and other paper items. I know many couponers who get hundreds of inserts this way. Check with your local recycling centers to see if they allow people to remove the inserts. Our recycling center does not allow this, which is why I had to resort to other tactics!
Many couponers trade coupons with others through the mail. They hook up on messageboards that are for trading coupons, and arrange trades through emails. www.pinchingyourpennies.com has an active trading board.
Even if you only get one newspaper, you can still capitalize on the great deals. It's ok to start couponing/saving with only one or two coupon inserts.
2.) Once you obtain your coupons--vigilantly watch your local grocery store and big-box store weekly ads (Target, Walgreens, Kmart). Look for great sale prices/specials, and combine the sale prices with coupon. Viola! Usually, this means a heavy discount on food, toilet paper, baby food, cleaning products, paper towels, etc--almost anything! Many times, you can get products for free.
Many coupons do not specify a size of product that you must purchase. For example, "Save $1 on any size Gillette Shaving Gel". Target has trial sizes of Gillette Shaving Gel for 99 cents. I get this free with the coupon. I get toothpaste, toothbrushes, hand lotion, shampoo, deodorant, conditioner, facial-care products, insect repellent, garbage bags and loads of other products for FREE or for pennies--by buying trial sizes. Some of the trial sizes are decent sizes too! You can even get free Tide, dishwashing detergent, cleaning products and other household items by buying the smallest sizes with a coupon.
3.) Get to know the clearance sections of your local stores. Walmart has a clearance food section, and also a clearance health/beauty section. Target also has separate food/HB sections. I often get FREE or nearly free items by perusing these sections. Often local grocery stores will have clearance sections also--or areas where carts are full of clearance items. Find out where these areas are in your local stores.
There is so much more to couponing. You could write a book on couponing. Many people have, in fact!
I'll stop here and hopefully this will be a good springboard for starting discussions about couponing and answering questions--if people have them.
There are many couponing experts on DU--and I know they will have invaluable ideas and insight!
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