Weddingbee boards

I have become addicted! 

I use SouthernSavers.com and its a great resource to help.  I have basically cut my grocery bill in half by using coupons.  I use both printable coupons and newspaper coupons.

For those of you that aren't familiar with it, the SouthernSavers website (or others for your area) tells you when the sales are at the store and what coupons to use.  Also, when the products are B1G1, you get 2 products and can use coupons for both products (even though the second one is free).  It also teachs how to "stack" manufacturer coupons with store coupons.  Most stores let you use 1 M and 1 S coupon per product. 

Here is an example:

Wish-Bone Dressing, 16 oz., at $2.73 Buy One Get One Free ($1.36)

-.50/1 Wish-Bone Salad Dressing, 16 oz +, (sign in) printable

-.75/1 Wish-Bone Regular or Western Dressing, (Target coupon) printable

So, before coupons you would get 2 bottles of dressing for $2.73.  On each of those products you can "stack" a store coupon and manufactuerer coupon (4 coupons for 2 products).  

$2.73

(.50) M

(.50) M

(.75) S

(.75) S

  $0.23 for 2 bottles of salad drssing!  That is about $0.12 a piece! 

Most coupons are for staples such as pasta, salad dressing, rice, cereal, butter, cheese, juice, etc.  But, with my savings on those products, I can spend more on organic fruits and veggies, more meat and fresh fish etc. 

So, anyone else addicted?  Any other sites you use?  Any good tips? 

Oh YES!!!

I am undisputed coupon queen. My husband momentarily dethroned me once before.

We use coupons at supermarkets, drugstores, online, shopping, you name it. We use it!

Some people think it's a hassle but when you read the bottom line and you have saved more than you paid. It's worth it.

Every penny saved is a penny earned!

I LOVE it when our local supermarket double manufacturer coupons.

BJs is great because not only can you use BJs coupons you can also use manufacturer coupons.

Ebates.com is the best website since life began. Basically you get paid to shop!!! You just have to click to a website through Ebates.com and you get a % cashback on your purchase at millions of sites! I've been a member since 2006 and have earned $274.24 Cashback. Just for doing online shopping that I already do anyway!!
For example right now Snapfish is at 11.5% cashback, Jcrew at 3% and Banana Republic at 8% cashback, Home Depot at 5%.

One of our favorite Sunday morning ritual is have breakfast and going through the Sunday paper together comparing sales at supermarkets to find the best deal. Then clipping coupons for those deals. I don't honestly remember the last time we paid for anything at full price!

@Gerbera: I am so bummed because Florida does not allow the stores to "double" coupons.  It really cuts back on our savings.  Also, since we are not in a big metro area, our newspaper coupons are often significantly less than bigger areas. 

Do you use a website to help you?

@CorgiTales: It does involve some flexibility. For example, we won't use wishbone dressing on salads but we will use it on marinades.  For $0.12 its great Italian dressing to use on meat or for a pasta salad. 

Its also about "stockpiling" when the products you love do go on sale.  For example, we only use one brand of tea.  When it went on sale I bought about 8 boxes of it.  They say sales go in 6-8 week cycles so you should have enough to last you through the next sale without ever having to pay full price for items. 

@caszos:

hm bummer.

I've used Smartsource in the past. It's free to sign up and the coupons rotate pretty frequently.

Slickdeals usually have coupons as well!

@tksjewelry:

I LOVE woot.com!!!

OneToolADay is great also. I kinda regret showing that site to my husband and brother in law. Husband + Brother in law + tools = Bad Bad Bad. :)

1saleaday is also fabulous!

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Oh! Free Samples! I LOVE Free samples. Walmart.com always have great free samples. Typically trial size. But I've gotten a couple razors (Shick, Gillete, Mach, etc) for my husband before. And we all know how expensive razors are!!

Oh! For eating out. Restaurant.com!
There is almost always a coupon for the site so you can usually buy a $25 GC to a restaurant for $2! And they are on Ebates with a typical 10% cashback!!!

Hehe. I'm like a little girl with coupons. I'm literally jumping up and down, internally of course. :D

I agree, SmartSource, Redplum and Coupons.com are all great.

I also use a lot of Target coupons.  Our publix will take them as competitor coupons. 

I try to, but a lot of times I can't find coupons for the products I would buy. I try to buy all natural cleaners, and and very picky about what foods I buy (no dyes, no chemical preservatives, no HFCS, no soy, no hydrogenated oils, etc.)

I can usualy only find coupons for
- Seventh Generation cleaners
- saline soulution for contacts
- OTC medicines (but the store brand is still usually cheaper than name brand with a coupon)
- toothpaste

Very rarely can I find coupons for food. Sometimes there will be milk or eggs coupons, but usually there's no coupons for fresh produce or meat from the meat counter (the bagged meat, like bags of chicken breasts, usually have a "solution" added to them).

My husband used to be meh about the coupon thing as well. Until he started doing it and now he's as hooked as I am.

I think a common misconception about "coupon cutters" is that we buy stuff just because it's on sale. I'm sure there are people who do. But it's about like caszos said being flexible. Buying Kraft instead of Wishbone if Kraft is on sale and you have a coupon while Wishbone is not. Stockpiling on non perishables when they are one sale and you have coupons. But on things you WILL use. If you're not willing to sacrifice the brand then yeah it'll be a lot harder to save.

I've found that with most items every brand is practically the same.

Like typically Kraft dressing is usually $2.49-$2.99 at our local market. But often it's on sale 2/$4 with a coupon for save $1 on 2. Then you're only paying $1.50 for each bottle! So with Caesar dressing we only like Krafts Caesar so when it's on sale we'll buy two and keep it in the cupboard. Knowing that typically it'll go on sale again before we're out.

For me, every now and then the supermarket itself will have coupons on meats. ie save $1/lb on beef, etc. For meats we tend to buy in bulk from Sams Club/BJs. We usually split it up into freezer bags by portions. It's SO much cheaper than regular supermarkets.We buy 99% of our produce/fruits from a small independent supermarket near us that tends to sell more local farmers produce. They are SO SO much cheaper than the big box supermarkets. ie Our local box supermarket that sells lets of "organic" items like your Whole Foods has red peppers for $4.99/lb regularly!!! But the local market we go to for produce typically has it for $1.89/lb even in winter.It's about knowing your own local markets. There are certain items we typically buy from supermarket A while other items we will buy at supermarket B.

Every time we go visit the in Laws we are shocked at how expensive produce is at Publix! And that's the cheaper of their two markets; Kroger & Publix. Or is it the other way around?

@abbyful: Have you looked at Whole Foods?  They have a lot of really great coupons on the more "healthy" foods.  There was a Muir Glen tomato product coupon that was $1 off.  It made the tomato paste free at publix.  Best thing about them is they don't go through a coupon application, so you can print as many times as you want! 

@heathaah: What kind of grocery stores do you have up there? 

BUMP

Does anyone have any good drugstore tips?  I have tried to follow the "deal ideas" but I always get lost somewhere in the middle and end up with a bunch of money OOP.  Any suggestions?

@MissFlipFlops: You totally should go pick up a cheap printer.  It is really worth it.  I have debated stopping the newspaper because you can print so many great ones. 

Here is my latest sale from publix.

• 4 Coca Cola 12 packs
• 2 ribeye steaks
• 1 package chicken breasts
• 1 spiral ham
• 4 packages of celery
• 2 bags of carats
• 1 bag of green beans
• 2 bags of romaine salad
• 4 boxes scalloped potatoes
• 2 boxes swiss miss cocoa
• 2 bottles of B Complex vitamins

All for a grand total of $30 OOP.  Our original total (before sales and coupons) would have been $90.  We had $38 in coupons.  I saved roughly 68% on groceries from sales and coupons, or about 44% just from coupons alone!  I used SouthernSavers to find my coupons so I'm not going to repost it all here.

@caszos:

Good job!!