I think I have just entered the world of couponing.

willrun4chocolate · Nov 10, 2011

I just made a "Favourites" folder called "online couponing" and can expect 7 new coupons in the mail in just 3 to 6 weeks.
 
Sigh...I hope you don't see me on "Extreme Couponing" next season.
 
Do stores really take coupons printed at home?

jenna · Nov 10, 2011

You know who you should talk to? Bikegirl. She does that stuff. I would love to save money like that but who has the time to be that organized? 
It's insanity, I tell ya. Insanity!

willrun4chocolate · Nov 10, 2011

I know! Everytime I watch Extreme couponing, I just think "Organized Hoarders." At this point, my plan is to not go crazy and just use coupons for brands I actually use. My hope is to just put the savings into my 8 month Emergency fund, won't be much, but I just changed my lifestyle to have a huge rent increase and a huge pay cut - so I need to find ways to keep funding my retirement and my savings plan for if the pay cut should ever become a pay loss.
 
Now refresh my memory Bikegrl was the Ukranian Catholic, I think her first name is Nicole? Or am I thinking of someone completely different?

airehead · Nov 10, 2011

Back in the 70s and 80s with one income and three kids to go to college, my mom did couponing like you wouldn't believe. My sister, who now has eight kids and one income, does insane couponing and price matching (to cut her trips down to one store, rather than 5-6 like in the olden times before price matching lol) My mom would go to 3-4 grocery stores to get the cheapest items/loss leaders like milk and eggs.
 
When I first got married I used a wicked amount of coupons since we were a college student and a minimum wage worker. I was shocked that my MIL never once used a coupon, and yet complained about the prices of things. I could easily save $20 a week. For two broke kids that's a lot.
 
Now, after 20 years of marriage and the kids have moved back temporarily, I see couponing as a distinct possibility. We have usually only had one income and one child and we made it fine. Of course, I did buy the cheapest I could, always, as that never leaves you.
 
Now I really rely on restaurant coupons and gimmes. Best one I found is Panera. They give me something for free now almost every time I go. Their reward card is the best.

willrun4chocolate · Nov 10, 2011

LOL, I am about to go to the store to buy milk and bread and ask if they accept printed at home coupons.

airehead · Nov 10, 2011

Let us know. I know restaurants do, and gladly. LivingSocial has some awesome deals if you are in a big town. We got to try some great things in DC due to livingsocial.

jenna · Nov 10, 2011

That's her. You've got the right girl.

merigayle · Nov 10, 2011

our market does, except if it is a B1G1 coupon or a free coupon. our Target takes every coupon on earth. Most of my coupons are printed on line. coupons.com, allyou.com, smartsource.com mambrosprouts.com, etc. There are forums with your local market and they will do pair ups of good sales and coupons every week. I do not buy processed food for the most part, so the sunday paper is worthless for me, but i do buy coupons from coupons by dede on line and get only ones i will use (cat food, soy milk, pasta, DH's cereal, etc). Good luck!!!!

willrun4chocolate · Nov 10, 2011

Wow, Meri, thanks for all the resources!
 
This is what I learned.
 
Co-op does not take them
Safeway will only accept them if they are printed from the Safeway website. (So essentially, no they won't take them)
Sobey's will take them up to $2.00 but I didn't think to ask if that was $2.00 total for all your coupons or no individual coupon more than $2.00.
Extra-foods does not take them
Real Canadian Superstore takes them all.
 
Unfortunately that is the order of where I like to shop, so unless I want to venture forth to my least favourite shopping experience, I won't be a super extreme couponer. I'll ask about the Sobey's $2.00 limit next time after I go surf Merigayle's sites a bit and see what I can find.

merigayle · Nov 11, 2011

that sucks. i would check out the websites and go from there. my market takes internet coupons and doubles the ones that are under $1!!! I know it varies region to region. Also check out the coupons by dede site. are coupons from the US Sunday paper ok to use in Canada?

willrun4chocolate · Nov 11, 2011

Well, I am not too surprised, I'll just stick with the regular coupons that can be sent to me or that I find in the paper. Though my town doesn't get a lot of coupon flyers. Often coupons will say that they are available in Canada or the US or Canada only. Plus we have different product choices/brands that you have so I would bet that 50 % of the coupons in your Sunday papers aren't even available here. For instance we probably only have about 9 flavours of Ben and Jerry's ice cream and I have to go to a specialty candy store to find Baby Ruth bars. 
 
I'll do some investigating on how to get those other coupons. I also looked online and the Safeway website says they will take internet coupons, so I'll call again later and ask about the policy on the internet and the store policy. 
 
I think Superstore has a wall of coupons when you walk in so it'll just take some investigating to make this work. I am determined to not buy stuff I don't ordinarily use or to go crazy with a stockpile, but I do want ot have food on hand for better meal-planning as the meal planning will be the key to me being able to stay on budget AND maybe even lose some weight.

merigayle · Nov 11, 2011

I would definitely question the store if the company's website varies from what they told you. I would check out couponing forums with local forums for your area. This will be where you learn about the intricacies of each store and their coupon policies. Also, i found when i used to shop on Mondays (day off of work, mon and sun) that the cashiers were really super serious and would question most of my coupons (which were always legit) but if i went on Sunday, it was more likely to be a high schooler who could care less and rang every coupon thru. Like one cashier on a Monday took each coupon, read every single word, front and back, on the coupons, it took like 10 extra minutes to check out. wtf?

RaisingArizonainNH · Nov 15, 2011

I never couponed compulsively - just for the few things I always buy which are mostly convenience items now= (Ex gogurts,coffee creamer,granola bars my kids prefer..etc ) When the kids were very small I had about $25 a week for groceries with just my hsband working. At the time I subscribed to the Tightwad Gazette and took a lot of her ideas to save money. Her newsletters are in a book fomat and most libraries have them.
 The reason I never got heavily into coupons is that I made a price book and compared the standard stuff I bought most - and at that time found that the store brands are often the best deal all around. Now also consider that most stores around here do not double coupons etc. I can save about $5 a week on those convenience items, and I use coupons on some brand items liek Palmolive Dish soap - which you can stretch to 4 bottles worth by putting 1/4 of a bottle in an old dishwashing liq. bottle and add warm water- mix and it rethickens. These little things save a lot here and there.
 
 I also find the best price for an item with a price book and then buy up 6 months worth when it was on sale... PB was one I bought 20 at a time when the store brand was 99 cents on sale.
 
 
 If you have store doubling and the coupon break really makes the per unit price worrth then have fun! Per the local coupon gurus in NH the Extreme Coupon people are often set up with big allowances/exceptions to the usual coupon restrictions by the stores to make the shows interesting. Not typical couponing !

airehead · Nov 16, 2011

$ Stores sell name brand cleaners and cleaning supplies.
 
Often they have name brand bread, too.
 
don't forget you can freeze chips and cereals if you find them cheap.

merigayle · Nov 16, 2011

<div class="quote-container">Quote:
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by airehead <a href="/t/75656/i-think-i-have-just-entered-the-world-of-couponing#post_2019761"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style=""></a> $ Stores sell name brand cleaners and cleaning supplies.
 
Often they have name brand bread, too.
 
don't forget you can freeze chips and cereals if you find them cheap.
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 Many times I can get better deals on name brand vs generic/store brand with coupons, especially when doubled + sale. However, our grocery store has good deals on store brand organics.

airehead · Nov 18, 2011

I was at the $ store for something recently and needed paper towels. So, I bought a roll as a stop-gap until I could buy real ones.
 
My smart aleck son said, "oh I thought that was printer paper." little snot.<img alt="smile.gif" id="user_yui_3_4_1_7_1321654636803_164" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/smile.gif"> 

<div class="quote-container">Quote:
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by merigayle <a href="/t/75656/i-think-i-have-just-entered-the-world-of-couponing#post_2019779"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style=""></a> Many times I can get better deals on name brand vs generic/store brand with coupons, especially when doubled + sale. However, our grocery store has good deals on store brand organics.
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I think I have just entered the world of couponing.

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