About a week or so ago there was an Extreme Couponing marathon on TLC. My husband has never seen the show before. I turned on the channel so he could see an episode. He was in total awe. So much so he actually sat through a few episodes.
We have no need to stockpile a ton of food. Our tiny condo is not conducive to that kind of food storage. I wish we did have more space because I would love to stock up on a few necessities. Not the the extreme that some of the people on the Extreme Couponing show do. We don’t need thousands of items. But it would be nice to have a small stock of some of the every day products we use.
My husband actually likes to do the food shopping. And to be honest with you we tend to spend less when he does the shopping. I’m easily swayed into buying thing we really don’t need. Those eye catching displays are like a magnet to me. Or should I say they are more like a bug zapper. They draw you in and the ZAP! It gets you (or in the case of food shopping you are suckered into buying something you didn’t really need or want).
My husband was on a quest to bring our shopping bill down this week. All week long he checked out coupon sites and cross referenced the grocery store circular. He was armed and ready to go. He was hoping to spend less then $180 which seems to be the average amount we spend.
Today’s checkout came to $205.00+. UGH!
We DID save $72+ between store coupons and coupons he printed out. That is awesome! So how is it that we spent about $25 MORE then we normally do and we don’t seem to have much more then we normally do? With that $72+ savings I was thinking our pantry and fridge would be packed. They are not.
???!!!
I don’t get it.
We weren’t able to get the local paper last Sunday, so we couldn’t get any of those coupons. We did visit coupon sites, company websites and even company Facebook pages searching for coupons (we didn’t find many we could use). Where does everyone find all the good coupons? We had no luck.
How do you deal with those “Buy 3 and save .50” sort of coupons? What if you don’t want or need three items? It would seem like a waste to buy three of something if you only need one just to save .50.
For all of you who are experts when it comes to couponing I would LOVE IT if you could share some tips with me. I think we are doing something wrong. Yeah, we saved $72+ but we also SPENT $25+ more then we normally do. The whole idea is to spend LESS then we normally do.
Thank you in advance. 🙂 ♥
Kimberly
Lauralee Hensley says
Just because you have a coupon doesn’t mean it will be a good buy. You have to compare it to other brands, even store brands. You have to compare it to the number of ounces or servings in the package. I’m not an extreme shopper either, but I do save about $35 dollars when I shop using coupons. I have bought three of something when required if it brought the cost of each down quite a bit. Then I’ll just make sure they have a long time before they expire. Yes, I look at expiration dates on products and I did have quite a few peanut butter coupons the last time I shopped. I usually buy a big jar because the hubby likes peanut butter. Yet, I only had to use the coupons on a 16 ounce size or larger and the store had the 16oz size on sale. I checked the expiration dates on the jars and ended up buying 7. Yes 7, because they don’t expire until June 2013. I know my husband will have those all used up by then. If he doesn’t then a month before I’ll use it up by making peanut butter cookie dough and freezing the dough into bags to make cookies with. That will make the peanut butter last in cookie form for about another 4 months.
MsAngelasFinds says
I always save more in coupons then what I pay for my order if that makes sense. Say I save $181 in coupons, and my grand total is $148. That is always my goal. I shop at 3 different stores, Walmart, Meijer and Kroger. My favorite is our Kroger because they double coupons up to $1. However they can be very overpriced on items so I only buy things from them that are on sale or I have a really good coupon that will give me $2 off. Even then sometimes I can get the item cheaper at Walmart even though they don’t double coupons at all. Speaking of extreme, I actually created a spread sheet where I could track the items that I purchase regularly. I just used my receipts for a few months and recorded how much each item was at all 3 stores that I shop at. Then it calculates how much per ounce (or other unit) I am spending. That way I know if I am getting a good deal or not. Stores tell you that they change prices on their items all of the time so they won’t give you a price list but honestly price changes do not happen very often. I have been tracking the items I buy for at least 6 months and have not had one price change yet. Good luck! 🙂
Betty Baez says
ugh! i have the same problem hubby likes to go shopping for that very reason because its like a bug zapper to me, i honestly am no good at the couponing gig because i seem to always find coupons for things i dont normally buy so i wont use them, rarely i find coupons that i’ll actually use and thats a plus…sorry no advice here i could use some 😉
Mike says
Quantity is an issue at Costco for me. Do I really need five gallons of olive oil?
Every three weeks, I go to Costco and buy $125-$175 worth of groceries. I, also, shop in regular stores in town.
People who shop with me find it hard to keep up. I go directly to whatever it is that I want. I don’t look at anything else. I only buy what I know I need. I don’t think I’ve ever spent more than 20 minutes at Albertson’s. In, pickup what you need, and be gone.
The first time I went to Price Club, (Costco merged with Price Club), I ended up coming home with 50 or so of one item I really didn’t need. (I think I still have some around here, which means it has survived moves to three states.) And, at Costco, you can only use their coupons… So, you have to watch out…
Alison says
Their are websites that you can go to and buy coupons!! I did that some last year but than got lazy. But it as sooo worth it!