STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

sfclinevandy · Coach

Shopping with coupons... questions

wetbandit42 · Marc Jacobs

coupons.com sometimes has decent coupons. I also tend to check the brand's website from time to time (like organicvalley.coop, which is the brand of milk I buy, has coupons). HTH! I'm interested to hear other ST'ers advice.

ILoveChoo · Hermes

I second manufacturer's websites- especially for natural/organic products
Also a lot of times of you write/email/call with a question, complaint, or priase the company will send you a bunch of coupons
I've also heard of people buying coupons on ebay... seems strange but if there's a certain product you use a lot it could be worth it to pay $5 for more dollars for $10 in savings.

cahabo · Kate Spade

A few grocery stores I shop at (and the one where I work) have coupon machines that give you coupons for items that you buy or might like to try depending on what you regularly buy. Also make sure you have all the different stores special cards! Another thing is fuel discounts. The store where I work gives you 10 cents off per gallon of gas for every $100 you spend. Some people accumulated their points and earned over $2 off per gallon of gas!

Be careful with internet coupons that aren't directly from a manufacturer's website. Quite a few of them are fraudulent. If it seems too good of a deal, it probably is!

Kelly · Hermes

Yep, I've bought coupons on ebay before for stuff that I always buy. I spent like $2 on the auction + shipping, and saved over $20.

I'd check your grocery store's website, too. At mine (Kroger), you can tell it your frequent shopper card number and then it comes up with a page of all the "electronic coupons" it's running for that week or whatever. You can pick which coupons to add to your card, and then when you buy that thing at the store the coupon is automatically applied. So there's no paper coupons to remember.

Cortney1982 · Chanel

Always look at the coupons the grocery store gives you with the receipt! Once at Haggen I got a coupn for free pizza night for a free pizza, salad mix, dressing, and 2-liter soda! Another time it was a free picnic with hotdogs, buns, baked beans, & mustard.

And I would be weary of online coupon sites. I saw on tv about them being fradulent. Also they had shown a tidbit on this woman who gets like $50 worth of groceries for like $5 with coupons she finds online. Hmm....

Kelly · Hermes

If you want to do a little work to save money, you could sign up for TheGroceryGame.com. You buy the paper every week and clip every coupon, then the website watches for sales, and tells you when you combine your coupons with the sale price for amazing deals. I did it for a month and I did save a lot of money, but since I live alone it ended up not really being worth it because you do need to store things (like, when chicken goes on sale you'll buy a ton, with the idea that your chicken supply has to last you until the next chicken sale)

BargainQueen · Marc Jacobs

I used to do a lot of coupon shopping when DD was a baby but when I went back to work and school I fell out of the routine.

I just started buying the Sunday paper again for the coupons and almost signed up for The Grocery Game, until my friend told me about Coupon Mom which is about the same as The Grocery Game, but FREE! She gives you tons of resources on where to get coupons besides the Sunday paper.

pollyjean23 · Marc Jacobs

Some grocery stores won't take any internet coupons anymore because of the fraudulent ones that are out there.

clothes_horse · Dooney & Bourke

try www.smartsource.com you can sign up for their emails and get notified whenever they get new coupons.

subwolley · Kate Spade

I've been trying to do this coupon thing lately, and it's not really working for me.

I spent an entire evening clipping coupons out of the Sunday paper, printing coupons from my computer, and visiting couponmom.com. I got my local grocery's sales paper to try and match coupons with store sales.

After all that work and going through the coupons, I realized the coupons didn't match any sales, and I didn't really find any coupons for anything I eat or need.

Is anyone else having this problem with coupons?

kmd · Kate Spade

I have that problem, too. I tend to eat pretty healthy stuff, and surprise surprise, you really can't find coupons for the good stuff. Not that I've been able to find, anyway. I guess if I wanted to live of of mac & cheese or frozen meals, I'd be good to go. And really unhealthy.

Tati · Chanel

subwolley- I get Ralphs coupons for organic eggs, milk and natural organic bars and cereal.....
there's also coupons out there for ready made salad bags

subwolley · Kate Spade

Tati wrote:

subwolley- I get Ralphs coupons for organic eggs, milk and natural organic bars and cereal.....
there's also coupons out there for ready made salad bags

What are Ralphs coupons?

Tati · Chanel

Ralphs is a grocery store out here in California

tara t · Marc Jacobs

whenever i do the coupon thing, i seem to buy stuff i don't need just because i have a coupon.

the ones i do use and need seem to be the ones that the grocery store gives you when you check out and buy a certain product... so next time you buy that product you can use that coupon.

Kelly · Hermes

subwolley - I wonder if it's because you went on a Sunday? I mean, they usually change the sales over the weekend, so maybe you were looking at the wrong sale list or maybe the grocery store was late in changing to the new sale prices?

Aurora · Marc Jacobs

Thanks for pointing out a few sites. I am trying to coupon as well because I am sick of the high prices. I also have a new rule when we go to the store that we will only buy things that we are out of or will use that week. I've been watching the stores the past year and picked up on the cycle of sales so it isn't a big deal if we miss the chicken sale one month because it will be back in a few weeks.

ILoveChoo · Hermes

subwolley wrote:

I've been trying to do this coupon thing lately, and it's not really working for me.

I spent an entire evening clipping coupons out of the Sunday paper, printing coupons from my computer, and visiting couponmom.com. I got my local grocery's sales paper to try and match coupons with store sales.

After all that work and going through the coupons, I realized the coupons didn't match any sales, and I didn't really find any coupons for anything I eat or need.

Is anyone else having this problem with coupons?

double check the dates on the sale flyer. I know that the stores around me start their "week" on tuesday, so the flyer that comes in Sunday's paper doesn't match the sales on Sunday.