Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Coupons

The other day the Roanoke Times had a story about a woman who shops with coupons and spends only $10 for $150 worth of groceries.

Every now and then you hear of women like this (it almost always is a woman) who can somehow turn shopping into a cash-back affair.

This is not me. I do well to save $5 off a grocery trip with coupons.

Normally I don't even bother with coupons but since food prices have jumped and I am stretching dollars it seems prudent.

I seldom have coupons for most of the stuff I buy. Or use. And I don't have the space to store 10 for $10. Or 4 jars of Ragu spaghetti when we only eat spaghetti about once every two months.

Not only that, I always end up with the store clerk who is the coupon policeman. "You already gave me a coupon for that," she says, handing me back my second one.

"But I have two of the items!" I might protest. She'll then look down her nose at me until I put out my hand for the coupon.

I meekly put the coupon back in the little envelope I use for that purpose.

Couponing (is that a word?) takes a lot of time, too. First you have to clip them out. I generally end up standing aside in some poorly-used aisle while I try to sift through all the coupons in my envelope to see if I bought anything that looks remotely like the picture on the rebate.

To do it properly, I have to make a list, then go through the coupons and see if anything on there matches what I need, and then note on the list that I have a coupon and what number and size I should buy.

This is very time consuming.

These days I have more time than sense so I am couponing.

But I will never manage to buy $150 worth of groceries for $10.

Here are some websites that the newspaper article listed:

couponmom.com
coupons.smartsource.com
couponwinner.com
promotionalcodes.com

I haven't looked at any of them. But I plan to, one day.

9 comments:

  1. Hubby always lays a few coupons on the kitchen counter but we always forget them when we go shopping for groceries. We're so lame. LOL

    Di
    The Blue Ridge Gal

    ReplyDelete
  2. Our fellow blogger Musings (the link is on my blog--I think you've gone to her before) is a big couponer. Is THAT a word? She inspired me recently and I saved about ten bucks that day. But you have to be careful you don't end up buying things you don't normally use.

    www.GreenerPastures--ACityGirlGoesCountry.blogspot.com

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  3. I used to use coupons (life got busy around April and I haven't gotten back into the swing of things)--I never got $150 of groceries for $10 but I often did really well to mix and match coupons and weekly store sales. Often my 'before coupons/store discount card' amount was $80 and I paid $50!

    Must get back into it.....(check out Money Saving Mom for more details--she's got some good info too)!

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  4. I always wish I could get in the knack of using coupons. I remember when Kroger use to have triple coupon day and my mom would have two stuffed buggies full of food for $100.
    I really think it all boils down to this simple idea: There are loyal coupon users and those of us who just don't have the patience.

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  5. I love saving money...I consider it sport :-) That said, I don't get a paper here in Floyd so coupons are hard to come by.

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  6. I was just thinking. The reason I have a hard time using coupons is because even with my snazzy Wal-Mart glasses, I can't read them! It takes forever for me to find the expiration date, the words are so small. THAT'S what frustrates me. If I could read them easier, I could go faster and so I'd use them more.

    www.GreenerPastures--ACityGirlGoesCountry.blogspot.com

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  7. I love seeing how much I saved and then shoving the receipt in my husband's face who wouldn't be caught dead using coupons. I think the most I ever saved in one trip was $48. I remember when there was triple coupons up to a dollar when Harris Teeter was in town. Once they left the other stores got rid of it.

    I just saved $174 on a pair of sunglasses from Lenscrafter which I got for $89!

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  8. I used to coupon. Now I find our buying habits have changed and we don't use enough coupon stuff to justify the time. But back in the day I loved couponing. Definitely a sport!

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  9. You can get free coupons, online coupons, discount coupons from www.clickmycoupon.com and get discounts on the items that you purchase.

    ReplyDelete

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