Comments on: Extreme Couponing. WOW.

By: Angela

Angela — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 17:32:54 +0000

Sometimes just stocking up on non-perishable items & freezer foods when they are on sale, as opposed to clipping coupons, you can still see huge savings. Cuckoo for Coupon Deals website lists all grocery store deals that she recommends stocking up on each week, and lot’s of deals don’t require coupons.

By: J. Money

J. Money — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 18:40:07 +0000

@Deidre G – Love that site name, haha… good one.
@Chloe A. – I’d be interested in learning more about that too, not that I’d actually go and do it though ;)
@Melissa – Yeah, if you’re not finding anything you actually USE on sale then def. a different story, I agree. Although sometimes I end up picking stuff up I’d normally not get and then actually LIKE it! Usually has to do w/ certain clothes or toys though over food. I pretty much know what I like to eat by now ;) (And speaking of Armani stuff — my fave pants in the world are Armani and when I found them for only $20 (instead of $120) I about lost my mind! haha… bought 3 right then and there and sadly all now have holes and are falling apart…)

By: Melissa

Melissa — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 21:00:45 +0000

I go through the coupons in the paper each weekend, but usually don’t see products that I purchase. It doesn’t make sense to me to buy something I wouldn’t otherwise buy just because it is on sale. Even if I get it for 90% off retail price, I still spent money that I wouldn’t have otherwise spent on something that I wouldn’t otherwise want. My mother is the exact opposite – she delights in buying things that are on sale or marked down so she can gloat about how much money she “saved.” She is particularly triumphant if the thing is name brand and otherwise expensive (“I got an Armani jacket for $5!!!!” “Yes, but it is flourescent green and clashes with itself”, etc.) As a result, our house growing up was bursting at the seams with stuff we never used. It made me nuts. Now I only buy things that we need (or, in the case of dry goods or staples for the freezer, that I know I will use). Most of the time, those things are not on sale via coupons. I do save a couple of dollars a week using them, but nothing to write home about. Even better, though, my house contains only things that I WANT and NEED. It’s a great feeling. To the people who can save 90% off what they wouldn’t otherwise spend at the grocery store: MORE POWER TO THEM!!!!

By: Chloe A.

Chloe A. — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 05:52:25 +0000

Jennifer R. — Please shed a little light on the non-processed food coupons. I’ve seen you defend against nay-sayers, but I haven’t seen any evidence to the contrary (an invitation to check out your fridge doesn’t count.) Believe me, I want to be on your side. But I’ve looked all over and haven’t been able to get any coupons for non-processed items, or any healthy items for that matter. Where do you recommend looking? I’d be so grateful if you could shed some light on this. It would fantastic if you could share a source or two.

By: Deidre G

Deidre G — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 18:57:12 +0000

Did you know you can get all coupons doubled at Kmart this week? A $2 off coupon scans at $4 off! I saw the full list of deals on Cuckoo for Coupon Deals.

By: J. Money

J. Money — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 21:40:55 +0000

YES! I knew it. haha… that is all kinds of awesome. Damn. Wish I would have talked with him more then – I think we just exchanged “what ups” ;) RE: guest posting – sure! Would be interesting to hear how you do that without couponing. Shoot me an email and we’ll go from there: j (at) eliteedgemoney.com – thanks! Will def. see you in real life again soon :)

By: Denise @ Shopper Strategy

Denise @ Shopper Strategy — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 21:34:14 +0000

Yeah – Nathan and I are online buds – he’s an affiliate of mine and I’m an affiliate of his. He’s well aware that he’s considered controversial in the “couponing world”, but he’s a good guy and he means well. He’s in my Blissdom pix here http://cbuz.com/bliss11, and so are you (sort of!). I’d love to do a guest post sometime on “how to save on your grocery budget without using coupons” ;)

By: J. Money

J. Money — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 21:16:01 +0000

Hey Denise! Great meeting/chatting with you too this week – miss it already! :) Thanks for stopping by and dropping some feedback – always great hearing more to the story. That’s so cool you know some of the people on the show too! In fact, there was a guy at the conference that I thought I knew but couldn’t place, and when I just went back to check out the press release at TLC I realized that’s where I saw him!! haha… at least I think. Do you know Nathan? So funny…

And I loved your last line there: “the comfort level that comes from using the savings to pay down consumer debt, and knowing that I will never have a problem feeding my family no matter what the economy brings, is priceless!”

ROCK IT, Girl!!

By: Denise @ Shopper Strategy

Denise @ Shopper Strategy — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 17:18:04 +0000

Hey J$! I enjoyed meeting and talking with you at Blissdom this week, came to visit and just had to chime in on this one since I’m a coupon and deal blogger. I enjoyed the show also, unfortunately I think it just further serves to make couponers look like wackos with nothing better to do. A couple people I know were in the show and they’ve told me that it’s been picked up for 12 more episodes. My biggest problem with the show is that they left out some important info – they only showed where one of the shoppers got their qs (in the dumpster), the others ordered theirs from clipping services but they didn’t include the cost of the qs in their trip. NO store will allow you to use that many coupons in one trip (unless you bring your own camera crew), and the gentleman that bought 1,100 boxes of cereal and 200 toothbrushes had pre-ordered them from his store (shelf clearing is a big no-no for couponers).

I run a business, three blogs, and I’m Chief Exhausted Officer of my family of seven so I have to keep good track of my time and savings to make sure it’s worth it and I’m happy to share those numbers (since Trevor asked!) – last year I bought $15,249.05 worth of groceries and toiletries for only $3,743.84, simply by spending two hours a week matching sales with coupons and prepping for shopping trips (I don’t clip a single q till I need it). That’s a savings of 75% and equates to $110/hour for my time ($11,505 savings / 104 hours). The truly amazing thing is that we eat better now than when we were spending $350/week before we started shopping strategically because the best sales and coupons are typically for the newer or higher dollar items.

On a final note, couponing isn’t for everyone, but even if you’re not interested in going to “extremes” to save 75-90% you can easily save 50+% by buying things in their sale cycles and buying enough to make it to the next cycle (without using qs at all). For example, baking items are always on sale around the winter holidays (flour, vanilla, pumpkin etc) so buy enough to last for 3-4 months, then stock up again during the next big sales around Easter. The trick is finding your happy medium – what is your perfect savings/time/trouble ratio? For me personally, the comfort level that comes from using the savings to pay down consumer debt, and knowing that I will never have a problem feeding my family no matter what the economy brings, is priceless!

By: Sarah

Sarah — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 01:58:54 +0000

Didn’t watch it, but from what I gather these people are definitely the extreme. I use Southern Savers, because she does coupon match ups to the sales each week, and has a shopping list feature, so as I read her site I just click next to each item I’m buying, and then print out my list and off I go. Also, I’ve started using almost 100% online printable coupons. The supply isn’t as good as in the newspaper, but it’s easier to not have to store them. I figure since I’m a SAHM, if I can regularly save $20-50 a week, then it’s the hour I spend reading Southern Savers.