…and I can’t believe I waited until now to do so.
When it comes to shopping for just about anything else, I’m as savvy as they come. I shop around for the best deals, take advantage of cashback bonuses, and generally save as much money as possible. However, when it comes to grocery shopping, I usually just walk into the store, pick up what I need, pay full price and leave. Well, not anymore.
It actually started last week. I get a Red Plum delivered each week and usually just throw it out considering it as junk mail. In fact, I’ve tried for months to get it to stop coming, but have given up on that. Finally, I looked through it last week and noticed there were 5-6 coupons in there for things I usually buy and for the first time in my life, I clipped some coupons.
The initial thought of saving money was good, finding out about coupon doubling was amazing, but nothing compared to when I found out you could buy coupons in bulk online. Now, I’m addicted and I hate myself for not even considering coupons in the past. Think of all the wasted savings!
Either way I’m a week in and have used dozens of coupons already with a big pile of coupons just waiting to be used. Here are some of my savings thus far:
$27.20 off Paper Towels
$22.50 off Toothpaste
$17.00 off Misc. Food
$5.00 off Tissues
$3.00 off Cleaning supplies
That’s nearly $75 in savings! I can’t believe I didn’t do this before! If you shop anywhere and don’t take the time to find deals, you’re just throwing money away.
Websites I Use for Coupons
Here’s where I’ve been getting coupons from lately.
- CouponsThingsByDede.com – This is the site where I buy all of my coupons. They have the best prices and the fastest shipping. Spend some time and look through what Dede has to offer. A $3.50 order here saved me over $50 on groceries. I guarantee you’ll place an order here by the end of the day.
- HotCouponWorld.com – God the people here are amazing at saving money. The sheer amount of saving information from deals to coupons to cashback is awesome. Be sure to register an account there and find the forum for your grocery store to find information on how to save the most money.
- Ebay.com – When all else fails, I turn to eBay to find coupons. They cost a little more here, but it still amounts to substantial savings. Be sure to deal with reputable sellers only!
Now, I’m new to this and I’m sure some of you out there are way more experienced than I am. Be sure to leave a comment or two below with any advice (where to find coupons, websites to watch, etc.) you can offer and if you aren’t already using coupons or shopping around for deals, well then get to it already!
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12 Responses
Holy hell, man! More than $22 savings on…toothpaste?? What did you do, buy a truckload?
Hahahaha … I found that last comment funny
It reminds me of my father who lived thru WWII in a country devastated by the war. He hoarded toothpaste ’til kingdom come.
It was only 15 tubes of toothpaste haha. Came down to about 15 cents per tube. Much better than the $3+ I was spending before.
couponsthingsbydede.com is not acessable when you click on it.
Thanks Cathy. I’ve updated the links.
Thanks for the mention of our site Hotcouponworld.com in your post. We love trying to help folks save tons of money by using coupons. I know personally I save thousands of dollars each month (comparing if I bought an item at full non-sale price) but actually am able to save $200-$300 in my savings account each month. With a family of 6 plus 2 cats and 2 dogs we budget $400 a month for all things groceries (food, health & beauty items, cleaning supplies, paper goods, pet food and litter, etc) but I usually only spend $100-$200 a month and can pocket the rest of my budget for bills, vacation, or whatever!
As you get better at it you soon find that toothpaste (and many more items) are routinely free after coupon. I have not had to pay for toothpaste, toilet paper, shampoo, body wash, deodorant, and lots of other goodies in years. And buying 15 tubes of toothpaste is not a lot, it is called a stockpile. Now when you run out of toothpaste you won’t have to go to the store and pay full price because you have it on hand at $0.15 a tube. – Keep up the good work!
Heidi-
Thanks for that comment. While I haven’t found anything for free yet, I did manage an 82% discount today on $40 worth of food. Knocked the total down to around $7. Not bad considering last week I would have paid the full $40!
HotCouponWorld is great too. It’s an incredibly valuable resource and I wish you the best of luck with running the site.
The free stuff will come with time! Keep at it. And 82% savings is great. I personally aim for 70% savings or more, so that is great. I tell you you will be hooked when they pay you to shop. LOL
Did I ever think I would be commenting on coupons but here I am. Now some women make a career of this and not in a trite way but as a necessity. It takes a lot of time to work the system. However I found myself needing to clip coupons and thought I would take a look. Well I am a family of one with a cat and you have to be so aware of not buying things you would not normally.
I can recommend CouponMom.com to begin with. This woman is an expert and gives away her ideas for free. This is the amazing part is that women are helping women in finding good deals.
Yes Steve, we do have to be careful of the free trial offers-they exist but not as much as you would think.
I have just found a group of women that help one another. For example I need cat food and cat litter–these little gems of sites inform you how to use double coupons and buy one get one free. I am no way an expert in this nor do I have a big family but I am constantly amazed by what I read and when I talk to the cashiers they confirm what I have been told.
Now my favorite is Target pharmacy! I always used a small neighborhood pharmacy but they were struggling and sold their retail customers to Target. Ok I was not thrilled but I tried them and am absolutely committed. Check your Sunday papers for the Target Pharmacy coupon. You bring it in with a new prescription and you receive a $10.00 gift card. Now that is not a one time thing-every time you have a new prescription this applies. Plus their pharmacists are incredible and accessible.
There are so many of these free-yes free –websites telling you how to work the coupons. Apparently Rite Aid, Walgreens and CVS are favorites but I have not been able to figure out the way to use it to my advantage-I think it is more for larger families but I do know they take Plum Coupons, Manufactures coupons and store coupons all together and they even tell you who to call if you are denied by a cashier not familiar with these deals.
I also signed up for the Purina Pet food site. Hershey’s and literally any of these home pages as you will get coupons and free offers.
I will not bore you anymore but a few more places to look: http://www.ppgazette.com/; http://www.mysavings.com/free-product-samples/newest-free-samples/ ( be careful of this site-great deals but not always)
Then there is http://www.harristeeter.com/–what I love about this site is that I get a weekly email that I can use as a grocery list and then combine with coupons–that is what I am learning to do.
So check your favorite grocery stores, hair products, you name it you will find a web site where samples are offered–don’t forget Ulta.com.
Wow I just amazed myself I was not aware I had learned so much yet!
Have fun!
WOW. Thanks to everyone for these links to grocery savings. I will try each one and report back. I knew there were alternatives to the crap coupons that arrive -unbidden- in our newspapers every week offering ‘cents off sugar’ which never provide what’s WANTED, but are ALL about what mf’g wants purchased.
O-so tasty-non-refrigerated pudding-in-a-cup injected with Number 4 yellow, anyone?? … yummmm!
Tiya Roberson-Bolling is a local grocery maven who conducts grocery/couponing workshops and recently, WCNC-TV in NC hosted her for a live on-air blog. http://www.becentsable.net is her favorite and http://www.couponsuzy.com and http://www.afullcup.com are additional do-it-yourselfers.
‘The Grocery Game website is different. It’s not a scam, but many say they prefer to do the ‘work’ of couponing themselves and see no need to spend about $10 every 2 months for a service to do the research of identifying both the coupons and sales specific to one’s local area.
If you don’t want to sort through the considerable paper and info however, you’re in luck. It’s a great and easy to use site. Be sure to have about 3-4 weeks of coupons/grocery sales newspaper inserts saved up before trying them.
Thanks!!
Never thought about buying coupons, but it does make sense. Will have to check this out!
My niece sells coupons through eBay. Her ratings are 99.9% positive.
http://stores.ebay.com/Danielles-Coupon-Paradise