Couponing

[jnw]

I ran across some videos of people do hauls of several hundreds dollars of stuff and getting it all for free with coupon combos.

Is this really worth the time? It seems like it'd be very time consuming.

Here's a video of someone explaining how to get started doing digital couponing and wow it just seems overwhelming lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwUN0LANktI

I'd like to save money on groceries and what but not too sure how much I could save with this approach.  We don't buy processed foods and don't use many hygeine and cleaning products etc.. 

[englishteacheralex]

I'm always up for a good couponing thread, but my $.02 is that couponing is not worth the time. Even apps like Fetch, which seems like the modern equivalent to couponing, are tedious and not really worth the time. I tried Fetch for about 6 months and finally deleted it in disgust.

I find that keeping a mental price book and buying in bulk when things go on sale is a better strategy than couponing. Coupons are almost always for national brands, which are often more costly than store brands even with the coupon.

I make exception for the weekly grocery circular, which I always look through to familiarize myself with weekly sales. The coupons in those circulars can be ok, although often they aren't even coupons. I also kind of like Target's Circle app, because it clues me into deals, and I can save the coupons on the app, so they automatically come up when I buy the items.

[seattlecyclone]

I make exception for the weekly grocery circular, which I always look through to familiarize myself with weekly sales.

Same. Reading the weekly supermarket ads can be a real money saver, combined with a price book (mental or otherwise). When foods you like are offered at a price well below the usual amount, put them on your shopping list and center your meal planning around them. Anything where they limit the amount you can buy at that price is likely a loss leader and therefore a prime candidate for your list. For example I see the supermarket I frequently shop at is offering asparagus for 97¢/lb this week. We don't usually eat a lot of asparagus, but we'll gladly work it into a few meals at that price. They're offering butter for $1.97/lb (limit 2 lbs), a price definitely worth taking advantage of. A particular variety of bread is offered at $1.49 per loaf, also a good price these days. There's a brand of pimento-stuffed olives I like that normally costs something like $5/jar but it's $1.49 this week. I'll stock up on a few at that price.

[jnw]

Same. Reading the weekly supermarket ads can be a real money saver, combined with a price book (mental or otherwise).

Yeah this exactly what I do currently.  Weekly Supermarket Ads and Price Book :)

I do however see these people on youtube get loads of stuff for free it's crazy.. but it seems like a lot of work and unnecessary space taken in home, because most of the stuff is unnecessary perhaps -- or even unhealthy to eat (processed foods and junk foods etc.).
e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2C_d66Fadk

[seattlecyclone]

The way you can get stuff for free with the coupons is (generally) to cross-reference store sales with manufacturer coupons that may have been issued weeks ago. Every once in a while you'll see an item offered for the same price (or less) than the discount from some manufacturer coupon, so you get a free item. Doing that cross-referencing yourself is a lot of work. There exist blogs where they'll do most of this work for you and share the good deals they see (i.e. take the coupon from the mid-February Sunday paper to XYZ supermarket to get a bottle of shampoo for 49¢ or something). That can take some of the work out of it, but you still need to gather all the coupons and keep up with the blog posts. I've personally fallen out of the habit because it just didn't save that much money.

[jnw]

Yeah I think I rather do some small side gig than mess around all the coupon stuff.   Trying to minimize the qty of stuff that comes into the home as well. Got enough clutter here as is.

Guess I am just looking to be facepunched by someone saying it's a waste of time. I always like stuff for free and sometimes get carried away and spend too much time on it.

[reeshau]

We were seriously into couponing back in the day; looks like when Krystal started, too.  The whole 2x and 3x coupons enabled a lot of free items, but that got loved to death.  Toward the end, we had a Kroger store that had people drive 2 hours to get there, and practically loot the place.  They came in a van-full, and would coordinate to buy the max amount (usually 6 or less) from a cart in the back where they gathered everything the store had.  Sheesh.

While it lasted, we took the crazier personal care items and shopped for our local food pantry.  Who needs 60 toothbrushes?  The food pantry!  That same store was great working with us, when we proved to them we weren't hoarders.

These days, it seems like coupons don't touch store brand prices.  I do hang on to ones I come across, for things where they might go out of stock: i.e. allergy meds in high allergy season.  I might be forced to get the name brand, just to get something, so can blunt that cost.  Also fast food still seems to like coupons, so we keep those in the car in case we might need to get something on the road.

We have not gotten into digital coupons, although we do have store apps where we shop, where those are coordinated / mandatory.

[jnw]

We were seriously into couponing back in the day; looks like when Krystal started, too.  The whole 2x and 3x coupons enabled a lot of free items, but that got loved to death.  Toward the end, we had a Kroger store that had people drive 2 hours to get there, and practically loot the place.  They came in a van-full, and would coordinate to buy the max amount (usually 6 or less) from a cart in the back where they gathered everything the store had.  Sheesh.

While it lasted, we took the crazier personal care items and shopped for our local food pantry.  Who needs 60 toothbrushes?  The food pantry!  That same store was great working with us, when we proved to them we weren't hoarders.

These days, it seems like coupons don't touch store brand prices.  I do hang on to ones I come across, for things where they might go out of stock: i.e. allergy meds in high allergy season.  I might be forced to get the name brand, just to get something, so can blunt that cost.  Also fast food still seems to like coupons, so we keep those in the car in case we might need to get something on the road.

We have not gotten into digital coupons, although we do have store apps where we shop, where those are coordinated / mandatory.

Wow, that's a crazy story!  Looting the store  :) lol.

I guess Ibotta and Shopkick are two good apps.  I installed them both.

[lhamo]

If you aren't bothered by the fact that they are tracking and selling the data they accumulate about  your shopping habits, then the digital apps for the major grocers can save you a lot via their coupons and other targeted deals.  I use Fred Meyer (Kroger subsidiary) as our main store and supplement with Safeway/Albertsons loss leaders.  One nice thing about the grocer coupons is that, unlike the mfg ones, they often are for staples like veggies, meat, and dairy and/or their cheaper house brands.  So you can still save quite a bit even if you don't buy a lot of processed foods. 

We also typically end up saving $10-12/month on a tank of gas by accumulating fuel points through our shopping at Fred Meyer.  Over half of the year they seem to offer 2-4x points if you shop on a particular day (usually Friday, or Friday-Sunday in the early summer), and they regularly have 2-4x or 100-500 bonus points if you buy certain gift cards.  So while our grocery spending is typically in the $300-500/month range, we can usually get to or over 1000 fuel points (=-$1.00/gallon on gas) in a month.  Oh, you can also get an extra 50 points a week for filling out the shoppers survey, so that helps, too.

Re: time investment, I don't find it takes an unreasonable amount of time.  In our area the sales/coupon deals run Weds-Tues.  They often have a preview of the circular up on Tuesday for the following week.  So I'll have a quick look at it then and make a mental note of what coupons I want to load for that week, and then do that on the app or on my laptop while I am making my shopping list.  You can sort coupons by type or by newest  to get the current deals to pop up at the top.  I probably only spend 15-20 minutes planning my shopping every week, and I typically get anywhere from 15-50% off "regular" prices -- some of that is just the lower price they give you on a lot of things when you use the shoppers card (and they collect/sell your data), but probably at least 1/2 of it is from coupons.

[Sibley]

Yeah I think I rather do some small side gig than mess around all the coupon stuff.   Trying to minimize the qty of stuff that comes into the home as well. Got enough clutter here as is.

Guess I am just looking to be facepunched by someone saying it's a waste of time. I always like stuff for free and sometimes get carried away and spend too much time on it.

Nothing is free. There is always a cost. In this case, its time.

[Catbert]

I use to literally cut coupons back when they came with the Sunday newspaper.  It was worth it when my local grocery store would double coupons.  A $1 coupon was worth $2 and would make many things free or almost free.  Once double couponing went away, it became useless for me.

I do have the Safeway app and buy their loss leaders.

[Archipelago]

If you shop at Aldi, pretty much everything is on sale and without needing a single coupon lol.

[jnw]

I like following video made yesterday, a coupon haul from Walgreens.  She tells you what to buy and what digital coupons / rebate apps to use.  She picked up a bunch of tp/paper towels, air freshener and cleaning product for like $2.80 total.  I think the total was like $28 something. 

https://youtube.com/shorts/uQR204A4X_s?feature=share

I might try to do this today.. buy exactly what she bought for $2.80 :)  See if it works.

I imagine she does videos like this almost every day, so I subscribed.  See if I can build up a stockpile of stuff for pennies on the dollar :)

EDIT: bleh, I installed the Walgreens app and looked at the $7 storewide cash back coupons and well they say they are only for ALLERGY and COSMETIC products.   So I don't know what coupon she is referring to ... maybe they change daily I dunno.   She uploaded the video yesterday.   All the other coupons are there from both Walgreens app and coupons.com.

[K_in_the_kitchen]

I grew up with my mom using paper coupons so I did the same when I left home, but eventually I found it far cheaper to just buy unprocessed and minimally processed foods (flour, beans, rice, produce, etc.) and not bother with coupons.  I used them again when I had babies, as there was a store that doubled coupons and sold the organic baby food we sometimes used.  I haven't seen a store offer double coupons in 15+ years.

Probably a decade ago or so I followed bloggers who would list all of the CVS deals and tell you which coupons to clip so you could combine them with ExtraBucks and get things for free (or better).  But it was more work than I really had time for.

These days I have a good idea of where I can get the best prices on the things we buy, and I combine that knowledge with buying in bulk and looking for loss leaders and other good sales.  But I'm no longer looking to spend the absolute least amount of money on food buy spending huge amounts of time going to multiple stores each week.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

We try to buy the items we need when they are on sale (store wide sale). I also take a quick skim through the store's app (Safeway, local store, etc) before I shop to see if anything we need has a digital coupon. Finally, when I get home, I usually look through iBotta to see if they have offers on anything. Today is a good example - I have a wicked cold & wanted to pick up some Mucinex. (Have you priced cold medicine, lately?! My normal stuff wasn't working well enough.) When I got home, I saw that iBotta had a $2 offer for Mucinex. Took a picture of the receipt & earned $2 back. I particularly like that app, because you can manage everything after the fact, which for me, I find doesn't impact my shopping. I also snap a picture of all receipts to Fetch, which gives you a piddly amount for every receipt, but often also has brand multipliers.

I spend maybe 10 minutes on these tasks, once per week.

[ChickenStash]

I use the coupon function in the app for the chain grocery near me but that's about it. Most things I see with coupons are things I shouldn't buy (unhealthy processed junk) or things I don't buy. It's annoying to scroll past all the crud to get the 2-3 that might be useful every week.

Rather than coupons, I just watch for sales on things that store or freeze well and stock up when I can.

[jnw]

I found that dollar tree is the best deal on any OTC medicines.  (tyleonol, aspirin, excedrin, benedryl, tums etc..)  E.g. Mucinex for $1.25:

https://www.dollartree.com/valuhealth-mucus-relief-15ct-packs/334118

[jnw]

This Fetch Rewards app is pretty cool.  I just scanned a receipt for some laundry detergent my BF just bought from Walmart.  It was $9.73 with tax.  I got 50 reward points which is 5 cents.  $0.05/9.73 = 0.5% cashback. I used a sams gift card I bought at sam's with discover it card for a 10% cash back -- normally 5% cash back but 1st year w/ them it's double cash back, so 10% cashback.  So the total cashback is 10.5% between Discover It and Fetch Rewards.  I'll see if there are any other apps I can use to scan the receipts to squeeze more money out of it :)

EDIT: Hrmm. only got 0.2% back with Fetch Rewards on another $66 walmart receipt. Bleh, lol.

[englishteacheralex]

Yeah, Fetch starts out ok, but as you use it more it stops being very good. Then if you take a break, they give you a bunch of bonus points to entice you back in. I lost interest. It was taking forever to get anywhere.

[reeshau]

Yeah, Fetch starts out ok, but as you use it more it stops being very good. Then if you take a break, they give you a bunch of bonus points to entice you back in. I lost interest. It was taking forever to get anywhere.

Sounds like just about every free-to-play game I've ever seen...

[jnw]

Okay this was my first attempt at this.  I just did a couponing haul from Walmart.

I got the info from this video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY0z_9PJKFM  and I put it all in a spreadsheet before I left.  I'll keep a little spreadsheet for each to make sure I get all the rebates.  I put it in Google Sheets so I can see it at home on my desktop and to view it in the store on my phone.

With the Ibotta, Coupons.com, Shopmium & Alexa apps, I earned enough rebates to cover all of the following plus about $1.44.  So I was essentially paid $1.44 to go get the following items for free.  About 75 cents in auto fuel so net gain was about 70 cents and all the items.

Sometimes you get items just to make money even though you won't use them.  Like the Splenda was $4.76; I can't stand the stuff but I bought it because I got $8 in rebates on it between Ibotta, coupons.com, Alexa & Shopmium.  So I'll have a pile of stuff I won't ever use over time and I'll just gift it all at once to some person on Buy Nothing facebook group.

Here is a photo of what I got.  Of the stuff below I will use the hair dye, this is the brand/product# (4SM) I've used for years.  Each one is now $10.97 at Walmart plus tax, so I am glad to have this for free.   I haven't made my mind up about the L'Oreal Hydra Fresh Toner yet; I did put it on my face and it smells good (never used it before) -- but I am getting 2 x $5 rebates for that $5.36 purchase.  The Air Wick empty oil warmers, I got them for free basically, with a $4 rebate coupon.   There is another rebate at walgreens to basically get 2 free bottles of air wick refill oil whcih I can use in the warmers I bought.  I never used air freshener here before and will never pay for it again, but I might as well try it out, if I don't like it, I'll give it away on Buy Nothing.



Overall I am up $11.44 on my couponing adventure due to $5 sign up bonus for Ibotta and Shopkick I believe.  I might have a few more sign up bucks as well from the other apps.  I installed quite a few apps today.

I am keeping  a running total of couponing run expenses and rebates in my personal finance software and my goal is always to keep it free or preferably make money off of it to offset other legitimate grocery expenses..  The coupon expenses and rebates (offset) accounts are under Expenses:Groceries in my account (category) tree.



I learned a few things with this run.  One is to go to the big Walmart instead of Neighborhood Walmart.. missed deals on items that weren't there or out of stock -- e.g. U by Kotex.  Also learned Dollar Tree closes here at 9PM not 10Pm (Alexa lied to me lol) -- missed out on the colgate mouthwash/toothpaste combo stuff.. basically would of had 6 of those for free plus an extra $4.50 (money maker purchase I guess is what you call this).  (Dollar Tree is next to Walmart where I live.)

EDIT: So I subscribed to the Youtube channel mentioned above and also a few others who do the same thing. So each day I'll see these "money maker" couponing hauls and I'll take advantage of it if it seems worthwhile.

EDIT #2: I'll link my Google Couponing Spreadsheet here by tomorrow or so.  I'll keep it up to date with the latest runs I'm doing, so anyone here can refer to it any time to see if it's worthwhile to take advantage of the same haul.

EDIT #3:  Ibotta and Alexa were instant rebates.  Within 5 mins of submitting on Alexa, I got an email from Amazon saying $8 has been credited to my Amazon Gift Card.  Shopmium and Coupons.com are still pending.  I read Shopmium takes a couple days and Coupons.com up to a week.

[ender]

For me a big downside is... if I wasn't going to buy it anyways is it even worth it?

[jnw]

For me a big downside is... if I wasn't going to buy it anyways is it even worth it?

Right I am thinking that as well :) The free hair dye was worth it though this time :)

I see a lot of people doing these money maker hauls getting a ton of deodarant sticks, spray on deodarant, body wash, toothpaste, makeup etc.. They probably have enough for twenty lifetimes lol.  I can only think they probably sell all the excess at the flea market or something.

Yeah this is just an experiment for me.  It's sort of fun to get a bunch of stuff for free. Never in my life have I done the couponing thing like this before lol.  I'll probably get bored of it really soon perhaps.

[K_in_the_kitchen]

For me a big downside is... if I wasn't going to buy it anyways is it even worth it?

This was the same thing I found myself thinking when I gave the whole "free stuff and money maker" game a try.  Yes, I would donate the things I didn't need to the food bank, but I couldn't help but think that many of the items were things that nobody needed.  While I'm glad for @jnw that they were able to get the hair dye they use for free (because they choose to use it), to me that entire haul is a pile of unnecessary stuff.  And it takes so much time to play the game.  I eventually found my time better used to learn to make things that I used to buy.

I want to point these things out without it being an attack on @jnw, as they didn't create the game or the products.  I think the big question is why are these items the things people playing the game can get for free or as money makers.  Are they things we as human beings need?  Or are they part of a marketing machine hell bent on creating false needs for their products in order to make money for corporations?  Are they preying on us, making us feel less than for being normal human beings?

The air fresheners create plastic forever waste.  Also, according to UMass (and many other sources), The use of air fresheners is associated with elevated levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, and xylenes, in indoor air. These VOCs are often difficult to smell in the air, but they can irritate the eyes, nose, and throat, as well as cause headaches and nausea.  Alternatives: I live in an old house, so using air fresheners would be tempting.  Instead I open the windows when the weather is good.  I clean up messes with baking soda and/or vinegar to eliminate odors.  I bake when people are coming over.  I occasionally burn 100% beeswax candles.  I boil a bit of free citrus in water (I live in a citrus town with plenty of backyard fruit available from neighbors, or I just boil leftover peels).  And the whole family knows to turn on the exhaust fan in the bathroom.

Splenda is sucralose, and the harmful effects of using sucralose are piling up.  I've avoided it from the beginning and now there are concrete, respected studies pointing out the dangers.  I wouldn't choose to buy this even if they paid me back because I don't want to create demand for such a harmful product, and I wouldn't donate it to a food bank, forcing it on disadvantaged people.  Alternatives: I use real sugars (cane sugar, honey, maple syrup) and limit my intake.  I think this is the best option for me as a person who doesn't currently have diabetes but certainly has a family risk.

I'm not against skincare, but I'm not going to seek out free products that aren't what I already use, creating forever plastic waste.

As for the hair dye, it is unknown whether personal exposure is carcinogenic, although I take seriously the research that has concluded that workplace exposure to hair dye is carcinogenic.  But even for personal use, it is a choice to dump harmful chemicals into the environment.  What goes down the drain at home or in the salon eventually ends up in our streams, rivers, oceans, and yes, our drinking water.  Alternative: I choose not to color my hair.  But to be transparent, I am in my 50s and still have so few silvers that most people don't see them at all in my brunette hair (they are there and have multiplied since the beginning of the pandemic).  I might have made a different choice if I had started greying at a young age and felt it impacted my earning ability, but even then I would have chosen fully natural henna.

[JupiterGreen]

In full disclosure, I have a boatload of childhood trauma that is linked to "traditional gender roles" and in this context couponing always fell to the lady of the house. So I have a serious aversion to couponing (and a lot of other busywork forced on women throughout history). I have occasionally used one, but I generally feel that using them is participating in, and propping up the patriarchy, so I avoid them. My husband uses them and that's just fine with me, he doesn't have the baggage associated with them. I just do most of my shopping at Aldi and call it done.

[englishteacheralex]

I really respect the hustle, jnw!

But I have to say I agree with K in the kitchen on preferring to avoid buying things at all rather than to get free stuff via apps/coupons. I've spent a lot of time and energy to mentally train myself to just not buy stuff as much as possible unless it has proven to be absolutely necessary. For example, I stopped my box hair dye addiction back in 2020. I have had quite a bit of gray since my twenties, but I'm lucky enough for ageism to not really be an issue for me professionally (one of the silver linings to working in education, a chronically understaffed and underpaid field!). I'm also lucky that I like my gray pattern, which I think is distinctive and pretty, and I do spend quite a bit annually on really nice haircuts to show the gray off to its full advantage. I love the lady who does my hair and she's worth every penny.

Hate to be a killjoy, but I do like the messaging about being a more mindful consumer rather than couponing. But have fun with it! It was super fun to see your haul, jnw.

[jnw]

I don't care about gender roles and what anyone else thinks.  I just want to save money and perhaps do it in a way that doesn't take much time, if that is possible.

I wouldn't mind making an extra $100 a month in money makers if I can to help offset my grocery expenses -- I buy all whole foods by the way and make everything from scratch.  I am not into processed foods and all this marketed unnecessary stuff though -- I'll donate what I don't use.

I rarely use any kind of this stuff here at home except for the hair dye.  A tube of $1.00 toothpaste last us months.  We wash our hair maybe once or twice per week at most and the shampoo/conditoner lasts a long time.  We maybe do two loads of laundry per week.   I see a lot of basically free axe/dove body wash and deodorant and maybe my BF will like that.

Overall I think it will ultimately be a waste of time, but I'll give it a shot.   I was a mindful consumer until I saw these haul videos lol where people actually made money doing it :)   I think I'll do it just to stock up on a bunch of free detergent, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, hair dye etc., donating the excess.  Build a small stockpile for a few years then do again later perhaps.  Will save maybe $200 per year I dunno.

[JupiterGreen]

I really respect the hustle, jnw!

But I have to say I agree with K in the kitchen on preferring to avoid buying things at all rather than to get free stuff via apps/coupons. I've spent a lot of time and energy to mentally train myself to just not buy stuff as much as possible unless it has proven to be absolutely necessary. For example, I stopped my box hair dye addiction back in 2020. I have had quite a bit of gray since my twenties, but I'm lucky enough for ageism to not really be an issue for me professionally (one of the silver linings to working in education, a chronically understaffed and underpaid field!). I'm also lucky that I like my gray pattern, which I think is distinctive and pretty, and I do spend quite a bit annually on really nice haircuts to show the gray off to its full advantage. I love the lady who does my hair and she's worth every penny.

Hate to be a killjoy, but I do like the messaging about being a more mindful consumer rather than couponing. But have fun with it! It was super fun to see your haul, jnw.

Please start a post about this! I spend thousands a year on my hair. It is an embarrassing line in my budget that I know I could entirely cut out if only I had the will. I don't wear makeup or engage in the fashion race, but g-damn I just can't seem to give up coloring my hair. I'm actually concerned with age discrimination more than anything. We need a grey fox thread here.

[englishteacheralex]

There actually was a thread on the forum about gray hair here, but it was from quite a few years ago. There are a ton of resources and support groups online for women who are growing out their gray.

Maybe it has been enough time that it wouldn't be redundant to start a new thread about going gray. I'll go ahead and start one...it's a topic I feel strongly about. Hope it helps you.

[reeshau]

I just do most of my shopping at Aldi and call it done.

I really wish we could do Aldi and be done.  Our primary grocery in Ireland was Lidl, Aldi's main competitor in Germany.  (And now on the East coast, you lucky people!)  But although the format is very similar, it se3ms like the US stores are just...less than they are in Ireland.  Nor quite all the fruit and veg we want.  No in-store bakery.  (Yes, a luxury)  much less choice for meat & dairy.  Hardly any spices.  On and on.

So, we do go to Aldi; we get cereal, and snack for DS, and some of everything.  And a lot of European treats...  but it never seems to get us to the point of not having to finish up meals with other shopping.  So....bleh.

Not pushing back on the fact you do shop there, and get it done.  Aldi hands-down get low cost right, and they are taking the UK and Ireland by storm because of it.  I just wish they could evolve their US stores to compete at their global level.

Unless you're counting Trader Joe's as Aldi Nord's secret intrusion.  Of course, not so much on the cheap side.  But proof that it can be done.

[jnw]

Personally, lately I am finding Aldi prices pretty pathetic, not beating Walmart; on average about the same price. I really do have to shop around with a price book. 

Aldi was great at one point and now I think it is perhaps becoming "enshittified" -- just learned the "enshitification" word the other day regarding Amazon lol.

I am really impressed with my local no-name discount grocer on meats.. getting 30-60% discounts compared to Walmart, Sams & Aldi.  I buy them in bulk and deep freeze.

I did take advantage of the Aldi sale on butter though , $2.49 instead of $3.98 -- bought a dozen packages and threw in freezer.

[jnw]

Lol I give up already on this couponing thing.  Totally time consuming.  Another bad experience today with stores not having stuff in stock.  Although I didn't lose any money today and gained some free dish soap and toothpaste, it just isn't worth the time to me.

[reeshau]

Another bad experience today with stores not having stuff in stock. 

These things are related.  If you have trouble even keeping things in stock, you don't need price promotion to stimulate demand.  While things are nothing like peak pandemic shortages, prices and shelf coverage signal things are not anywhere near pre-pandemic conditions yet.

[JupiterGreen]

Personally, lately I am finding Aldi prices pretty pathetic, not beating Walmart; on average about the same price. I really do have to shop around with a price book. 

Aldi was great at one point and now I think it is perhaps becoming "enshittified" -- just learned the "enshitification" word the other day regarding Amazon lol.

I am really impressed with my local no-name discount grocer on meats.. getting 30-60% discounts compared to Walmart, Sams & Aldi.  I buy them in bulk and deep freeze.

I did take advantage of the Aldi sale on butter though , $2.49 instead of $3.98 -- bought a dozen packages and threw in freezer.

Interesting, I'll have to do a price check to see if that is happening here. You make a great point to never put your guard down with things like this. I can't tell you how many times I've seen price creep whether it's stores, cell phones, or whatever.

@reeshau the produce at Aldi is pretty much the best in my city and the variety is good enough for our needs. I make my own bread and do spend a good amount of money on King Arthur Bread flour (I buy direct from them because I like their business model and the flour is great). We don't eat meat and barely any dairy so I wouldn't have noticed that. We do have to go elsewhere occasionally for a few items but I find Aldi is good for most of our needs. My DH goes to a discount grocer for a few of the things he likes, but TBH I've never been in that store.

[reeshau]

Just an example of how paying attention pays off, and the cuckoo way some things are these days:

My wife needed some Tylenol.  Went to HEB. (closest grocery, late in the evening)  a 50 count of their brand coated gelcaps was $2.78.  The 100 count was $1.98.  You would think you only want what you need--don't want it to expire.  But literally 50 more weren't just free, but even cheaper.

[jnw]

I know I said I was done with couponing but not so sure. I might be able to eventually make this so it doesn't take too much time, and get us mostly free sundries year round.  I couldn't refuse the following deal -- we were low on body wash and my BF was low on shave cream.

Picked up all the following stuff in photo -- $36.85 retail -- for like $2.50 w/ tax; but then I got a $5 Ibotta bonus on top of that and so I actually made $2.50 and got the stuff for free ($2.50 money maker).



If anyone is interested you can get the above for pretty much free (in w/e scents you like) with Shopkick and Ibotta apps. Also the P&G rebate (on their website) of $15 if $50 spent in 3 months or $5 for $20 spent in 3 months.

[Catbert]

I think what you're doing is fine if you are getting things you need/want and look at it as a fun hobby.  I say hobby because if you figured the cost of your time you wouldn't be making much money.  As K_in_the_Kitchen said more eloquently than I can buying plastic junk just because it's free isn't "fine".

[Cranky]

There are various “deal” sites that help you stack coupons with the store sales. If you check those for your local stores you can get some pretty good deals on toiletries and cleaning products.

I have generally been an Aldi shopper but yeah, their prices are not that great these days. I pick up produce there but I’m doing better with sticking to the loss leaders at the bigger grocery stores for staples. It’s annoying!

[K_in_the_kitchen]

While I do fin Aldi and Walmart prices similar, the experience is incredibly different where I live.  Both take the same amount of time to drive to, but Walmart is always a madhouse and Aldi is never a madhouse.  Parking at Aldi is easy, parking at Walmart is difficult.  Aldi is tidy inside and Walmart has stuff everywhere.  But the biggest thing of all is that I can't go to Walmart without encountering something going on in the parking lot, whether that is fights, people approaching me to beg, drop use, etc.  Aldi is next to a big chain fitness gym and in a center with nicer retail stores, and no one has ever approached me for any reason while I was in the parking lot.

But yeah, sometimes I have to adjust my plans based on produce availability.  My rice recipe for Easter called for fresh parsley, but Aldi didn't have any.  I subbed dried parley that I already had and it was still delicious.  And for some reason my Aldi is often out of bananas.

I don't look for or use paper coupons.  I will pay attention to digital coupons if I'm headed to a store, such as Target or the Safeway affiliate, being careful not to create an artificial need because of a coupon.  Because even if I get something technically for free after the coupons, ibotta, etc. it still takes time to do the work and go to the stores, and gas or electricity to get to the stores if I drive, mental bandwidth to manage inventory of unneeded items, etc.

[billygoatjohnson]

I find coupons are mostly for processed food and unnecessary items.  Or maybe it's a "higher" end product that is unnecessary. So even with a coupon I'm throwing away money. I just shop at Aldi and grab things when on sale.

example: jnws post above with lotions and "special" shave cream. unnecessary crap. I also try to have a small footprint as far as things that end up in the landfill... Even when products are offered to me for free, no thanks, example of that. free bluetooth speaker at car dealership. just junk

[jnw]

I find coupons are mostly for processed food and unnecessary items.  Or maybe it's a "higher" end product that is unnecessary. So even with a coupon I'm throwing away money. I just shop at Aldi and grab things when on sale.

example: jnws post above with lotions and "special" shave cream. unnecessary crap. I also try to have a small footprint as far as things that end up in the landfill... Even when products are offered to me for free, no thanks, example of that. free bluetooth speaker at car dealership. just junk

I posted body wash not lotion. Great deal on that.. basically free and I get $15 back from P&G as well.
 
Also yesterday I picked up 6 packs of schick razors, 4 packages of laundry detergent pods, 6 bottles of shampoo/conditioner, 1 stick of deodarant, all for free.  Not "unnecessary crap".   Also my BF needed that shave cream, he was out.  Last week I got basically for free another 6 bottles of shampoo/conditioner.

After a couple weeks of this couponing, we are stocked up for a year on shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, dish soap, deodarant, razors, body wash, laundry detergent, etc. -- all for free.

I've gotten over $500 worth of goods for free this month since I started this couponing adventure.  And made $62 on top of it all.  It's true I do have to buy stuff which is useless to me if it is a money maker, but it helps reduce the cost of everything overall and I can donate it on Buy Nothing FB group and make someone who can use it happy.



I will say this has been very time consuming the past couple weeks learning all this and researching / putting together the deals.  It's really not worth the time so far to be hoenst.  Hopefully it will get faster.  I imagine I'll only be couponing one month out of the year as well since in that one month I can stock up for the year.

[Josiecat22222]

+1 vote for minimizing consumption as opposed to getting free or cheap plastic crap

Also, not trying to start a fight, but body wash is 100 percent unnecessary. A bar of soap is much cheaper per use and doesn't leave another plastic bottle in the landfill. See also: bar shampoo

[jnw]

+1 vote for minimizing consumption as opposed to getting free or cheap plastic crap

Also, not trying to start a fight, but body wash is 100 percent unnecessary. A bar of soap is much cheaper per use and doesn't leave another plastic bottle in the landfill. See also: bar shampoo

Tho each their own.  If you can handle the lye in bar soap completely sucking you dry then good for you and the environment.  Or do you have to buy lotion in a plastic bottle to augment your bar soap use? Or maybe you are just a very oily person I dunno.  Bar shampoo, that sounds bad.  Do you also use bar conditioner?

[Josiecat22222]

@jnw- not oily. Lye is not only choice. Do some research about bar shampoo w apple cider vinegar rinse. There are many ways to wean yourself off of using large amounts of plastic.  See the thread on reducing plastic. Do not have to use disposable plastic razors, bottles of body wash, detergent, etc. Even if they are "on sale" they are a terrible deal

[jnw]

@jnw- not oily. Lye is not only choice. Do some research about bar shampoo w apple cider vinegar rinse. There are many ways to wean yourself off of using large amounts of plastic.  See the thread on reducing plastic. Do not have to use disposable plastic razors, bottles of body wash, detergent, etc. Even if they are "on sale" they are a terrible deal

They need to work on making a more biodegradable alternative to the current plastic containers.  Yeah it's a concern.  I have no idea why egg suppliers are allowed to use styrofoam containers when cardboard is a good alternative and biodegradable.. I can put a cardboard egg carton in my compost pile for example.   I do try and convserve energy and water and I do try and reduce plastic.  Thankfully I don't buy much processed food at all.. making most everything from scratch.

What laundry detergent do you use?  I guess the boxed detergents would probably be best since the cardboard box composts.

[Josiecat22222]

@jnw, if you want to pm me, I'd be glad to share my bar shampoo and detergent recs! I don't want to derail this thread any more than I already have, lol!

[jnw]

Got my couponing down to 1 weekly trip, as part of a big round circular trip hitting all the couponing & grocery stores I shop at -- a 23 mile round trip.  I make a couponing purchase plan on Tuesday evening and then do my shopping on Wednesdays.  By combining the couponing with my regular grocery shopping trip, it saves on gas.

I am averaging around $100-150 per week in couponing purchases, pretty much getting them for free or just for a few dollars.

I spend a few hours preparing on Tuesday (watching youtube videos of hauls etc.) to come up with a plan; and then on Wednesday it takes around 3-4 hours for all the couponing / grocery shopping -- so some time is involved. (Also the rebate app submissions and all the bookkeeping I do -- I track every penny in gnucash -- probably takes another 90 minutes or so.) But having fun with it for now.  So far since starting this hobby a few weeks ago, I've been paid $68 to go collect $640 in free sundries.

EDIT: Two of my acquisitions which I got today I am proud of:  30ct Finish Quantum Pods (dishwashing detergent)  & 19ct All Free & Clear Mega Pacs (laundry detergent pods) -- all for free :)

EDIT #2:  Currently couponing with CVS and Walmart and that has kept me busy. Quite a bit to learn with regard to CVS couponing.. all the rules etc.. and how things stack, rolling extrabucks etc..  I want to eventually add Walgreens, since I pass by two of them in this 23 mile round trip; but there is a bit to learn with that store as well.   Target could be another one I coupon at after figuring it out as well -- it's in the same 23 mile trip.   (I tried to do my first Walgreens couponing purchase today for Bulldog Shave Gel but unfortnuately they were out of stock -- would of gotten them for 32 cents a piece.)

[couponvan]

I used to be a big couponer-hence my title here. My food pantry was sad to see me go when I moved from IL to VA. I never got back into it in depth in VA, due to health issues. If you have health issues, couponing and rebating for those is worth considering to reduce your annual out-of-pocket costs for insurance. I have one that saves us $3,000 of costs via rebating. Another one I am still in the process of rebating. The program we were using may have ended.

Passionate Penny Pincher posts various scenarios on their websites.

[jnw]

If you have health issues, couponing and rebating for those is worth considering to reduce your annual out-of-pocket costs for insurance. I have one that saves us $3,000 of costs via rebating. Another one I am still in the process of rebating. The program we were using may have ended.

Thanks for sharing. I hope your health issues improve. Can you elaborate more on these?  Not exactly sure what you mean.

[couponvan]

If you have health issues, couponing and rebating for those is worth considering to reduce your annual out-of-pocket costs for insurance. I have one that saves us $3,000 of costs via rebating. Another one I am still in the process of rebating. The program we were using may have ended.

Thanks for sharing. I hope your health issues improve. Can you elaborate more on these?  Not exactly sure what you mean.

Arthritis biologics are expensive-you pay full price at the pharmacy, and your insurance credits you as paying towards your annual expenses. Then you fill out a rebate form with a manufacturer and they give you a rebate for some of your medications costs. So your prescriptions don’t end up costing you as much. It’s a hassle to fill out the paperwork, but it sure does seem worth it when the rebates come in.

I also like liquor mail-in rebates for making wine cheaper. Grocery stores often have rebate tags hanging on the bottles.