User Tag List

Page 2 of 3 FirstFirst 1 2 3 LastLast
Results 16 to 30 of 31
Like Tree15Likes

Thread: How much do the "Extreme Couponers" really save?

  1. #16
    Smart Canuck MillieH's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Location
    Niagara Region
    Posts
    4,745
    Likes Received
    7412
    Trading Score
    167 (100%)




    The coupon is good for 3.99, they actually do exist and are good on 1 product. ... thats the whole point I'm trying to make, you need to think outside the box..


    Quote Originally Posted by blueeyetea View Post
    What are the brand of these coupons? Where do you get them? I can't say I've come across them.

    I also don't understand the logic of buying a box of cereal for $2.97 to get a $1 off soy milk (soy milk is usually priced between $3.99 and $4.49 in my area, so $3.99 coupons wouldn't exist unless the coupon was for more than 2.). The cereal most likely contains wheat, so we wouldn't be buying it to start with. It means spending $2.97 for the cereal, plus $3.99 for the soy milk minus $1.00, so the total expense is $5.96 to keep the milk and donate the cereal. Even with the $2.00 coupon on the cereal, the total now comes down to $3.96 (2.97-2.00+3.99-$1.00), 3 pennies cheaper than what I'd pay for the soy milk without coupons.
    Tbites and jasperandchar like this.
    Be sure to click like and post a brag if you get the deal.. It makes my day!!! Flattery may just get you more deals

    Be sure to double check your flyer, points and cashback offers~ YMMV

  2. #17
    Smart Canuck glowworm2k's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Vanier, ON
    Posts
    2,722
    Likes Received
    2520
    Trading Score
    33 (100%)




    I do mostly sales for my groceries - we don't eat most processed and packaged foods, I make my own almond milk, and we rarely eat meat (never ground beef - after 4 years of working in a homeless shelter, the smell of ground beef cooking is enough to turn my stomach!). We also do buy some food at costco which helps with the savings on good quality meats that would otherwise be beyond our budget - there is fresh lake trout for supper tonight that wouldn't be on our table otherwise. I can't give a savings estimate as I've only ever shopped sales since I moved out of home at age 18, but I know that I spend over $250 per month less on food than my Dad, who is also feeding a family of two (but he has ridiculously expensive tastes and eats out of boxes a lot - not good seeing as how he's a stroke survivor). When I get some coupons for stuff I use frequently, the savings do go up, but probably not more than 10% of my grocery bill.

    Household necessities like laundry detergent are another story, although I rarely need to buy these as we use very little of them.

  3. #18
    Smart Canuck glowworm2k's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Vanier, ON
    Posts
    2,722
    Likes Received
    2520
    Trading Score
    33 (100%)




    ^^ Not to say I don't do a lot of laundry, lol; I find that if you use half the detergent and a few shakes of Borax, the laundry's cleaner and my pocketbook's happier.

  4. #19
    Smart Canuck
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    BC
    Posts
    3,802
    Likes Received
    3606
    Trading Score
    245 (100%)




    I would say 35% because I can stack. I did buy 30 boxes of Vector cereal for $2 each and each box had a breakfast PIN which I am using to get 30 coupons for free Silk Almod. My son inhales Vector and my DD drinks a carton of Silk a week so this was a fantastic deal for me. The cereal expires in November. It has been removed from the boxes and all the cereal bags are in a Huge Rubbermaid bin
    Last edited by DianneS; Mon, May 7th, 2012 at 08:19 PM.
    wolfwoman likes this.

  5. #20
    Canadian Guru hollyquaiscer's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Where love grows
    Posts
    15,848
    Likes Received
    20464
    Trading Score
    109 (100%)




    I can honestly say that I same a minimum of 45%, probably higher. I purchase most of my meat at a 50% discount (helps when the butcher tells you what time to show up) at the store I go to, they do a 50% mark down when it is a 5 day best before date, so plenty of time to get it wrapped properly and into the freezer. I i'm always on a lookout for any dairy coupons, the fresh veggie coupons (a lot with the VH sauces) and I get several fpc's a year for fresh veggies as well as my bff has a huge garden I pick from and freeze. Since it is only dh and I know, i stock up if a great sale is coming and I am running low on something, and I can stack, so I usually will have a 4 month supply of any given item. I bake my own bread and we don't eat very much processed food, I prefer to make it all, and since I'm a celiac as well, it's safer for me to make most of my food.
    We all need a little sunshine every now and then

  6. #21
    Canadian Guru Midnightly's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Victoria
    Posts
    12,378
    Likes Received
    6396
    Trading Score
    70 (100%)




    i think it's all a balance.. on these extreme couponing shows you look at the stockpiles that could fill a small grocery store.. but realistically are they going to get through ALL of that before it goes off? products have expiry dates.. if conditioner sits too long is can separate, does a person really need a wall of toilet paper or paper towel to last them years?? do you need 100+ bottles of cola? it does have a limited shelf life and goes flat.. i've pulled away a fair bit from couponing and being careful with the stockpile i don't want to end up having items i've purchased (even for a highly reduced rate) to go to expire because i simply wasn't able to get through it all before it went off
    Insane likes this.
    When life hands you Edward Cullen...throw him back and demand Eric Northman....

  7. #22
    Canadian Genius cheekysaver's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Spinning tunes and being happy!
    Age
    53
    Posts
    5,023
    Likes Received
    7624
    Trading Score
    5 (100%)




    I totally agree with ^^^^ you lol. even if the items are free and your paying tax and you buy a 10 year supply and it is off in 2 years... well that was a waist of your time and $ and the only people that benifit are the stores and the government.

  8. #23
    Senior Canuck Queen_Bee's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    across the river
    Posts
    741
    Likes Received
    119
    Trading Score
    0 (0%)



    30% sometimes more depending on the sales!

  9. #24
    CaLoonie JasmineMcdonald's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Posts
    181
    Likes Received
    98
    Trading Score
    22 (100%)



    I'm around 30-50% savings depending on what kind of savings day it is. More often I am at 30% than 50%.
    I've set up 3 trains.Still loading. If you are interested,links are on my userpage.
    No, this isn't your coffee, I had a two for one coupon!

  10. #25
    no more door to door! :) walkonby's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Scarlem
    Posts
    42,546
    Likes Received
    74244
    Trading Score
    24 (100%)




    ^^^ resurrecting an old post as your first post?? Hmmm...spam ?? not sure




    babies teach us acceptance

  11. #26
    CaLoonie
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Thunder Bay, Ontario
    Posts
    186
    Likes Received
    62
    Trading Score
    79 (94%)



    It goes back and forth. There's me, my husband, 4 year old daughter and kitten. It's hard to compare what we used to spend to what we do now, because there's no formula or diapers or baby related stuff (we didn't coupon back then). But I know we were spending about $300+ in groceries a month. Now, it goes back and forth. About once every 2-3 months, I buy a lot of fresh stuff without coupons, as I freeze tons of meals at once, so we don't need any coupons for "frozen goods". It's about $150 every 2-3 months to get everything. Aside from that, we only spend about $60 a month on groceries.

    Couponing has taught me the best prices of things, and when to wait for that price. We bought an entire school's year worth of snacks and juice boxes for my daughter, probably spent maybe $80 for an entire school year. Her main food is prepared by me out of that $150 pre-made by me budget.

    The big picture to me, is that with a husband, a child in school (who need a lunch + two "snack and drink breaks" a day), we should be spending much more. We never pay for "non-expiring goods", bathroom, body, cleaning, paper goods.. those all end up being free.

    So before couponing, not including diapers, formula, and all that (I won't include that since we don't use that anymore), we used to spend about $4000 a year on groceries. Now, it's under $2000. If we included hair goods, razors, deodorants, toothpaste, toothbrushes, cleaning, smellies, pet goods (yes we get those all free too!).. Basically everything not food related, that's probably about $1500.. So what should be close to $6000+ a year, is less than $2000 a year.
    Last edited by surfacerising; Tue, Jan 8th, 2013 at 04:46 AM.
    sarah_cio and wolfwoman like this.

  12. #27
    CaLoonie
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Thunder Bay, Ontario
    Posts
    186
    Likes Received
    62
    Trading Score
    79 (94%)



    I would like to think I'm closer to the extreme ones lol. End of December has a giant Dollarama bag of expired coupons, a box that weighed about $50 to send to different shelter's that are able to used expired coupons. It weighs enough that carrying it was painful!

  13. #28
    CaLoonie
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Thunder Bay, Ontario
    Posts
    186
    Likes Received
    62
    Trading Score
    79 (94%)



    Also, my husband is in film school. He wanted to do a documentary on Extreme Couponing. But, while planning this the best I could, I realized what that show does. They spend months and months preparing, collecting, getting more coupons than they will ever need, to make it "watch worthy". I told him I didn't want to make the film with him, because for it to be interesting would require collecting a lot of HV coupons for a "splurge" on more than we need, just to make it look like every time I go out, I walk out with $500 in free groceries. We've all collected lots of FPC's, HV, and waited til best sales to walk out with a shopping cart for a few dollars - but this doesn't happen all the time. It takes a lot of work. That show makes it seem like people do this weekly and come home with car loads for next to nothing. That happens VERY FEW times!! Yes, we get a lot of free stuff. My city is small, and everything is a 3-5 minute drive to any store. So scopping all the freebies up is easy. But it's not like we all come out with a truck load every week, that takes planning, collecting..

    ANYWAYS, that show really "over does" what a couponer does. I feel we've all had those insane shopping trips, but it doesn't happen all the time. Hell, I'm happy for a free pack of toilet paper or a few toothbrushes a week!
    cheekysaver likes this.

  14. #29
    CaLoonie
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Thunder Bay, Ontario
    Posts
    186
    Likes Received
    62
    Trading Score
    79 (94%)



    Also, that show makes me a little sick. So many episodes they buy unhealthy amounts of pop, chips, chocolate bars, frozen foods.. I don't have problems with these items, but how much they buy before they expire is unhealthy. Lots of people tell me "oh well you might coupon, but i seen the show, it's all unhealthy stuff you get". No! We get coupons for veggies, healthy goods, meats, milk, cheese, fruit.. good stuff! Those are what most of us are after. That show makes couponers look like they live on chips and chocolate bars. They don't show the healthy parts. They just show that you can save up enough coupons for 4 months to empty a store of chips.

  15. #30
    Canadian Guru
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Posts
    10,544
    Likes Received
    2823
    Trading Score
    0 (0%)




    Quote Originally Posted by walkonby View Post
    ^^^ resurrecting an old post as your first post?? Hmmm...spam ?? not sure
    It's definitely spam because of the extreme couponing link.

Page 2 of 3 FirstFirst 1 2 3 LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •