Marcia

With the rising cost of everything-including groceries-these days I am saving money everywhere I can (the more I save elsewhere, the more I can spend on fabric, right? :-D )

I shop at Publix. They double any coupon that is $.50 or less and have wonderful BOGO (Buy One Get One free) sales every week. I also print out a lot of coupons from the internet to use as I shop. Yesterday I bought French's mustard--it was BOGO. It usually costs $1.87, but I got 2 for that price. I also had a $.50 coupon for each one---which they doubled, so I got $2.00 off. If you do the math--they paid me $.13 to take home mustard!!! I also got 2 free dips the same way. I bought $94.00 worth of groceries, but only spent $57.00 and saved $37.00. My daughters are much better at this than I am---they save 50-70% every time they shop---and they are eating better than ever!

So---do you use coupons? Where do you find the best ones? Do you save a lot or a little?

tlrnhi

I use what coupons I can for the commissary.
I have friends that send me coupons, but most of what they send, I cannot use because the commissary doesn't sell the brand.
I do print, print, print from the internet.
With our pending move coming, I signed up for ezmeals, which gives me a shopping list. That way, I only buy what I need.

Most I've ever saved in the states shopping was about $70. That was about 10 years ago. Was at a grocery store that had the "buy one get 2 free or 3 free and some things were even buy one get 5 free". Gotta love those! Between that and the coupons I had, shopping was fun that day!

Up North

I rarely use coupons as I find they are always for Brand names and most often even with the coupon it is more expensive than store brand or generic. I also shop at Save-a-Lot and they have very reasonable prices on name brand products but do not take coupons. I can save about half on my grocery bill if I shop there. The town I live in only has one grocery store and their prices are ridiculous so we buy only sale items.

Marcia

My daughters were shopping at Walmart and using their coupons there. Now they are both shopping the sales and using coupons at Publix--buying more groceries and spending A LOT less money.

Terri--being an Army wife I understand all about shopping at the commissary. My closest one is almost an hour from my home and so I started comparing prices to see if it was worth it for me to make the trip. Only a few items are actually cheaper in the commissary----coffee and meats!! So, about once every three or four months I make a "meat run" to the commissary. I spend $100s but I fill my freezer, so it is worth the time and effort.

Up North--I only buy name brands when they are on sale and I have a coupon to make it less than the generic brand. The town I live in only has one grocery store, so I drive 22 miles to shop at a chain store where I can save more money.

lots2do

We are slowly moving away from shopping at the convenient supermarket that we both pass going to and from work to one a little further away. The 'convenient' one is much more expensive even if you have the store card to save on certain items. The other one has a greater selection and for the most part, much better prices. I can't keep up with coupons.
lots2do

omak

One of the projects of our Unit is collecting coupons and shipping them to overseas commissaries. It is a specially productive program since we are allowed to forward on expired coupons (no more than three months past), but I have a question!
The people who send the information about how, when, where, and why - - tell us to NOT include computer coupons. I cannot quite get it through my head and Terri's post really brings it to the fore - - what happens to computer coupons that make the ones I print not acceptable to commissaries? (am just curious <g> not looking for a plot;) <wave>

Marcia

When we were living in Germany we were allowed to use coupons 6 months past their expiration date---but we were there before internet coupons, so I am clueless about that one.

Terri???? Can you fill us in????

watterstide

yes, i use coupons, and buy alot of the store brand items..a few things i only buy brand name..Campbells soup..some soaps etc...
i also look for current printable on-line coupons, for what i need.

tlrnhi

We can use coupons that are up to 3 months expired. Love that part because sometimes I forget my coupons lol

Don't know about the computer coupons. Maybe it's just some of the commissaries in Europe that don't take them. They take them here on Guam and I think they do take them in Japan.
Also too...some of the internet coupons are bogus, so that could be why too.

ToucanSam

Not too many coupons used with me. I don't know of any stores around here that double them so the store brands are usually less expensive even with coupons for the brand names.