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Does anyone use coupons? - 10/22/2009 11:30:51 PM
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luvsrickforever
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Does anyone use coupons? We get them in our Sunday paper but I have found that we don't use a lot of the coupons. Like since we don't have any babies we wouldn't use baby coupons and since my cousin is a hair dresser we don't use hair color you would use at home. Stuff like that. For the stuff we use, there aren't to many coupons and that bugs me. Then when I find a coupon for something I need, like Kraft Cracker Barrel Cheese, and the coupon says you have to buy 3 bricks to get $1 off and they cost 3.99 each, how is saving that dollar worth it? Our stores won't double coupons $1 or over. Why do the stores make you buy so many of something, especially if it's not on sale or is expensive to begin with to save a dollar? I don't see where I am saving money that way.
I went to the grocery store one day with 3 coupons for some antibacterial wipes, the kind you use on your counters. My store didn't have any of the wipes that I had 3 coupons for! Boy, was I mad! If I had just one coupon, I could understand but I had 3!
I have the Nov. 3 issue of Woman's Day. One of the articles, written b Susan Samtur, who is know as the coupon queen, says last month she paid 42 cents for $211 worth of groceries. She says she uses coupons and goes on-line for coupons. I've done that and they either have coupons for things I don't use or the coupons are no longer available anymore. She does mention coupons.com and smartsource.com, which I will check out. She also talked about tripling coupons but no where in my town do they triple them. I read the article but I don't think I would ever save as much as she does using coupons.
How often do you use coupons? Have you ever saved what she has and how do you do it? A pen pal of mine swaps coupons with another pen pal so I send her the ones we don't use. I really like using them but a lot of the time, we hardly use any.
_____________________________
Peace & Luv,
Gail
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RE: Does anyone use coupons? - 10/23/2009 8:59:30 AM
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Krislynx
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I am starting to use coupons more often. Mostly on the aforementioned baby products! I have found looking online to be more useful because I don't buy a lot of the foods that the paper typically carries coupons for. For example, I can always find coupons for fruit snacks which I buy as an occasional treat but almost never find coupons for raisins or other dried fruits that I mix with nuts (no coupons there either) for my 2 year old's regular snacks. One thing I will do is hold those ridiculous buy 3 to save 20 cents (insert sarcasm smiley) coupons until there is a sale and use them then. If it is nonperishable and something I don't use a lot of I'll donate one of them to the local food bank. No one around here triples coupons and most of the stores have stopped doubling them as well. There is a thread over in finances about grocery spending that has some good info about coupons - stacking manufacturer with store coupons etc.
Kris
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RE: Does anyone use coupons? - 10/23/2009 10:02:43 AM
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uncabeeil
Posts: 4994
Joined: 4/11/2005
From: Joisey. Got a problem wit dat?
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I use them when I can, but it seems like more and more of them require me to buy three or four of something. That kind of negates any savings, so I'm more apt to look for in store specials like 10 for $10 or bogo.
_____________________________
Now batting for New York, the catcher, number 15, Thurman Munson, number 15.
RIP Bob Sheppard, 1910 - 2010
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RE: Does anyone use coupons? - 10/23/2009 11:03:52 AM
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danas_mom
Posts: 621
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I use them all the time. I have a three ring binder full of them. 
The trick to successful couponing is knowing your store's sales cycles, watching for coupons to come out to use for the sales (and they do correspond, if you pay attention you'll often see stuff go on sale 2 - 3 weeks after a new coupon comes out -- just long enough for the ones who don't pay attention to have tossed the coupon thinking they wouldn't use it), never throwing a coupon away until it is expired even if you don't think you'll use it (because stockpiling the things you use when a good sale/coupon deal comes along is important; and sometimes an item will be free or even a money maker after coupons and you can always send it to the food pantry or shelter if you won't use it), and keeping your coupons organized in such a way that you can see what you have when you're in the store. Finding an unadvertised sale when you're out shopping doesn't do you a bit of good if the coupon for it is laying in a drawer at home.
quote:
...but it seems like more and more of them require me to buy three or four of something. That kind of negates any savings.
When a coupon for a product you normally buy comes out, go to ebay and type in "XYZ Product coupons" - you'll be surprised at the different values that are out there. There's items that we may get .50 off 1 or $1 off 2 in our paper, but other areas will get as much as $2 off 1. For example, I always trade for coupons when Ken's salad dressing coupons come out because we get $1 off 1 at the most, but other parts of the country get $2 off 1, which makes it free when it goes on sale. I still have bottles of free salad dressing in the pantry from a sale several months ago, and we use it regularly. I just made sure I bought 40+ bottles when I could get it for free.
Another good tip is to watch for TMF (Try Me Free) peelies on the packages - you can use a coupon to buy the product and then most of the time receive the full sale price back, making it a money maker even after postage. And don't be afraid to think outside the box - recently I bought a Sargento's Salad Finishers kit with a .75 coupon that I had a TMF form for. It had (all in it's own little baggie inside the package) shredded parmesan cheese, grilled chicken slices, and croutons. I used the cheese for some pasta, the chicken in some stir fry, and crushed the croutons to put on top of a baked mac n cheese dish.
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I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing. ~ 2 Samuel 24:24
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RE: Does anyone use coupons? - 10/23/2009 11:11:42 AM
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zoebob
Posts: 7152
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When I'm feeling on top of things I use coupons. I pull out the coupon sections and anything in there that I might conceivably buy I cut out the coupon. (At the very least I skim through them to have a sense of what's in there). THen I watch the sales. LIke others said the sales will line up with coupons.
Sometimes the coupons might not be things I would normally buy but might get the kids for a special treat. I'll save the coupon and then watch for that item to go on sale. When you combine them then you get the item for nearly free.
ANother item I watch for is the big coupons. One time there were coupons for $2.75 off of dishwasher detergent or something like that. I checked ebay and got like 20 more. THen I went to the store and got 21 boxes of dishwasher detergent for about 20 cents each.
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L-R: DD1, Ellies DS2, DD2, Ellies DS1
L-R: Ellies DD1, Ellies DD2, DS, Ellies DS3
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RE: Does anyone use coupons? - 10/23/2009 11:50:39 AM
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cherish405
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We don't get many coupons where we live, but if we happen to get something that we can use, then we do so.
If you've got coupons for multiple items eg 3 blocks of cheese, you could always get 2 other people to take the cheese and split the price 3-ways. That way you get the wanted product, you get it cheaper and you help somebody else.
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From this time forth, with the powers vested in me, this post serves as public notice of the issuance of one unrevocable lisence to cherish405 to have special dispensation in the matter of drive-by huggings as she sees fit. ~rayofson~
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RE: Does anyone use coupons? - 10/23/2009 3:33:02 PM
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jodavi
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I use coupons a lot. I even cut the ones that I don't need yet and just save it since they usually be on sale and they double it up. I also started using shortcuts.com . You click on a coupon and you don't have to print it out but you have to have a grocer's card. We have Kroger's here so I just click on coupons online and it takes off the amount automatically. And yes, it does saves me money. But then I don't buy stuff if it's not on sale and I don't have coupons.
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Family means nobody gets left behind -Lilo
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RE: Does anyone use coupons? - 10/23/2009 6:41:00 PM
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Liveloved
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Rarely. On cleaning supplies or plastic storage bags I find coupons but the grocery items are generally things I would never buy in the first place.
I have a friend who is big into couponing but when I look at what she buys, it is nothing I would ever spend money on. It is mostly snack food and prepared food products that we don't buy.
Are coupons available for basic grocery items? I'd really like to know because I just don't see them (and we take a Sunday paper with all the inserts/coupons).
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Liveloved
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Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13
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RE: Does anyone use coupons? - 10/23/2009 6:48:13 PM
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myhusbandswife76
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All the time. I use coupons + store sales + double coupns, and can really clean up if I do it right (ie: free Kraft brand salad dressing, free French's mustard, free Colgate toothpaste, $.30 boxes of Quaker granola bars, etc.) It does take some time, but I think it's worth it.
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RE: Does anyone use coupons? - 10/23/2009 7:43:33 PM
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ofa23
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Harvie
We do most of our grocery shopping at Trader Joe's ... no coupons needed. I don't seem to buy a lot of national brands, so coupons don't seem to be very useful for us. I do look around and see what's on sale, of course. And I don't think I've ever seen coupons for Whole Foods' stuff.
You can get coupons to use at Trader Joes at http://couponcraze.com and http://hotcouponworld.com. I was pleasantly surprised when I found those because I love Trader Joes, also.
_____________________________
In essentials; Unity (The Nicene Creed)
In Non-Essentials; Liberty (Everything Else)
In all things; Charity
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RE: Does anyone use coupons? - 10/23/2009 7:45:06 PM
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ofa23
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I need to get a binder for my coupons. Right now, I just keep them zipped up in a purse pocket. I always have them with me, so that isn't the problem but sorting through them in the store can be.
_____________________________
In essentials; Unity (The Nicene Creed)
In Non-Essentials; Liberty (Everything Else)
In all things; Charity
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RE: Does anyone use coupons? - 10/23/2009 8:46:37 PM
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danas_mom
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Liveloved
I have a friend who is big into couponing but when I look at what she buys, it is nothing I would ever spend money on. It is mostly snack food and prepared food products that we don't buy.
Are coupons available for basic grocery items? I'd really like to know because I just don't see them (and we take a Sunday paper with all the inserts/coupons).
It depends on what you consider "prepared food products" I guess. We don't normally use stuff like hamburger helper, canned biscuits, packaged cookies, etc so I don't get them unless they are almost free after coupon, but I use coupons all the time to buy plain rice, pasta, pasta sauce, hot dogs, lunchmeat, bread, cereal, crackers, soup, broth, Juicy Juice, tea bags, spices, yeast, yogurt, meat, cheese, eggs, butter, condiments, olive oil, sugar, flour, tortillas, frozen veggies, canned fruit, and of course HBA and household goods. I consider those basic grocery items.
_____________________________
I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing. ~ 2 Samuel 24:24
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RE: Does anyone use coupons? - 10/24/2009 12:18:36 AM
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luvsrickforever
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I get what you guys are saying and I do clip coupons, all the time in fact. The problem is most coupons are not for one thing anymore, they are for 2,3 or 4. If that product is expensive, we don't buy it. We could split it with my sisters but sometimes it ends up being something they wouldn't want or would not have room for. My youngest sister has a small freezer. Sometimes we keep things in our freezer for her but then again, she is working 2 jobs because her lazy ex- hubby won't get a job so he can pay child support. It's not just the economy either but that's another story for another forum. Sometimes she doesn't have the money. We do help her out though.
I like what some of you guys are saying. We have a store that has buy 1, get 2 free or buy 2 get 3 free. Usually it's on meat or chicken or something that isn't in the Sun. paper for coupons ever or it's something I don't have a coupon for at that time. A few times I have had a coupon but not to often. Those deals are great on their own but with coupons they would really be a deal! Say for instance they have buy 1 get 2 free lbs. of Land O'Lakes butter. I don't have a coupon so I google for butter coupons. It takes me on such a ride to web sites that don't have that coupon anymore to web sites that I have to join in order to maybe get a coupon. I did that once, one that was for grocery store coupons and I had to put in my zip code to get the coupons and sign up to do that. Turns out, I found out later in an e-mail, that they don't do stores in my area but they will be doing it very soon. That was 3 months ago and I have yet to hear from them. Maybe they are still setting it up. Who knows? I've gone on the official web sites of some of these manufactures but they don't always have coupons on there either.
Some weeks we don't get any coupons. I'm not sure if that's because they didn't include any with that weeks paper, or like the week we got 6 JC Penny's sale fliers, someone else got ours and lots of other people's. They aren't to careful with our paper.
There was one woman on TV and she saved a lot with coupons. She said to go out and buy 4 or 5 Sun. paper's and take all their coupons. In my town there are only 3 you can get and if they are like my paper and someone has 5 coupon pages and I don't get any, what's the point? We recycle so it's not like the papers would go to waste.
I didn't know that about E-Bay. I will try that.
Wow, who knew a thread like this would get so many responses? I am so excited! I'd like to hear more from what people are doing. Do you often wonder if the coupon people do this because they want to make more money? I mean if people are getting all this free stuff, is that a good thing or bad thing for the manufacturers? Any thoughts on that?
By the way, before I end this, if a manufacturer makes something that doesn't meet with your expectations, tell them about it. I just got some free coupons for Dawn and Always Pads because I very politely told them the problems I was having with their products. Yeah me!
_____________________________
Peace & Luv,
Gail
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RE: Does anyone use coupons? - 10/24/2009 12:49:36 AM
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sisrev
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From: The South, ya'll
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I'm like danas_mom, I use coupons regularly, and I have a zippered binder full of baseball and photo organizer pages to keep them organized. Lately the coupons haven't been quite as good as they were this time last year, but there are still deals to be found. If you have access to buy the Sunday paper from a major metropolitan area, it really makes a huge difference in the quantity and quality of the coupon inserts. I get a lot of coupons from online sources, including coupons.com and individual manufacturer's websites. I also order coupons on occasion from a coupon clipping service called The Coupon Clippers. I buy all of our toiletries and personal items with coupons, combined with sales, and even rebates when I can--the savings there helps take up the slack for the things that I don't often find coupons for, like fresh meats and vegetables.
The secret to good coupon savings is to always combine with a sale. Once you start watching the sales regularly, you'll start to see the pattern of the sales cycles--when it goes on sale, then you go in with your coupon stash and that's when your savings really adds up.
Luckily two of the stores where I live at the moment double up to $.50, although when I'm at home we don't have any stores that do that. It's still possible to get savings at stores that don't double or triple (none of the stores in my area do that, either) I've even walked out of Walmart with "free" items, and they don't double or triple or do anything special.
I've written posts on this on my blog, if you'd care to read them:
Where I get my coupons from, part 1
Where I get my coupons from, part 2
How I organize my coupons
Hope these help a little. 
_____________________________
A Virtuous Woman
Secrets of a Southern Kitchen
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RE: Does anyone use coupons? - 10/24/2009 1:27:23 PM
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danas_mom
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quote:
ORIGINAL: luvsrickforever
The problem is most coupons are not for one thing anymore, they are for 2,3 or 4.
Well, as I said before, just look around and see if other values are out there. You may get $1/3 in your paper and another part of the country gets .75/1. There are actually very few coupons that have the exact same value in all parts of the country. Even if you don't buy enough of a product at a time to make ebaying for coupons worth it (they are usually in lots of 10 - 20 coupons on ebay) join a coupon exchange board (I highly recommend hotcouponworld.com) so you can trade for exactly what you need.
quote:
Do you often wonder if the coupon people do this because they want to make more money? I mean if people are getting all this free stuff, is that a good thing or bad thing for the manufacturers?
Coupons are a form of advertisement. The percentage of people who really go all out with coupons is very small compared to the number of people who redeem a couple of coupons per shopping trip, or don't use coupons at all. Manufacturers know that if they put a coupon out for a product, many people are going to notice the coupon and get the product in their mind, then go shop and forget the coupon but buy the product anyway.  Plus, the manufacturer does not cover the doubled or tripled amount of coupons, the stores that offers such deals do. So when I go to Kroger and redeem a .60 coupon (which doubles in my region) then the manufacturer covers the first .60 and Kroger covers the doubled .60. Make sense?
I have been "super couponing" for close to 10 years now, so I've gotten pretty familiar with the ins and outs of it, especially at my local chains. My favorite couponing trip was one time that Kroger was tripling to .50 and doubling to $1. (So .50 coupons were worth $1.50, and $1 coupons were worth $2, etc) I got over $300 worth of groceries for $30. Our trunk was so full we could barely get it closed. Those were the good ole' days.
< Message edited by danas_mom -- 10/24/2009 1:40:20 PM >
_____________________________
I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing. ~ 2 Samuel 24:24
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RE: Does anyone use coupons? - 10/24/2009 3:11:29 PM
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Krislynx
Posts: 881
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One thing to be cautious of with the buy 1 get 1 free (or whatever combo) unless the store splits the discount between all the items you can only use a coupon on the ones you paid for. In my example if you pay 1/2 of the price for each item you are technically getting one "free" and can use a coupon for $1/2 items. But if you pay full price for one and nothing for the other your $1/2 coupon can't be used. Around here the sale price is typically split between all the items but I have shopped in other areas where it is the other way.
Does anybody know of a coupon site where you can search for specific brands or types of foods? We have used smartsource.com with good results for diapers and wipes but not much luck with food. A lot of the reason is that we prefer organic and whole grain products so that cuts down the options sometimes.
And Harvie, have you grabbed the sales flyers at Whole Foods? They normally have coupons in those for their products and the ones we have used/seen are pretty good. We don't shop there very often, but I definitely try to use any available coupons when we do.
Kris
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RE: Does anyone use coupons? - 10/24/2009 3:39:41 PM
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zoebob
Posts: 7152
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From: land of limbo
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Kris I think that depends on the store. Around here I do it a lot. Over the summer hotdogs were often BOGO (and they take the full price of the second one off) and there were coupons for $1/2 and they worked.
Another way coupons earn the manufacturers money is that people can develop a taste for a product when they get it really cheap and then keep buying it even when they don't have a coupon. Also, you will often see coupons for decreasing amounts over time. For example, a coupon for 75/1 and then a month later .50/1 then .25/1 or .50/2 etc.
I think that big city coupons tend to not be as good as small town areas. We lived in a small town in western NY and my husband also bought the PIttsburgh Sunday paper. The coupons in the Pittsburgh paper wouldn't be as good as the small town one.
_____________________________
L-R: DD1, Ellies DS2, DD2, Ellies DS1
L-R: Ellies DD1, Ellies DD2, DS, Ellies DS3
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RE: Does anyone use coupons? - 10/24/2009 4:32:27 PM
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Krislynx
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Makes a lot of sense, Zoe. I know when I see something new in the store the coupons are incredible, then 6 months later they are like the others. We live in a generally affluent area, not in the really "rich" towns but in the middle of them. One good thing is that we have a lot of different chains so there is decent competition. Although they all stopped taking each other's coupons and price matching about a year after the newest one opened. I also see a difference between the quality of sales and coupons between here and my parents, even though they live in a pretty nice area too. Maybe some of it also depends on consumer behavior in different parts of the country? And that was interesting about the BOGO, I didn't think the manufacturer would accept it if there isn't an actual price attached to it. Maybe that was just the policy for the place I worked.
Kris
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RE: Does anyone use coupons? - 10/24/2009 11:19:16 PM
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luvsrickforever
Posts: 847
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Wow, danas_mom, I wanted to be you on that shopping trip! We have the freezer above our fridge and a whole freezer down our cellar so we have room. Sometimes. We don't have much room right now but we will. I wish there were coupons for fresh veggies or fruit or meat. Sometimes there are coupons for Perdue chicken but nothing for ground beef or pork chops which we love.
I will check out all those sites and the blogs. You guys are being so helpful and this thread is a lot of fun. I wouldn't mind doing a coupon swap but I have noticed that people in different parts of the country get different coupons. I live in CT and sometimes my pen friend from AL sends me recipes from her newspaper. I will look at the ingredients and say "I've never heard of X brand of soup or meat." I know I can substitute what we sell but I guess if I need say a butter coupon, I would have to specify a certain brand or they could send me one we don't sell. My friend sent me 2 coupons to get 2 free loaves of bread. The coupon was for Pepperidge Farm bread. We sell a lot of Pepperidge Farm things but not bread. The coupons were going to expire in a day or 2 after I got them so I couldn't send them to anybody. I was so mad! We went to every grocery store in my town that takes coupons and even some stores like our WalMart that has a small grocery section (it's not a Super store) and our K-Mart. I had to throw them out. I was so mad! That's another problem.
I'll have to check the sales and the coupons that come out. I want to be like you guys and get those really great deals.
Let's keep this thread going. It's fun!
_____________________________
Peace & Luv,
Gail
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RE: Does anyone use coupons? - 10/24/2009 11:33:02 PM
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luvsrickforever
Posts: 847
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We have a ton of grocery stores in our town and more are being built. Our town has 34 something thousand people. We need another grocery store like we need a hole in the head. We have one up every end of town and some ends have 2 or 3! We have an Aldi's but because their prices are so low, they don't take coupons. They don't have a big variety of stuff there, at least in our store. We also have a Price Rite and that doesn't take coupons either cause it's like Aldi's. We don't buy a lot there either because they have a lot of off brands that we don't like but we buy some things there. We are getting a new Super Stop And Shop right across the street from a huge Price Choppers. This is up the East end of town. We have a Super Stop And Shop in the West end of town. Our Big Y just expanded and it's beautiful! It's now a Super Big Y but it's up the other side of town from us. They are the ones who have the BOGO or the B2G3 free a lot. Someday our town will stop building grocery stores.
_____________________________
Peace & Luv,
Gail
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RE: Does anyone use coupons? - 10/25/2009 5:31:49 PM
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myhusbandswife76
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Don't know if this is OT or not, but I like to sign up for emails from resturants that I like. Most of them send out coupons for free stuff for your birthday. My birthday is coming up, and today I got coupons for: free "Red Robin" burger, free desert at "On The Border", free meal from "Noodles and Co.", and free ice cream from "Cold Stone". And, all this stuff is free (no purchase required).
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