Extreme Couponing Help

Updated on December 14, 2011
A.O. asks from Ardmore, OK
7 answers

Ok mamas, help me out. Where do you get your coupons for "real" food items...milk, meats, yogurt, cheeses, etc.. Explain to me how you double coupons and get free groceries, ot at least, next to free.

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V.M.

answers from Cleveland on

There are some out there, you can write the company that makes them and ask to be sent some. There are tons of yogurt coupons in the newspaper inserts.

Some grocery stores have a system where if you buy certain items or a certain amount you get a ticket/certificate/ catalina/ coupn what ever you want to call it for so much off your next purchase. So say your store is running a deal on cough and cold stuff and you buy all that plus you have coupons so you get it cheap, THEN they give you a print out at the registar for say $10 off your next visit, Then y ou go back and buy meat and cheese and milk, the $10 worth of meat and cheese is then "free" because of what you already purchased.

find a couponing blog for a store you like to shop at , they will explain every detail.

I have found CVS is a great store to learn couponing,

and I have said it on this website a ZILLLION times, unless you are wiping with Tree Bark, Toilet paper and toothpaste and all the great things that drug stores sell count as groceries and if you can get them for free you will have more money for your milk.

2 moms found this helpful

C.A.

answers from Atlanta on

My husband and I coupon shop but we're not extreme. It's time consuming enough to clip coupons and find the store sales - Extreme couponing is a full time job.

What we do is buy a double paper every Sunday and remove the coupon inserts ie Red Plum, Smart Source, General Mills and P&G. We write the date on the inserts and file them.

The next step is to log into CouponMom.com. There you can search by state for your local grocery store. Once you select your grocery store of choice it will list all the items on sale at the store with the date and location of the coupon insert from the paper that brings the item down in cost even further. It will show you the final cost with the coupon applied along with the sale price and the % off the original price. You can select the items that you are interested in and clip your coupons accordingly. It might tell you to go to the Smart source from 12/11 and clip the coupon for Campbells Soup.

The only way we have ever gotten free milk is when we buy a certain number boxes of cereal (which were on sale.) Doesn't happen often though. We usually save 60% on our grocery bill and try to only buy things we will use rather than stock up on stuff that will just take up space.

We shop at Aldi for most everything else ie Milk, Eggs, Butter, Veggies - their prices are WAY less than other stores. Hope this helps!!

1 mom found this helpful
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M.B.

answers from Houston on

I would like to know the same thing...

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B.P.

answers from New York on

I don't think there are coupons for meat unless it's a specific brand of processed meat like maybe bacon or sausage. You really have to just shop the sales. As for milk, there are coupons but it is few and far between...they are in the Sunday paper. There are lots of coupons for yogurt and cheese in the Sunday paper as well. You have to go to a store that doubles coupons (like Shoprite) because Walmart and Target do not. Sometimes, items are cheaper at those stores though...you have to watch and compare prices. The way you get an item for free or almost free is to combine the double coupon with a sale. So if deodorant is on sale for 99 cents and you have a 50 cents off coupon then you get that item for free. As for for actually getting money back so you can put it towards other items like they show on tv, I have no idea what store actually does that. I know that no stores by me do that.

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K.P.

answers from Seattle on

My Mom loves to get the Sunday papers because usually they have the $2 off coupons in them, and many many others for various different things.

Also, coupons.com, mojosavings.com, couponsuzy.com and I know that all your local grocery stores usually have more coupons on their websites as well.

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J.V.

answers from Chicago on

Unless you want to start stocking lots of items you have no interest in ever using, you aren't going to get free milk very often. To not pay for produce milk, etc, you have to buy tons of stuff at Wags or CVS. You then have to use their rewards to buy what you need there or elsewhere. It is a lot of work. To get your groceries down to nothing, you will have to work really hard.

One thing I do that is super easy and doesn't take time is any gift card deals stores offer throughout the year. For instance, my grocery store did a great deal this past June, where you got $20 towards your next purchase for every 100 in gift cards. I bought a good $2000 in gift cards (almost all gas, some big box for purchases I knew we were going to make), I then bought a freezer full of meat. They just did another one recently too, and they had a big mess up a few months back where a lot of couponers walked away with thousands of free groceries because good couponers are amazing hackers.

I don't extreme coupon. It's too much work, if you ask me, but it's mostly a mindset. It's about using coupons smart. So, for instance, my regular grocer sent me a $2.00 off cosmetics coupon. I immediately thought "free cotton balls!" If you see a .50c off band-aids, you can usually pick up cheap band-aids from a travel section of many stores.

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E.M.

answers from Honolulu on

I haven't seen coupons for milk since the housing crash. That was when Obama was elected... Store policies have also changed in the last 4 years (which is when they filmed those extreme coupling shows)...

What I find easier is to shop as the prices cycle. Did you know cheerios can be anything from 5.99 to 1.99? Same box, but just 6 weeks later. It does this all year long. All food do this. Some cycle at 12 weeks, others in 4 week intervals. If I have a coupon for a dollar off cheerios on a 1.99 week, I spend 99 cents, on a 5.99 week it is 4.99. Do the math. When will you be stocking up?

I used to extreme coupon. I was paid 5 dollars to take 300 dollars of grocheries home. I know how to do it and I am going to tell you the coupons are not being printed as much anymore and store policies have changed sooooo much. Cashiers I know have been fired for taking a coupon that doesn't follow company policy, so they read the fine print. Also there was a lot of junk in there and I had them bag many food in paper vs my reusable bags so I could just drive directly to the food pantery.

Yes you can do it, but you will be spending about 40 hours a week looking for and gathering coupons. It is a rush and it is fun... For you, but if you have kids, it M. not be so much fun for them to be in a car seat 40 hours a week while mommy goes to get coupons or as mommy has to serf the web looking for online coupons.

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