# Couponing = faster prepping &bull;&bull;&bull;



## TraumaHawk2011 (Apr 23, 2012)

So, you probably have all watched that silly TV show "extreme couponing"? If you haven't you should at least once to get the picture. In the show the subjects buy thousands of groceries for pennies on the dollar. My wife being the finance professional got very curious, I mean if we could prep for less, we could prep more and faster. We have been doing it for a full month and have put away 6 months of preps for minimal expenditure. We are not to the show level of getting everything free, but much cheaper. Just yesterday we purchased $543 worth of goods for only $201. We are still learning this thing but if any of you are interested just post or PM a question and we will gladly try to help/answer. Thanks a good preps to you all


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## alwaysready (May 16, 2012)

How do I get started? I remember seeing something about the show but never had the chance to watch it. At around 60% savings I'm very interested.


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## Possumfam (Apr 19, 2011)

Do tell.....


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## TraumaHawk2011 (Apr 23, 2012)

I will explain it further tonight or tomorrow I'm kinda busy right now. 60% is good but we can do better, just getting started, will explain later


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## prepare_survive_thrive (May 7, 2012)

Interested.


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

alwaysready said:


> How do I get started? I remember seeing something about the show but never had the chance to watch it. At around 60% savings I'm very interested.


*Vigilance* is the key, to do it properly just a few things you have to know are:

extreme couponing takes time, many hours a week 

good online sites with few poop-ups

the sales in your area & when they begin & end

coupon policies of stores (doubling/tripling and if there are numerical limits)

where to get duplicate coupon mailers

combining different offers on same product

prepare a list with what discounts you expect to receive and what you expect to pay for each item, do NOT deviate from the list

the calculator is your friend

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example:

Today I am purchasing soda-pop 12-packs from a local store, they have an offer with their store card that makes them 4/$10 ... not too shabby, I also have many *manufacturer's coupons* from a competitor store's circular that read "save $0.99/12 pack soda-pop" (which I can double at the first store), the packs themselves have an "instant redeem, NOT subject to doubling" sticker for $2 discount off 2 12-packs.

4/$10 = $2.50 each
$2.50 - $1.98(2x$0.99) = $0.52 each
2 x $0.52 = $1.04 for 2
$1.04 - $2 = *-*$0.96 for 2 OR *-*$1.92 for 4

This 'negative cost' is known as an "overage"

Be aware that stores will NOT give you back money... EVER... *But* you can apply overages towards an entire bill so that it is lower, in the above example you might buy 4 12-packs and a $2.00 package of ground meat, and hope you have *eight cents*!  :2thumb:


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## alwaysready (May 16, 2012)

The_Blob said:


> *Vigilance* is the key, to do it properly just a few things you have to know are:
> 
> extreme couponing takes time, many hours a week
> 
> ...


Thank you:2thumb:


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## cybergranny (Mar 11, 2011)

Extreme couponing isn't for everyone. My friend is in to it big time. She has loads of cosmetic and hygene products (most she doesn't use), cleaning products and over the counter medicines and vitamins (again most she doesn't use), candy and pop. True she gives a lot away and could possibly barter with. BUT NO FOOD OR VERY LITTLE FROM COUPONING. The little money she has is going for this stuff. I tried it especially cause I have the time. Very quickly we found it was definitely not for us. Since my friend started the local stores have clamped down even more on their policies regarding coupon "stacking". It is very addicting, we were getting hooked right off the bat and had to fight to excercise wisdom. There is no question you can save a great deal of money but on what?


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## TraumaHawk2011 (Apr 23, 2012)

That's not true, cleaning products and medicines are staples of couponing but lots of food, canned or fresh can be obtained this way. All of these should be part of anyone's preps I think.


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## TraumaHawk2011 (Apr 23, 2012)

Like I promised before I got my wife to type a little tutorial for those interested in starting to use couponing to help prepping. This morning I picked up 120 bars of soap, that paid ME 2cents each, and month supply boxes of ibuprofen for 36 cents each, not too bad in my opinion 

Ok here it goes....

Couponing Tutorial-(From MRS Traumahawk)

My husband asked me to write up a little tutorial about getting started with couponing. First of all I am just getting started and so I know that there is much more for me to learn. I am certainly not a subject matter expert, but I will share a few tips.

First of all don't expect to go into this and walk out with thousands of dollars' worth of groceries for just a few dollars like the people on the show Extreme Couponing do. However there are some good deals to be had and even if you save only 50% on your normal grocery bill that is all money saved. Whether you use your savings to put toward another purchase or you simply buy more groceries for your stockpile I think it is worthwhile. It also is kind of time consuming. My husband and I both work full time and we have 3 little kids, so I don't have too much time to devote to it. Therefore I rely on several websites to find the deals for me.

Instead of recreating the wheel, I would advise you to check out a couple of websites that can do a much better job than I can of explaining the details of store coupon policies and how to find the best deals!

http://thekrazycouponlady.com/

http://www.thriftynorthwestmom.com/

There are many other great websites out there, but I like these two because I get updates right on my phone through Facebook. They post all sorts of deals and freebies.

So where can you get coupons?

I signed up for the Sunday paper because it has all of the coupon inserts. You will get P&G Brandsaver inserts, Smart Source inserts. I recommend hitting up your friends/family/co-workers and neighbors to see if they will give you any unused coupons. Even if you can get 4 or 5 extra inserts each week it will make the planning all the more worthwhile. You can also print coupons from websites such as www.coupons.com. Several stores also allow you to load your loyalty card with online coupons. This is great because it will take off that coupon as well as a paper coupon&#8230;.double the savings! We buy most of our groceries at Safeway and by doubling up coupons, using paper coupons and Catalina coupons (the kind that print at the register) you can easily save 40-50% on your normal day to day grocery shopping.

So my advice is check out the KrazyCouponLady&#8230;go to the Beginners tab and follow along with her tutorial. She has a lot of great advice. Even if you only score a few good deals every week it adds up! Last weekend besides getting deep discounts on items like shampoo, deodorant, OTC medications, etc. I got Extra Strength Bayer aspirin absolutely free (I wished I had more coupons!). This week I plan on going to Rite Aid for several great deals. If you have a rewards card (Wellness Plus Card) it gives you +Up Rewards which is money back on your next purchase (they will let you split up transactions). One example is Crest Toothpaste for $2.99. You get $2 back in +Up rewards plus you can pair it with a $0.50 coupon from this week's paper, making each tube of toothpaste $0.24. I know toothpaste is something that has a long shelf life and we will definitely need, so why not get a few!?

Another example of a great deal is Ivory soap at Walgreens. They have a 3 pack on sale for $0.99 You can use the $1/1 Ivory or Coupon from the 7/1 P&G insert making them absolutely free. There is a limit of 4 per shopping trip. This means I can get 4, 3 packs or 12 bars of soap for absolutely free!

I hope this helps inspire you to start using coupons whether to build up a stockpile of supplies or just simply to save some money!


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## BillS (May 30, 2011)

TraumaHawk2011 said:


> So, you probably have all watched that silly TV show "extreme couponing"? If you haven't you should at least once to get the picture. In the show the subjects buy thousands of groceries for pennies on the dollar. My wife being the finance professional got very curious, I mean if we could prep for less, we could prep more and faster. We have been doing it for a full month and have put away 6 months of preps for minimal expenditure. We are not to the show level of getting everything free, but much cheaper. Just yesterday we purchased $543 worth of goods for only $201. We are still learning this thing but if any of you are interested just post or PM a question and we will gladly try to help/answer. Thanks a good preps to you all


There's no legal way you can buy thousands worth of groceries for pennies on the dollar. The grocery stores must let people use more coupons than they're allowed. Or the people are lying. Or the money you're "saving" is bogus because you're shopping at an expensive store.

The grocery store is supposed to accept one coupon per item but the only enforcement is the company making sure that the store bought enough stock to cover the coupons one a one to one basis. I suppose grocery stores that are in trouble either allow that or they have people cutting out coupons all day.


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

BillS said:


> There's no legal way you can buy thousands worth of groceries for pennies on the dollar. The grocery stores must let people use more coupons than they're allowed. Or the people are lying. Or the money you're "saving" is bogus because you're shopping at an expensive store.
> 
> The grocery store is supposed to accept one coupon per item but the only enforcement is the company making sure that the store bought enough stock to cover the coupons one a one to one basis. I suppose grocery stores that are in trouble either allow that or they have people cutting out coupons all day.


Where do you get your information, BillS?

Just one example of a national store that allows you to use coupon stacking is *Target*, you can use a manufacturer's coupon along with a store(Target) coupon on anything that you have both for. I believe Jif peanut butter was last year's 'hot prepper item' at Target. The soda-pop example I gave in my previous post was an actual offer I took advantage of, not just something I made up to illustrate how extreme couponing works (although deals like that are pretty rare in my experience). I assume that people on the television show are using their 'overages' to purchase other items to bring their entire grocery bill down. I believe it is poor form to extreme coupon on the first day of a sale period, thereby not allowing others to purchase items, I wait until the last or next-to-last day. I may not get the hundreds of certain items they do on the TV show, but I feel I'm allowing others the opportunity to get things without causing a shortage. If the items happen to be sold out I can usually get a raincheck. I think many of those people on TV spend as much time, if not more, as they would working a full-time job.

P.S. 
I usually purchase *name brand* 20 oz boxes of Cheerios for $0.50 or so. What can I say?... Dad loves em'!


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## cybergranny (Mar 11, 2011)

TraumaHawk2011 said:


> That's not true, cleaning products and medicines are staples of couponing but lots of food, canned or fresh can be obtained this way. All of these should be part of anyone's preps I think.


Sorry sir, it's from her own mouth. Very little food offered in this area. Where you are in the country makes a big difference. That's why I stated originally couponing isn't for everyone. I'm not knocking your new adventure, if it worked for us I would do it in a heartbeat.


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

*Stockpile Sales* are more than likely the main reason stores are becoming increasingly 'stingy' with their offers. An increasing number of products are also being stamped with *Not For Resale* because of this.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

I am an avid coupon clipper and ever since those lame shows came out the stores have all cracked down on couponing. not that I go out and go bonkers but Michigan hardly has any double coupon days (at the stores I shop at) and most of them now limit what you can get for free.. 
on the BOGO items you can only buy 4 at Meijer at a time.. We get around that by sending my hubs and son thru different lines.. they are fine with that as each "person" is a customer.
Meijer will no longer let you stack coupons.. if you use their Mperks card to download the coupons to your number you can not use a manufacturers coupon with it.
And yes you can find food coupons for a good bargain.. if you wanna eat all that high processed crap. Might as well just eat sugar/salt/chemicals by the spoonful.
I do get good deals on my cleaning supplies/TP/HBA stuff.
I have a huge stock pile of mens deodorant/antiperspirant Meijer had them on their 10 for $10 get the 11th free. I bought 20 for $20 and got two for free. My favorite deodorant has finally started putting out coupons.. either BOGO or any where from a $1 to .75 off per item. Ban for women.. it has the same amount of active ingredients as men's and only one % less than the clinical strength stuff that is over $7 an item. It has been on sale at Meijer as a BOGO and I had the .75 cents off the last time I bought it. Original price was $2.59. so you get two for $1.89 or .92 cents apiece. So I got as many coupons as I could beg/borrow/steal(haha I didn't steal them) and went in twice. The limit was still four full price per transaction. I had 6 coupons and send hubs thru another line. it rounded up my stash to 16 on the shelf and I still have one open and one at the camper. 
It is a waiting game sometimes. here in MI you have to hope that your coupons won't expire before the good sales hit.. and if my local meijer sells out both of the other stores in the area(kmart and walmart) both price match so I just take my sales ad in and ask for an adjustment.
I also scope out all the "freeby" sites and watch for high value coupons. Just got a couple different shampoo/conditioner full sized coupons coming to me just for "liking" them on facebook. 
I've gotten those before too. and lucky for me the coupon flyers that month had a buy a full size bottle and get another one for free.. reading the small print on both and lucky me I could stack those as they didn't say that you couldn't use them in conjunction with other coupons.. some coupons do say that and do say no doubling.
So I ended up with not one but two of my favorite conditioner for free. all in all I ended up that month with 4 bottles of free stuff.
You also have to be smart with the shopping.. look for those peel off stickers. 
I also check the parking lot for the new "printed" store coupons. Many people don't even use them and just drop the on the way out of the store. Like the $5 off $15 worth of meat or $1 off $3 of bread. or even the ones that just say you got $5 off your next shopping trip. My son will go in and buy one thing for himself and get a handful.
My Mperks card for Meijer will also send us $2 off your next shopping trip or $5 off.. and there again.. we have three cell phones so hubs has an account and I do and my son.. when we get the so much off your next trip.. I just divide my cart into three piles and use each card number for each pile.
I also check out the freebys and get all kinds of free samples.. like the darn wasteful K-cups.. I don't even have a machine. but it is just ground coffee in those little cups.. the most I've gotten for free was a box of 8.. but most of the time it is just a 4 pack.. I just pop them open and put them thru my little french press or I dump them into my other ground coffee. sure it is only 4 cups worth. but it is 4 cups for FREE!
Being partially handicapped I have the time to do this and since I have insomnia anyhoo I am up at midnight when all the freeby pages reset. I even have gotten to the point that if it lets me I send stuff to my daughter and mother. if it is not something they like they just give it back to me. We all got free swifers in the mail and many of the new laundry pod things.
Just this week I got two different energy bars.. one was a new gluten free one and the other a new brand.
On another forum I am a member of we used to have a couple threads for good sales/couponing events so that we could get others to get the free stuff.
Even some companies have their own sites so that you can make the most of the coupons and customer cards.. Walgreens has one called "wild for wags" it seems like CVS also has one but I can't remember the name of it. I'm open for PMs too if you have questions that you want to ask.:wave:


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## sillymoo (Oct 30, 2011)

I have a love/hate relationship with coupons and couponers. I truly think some people have a very real addiction to it. They seem to waste more money than they save when you count in the extra shelving, time, gas, and resources expended to get 100 years of "free" deodorant that they can't possibly use in a lifetime. So what if mustard never expires? Do you really want to store 1,000 mustard containers? Having said that, I use all that I can but have been using them less and less due to restrictions, not having products in stock, and needing to buy 2 to get 25 cents off or less. The stores near me (Chicago metro area) do not double or triple, do not accept coupons printed from home, do not price match, and if you do not watch the cashiers like a hawk they do not even scan all of your coupons. And like some posters have already stated, I do not get coupons for fresh food. 

I would like to add a few tips: 

1. Look for places that sell the Sunday paper cheaper, like Menards or sometimes McDonalds. They sell them for $1 instead of full price. Buy several if the savings from the coupons will more than cover the cost of the paper. 

2. If your local stores accept printed coupons, join something like Mypoints.com so you can print coupons and earn points toward gift cards. They also have shopping portals and click-thru's to earn points. Only do this if you can come out ahead after considering the cost of ink. 

3. Please, Please, Please, do not clear the shelves of all product just because you have enough coupons to do so. It is rude. Even if you tell yourself that you will give all the excess to the food pantry, still do not do it. Leave some on the shelf so someone can buy it with their own money and coupons instead of looking for it on the shelves of the food pantry. 

4. Another Please, Please, Please. Please do not pull off all of the pull off stickies on products if you are not buying the product. I haven encountered several people doing it to things I needed to buy, and I wanted to shove the stickies up their noses. Having your kids do it for you counts the same as you doing it yourself. 

5. If you see a good coupon in one of the catalina dispensers or a stack next to a product you buy, it is ok to take a few. Just do not take all. 

6. If you have coupons you do not need, be nice and leave them near the product on the shelves. I give and receive a surprising amount of coupons this way.


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

Many newspapers will let you have as many as you want of excess coupon circulars that get returned that night or the next day, one reason is that the glossy paper is more difficult/expensive to recycle into new paper.


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