Friday, February 1, 2008

Feedback time!

Compared to other couponing weeks, this one has been a little slower than normal. But I want to hear...did anybody have success? I want to hear about your steals and deals! Leave a comment!

6 comments:

Adri said...

Hey Jo...I've been faithfully reading your blog (as have Ann and Kami...we compared notes!), but must admit i'm not as crazy a coupon chick as you. I haven't really used lots of coupons in the past, mostly because I've never gotten the Sunday paper and most coupons I've encountered still didn't make name brands cheaper than store brands. But, you did make me remember that I do have some coupons, and I actually took my little coupon-keeper with me to the store this week and used two!

Here's some questions for you, the expert: Do you always buy name branded stuff at less than what you'd pay for store-brand? Can you share any websites that have coupons you can print off? Do you really go to every store every week?

Joanna said...

I'm so glad you used some coupons! In answer to your question...unless I REALLY need something, I don't buy things unless they're on sale or I have a coupon or BOTH (which is where the great deals come in!). I have bought WAY more name-brand stuff in the last few months than store-brand and paid much less for it. Also, I don't usually print out coupons online, but here are some websites to visit if you're interested...boodle.com, Target Grocery Coupons & Specials on target.com...does that help?

Oh, by the way, I DO NOT go to every store every week! That would be craziness!

Call me Mimi said...

I did use the $5 off coupon on the 31st. I went to the store and stocked up on the Walgreen brand sale stuff to put on my emergency shelves in the basement. I had already gotten the FREE stuff earlier in the week. I have to agree with Joanna though that this was a rather slow week. I just got the ads and coupons for the coming week and I don't think there are nearly as many deals in them. Are we on a slow period? What does everyone else say?

Things aren't a bargain if you can't use them, unless they are absolutely FREE and you can use them as part of a shower gift or VT gift with a clever saying attached.

Two things I learned this week:
(1) If you are shopping something like "By 9 Kraft products and get an automatic $6 off" MAKE SURE YOU COUNT THE NUMBER OF KRAFT PRODUCTS BEFORE YOU GET TO THE CHECK OUT. I thought I had the right products but ended up with only 7 at checkout. I was running late to something and just had to chalk it up as a lesson learned.
(2) Organize your coupons, throw out expired ones, make a note of expiring ones so you can use them. ALWAYS have your coupons with you. You never know when you'll find something on sale.

I've vowed to only use coupons on things that are already on sale. The except to the rule is when I HAVE TO BUY SOMETING anyway. Then I buy it at regular price and use the coupon to defray the cost.

Ann's ART said...

So, I normally do all my grocery and other item shopping at Target. I did print out the coupons that they had online, and I used most all of them. It was fun. I think I saved about 10 dollars. Which is great cause I would have bought those items anyway. I must say that I was a little embarassed at how long it took them to ring all the coupons through. I swear the people behind me were dying. Next time, I will try to hit the checkout when there aren't a ton of people waiting.

Joanna said...

Way to go, Ann! I'm glad you could save some money using your coupons. Yes, sometimes it's a little tricky NOT to hold up the line, but I've always found that the people behind me in line are shocked to see how much I've saved! I've even had one woman ask me "Do you ever PAY for your groceries?" And most cashiers have told me that they thought they should do coupons, too, after they've seen how much I save!

Unknown said...

Have you ever heard of pinchingyourpennies.com or grocerysmarts.com? They match up all coupons with sale items so you don't have to do the work. They even have a code as to where to find the coupons so you don't have to look through piles (or indexes of them.) You also don't have to index them, because the websites do that for you for free. That also means you don't have to lug around that HUGE binder. You only take the coupons you need for that shopping trip. Everything that's on sale is on the websites so that you know before you go. I just started using them a couple of months ago and I swear they save me hours and hours of work.