Can I ask those of you on the "No buy" post...

[Jacoby 46]

Wow! After reading this whole post, it makes me thankful that I live in North Carolina! Our Harris Teeter doubles everyday up to .99 and right now they are having Triples for the entire week! Every single store around here accepts Internet Printables and we have saved over $4500.00 this year alone on groceries! Thanks to CVS and Walgreens, I never have to buy Shampoo, razors, soap or deodorant for the rest of my life! LOL I couldn't even imagine going into a store and paying full price for anything anymore! LOL I love it!

We are a family of four and also have my parents living with us and we average about $700.00 a month on groceries...sometimes more and sometimes less. We shop in bulk at Sam's for things we use a lot (it helps that my husband is a butcher and we buy meat in bulk and then package it at home) and then I shop at Harris Teeter and Food Lion with coupons and do really well! Food Lion has great store coupons and a lot of times they have meat coupons that make for great deals! They also have store produce coupons and lots of other great deals weekly! My family eats really well (fresh fruits and veggies and meat) for a lot less thanks to my coupon addiction! LOL

Yeah, I am very happy to be living where I do!

[MsDisney23]

Look for Aldi's in your area, great produce and many great food items at less the cost of regular grocery stores.

[Chicago526]

Originally Posted by A.Mickey

Wow, Impressive! What store?

Jewel. They have it on sale for $1.49 a can, I have a ton of internet coupons for $1.10 off three. Plus, when you buy $30 worth of soup (based on regular shelf price, not the sale price) you get a $15 off coupon for your next shoping trip. After coupons my cost is something like $13 or $14 for 12 cans, so after the $15 coupon, I'm actually "earning" one or two dollars!

Update: I just got back from Jewel and my math was a bit wrong. It wasn't free but it was darn cheap, I just got 15 cans of Progresso soup for $1.85 after the coupons I used today and the $15 of future coupons I earned. Still, not bad at all. Basicly it comes out to "buy one, get fourteen free"

I still have some coupons left, so I'll be going back tomorrow to pick up some more!

[Jen_in_NH]

We are a family of 3, and I think we average about $400/month for groceries/HBA/cleaning stuff. We have saved quite a lot by growing our own garden, freezing and canning anything we can. We have chickens, so we get our eggs that way, and sell the rest. We bought 1/2 a pig and 1/2 a lamb this year, so that saves a ton on buying meat. We make a batch of bread every week, so we don't have to buy that either, although we do buy baking supplies.

As far as saving on groceries, I live in an area of the world that does well with prices and coupons. I'm not a huge stockpiler ( I don't buy 60 of things on sale, but I will get 5-10 of things we will use). I started reading the forums at afullcup.com, which really helped me save quite a bit by pointing out the sales combined with coupons, and where to find those coupons.

We don't buy a lot of processed stuff. I know everyone says that, but I mostly buy veggies and fruit, chicken or beef (when it's on sale, and then I fill the freezer), and then the milk/cheese/yogurt aisle. My son has diabetes, so we rarely, if ever, do breakfasts of cereal or poptarts. Dinners with lots of rice or pasta is also not something we do often.

I also get most of the cleaning and HBA stuff from Rite Aid when it's free after rebate, or the coupon deals are good.

For me, I've found that our budget is helped by coupons, but what has really saved us a lot is being able to make or grow a lot of what we use. I know that's really not practical for everyone, but we have the time, space, and energy to do it.

Jen

[luvsJack]

Those who do coupons, did you feel that you were saving from the very beginning? The reason I ask is that my experience with coupons is this: I spend my time clipping and organizing coupons, make my list and head to the store. Then for almost every product I have a coupon for, the store brand of the same product is cheaper even after the cents off from the coupon.

If there is another deal going (like the $15 in coupons when you buy $30 worth of soup that pp mentioned) or if your store doubles coupons I can see there would be a great deal but we don't have stores that do any of that. So, I just wondered if maybe there was more to it that I am not seeing.

We don't have a store that doubles coupons nor do they take internet coupons, so that's out too.

I haven't been doing too bad by just buying whats on sale and stretching meat as far as possible. Like someone else mentioned, doing breakfast for dinner a few times a month helps a lot as do meatless meals. Soups, stews and casseroles are great for stretching that meat over several meals.

[Chicago526]

Originally Posted by luvsJack

Those who do coupons, did you feel that you were saving from the very beginning? The reason I ask is that my experience with coupons is this: I spend my time clipping and organizing coupons, make my list and head to the store. Then for almost every product I have a coupon for, the store brand of the same product is cheaper even after the cents off from the coupon.

If there is another deal going (like the $15 in coupons when you buy $30 worth of soup that pp mentioned) or if your store doubles coupons I can see there would be a great deal but we don't have stores that do any of that. So, I just wondered if maybe there was more to it that I am not seeing.

We don't have a store that doubles coupons nor do they take internet coupons, so that's out too.

I haven't been doing too bad by just buying whats on sale and stretching meat as far as possible. Like someone else mentioned, doing breakfast for dinner a few times a month helps a lot as do meatless meals. Soups, stews and casseroles are great for stretching that meat over several meals.

I'm the one that posted about the $15 off $30 deal. In my area, deals like that for products I want come along only about once every 2 or 3 months. The last one was the 20 packs of string cheese I bought for DH to snack on for $5, and that was over the summer.

The rest of the time, I'm like you. I buy the store brand when possible and stock up on sales, as many of the things I buy I can't get coupons for. I also do things like bake from scratch, which can also be a savings (also I try to eat organic, and often the only way to do that is to do it yourself from ogranic staples).

It really just depends on WHERE you are and WHAT your willing/able to eat. People who are flexiable with their diets and are in good areas for sales and coupons will simply do better than those with more restrictive needs and live in areas that aren't as competitive.

[luvsJack]

Originally Posted by Chicago526

I'm the one that posted about the $15 off $30 deal. In my area, deals like that for products I want come along only about once every 2 or 3 months. The last one was the 20 packs of string cheese I bought for DH to snack on for $5, and that was over the summer.

The rest of the time, I'm like you. I buy the store brand when possible and stock up on sales, as many of the things I buy I can't get coupons for. I also do things like bake from scratch, which can also be a savings (also I try to eat organic, and often the only way to do that is to do it yourself from ogranic staples).

It really just depends on WHERE you are and WHAT your willing/able to eat. People who are flexiable with their diets and are in good areas for sales and coupons will simply do better than those with more restrictive needs and live in areas that aren't as competitive.

Flexibility is really necessary. Yesterday I had my list all made out, sales papers in hand (I ad match at WalMart) and away I went. I mostly ad match meat and produce. Anyway, for the produce there were other fruits/veggies that they had on sale cheaper so I changed my fresh foods around to match those sales. On to the meat, I did grab some of the things I wanted to ad match but then they had several marked down packs of meat and some great sales on turkey all much better deals than the ones that I had planned to ad match; so my menu got changed and my freezer stocked a bit.

[mrsklamc]

Originally Posted by Ava

Our local food bank is always really happy to get diapers & formula.

I work at a food bank and I would assume this is the same everywhere (might check with yours though)

The families are always really excited to get health and beauty items, diapers, etc b/c a lot of them are also on food stamps but can't purchase these. A real treat is men's razors since many of them are job hunting, and well, who's going to hire you if you aren't neatly shaven?

[allison443]

Originally Posted by mrsklamc

I work at a food bank and I would assume this is the same everywhere (might check with yours though)

The families are always really excited to get health and beauty items, diapers, etc b/c a lot of them are also on food stamps but can't purchase these. A real treat is men's razors since many of them are job hunting, and well, who's going to hire you if you aren't neatly shaven?

Thank you for the reminder...I will keep this in mind during my cvs trips!

[Jen_in_NH]

Originally Posted by luvsJack

Those who do coupons, did you feel that you were saving from the very beginning? The reason I ask is that my experience with coupons is this: I spend my time clipping and organizing coupons, make my list and head to the store. Then for almost every product I have a coupon for, the store brand of the same product is cheaper even after the cents off from the coupon.

If there is another deal going (like the $15 in coupons when you buy $30 worth of soup that pp mentioned) or if your store doubles coupons I can see there would be a great deal but we don't have stores that do any of that. So, I just wondered if maybe there was more to it that I am not seeing.

We don't have a store that doubles coupons nor do they take internet coupons, so that's out too.

I haven't been doing too bad by just buying whats on sale and stretching meat as far as possible. Like someone else mentioned, doing breakfast for dinner a few times a month helps a lot as do meatless meals. Soups, stews and casseroles are great for stretching that meat over several meals.

Nope. When I started wutg coupons, I kept finding the same thing. When I needed to buy toothpaste, the coupon I had still didn't match the store price. I would toss the coupon and buy the store brand. What I found works for me is to keep all the coupons, and wait until there is a really good sale, then stock up. It takes a while of doing this to find that the coupons are helping.

[Charlefours]

Originally Posted by Ava

Katie, I sent you a PM about the CSA. I live in Brooklyn too and would love to find out more about it.

I wish I had the space to stock up the way some of you do. I do what I can but in an apartment with limited storage space it's difficult. We are totally stocked up on diapers though - the shelves in our coat closet are stacked high with cases/packages of diapers! Whenever we see them on sale and/or have a good coupon, we buy some. Especially Pampers, which we like best for DD and don't seem to get as many coupons for. The only trouble we've ran into so far is that she's outgrowing size 2's and we still have several packs left. We decided to just donate a few packages of Luvs that my mom picked up for very cheap and move her into the next size. Now we know not to buy sooo many of one size.

Depending on where you shopped for them, especially if you have the receipt, they will often let you exchange unopened boxes for a different size. Have you tried to do this yet?

[Mouse House Mama]

Okay- so I went shopping last night. I did pretty good. I only spent about $250. Now I only bought 2 packages of meat but I do have meat in my freezer so we are good there. I was very mindful not only of prices but of whether or not we really "needed" an item. I have to be honest and say that if I am food shopping and I want something I usually buy it. I have been much better about that lately though. I got some great deals, tons of veggies and fruit. I didn't buy anything "just" because I had a coupon for it if we wouldn't eat it. I used whatever coupons I could for what I bought.
I went to Stop and Shop and they are running a promotion where you earn points towards a percentage off a shopping order. I used to use this promotion all the time. If you spend a certain amount you get a coupon for a percentage off your next order. You can get up to 20% off a whole order. So far I have earned a 5% off certificate but I chose to roll it over because I have a month to earn more off. Then when I get the certificate I will do a big stock up shop.
They run this promotion once a year. It used to only be a max of 10% but I still did really well. I would take all my coupons plus the percent off coupon and save a ton. This year I will do even better. I usually before coupons will have a bill of about $700-$800. After coupons about $500-$600.

Now that may sound like a lot but that shop will last me over a month. The only thing I usually have to buy is the fish for Christmas Eve (I host) and incidentals like bread/eggs/milk.

I will get this food bill down!