Prepping through Couponing

[tactical_2012]

My wife has found her way into the extreme couponing thing over the last 2 months. She has located a local source for getting anywhere from 30 to 60 sunday paper coupon inserts now our house is filling up with tons of free products and stuff that's almost free. Some of the coupons used actually give you an overage that they take off the total bill such as this one coupon.she had for Gas-X was $10 off of 3 and they were $2.44 each so the coupon had an overage of $2.68 which at Wal-Mart they apply it toward your total bill so needless to say we now have 180 boxes of Gas-X. Some of her free things include 60 tubes of Colgate tooth paste, 100+ pack of schick razors, 30+ boxes of Advil pm, 60 boxes of Honeybunch of oats cereal, 30 pack of generic coffee, 60+ bottles of body wash, 60+ bottle of different shampoos and conditioners, 60 protein bars, 60 things of body lotion, 60 packs of baby wipes, 40 packs of frozen veggies, 30 bottles of dish soap, 50 bottles of gain and all laundry detergant. Some her finds that cost less the 20 cents each 30 cans of shaving cream, 30 bottle of after shave gel, 30 bottles of face lotion, 30 packs of 2 each corn dogs, 40 frozen burritos, 20 packs of Super Pretzels. The list of things goes on and on. She tells me this his her way of contributing to save money and our prepping stash.

[Wulf202]

my gf does the same. she has a tracking on her king soopers coupons. so far this year shes saved $1150 there

[clodhopper]

The wife started this a couple years ago. It does take some time and devotion to stay organized, and the gains aren't always apparent. I did some calls on her time to what we saved, and her dollars per hour couponing ended higher than the job she goes to every day. That really opened her eyes to the value and heightened her focus. Her shopping target is 50% savings on coupons and her tracking spreadsheet shows an average between 50 and 60, so not too bad.

We have several examples similar to you GasX story. Generally she buys things we will use, even if it is a variety of wacky brands. But there are those products the coupon means the store essentially pays you to carry out. We keep some of that, but we also will donate it to the local food bank or shelter. A lot of those overage deals are the same kinds of products and you really don't need to keep it all.

We keep all the stuff organized in a basement store room along with our canning. My 7 yo nephew was visiting last summer and started calling the store room "Auntie's Store" because it looked like a small grocery store to him. His folks are the typical spend every dime and no more than a day or two of food in the house, so it was all amazing to him. And on contrast, my son's cannot comprehend having no stores on hand. My wife and I had quite the chuckle as the kids all had a discussion about it.

[RonMexico]

My mom always brags about her coupon savings too. Every time my sibling and I go there she makes us leave with a bag full of goodies. I think it's a good think and all but I don't know if I can use 7 deodorant in a single year. I guess I will be smelling fresh for years to come.

[mestes]

Thats awesome to see that kind of savings a year. We use them a lot being that I am always stocked up on them and it is nice to save that $10+ bucks every time. I need to keep track to see what it ends up being a year.

[tmckay2]

where do you guys go to get started? with a baby on the way and my wife quitting her job to be at home with the baby it would be sweet to save some money.

[Irving]

My wife is interested in the earlier mentioned website where you get coupons.

[killianak9]

where do you guys go to get started? with a baby on the way and my wife quitting her job to be at home with the baby it would be sweet to save some money.

Congrats ! Same here, #2 in due in march. Care to share your info?

[two shoes]

where do you guys go to get started? with a baby on the way and my wife quitting her job to be at home with the baby it would be sweet to save some money.

Here is where we got started, it has a free trial. http://www.thegrocerygame.com/ After that, it's like $1.25 a week ($5 per month) but we save far more than that. We don't use the service any more, but use it principals...

[Irving]

Thanks for the link.