Extreme Couponing

[msluvabowl]

Are there any other fellow extreme couponers here?

Anyone wanting to learn?

I've been doing extreme couponing for 4 years now, I stock pile for my family of 5 for at least 6mo to a year worth of supplies. I've saved over $200k and love to teach others how to save! I'm not extreme to belong on a tv show, I do not "hoard" supplies but I am very proud of my "necessities" collection. 

It's a time consuming task but worth it! On 1 income for a family of 5.. if it wasn't for my extreme savings on everything I do I wouldn't be able to travel every 3 mo. like I do.


(my apologies if this topic has already come up, I tried to do a search first but did not find anything)

[AsherO]

How viable is EC for someone who keeps a strictly-Kosher diet?

[msluvabowl]

How viable is EC for someone who keeps a strictly-Kosher diet?

EC for groceries is the hardest thing, and if you're brand specific and unwilling to try new products it makes it harder. HOWEVER.. if your Kosher brands put out coupons it can be done. ALSO you can save tons of money by Price Matching at many grocery stores or retail stores that do Price Matching. Combined price matching and coupons for food makes for great savings! Plus there are many apps that will give you money back for trying out a product, like ibotta for instance.

Also EC is not only for Groceries but for anything and everything. I have not spent a dime on things like toothpaste, shampoo & conditioner in years. Name brand items such a Tide/Gain etc.. the avg person will spend $6 for a small bottle or pack of laundry detergent. If done at the right time you will spend a 1/3 of that or less.

[Ergel]

How do you calculate your savings? 200K in 4 years is 50K/year. How much did you spend on groceries prior to starting?

[JTZ]

Anyone wanting to learn?

Sure, how about some basics?

[Aaaron]

My wife does it and enjoys it.  We have a whole closet full of hygiene products, soaps, shampoos, laundry detergent, cleaners, etc.   Kosher food is definitely more difficult but doable. 

[george]

Sure, how about some basics?

Yeah, I'm interested to hear as well.

[zagguru]

def interested. please do share!

[msluvabowl]

How do you calculate your savings? 200K in 4 years is 50K/year. How much did you spend on groceries prior to starting?

To calculate my savings, I calculate what regular price would be vs after coupon price as well as on the bottom of most receipts it will tell you what your total savings was you add it up over time and I like to go as far as to make a spreadsheet in excel. My savings was not all groceries, but on average my grocery bill at the store will be a savings of 60% or more, that is including meat and produce. There have been a few times where my savings was 100% on what I bought in a grocery store or they owed me money (this is achieved at walmart generally).

Prior to starting Couponing, I was roughing spending $600 a month on groceries or more, we had a habit of just going out and buying whatever we wanted every day or eating out. We tried the go grocery shopping once a week thing, but that doesn't save you much money either.

Depending on where you are located, and I can only speak for the U.S, your best bet is to shop based on your area's circular ads and compare to coupons.

[msluvabowl]

I taught myself how to coupon through YouTube, and searching on the web. There are TONS of helpful websites and apps which I'll leave down below.

First thing is you want to start with at least 4 sunday papers a week. (Most dollar stores sell them for $1 on Sundays, or you can find a coupon insert supplier in your area via facebook, ebay or online)

The ideal way to coupon is to stockpile sales with coupons enough to last you and each person in your family 6 months. This will take some time to stockpile as sale cycles repeat about every 4-6weeks in most grocery retailers. Basically.. you buy something like toothpaste that is on sale .99 but you have a coupon that will save you .75. So you pay .24 cents per box.. most coupons will have a max usage of only 4 like coupons in one shopping trip. But you can hop store to store if you wish or go back and do it again. It is always 1 coupon per item. At this price you'll stock up on toothpaste 4-8 boxes and won't have to buy toothpaste for a while.

I hope this is making some sense. There are a lot of "rules and tricks and loopholes". It's best to learn the lingo.. yes like here there are several abbreviations to learn. There are TONS of facebook groups for extreme couponers where a beginner can learn. Most will post a "deal" and tell you how to do that same deal. Eventually after doing this for a while watching others, you catch on and get brave enough to find  your own deals.

I have a FB group called "Coupons & Cappucinos" that I started when I was teaching couponing a while back. Unfortunately I don't have much of that time anymore to do this.. but I always go for the next to nothing deals and leave it at that now that I can live off my stockpile for several months. I'll post it down below where I took the time to write a step by step guide on how to start couponing, where to go etc.

[url][/https://www.facebook.com/Coupons-Cappuccinos-675336359241562/?ref=bookmarks url]

My favorite Websites to use is:

Coupons.com <--- here you can print out coupons from home
Southernsavers.com <----- Here you can find any coupon in a database based on your region, plus printables and deals
iheartcvs.com <---- Here is for CVS couponing which is AWESOME but an entirely different subject in itself

The best APPS to help you save money:

FLIPP <--- This app will pull up ALL circulars for all stores in your area with in a 25 mile radius. Use this app for sales and price matching at walmart.
Ibotta <----- This app will give you money back for items you buy and once you reach $10 savings you can cash out.


I'll leave those for the basics.. if you have any questions I'll be happy to answer them!

[odin99]

would love to see some data on the $200k of savings in 4 years. Not hating, but it is 2 orders of magnitude higher than i might have expected. and data/proof is king!

[Iz]

You mentioned CVS. I get 20% coupons in the mail. I used one on a $17 item, and paid $13.40. Then I was in Target and saw it for about $10 (before any sales or Redcard discount). Seems like the whole CVS deal is a scam. What say you?

[msluvabowl]

would love to see some data on the $200k of savings in 4 years. Not hating, but it is 2 orders of magnitude higher than i might have expected. and data/proof is king!

Hey I understand doubting and I'm sorry I don't have hard data to show you, I just remember what I Add up over time! I have several receipts that I've taken over the years that can show my savings that I'll be happy to provide because I uploaded them to Facebook those days so I know it's still in my uploads! Sure you may have to spend some money to save some money in the long run.. but I've gone 2 years with out having to buy any toiletries, hair care, feminine products, hygiene products and even make up! The avg person will spend much money on all that per year per person.. I have a family of 5.. I've saved lots on top of just that!

[msluvabowl]

You mentioned CVS. I get 20% coupons in the mail. I used one on a $17 item, and paid $13.40. Then I was in Target and saw it for about $10 (before any sales or Redcard discount). Seems like the whole CVS deal is a scam. What say you?

Oh no no I LOVEEE CVS in fact that's where I do majority of the shopping I have. You see the trick to using those percentage off coupons is you must use them on non-sale items, that you have coupons for AND ideally gives back extra care bucks! Regularly cvs sends coupons to its members who shop pretty often a customer specific coupon every Monday. Then every Thursday as well. Either to your email or your app.

Example is: I have a 35% off my total coupon from cvs.. and cvs is having a extra buck sale on day tide laundry detergent like spend $15 get back $10 ecb. So if the detergent is ringing up $4.99 I know I have to buy 4 (pre tax to get the deal.. BUT I also have manufactured coupons from PG that is giving me $2 off per 1 tide. So I will buy 4 @ $4.99 use 4 $2.00/1 coupon now making my total $11.96 i will then use my percentage off coupon for 35% and any extra applicable coupons cvs has to go with it. But let's say there isn't any..

$11.96- 35%= $7.77 plus tax out of pocket. Because cvs does not count what you bought post coupons you will now receive $10 extra care bucks back to spend on anything you want in then store except alcohol, eggs and milk.

$10 back means you made 100% of your money back plus MORE that you put in that you can use towards whatever. In this case I will use my ecb toward other items giving ecbs in another transaction until I've gotten everything I want and all my ecbs are gone.

You may of initially spent $8 up front but getting all the ecbs back and rolling them in different transactions just bought you say 6 detergents, 4 shampoo and conditioners, 2 tooth pastes, mouth wash and a tooth brush. Or towards make up. Meaning you spent $8 on a $75 purchase this saving you BIG. Shopping like this will save you MUCH money. It's not about buying what you need right now but what you will use or need at some point.

[Iz]

Oh no no I LOVEEE CVS in fact that's where I do majority of the shopping I have. You see the trick to using those percentage off coupons is you must use them on non-sale items, that you have coupons for AND ideally gives back extra care bucks! Regularly cvs sends coupons to its members who shop pretty often a customer specific coupon every Monday. Then every Thursday as well. Either to your email or your app.

Example is: I have a 35% off my total coupon from cvs.. and cvs is having a extra buck sale on day tide laundry detergent like spend $15 get back $10 ecb. So if the detergent is ringing up $4.99 I know I have to buy 4 (pre tax to get the deal.. BUT I also have manufactured coupons from PG that is giving me $2 off per 1 tide. So I will buy 5 @ $4.99 use 5 $2.00/1 coupon now making my total $14.95 i will then use my percentage off coupon for 35% and any extra applicable coupons cvs has to go with it. But let's say there isn't any..

$14.95-35%= $9.72 plus tax out of pocket. Because cvs does not count what you bought post coupons you will now receive $10 extra care bucks back to spend on anything you want in then store except alcohol, eggs and milk.

$10 back means you made 100% of your money back that you put in that you can use towards whatever. In this case I will use my ecb toward other items giving ecbs in another transaction until I've gotten everything I want and all my ecbs are gone.

You may of initially spent $10 up front but getting all the ecbs back and rolling them in different transactions just bought you say 6 detergents, 4 shampoo and conditioners, 2 tooth pastes, mouth wash and a tooth brush. Or towards make up. Meaning you spent $10 on a $75 purchase this saving you BIG. Shopping like this will save you MUCH money. It's not about buying what you need right now but what you will use or need at some point.

Got it. You seem to agree with me that they're overpriced, but with coupons, you end up ahead.

[msluvabowl]

Got it. You seem to agree with me that they're overpriced, but with coupons, you end up ahead.

Definitely over priced compared to anywhere else because it's a drug store but with their deals you make out greatly if done right!

It may take a minute to figure out but it's almost a rush when you walk away with all that stuff and lil out of pocket spent! I've taught friends and co workers who run to me all the time telling me what they got lol

[efflpetzel]

I used to be like this but I found that the time I spent on figuring out coupons & deals far outweighed the savings involved

[noturbizniss]

I used to be like this but I found that the time I spent on figuring out coupons & deals far outweighed the savings involved

Seems like getting more amex cards and aus will net more with less effort. Also less crap to collect

[LoLo]

I used to be like this but I found that the time I spent on figuring out coupons & deals far outweighed the savings involved

+1. Best piece of advice I got from my father before getting married..

Like credit cards, this is a game you need to enjoy, otherwise it's not worth it.