Foo - Tipping The Scales The Other Way To Mania Frugality

http://financialedge.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0711/Why-Extreme-Couponing-Wont-Work-For-You.aspx (http://financialedge.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0711/Why-Extreme-Couponing-Wont-Work-For-You.aspx)

Dedicated to bringing coupon clipping to a more realistic pastime, rather than a second or third job.

Do you still think it's worth your much extra time and effort?

Do you still think it's worth your much extra time and effort?

No. The time to dedicate is not worth it for me. I buy only what we need, often generic, in reasonable quantities. Plus, we have only one real grocery store in town, and they place extra restrictions to keep coupons from digging into their profits too much. Somehow our family of four manages to eat VERY well for $100 a week, so I'm not losing too much sleep over this topic.

I always get a "pennies-wise, pound-foolish" feeling when reading these stories. I bet in many situations, these super-savers are paying very little at the grocery store, but are swimming in debt from the BMW they drive to the store and designer clothes and eight billion shoes they have at home. Maybe that's just my cynical side.

I do the couponing thing sometimes....but often, I find another brand that's a better deal even when the coupons are taken into account.
I may go to the store with 10 coupons, and end up using only 6 or 7 of them. Still, it often saves me about $5 or more dollars.
Now, the whole extreme couponing thing....nope, aint gonna spend that much time working on that.

Years ago when my daughter was young I clipped a lot of coupons for diapers, cereal, and other staples that were used often. Now that I don't use large quantities of stuff anymore I don't see the point in stockpiling it.

The people on those couponing TV shows spend hours each week clipping and organizing. That's time I like to spend doing other things.

I've tried casual couponing but it doesn't work if it's stuff I wouldn't buy in the first place, or stuff that has a storebrand that's just as good but cheaper even after the coupon.

They don't make coupons for most of what I buy. The wife and I can get by for a week's worth of fruit and veggies (what we eat the most of) for about $50 at our favourite produce stand. We'll pick up other things to stock the freezer when something is on sale. "Family pack" meat sales get broken down when we get home, vacuum packed into meal-size portions for us, and frozen.
We don't buy much packaged/pre-made stuff, which is what most of the coupons are for. Other necessities like soap are things that I make for less than anyone but the most extreme of couponers could get it for, or toothpaste (which is an infrequent enough buy that I'll spend the $5.00 on it and not care.)

They don't make coupons for most of what I buy. The wife and I can get by for a week's worth of fruit and veggies (what we eat the most of) for about $50 at our favourite produce stand. We'll pick up other things to stock the freezer when something is on sale. "Family pack" meat sales get broken down when we get home, vacuum packed into meal-size portions for us, and frozen.
We don't buy much packaged/pre-made stuff, which is what most of the coupons are for. Other necessities like soap are things that I make for less than anyone but the most extreme of couponers could get it for, or toothpaste (which is an infrequent enough buy that I'll spend the $5.00 on it and not care.)

you make your own soap?
Care to share your methods?

you make your own soap?
Care to share your methods?

It's soap; pretty simple stuff, really. I've made glycerin based soaps for presents (just melt the bar stuff from the soapmaking store, add in your stuff like moisturizing oils colours/scents, then pour into molds and let it set up. I made bacon soap (saved up bacon grease for a long time) by clarifying bacon fat and using that to make a lye soap. I've done a standard old-school pioneer soap (save up all your cooking fat for use in lye soap). The best one has been using Spanish cold-pressed olive oil and avocado oil as the fats, and a bunch of shea butter for moisturizer. I'm currently working on a kombucha tea soap.

PM me your email and I can send you the pdf of the booklet from the soapmaking class I took at the yuppies-who-used-to-be-hippies-but-got-rich-and-like-to-pretend-they're-still-hippies grocery co-op.

I use coupons but only for stuff I normally buy or if it's something I want to try to see if I like it first. I don't do a bunch of clipping but I usually save around 15-20 a week with them. When you have two teenage boys, every little bit helps.

I probably have 10+ grocery stores within 5 miles. When it's time for groceries, I check the online weekly flyer for a couple favorites and pick a store for that trip.

PM me your email and I can send you the pdf of the booklet from the soapmaking class I took at the yuppies-who-used-to-be-hippies-but-got-rich-and-like-to-pretend-they're-still-hippies grocery co-op.

Would that be Puget Consumers Co-op?

PM me your email and I can send you the pdf of the booklet from the soapmaking class I took at the yuppies-who-used-to-be-hippies-but-got-rich-and-like-to-pretend-they're-still-hippies grocery co-op.
wow, that's quite the store name. I wonder if they have a branch near me.