I went shopping last night with a neighborlady.

I walked out of the store with 65 bucks in sacks. SHE walked out with eighty bucks worth - but after the coupons she had it only cost her $39...

Damn, how I wish I could do that - that well

 

My mom used to be called the "coupon queen" she made the front page of our local paper about 25 years ago for getting $500 worth of groceries/supplies with coupons and she only paid around $60. I try,but I am not that good at it. Don't have the patience. She had a complete desk with folders and dividers assigned to different categories of coupons.

 

I hear you man. My neighborlady is smoking hot.

 

She clued me in on the "DAY AFTER THANSGIVING" and told me that the clearancing that happens after midnight can net you an HDTV that normally runs $500 for about $200....


That's enough to LIGHT MY FIRES UP!

 

She probably can't drop a tranny, so she needs to do the coupons to pay a mechanic

Seriously, from all I can tell, it's a lot of work and organization. Plus, you have to use some judgement. If a coupon is for crap that you wouldn't normally buy, it's probably worthless.

When we tried to do more of it we found that there were a lot of coupons for overpriced fancy stuff. Often it wasn't much of a deal after the coupon. Yes, you saved money, but a different brand, or a more sensible size could be a lot better deal.

Other coupons were for cheap crap that wasn't worth bringing home.

I still do coupons, but only if it's something that I want anyway.

As for the after Turkey day sales -- have a good time. From everything that I hear, the crowds are enoromous and quantities are limited if the deal actually is worthwhile. Other times they have some off brand crud that you'll probably end up bringing back. I stay home. (Although now they have online sales too, I doubt that they work out a lot better).

If you want to see something watch 'Extreme Couponing ' I don't know where you find it. These idiots are constantly bragging about how they essentially get stuff for free -- which they do. But, they end up filling their houses with mountains of pop, chips and candy -- plus what looks like cheap paper towels and the like. They spend hours getting the coupons for this cr*p that they'll never use. Many buy extra computers because they can print out extra coupons -- somehow printing is supposedly limited to so many for an individual computer. (Not sure how that would work).

Just my .02


hj

 

Ford2go has some excellent points. My wife is a bit of a coupon queen. When she first started doing it several years ago, our monthly food budget dropped from $600/mo for us and our 3 kids to $300/mo. It wasn't just coupons--it was watching sales and knowing when the various nearby grocery stores would run certain things on sale. However, the coupon deals are just not as prevalent anymore--due to the economy more people are couponing, so the stores and manufacturers have pulled back on the deals. Also, we have changed our dietary habits a bit to cut way back on the processed foods, salty snacks and sugary sweets in favor of more home-made/home-grown items and natural foods. I couldn't tell you what we're spending on food right now, though.

Jason

 

You seem to be following the method I normally go with - "It is better to have a deep freeze, than a high-maintenance filing system and cupboards full of stuff I dunno if I'd want my Labrador Retriever to eat..."

My gut-sense told me that if a thing needs a coupon in order to sell it, I should probably look at the label with a microscope.

Over the last fifteen or twenty years I have been reading the nutrition and content labels of everything I buy. A lot of stuff is just 'JUNK'. You do not nutritionally require it, or it may be a thing actually very bad to take in.

Also - from having a longstanding interest in cooking as a hobby of mine (How else can a poor guy on a tight budget get a really great steak? Much less a "SOUFFLE") I noticed that the more I worked with fresh raw goods, the cheaper it was - and the flavor also became a big surprise. I don't care what kind of miracle preservatives are dreamed up; stuff that sits on a shelf in a can or jar will invariably lose the fresh sharp individual flavors (SABOR!) of the original through gradual blending. It can't help it... They 'STEW', and become a sort of homogenized flavor throughout.

Especially if I indulge myself with a garden fresh chili or Asian dish - I want bright distinct flavors and textures, so that a meal is an exploration filled with interesting discoveries


One of my all-time best finds was that there are many sources of Ground Turkey in 'chubs' for dirt cheap, that are spiced so that they taste (and I mean indistinguishable from the genuine) precisely like sweet Italian Sausage. ~Yet they are 98% fat free...

The price/pound is way under conventional cholesterol and saturated fat loaded Classic Meats, such as beef or pork.

I got a good laugh recently checking the label of some (name brand) TACO SEASONING ofr making taco meals with ground beast. The principal spices are FENNEL, CUMIN (Comino), GARLIC, CHILI POWDER, and SALT.

Salt can also be avoided - look for light salt that substitutes Potassium Chloride for Sodium Chloride. Potassium is a necessary stuff for energy liberation - it was body building in the NAVY that led to that discovery.

 

Heh-heh. Deep-freeze, you say? Ours is SIX FEET long, plus we have two full-size refrigerators (okay, the second one, while it holds food now, is slated to get a dual-tap cornelius keg setup for my homebrewing). Also, one of our big savings is that my in-laws farm beef cattle. We often get a quarter or half for Christmas, and if we need any at any other time of year, we often only have to pay for processing (they'll call us and ask us if we want it when they have an unsold quarter or some extra).

Jason

 

So-

So you up there in Indy, yeah? How do I GIT THERE....

Down around here the big deal is "DEER CAMPS" But that can only go on once a year at the proper season
*Venison is like no other meat I have ever had. It is the meat version of COCAINE...

"Once you have had it, you will do anything to get more"