We talk about coupons and savings all the time but this lady just makes all our advice sound like child’s play. You have to watch the videos to believe it. See how this lady saves money on her groceries.
Amazing.
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{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }
My mom is a coupon Nazi; she does similar things. But she’s also a hoarder and can’t bear to throw anything away, so my parents have a fully-stocked pantry that could feed 25 folks for dinner any night of the week (and three refrigerators plus a deep freezer!) for two people.
Cheap food is great, but not if it goes to waste. And I wouldn’t buy unhealthy food (like Powerade, which is basically sugar-salt-water) no matter what the price.
-Erica
Woah… This is pretty extreme. I wonder if that’s her normal grocery bill or it’s just a bunch of stuff we knew she could get for cheap.
Get real! 15 bottles of PowerAde – this is no soccer mom. There’s a difference between buying what’s on sale and buying what you need. I’m sure there’s a happy medium, but there’s something that these coupon hoarders always fail to consider. What the heck are you going to do with 8 packages of chocolate chips?
Notice she buys a ton of beer on top of that too. It’s no wonder why they don’t show what her kids look like
The problem with all of that couponing is that coupons tend to be for highly processed foods. It’s rare to find coupons for milk or produce. I wonder what a meal in her house looks like…
Another thing that they don’t mention is that she probably buys several newspapers to have that many coupons for one item. That’s more work than most people have the time to put in. I use coupons and match them to sale ads, but she takes it to the way extreme.
I hope that she donates a lot of that food to homeless shelters or people in need. And I hope that she will consider using reusable bags.
That’s insane. I can see a student clipping coupons like that but not anyone that has a family. With some thought, she can probably turn it into a business of some type (maybe offer classes) telling people how to save like that. I’m sure she will make tons more than organizing the coupons.
I have to admit I am pretty damn geeky when it comes to my coupons and mailers. But I would need to have a whole room in my house for store if I did that. I pass on a number of coupon deals because I don’t need the item. i hold myself to a tight $75 a week for my 5 year old daughter and I. It’s not easy, but her methods in a less extreme scenario work really well. Last week I spent $26 at one store and saved $32. I’ll take that…
WoW, I cannot imagine, if I’m the person who being interviewed in the video clip, Ning! Honestly, I didn’t have the courage to do this stuff as well, as I thought it’s extremely over the top!
Wow, that’s pretty amazing. I can remember my mom cleaning up on Winn Dixie’s triple coupons though. The store would owe HER money. You don’t necessarily have to buy papers to get coupons. You can get many printable ones online, and maybe even be able to google coupons for specific products you want to buy.
I don’t know about you guys, but the places I shop won’t allow you to use more than one coupon for a specific item. Like, she’s got 5 coupons for Powerade, most places only let you use one at a time. Also, a lot of places won’t let you use coupons on items that are already on sale. I think she’s playin the system; she gives them so many coupons at one time that the cashier is too overwhelmed to check that they’re being used properly. It sounds good though.
I agree they are hit with so many they do not have time to check exp dates or quanity of coupons used so she gets away with it.Nice idea but who has the time to put that systen together unless your retired?
I think what is really unbelievable is how threatened most of these commenters sound! I think it’s fantastic, and I wish I had the time and energy this requires…Playing the system??? Do you have any idea how strategically “played” we all are as consumers? I say hooray for anyone not willing to be a passive party to it. (And…the Power Aid seemed to be for the reporter…)
I admit I didn’t watch the video. But I used to work in a grocery store, and I had a customer who regularly handed me a fist full of coupons, a fraction of which she actually bought the stuff for. The first few times I pointed it out to her which ones she couldn’t use and she would throw a fit…so after a while I would just toss those. The registers have improved these days and recognize when a specific product hasn’t been scanned.
I hate coupons!!!
I use the same system that woman does, except I don’t get many rebates. The trick is to use coupons only when things are on sale. You can use one coupon per item purchased. I buy three newspapers a week at Dollar Tree, and of course, I make my money back very quickly. Doing this also creates a stockpile, which is awesome compared to the times when I’d be in a crisis because I was out of something, but if I’m not careful I can get too much. I do donate stuff, though. Oh! I only get about 50% off most of my grocery bills.
You don’t have to buy a lot of newspapers to do this. I did this when I worked at an office, where everyone got the sunday paper. In exchange for getting an extra coupon that you cut out, I got all the coupons that people didnt want. So for 7 people I got seven inserts with only often only one coupon missing out of the seven. the person who cut out the diaper, baby food, and frozen veggie coupon, gets another diaper, baby food and frozen veggie coupon to use ( or maybe all the diaper and baby food couponss since I don’t buy that) but I now have 5 frozen veggie coupons left to use for myself.
Also coupons rules state that a coupon can be use for an item. So so long as you have the individual item or set of items the coupon calls for, each coupon is a seperate transaction for each item. You can( or shouldn’t) use two identical dollar off coupons for the same one item. However, a manufacturers coupon doesn’t negate a store coupon or a sale. So long as you buy the product all separate offers apply so long as there is one unique offer per item. So a manufactur’s coupon for a specific cereal, plus the stores printed coupon for the brand of cereal, plus the fact that those are also on sale for this weeek, means you can use all three. No one is being cheated. The stores are reimbursed by the manufacturer for every coupon redeemed, and the store plans their own sales so they are creating loss leaders to spur more buying.
And there’s nothing that says a person must personally USE the cheap or free things they get. I bought a ton of boy and girl deodorants for pennies and used them to pack bathroom care baskets for my girl friends and boy friends as well. I donated things to food banks and gave food away to friends and people, and We never ran out of Toilet paper!
I found my old coupon box from almost a decade ago ( a fireproof money box) and wow, I had over 30 catagories, and multiple coupons. Some have no expiration date, so I might see if they re still honored. I don’t coupon anymore cause its’ best for when you are with a family or lots of friends to benefit, it’s harder when it just for yourself.
BTW,people who try to abuse couponing by trying to redeem for unbought items, are not cool. that makes it harder for the legitimate couponers to get respect. I bought 200 bucks worth of groceries for less than 50 dollars and each and everyone of my coupons was legitimate!
I used to do a LOT of couponing and occasionally did even better than this lady. My average, however, was 60% off regular price. I never tried to cheat the system. I went to the websites of all the stores I frequented and printed out their store policy regarding coupon use. All the stores I shopped at would allow you to use a store coupon as well as a manufacture coupon. On an occasion I may miss that it is coupon is for 2 products instead of 1 and the register will beep. It’s almost impossible to cheat at the system. Or, at least, I don’t think I could (or would) figure out a way.
It does take a lot of time. But, I quit an 80+ hour a week job to be a SAHM and needed to do this to help make ends meet. I looked at it as my part time job… except I didn’t have to pay income taxes on the money I saved and I was at home with my daughter who loved to “help” mommy clip coupons.
Plus, and in my opinion most importantly, I always tried to shop when the store had the least amount of customers and I always warned people who walked up behind me that I had a lot of coupons. Most would say no problem but at least they had the option of finding another line before I started my checkout.
Yes, a lot of the coupons are for junk food but when I get it for free I donate it to food banks, or friends who have lost their job… once, a friend of mine who also couponed, had several tons of food in her stockpile. When 2 of her nephews came home from a long deployment from Iraq she wiped her shelves out so they could have a house full of food waiting for them when they got home.
But, the it’s the cleaning supplies, toothpaste, deodorant, paper products, etc. where I really rack up the savings. We eat a lot of produce at my house so I carefully watch the sales and buy the produce in season when it is the best price. Also don’t forget local farmer’s markets. Fresh produce that is often a lot cheaper than what you find in the grocery stores.
Some people are saying that she’s “Playing the system” when in all actuality, she’s being a very smart and aggressive (though VERY annoying to the cashier) shopper.
Most stores, when having items in an ad, are being paid by the distributor to promote these items. Ad items offer discounts to the store when purchasing, then turning around and using manufacturer coupons on top of them is very beneficial to both the consumer and the grocery store. The manufacturers reimburse the store for any money lost to the coupon, which in turn, boosts the store’s total gross profit. Money in the consumer’s pocket, money in the store’s pocket, money in the manufacturer’s pocket.. It’s a win-win-win situation.
“Some people are saying that she’s “Playing the system” when in all actuality, she’s being a very smart and aggressive (though VERY annoying to the cashier) shopper.”
No she very much is cheating the system. Not for the cupons. They kind of skirt around it the video, but most of the cupons are refunds. You know when you call or write in and say you didn’t like something. While that is cool if it’s true, to get the amount of refund cupons she is using she is clearly gaming these companies.
Where does one get all these coupons? My newspaper has one little Sunday insert and it rarely has a coupon for products I buy.
I hope she buys rat poison in bulk with her coupons and dumps it in the Hudson River, and then feeds the plastic bags it came in to passing birds.
I wish I had the time or energy to do this. I am already operating on a budget of $62.50 every two weeks just for myself, which, by the way, is very very very low. I can only imagine if I started using coupons…you go granny! stock pile away so when the zombies come, you will be ready.
Im a cashier for a supermarket 2 days a week and most of the time people who do this try to sneak in coupons that they dont buy cause no one checks cause there are so many coupons. they also buy stuff taht is buy one get one and return the next week and return for full price i hate these people nothing but low lifes who want everything for free. and black people mostly do this shit
powerade is to rehydrate you…it serves it’s purpose. sure it’s not as healthy as a glass of water but you have to restore electrolytes, which water doesn’t have.