Coupons (save you money!)

[sgt.null]

Julie has been doing super couponing after taking a free class about it at our local library. (a friend paid her 6 dollar fee, plus they fed the students lunch)

today at CVS Julie spent $2.16 and saved $90.30

what she got (CVS bucks and manufacturers coupons made the savings)

3 regular sized Crest toothpaste

3 regular sized Colgate toothpaste

1 Colgate toothbrush

1 regular sized Scope mouthwash

3 Nyquil/Dayquil packs (includes pills & liquid)

4 small Dawn dish soaps

1 twelve pack of large roll Bounty paper towels (the quicker picker upper)

plus we received a $10.00 gift card to Barnes & Noble

Julie is awesome!

[Menolly]

Yep.
There are blogs that guide one how to do this all over the place. I've been doing it for a while now.

While it is important to concentrate on things the family needs, keep in mind these types of items can be donated for full retail value tax deduction to places like homeless or domestic violence shelters. A win-win situation all around.

[sgt.null]

we will be donating anything we get and can't use. we will be doing care packages for our soldiers overseas.

[Fist and Faith]

There's shows on tv about super-couponing. Some - literally - save tens of thousands of dollars each year. And sometimes they find a coupon for $2.50 off of something like aspirin, then buy hundreds of bottles when the store puts it on sale for $1.99 - actually getting money! These people treat it like a full-time job, devoting their entire days to it, and even giving the coupons their own room in the house.

[Menolly]

True that.

All the blogs I follow say over and over that Extreme Couponing sets terrible examples. Stockpiling a few items, like you would for two weeks or so without power, is the standard suggested for home use. On money makers such as Fist suggests, it is recommended to contact the store the week before when the blogs leak the next week's sales, and ask if you can special order the sale item in the quantity you want. Not clearing the shelf of a deal is appreciated by all of us who coupon.

Most stores never have the amount of stock the people on Extreme Couponing buy on those trips. The featured couponer and the producers of the show definitely arrange for the store to have the stock on hand the day of taping.

[sgt.null]

julie says the stores on those shows violate stor policy and normal folk are not given the same deals/

[I'm Murrin]

My parents have taken advantage of a few situations where a supermarket's had a "double the difference" offer going on - where if you can get an item cheaper elsewhere they refund you double the difference. Every now and then it's possible to get a refund that's more than the item cost. Of course it only happens on cheap stuff that's on offer somewhere, and the supermarket usually fixes it fairly quick (but honour the deal on purchases already made). I think they wound up paying for the next week's shopping with the credit from the previous week at one point (they paid out in store vouchers, of course).

After seeing this thread yesterday I decided to check the website that lists these deals, and found out about one where a site associated with Paypal and Ebay was offering a £15 Paypal voucher for £5 - free money! Not sure what their angle was there but apparently it was totally legit.