@EntrepreneurTim:

I have a salaried job. I don't get overtime. For me to find a job that pays $10 an hour (per your numbers) and allows me to work only 1 hour a week would be impossible, nor would I want to.

If I'm watching a mindless sitcom unwinding with some cider after a long week Friday evening, I hardly consider it work. In fact, it's even kind of fun to me. When I find out that my favorite brand of cheese is on sale, it's exciting. And I love cutting things with scissors. So that helps.

happinessiseasy

Hey, you can mail me your coupons! :) I never thought I'd be a coupon clipper, but CVS got me hooked. The trick with CVS is that it's counter-intuitive. For example, I can buy three packages of CVS brand paper towels for a total of $6, or I can buy those same paper towels, a package of CVS cookies, and another $2 CVS item--a total of $10 of merchandise--use the $3 off $10 of CVS merchandise and the $1 off the cookies coupon (both of which are spit out of the card scanning machine every time you scan your card when you walk in the door) for the same $6.

The Extra Bucks system works really well for stocking up on items that you use regularly (toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, makeup, stomach and head remedies, sometimes cleaning supplies) but the trick is a) making the initial investment to get the ECB (I bought a bunch of FSA elligible items I use anyway and used my FSA card, but not everyone can) and b) catching these items on sale rather than when you need them. When you just need something now, Walmart is probably the way to go, especially if you're picky about your brands.

Clipping coupons itself is pretty easy to do--I do it while watching tv. (Maybe I should be updating Wikipedia instead?) Remembering to use coupons is harder. I keep mine in an index card box separated with dividers, and then keep the box in my purse. When we're at the store and my husband decides he wants bbq sauce, I just flip to the bbq sauce coupons and pull out what we're buying.

When I plan my grocery lists, I go through ads and see which store has the best sale this week. I write the lists on old envelopes and tuck the corresponding coupons in before I go to the store.

In addition to Slickdeals, I'd like to direct people to Hot Coupon World (www.hotcouponworld.com). It's another free online forum where people can share their grocery and drug store deals and it features a coupon database that makes it pretty easy to match up the deals if no one else has already posted them.

I have to admit that I'd love to do all my shopping at Super Walmart, but they don't exist in Southern California yet. I'd love to put in more hours at work, too, but I'm on salary--no overtime. So in the meantime, it's couponing laundry soap down to $2 and getting bags of Dove shampoo for $0.77.

duchessanne

This all sounds really complicated and annoying to me. For me, pharmacies are about convenience. I go to local pharmacy down the street - there aren't any coupons for that place. Doh@!

Anyway, coupons don't fit with my paperless lifestyle, either! But, to each his/her own!

I wish the drug stores would just give people the discounts without making them cut coupons out! That makes more sense to me. I'm pretty sure that coupons are just a way of tracking consumer buying trends for marketing statistics as well as a method of moving products off shelves. I'd be interested to see that data!

I'm also sort of interested in how much paper is used printing out coupon circulars that I just throw away/recycle anyway. =)

But hey, if clipping coupons is your thing then more power to you. Maybe I can mail you mine!

tgebauer

LOL...I've been CVSing for some time now...

Here's my latest receipt:
Year to Date Savings: $1709.96
Spring 2008 Spending: $26.87

No joke. Check out the Drugstore Deals section at [forums.slickdeals.net]

mulletmandan

I was (unfortunately) a cashier at Eckerd and then CVS for several years, so I know all the ins and outs of the extra bucks and coupons and such. It's awesome that it helps you save money but please don't treat the cashier rudely if there is a problem. If the coupon says that it can't be combined with any other offer, don't be harass them if they won't let you combine it with any other offer. Especially with CVS, the registers are so automated now that sometimes even the managers can't override that, let alone the peon ringing you up. If it says limit two per person and you want to make 10 separate transactions so you can get twenty, I might shockingly have asked you to wait for me to ring up the guy with the coke behind you first. That's when there is just one cashier. Trust me, when there are two they are both praying that you with the coupon binder chooses the other line. I didn't care if you used coupons, if it made you happy then it made me happy. But just keep in mind that those coupons have all those stipulations on them and that some places actually stick to them. (Though I haven't worked there in over a year, maybe they don't care anymore :-p)

thisisnotkathy

I just took a look at thegrocerygame.com website but clicked away as soon as I saw they charge - my wife and I are big fans of couponmom.com which sounds like the same thing but is free - you don't even have to clip coupons - just save them in a file folder and when you pick which things you want to purchase it tells you which month/date circular they are in.

We always save at least 50% at the grocery store.

zathras

@yobuttin: I am one of those "morons" you describe and your post, and I personally think the grocery game is worth every penny. Just because it may not be best for you doesn't mean that everyone else who does it is an idiot.

For those of you who aren't familiar with www.thegrocerygame.com, they basically match up all recent coupons with store sales so that you get the rock bottom prices. Yes, you pay for the list, but its conveniently sorted for you. Black items are on sale, blue items are a great bargain and you are encouraged to stock up, and green items are free after sale price and coupon. You'd be surprised how many green items are actually on the list, especially at the drug stores. We haven't paid for a toothbrush or toothpaste in 18 months (and yes, for the record, we use both regularly!)

My wife and I pay $25 a month to subscribe to four lists: Kroger, Walgreens, Rite-Aid and Meijer. We gladly pay that fee for the convenience. Yes, we could sit down and catalog all of our coupons for the last six months and painstakingly match them up with store sales ourselves, but its so much easier to log on, print out a list, grab your coupons and go. For me, its worth paying the fee to save money each month. Right now we save about $100-150 a month. Once we bought $55 worth of merchandise at Walgreens for only $14. Those kinds of deals make it all worth it in my book.

@jedgeco: and @Kiwi Carlisle:
We spend about 90 minutes a week cutting and sorting coupons. That may sound like a lot, but I just do while watching a movie or a ball game and the time flies by. Frankly, I enjoy the down time. Also, my wife and I have no brand loyalty whatsoever. We buy whatever is cheapest, as long as the quality is similar.

eeefresh

Save 100% on your groceries. Eat the rich.

Deadhacker

I hate coupons. I hate the waste of paper and how they clog my mailbox. I refuse to use them. I hate that when I was in an apartment, some days the box was so full with junk I couldn't get it open. I never even signed up for this crap!

/rant

MrsIrB

I made fun of this the last time it appeared on Lifehacker since we don't buy processed foods - I swear within two days a boatload of coupons for the products I do use - organic salad greens, cage-free eggs, free-range beef - hit my mailbox. As a bonus, there were 4 coupons for $2 off my total order. I got 30% off my grocery bill last week.

I thought that would be it - I checked the mail this afternoon and there's another booklet full of the same coupons. Woot!

computermom

kiwi carlisle says..."Clipping coupons ends up as a net loss of money for me, not even figuring in the time that I could spend doing something else."

Time doing something else...like watching tv? or that big ol nascar race on sundays. you're from carlisle, i know your kind.

yobuttin

I've found that looking through the Sunday circulars means that I clip coupons for products I wouldn't otherwise buy. This is good for the manufacturers and not necessarily good for me. As other commenters have mentioned, most coupons are for highly processed foods. They're also mostly for gimmicky new gadgets, cleaning products, and OTC medications, rather than my tried and true brands. Clipping coupons ends up as a net loss of money for me, not even figuring in the time that I could spend doing something else.

Kiwi Carlisle

I agree with EntrepreneurTim. I don't want my life to be about regularly switching pharmacies to get discounts, or looking at the Sunday circulars and maximizing my savings on toothpaste. I don't want this stuff to be the stuff I'm thinking about.

kongjie

Don't agree with the Target advice. I get my generics there (at $4 a piece). Every 10th gets me a 10% coupon which I leverage for groceries and major purchases. I do all my shopping there and get 10% off coupons for using my Target Check card. Since they are always cheaper (always) than my walmart, I end up saving a ton and getting those coupon about 16 times a year.

lodebrecht

clipping coupons is so 1990. i obtain all my coupons online. simply click and print.

yobuttin

For me, coupons are not as valuable as my time, not just clipping and sorting, but going to various extra stores to take advantage of them.

Plus, as MameDennis points out, they are usually for heavily processed foodstuffs that I shouldn't buy anyway, and inevitably, perusing a coupon section makes me buy crap I don't need and wouldn't have bought otherwise, making them a negative-sum proposition.

Put it this way: Nobody ever issued a coupon because they wanted less of your money.

jedgeco

@EntrepreneurTim:
It takes me about 20 minutes to clip *and sort* coupons each week. Why *wouldn't* I?

We don't eat heavily processed food, which is admittedly what many coupons are for. But it's still extremely well worth it to save money on cleaning supplies, hair/dental care, vitamins, pet supplies, frozen vegetables, etc.

The numbers don't work for everybody, but I assure you that my "part-time job" pays extremely well.

MameDennis

Common sense is fast becoming a lost art.

BillyBobThai

I would rather prescribe to the Timothy Ferriss school of thought.

If you spend an hour clipping coupons to save $10 at the store, couldn't that time be better spent working an extra hour a week or working on yourself so you can increase your future earning power?

EntrepreneurTim

Oh and for anyone that heard of that grocery game website, dont even bother, its a joke. theres a monthly subscription fee. If you have half a brain, anyone can figure out cvsing along with any other grocery store. The people that are involved with that website are morons. They simply can't think for themselves so they rely on others to do it for them.

yobuttin

On a related note, my girlfriend is a HUGE proponent of rotating all her prescriptions around to different pharmacies-- Target will be giving out $10 gift cards with new prescriptions one week, CVS will give you $25 'CVS bucks' the next.

It's not a bad system, as long as you move to fill those prescriptions in plenty of time. She tends to drain her drug supplies to near empty before getting refills, and sometimes all the back-and-forth switching can be a headache-- especially if you don't remember where you picked them up from last time ;)

tonyshangrila

I can't believe more people aren't aware of this. I don't even walk into a CVS anymore unless I can get $10 or more of stuff for less than 20 cents, yes .20. plus I get more than $10 back in ECB, extra care bucks. I think my spending so far at CVS for this year is around $800, and I haven't spent more than $60 out of pocket. The trick is to spend your ECB's on items that return ECB's. Stack that with coupons, and you'll be getting more ECB's back than your spent.

It took me about a week to figure out this easy game. this month at cvs is great for anyone wanting to start. they have tons of items that are free after ecbs.

I had to start with a $15 investment out of my own money. Since then, i keep rolling ecbs and pay very little out of pocket anymore. if anyone is interested pwning cvs, PM me.

yobuttin

How do I save money on drug store items?

#1) For toothpaste, buy Ultrabrite. Colgate makes it and CR even rated it the best toothpaste for whitening. Cost $0.99 (approx) Cost of Crest or Colgate $3+ An alternative is to get AIM.

#2) I shave with a 50 year old double edged safety razor. Personna blades at Wal*Mart are $1.40 for 10 and give a fantastic wet shave.

#3) Drug store brand drugs. Seriously, DUH!

#4) Skip the drugstore entirely and go to Wal*Mart. I've found I save more going there than going to Rite Aid most times and one less trip.

battra92

@mrs_helm: I dunno, I think it can work. Just like anything else, you have to work at it. For some people it's a better use of time playing the coupon game than spending hours cleaning with vinegar or making your own meals. (I've tried cleaning with vinegar ... it took 10 times as long and my elbow hurt afterwards).

As for family members getting hooked on the more expensive products... well.. kids need to learn to take what they get and like it. If mommy says that we aren't having the brand name cereal this week because it's not on sale, then tough! They eat it or go hungry!

screaminscott

Tactics like this can work, but they aren't the best way to *consistently* save money. I've been penny-pinching all my life..it's just the way I'm wired. The best way to save money consistently is to not buy unnecessary or convenience products. (i.e. use vinegar as a cleaner, make your own meals, no magic eraser). The second best is to find a product that is consistently low priced and buy it when it is on sale. (i.e. Buy 99cent Suave shampoo on sale for 69cents, instead of $5 Aussie with a $2 coupon.)

Using the coupons just gets your family members 'hooked' on the more expensive products, and then what happens when you don't have a coupon or sale? You buy it anyway, and it all evens out. Save yourself the time and effort.

mrs_helm

@SenorDunda: I think it works out that if you buy a product that costs $2.99 and you have a coupon, you only pay $1.50 (for example) but you get $2.99 back in Walgreen bucks, or CVS bucks. If I'm not mistaken.

Letsgohokies

Is it just me, or is the math at the end of that example a little off?
Because if I can receive $2.99 for buying a product that costs $2.99, I'm totally jumping on this Game.

SenorDunda