Coupon Sharing and grocery information

Reny, we don't have a super Wal-Mart here (just a regular one with not a lot of grocery items), so I can't really advise on that. But what I did was to sign up with the grocery game for the $1 four-week trial. During that time you can have access to all of the lists that are available in your area. I checked each store's list every week and used the suggested coupons (so much easier than trying to keep track of all of the coupons on your own!). By the end of the four week trial, I had a pretty good idea which stores it was worth continuing and having to pay for the lists, and I kept the subscription to only those stores, knowing that I would save much more than the lists would cost.

The other thing that I do is to keep a spreadsheet of my "usual" stores and "usual" purchases. I keep track of the normal prices for the items I use regularly and I keep track of the lowest sales prices for those items also. It's similar to what you are paying for with the grocery game list, which tracks sales trends. However, I have found that on some items, the list shows things as being good deals when I can really buy them for less someplace else (Wal-Mart, for example).

I have saved a lot of money though and been able to stock up on things when they are on sale. There are a couple of free ebooks on the coupon mom site, and lots of instructions about how to use "the list" at the grocery game site. Read them! It will probably change the way you think about grocery shopping! And, yes, it can become a rewarding hobby! I feel great when I'm able to come home with several bags full of great deals!

My husband thought I was nuts with my spreadsheets, but when I was finally able to show him the savings trend, he finally stopped teasing me about it!

Wal-mart is generally not a list store for thegrocerygame since it is considered a bargain store although some areas have it as a list. I live in Louisville KY and we have a ton of Wal-marts but it is not a list store. You can get pretty good bargains there and apply the same principles that TGG follows but the cool thing about the grocery game is it organizes everything for you pretty much. All you have to do is buy a few newspapers to get the coupons.

The strategy I follow is I buy 1-6 newspapers depending on the coupons for the week. For example, last week had some great coupons and included both smart source and red plum so I bought 6 papers. It was a great week for new coupons. Then I review my lists as they come out and buy the best deals that I think I will use in multiples to stock up. I have only been at it 3 weeks but I have a ton of shampoo, soap and cleaners that I got free or very very cheap. After I get that stuff then I do my regular shopping at my needs store which is either Wal-mart, Kroger or Meijer.

The list has a lot of deals on it including normal stuff like meat, bread, fruit and so on. Most of the time the normal stuff is around 50% off so I jump around between stores getting the best bargain I can on meat, bread, milk and whatever I consume week to week.

You can follow this same strat using Couponmom but that site isn't as organized although it is free. You can also follow the same strat doing it yourself but it takes way more time since you would have to reveiw each weekly add plus visit each store to find the instore sales. On top of that you would have to start making a price book to keep track of the average price of everyitem in the store. The lists do all that for you though and they will tell you when there is a great deal on many things that you would not even think about buying.

does anyone who regularly shops at Aldi know how the grocerygame/couponmom forums stack up as far as savings go? I am all for trying something new, but I also don't want to spend 2 hours preparing for a shopping trip or checking every single store every week ...

Well its been quite some time since I went to an Aldi's since the closest one is an hour away but the way I remember it all they had was food. There was no health and beauty items, no cleaners, no medicines and so on to speak of. The thing about those websites is you will find a lot of those type of items on the list as well and they are priced at 80% off to free. For example, in 3 weeks I have already picked up 20 bottles of shampoo and conditioner free and some of those were what I would consider very high end designer bottles like $10 a bottle or more. They weren't bargain brand specials. I also picked up a bunch of sauces for free or very cheap like A-1 and Miracle Whip. I think they cost me about $0.25 a bottle instead of $4 a bottle. Another item I got really cheap was Electrosol Dishwasher detergent. It was the big box with powder and I got one box for 0.25 and another box for 0.75. Normally they are $3/box. I don't know if Aldi's has anything similar.

It is very random as to what is on the list though. Some weeks might have sauces at a good deal and others it might be cleaners. The key is you stockpile a bunch of whatever is free or very cheap. The downside is it does take extra time to prepare but you will thank yourself because you save a ton of money. I don't think I spend 2 hours preparing but I would say I spend 2 hours for the entire process which includes reviewing my lists, clipping a few coupons and hitting the 5 stores I have lists for. I am going to drop CVS because it is not convenient for me though.

Using the lists is very easy. It tells you exactly where to get the coupon. What I do is file by insert date and then review the list. Whatever items is on the list I want I just clip those few coupons. I generally end up getting 5-10 things per store for really cheap or free. Some people clip every coupon but that is way to much work for me. Those people save a lot more money than I do though because they get bargains at every store and not just list stores plus they have coupons for extra items that might be a need item to them but not make the list.

If you read the information at the GG site about using the lists, you'll see that part of the reason for the "randomness" of what's on the list week to week is that sales (and coupons) tend to run in a twelve week cycle. Things go on sale and then they're not on sale again during that twelve week cycle. That's where the stockpiling comes in, the theory being that you stock up on things that you use while they are on sale so that you don't have to run out of them and pay full price for them before they go on sale again.

I would say that if you are worried about the amount of time involved, try the $1 four-week trial at the GG and see how much time it takes. If you are worried about the time involvement, I would definitely go with the GG rather than coupon mom because the GG lists are color coded and much easier to read. But the coupon mom lists are free.

is it easy to cancel if I decide not to continue with it, or is it a nightmare like some other things?

It's easy. You just access your account online and there's an option to cancel or downgrade (reduce the number of lists). I haven't canceled mine, but I did reduce the number of lists. During the trial period I used all of the lists for my area. Then before the end of the trial period, I went in and downgraded my membership. After that, every time I logged in my account showed the date that the downgrade would take effect (the date that my trial period was due to end), and, sure enough, it worked fine. So I would imagine that cancellation would work the same way.

I think you can just uncheck all the lists as well and you would not be charged but I haven't tried it. I am still in my trial period as well. I have 1 week left but I think I am going to stick with it using 4 lists for the next few months until I have a pretty decent stockpile of non perishable goods and freezer stock.

Also you can sign up for couponmom and its all free. You do not need to fill in any real information when signing up for them.

I love this....I'm so excited to get started doing this!!

Lmale, it actually is kind of fun. And, as you say, it gives you something to worry about besides bills. At least you feel like you are doing something proactive to save money.

I've had so much going on the past few weeks with kids out of school and summer activities that I've kind of let my couponing slide, but I'm looking forward to getting back to it next month once the kids are back in school and I have a more normal schedule again.

Does anyone know where to find a good coupon organizer?

I cannot believe i never paid much attention to this thread! it has awesome info, thanks everyone!

I made a coupon organizer out of a photo album originally but I don't use it at all. I found it easer to sort by the date of the booklets that you get each sunday. It really depends on how much effort you want to put into this. Some people organize every coupon and carry their albums with them every time they shop which gives them the ablity to use coupons even if they don't make the list. That takes more time than I want to invest though. I just look at the date given on the list and go to the corresponding newspaper insert and clip the coupon.

do coupons save you alot of money? i saw a lady on the news who went to acme, where apparently they double coupons and she got $200 for a few cents. i did not believe it but she actually did, though a lot of stuff she had she sent away for. i do not expect any of that but does it make a remarkable difference for savings?
also i am interested in signing up for the trail at the coupon game. do i need to get coupons ahead of time? where exactly do i get them from? does the website tell me or do i have to find them? sorry if that sounds dumb.
thanks

I still say Aldi's is an awesome store, without the effort!