ameretto

vitonfluorcarbon

Jbball

mustbcrzy

[www.hotcouponworld.com]

mustbcrzy

A lot of the people on HotCouponWorld are stockpilers (hoarders…though they don't like to be called that). Some of them buy large quantities of particular items they have gotten free or nearly free, such as blood glucose monitors, and then sell them on Ebay. They even sell coupons on Ebay…I could not believe that!! Some of these people are crazy and the people who BUY coupons from them are crazier!! This has gone way past coupon clipping to save money!!

Here are some posts from those coupon clipping fanatics:

"A great way to get TP is through ECBs or Walgreen specials, that is how I have gotten most of mine and even had enough to send 2 12pack rolls to my daughters."

Wonder how much postage that cost her? Why can't the daughters buy their own TP? After all, they all live in the same state.

"Re: LOTS of K-Y jelly $90 value ends 01/20/08 9:00 PM EST

WINNER! You are the grand prize winner ***********..these are great for all of the CVS deals + the clearance products you find * also look for the gift sets. When those are marked down the $3 can cover the entire cost"

What is this woman going to do with that much KY???? LMAO!!!!

And this one just floors me…here's one of the hoarders I was talking about…

"Re: What do you have in your stockpile that will last you more than a year?

spray sunblock
make up
face cleanser
lightbulbs,
paper plates, cups
cleaning stuff
toilette paper
tissue
detergent
dawn
fabric softener
spag sauce
tomatoes
pastas
mustard
canned meat like salmon
ketchup
tooth paste
deodorant
razors
pork n beans 60
dry beans
dole jar fruit 18
dole fruit n gel 12 4pks
brown rice 10 2# bags
boxes rice dinners, boxes potatoes, 36 boxes
bbq sauce over 30
a-1 -16 bottles
heinz 57
salad dressing 28 and 10 dips for wings
baggies
trash bags
foil
breakfast bars/snack bars
shampoo conditioner
body wash
spices/marinades
hair colors
tea
welches low sugar grape drink
powder cool aid, hawaiian punch, tea singles
peanut butter 12 jars
sugar free jelly
sugar free relish
sugar free bread n butter pickles
cooking oil - 22 bottles
syrups, karo, molasses
bread crumbs
cream of soups, stocks, soup,
box pudding, gelatin, pudding cups
ds cereal - post hbo

This is hard, some of the stuff I am about to buy again.

After next week I will have enough for a year of:
mayo, tuna and canned chicken, chef Boyardee

ketchup and hamb chips/ whole baby dill pickles - I need much more than last yr.

I have a good stockpile and most of it will last a year, but if something goes on sale I will buy more and rotate my stockpile for a yard sale or donation."

Would you buy any of these things at a YARD SALE?? I know I wouldn't!! Some of these people have serious problems with hoarding it seems to me. These people shop every week and sometimes more than once or twice a week…buying the same things they already have a years supply of. Maybe they have some sort of mental disorder...I don't know!! I'm all for saving money, but holy crap coupon addicts...get a life!!

mustbcrzy

It is not impossible to be a SAHM and work full time - normal or not. SAHM by day - full time employee at night. It is not hard at all. I stay home with the kids during the day whilst my husband whittles away his day at work 1st shift - we dual parent 2nd shift and 3rd shift sends me off to my RN job at the local hospital.

Other SAHM's enjoy the benefits of telecommuting. There is more than one way to skin a cat

ruabich

" Many of the people who do this are stay-at-home moms/dads who can't hold down regular employment, so the "get a job" comparison doesn't work."

This comment is way out of line.

I think you are over-analyzing my comment. I wasn't being negative about the SAHMs -- "can't" in this case meaning that it is impractical, not that they don't have the skills or willingness to work a full time job. It's just almost impossible to stay at home with kids and have a normal full-time job.

I'm a hard-core couponer, so I am not one of the naysayers.

RandomHookup

In the amount of time it took some of you to read the article, read the comments and post a batch of shit - I will have scanned through my Sunday coupon inserts of which I usually manage to get 20 copies of each, separated each page and stapled each like coupon together (there is actually a youtube video showing a similar operation), sorted and filed each coupon by catagory in my coupon briefcase, prepared my shopping list after reading the local sale flyers, clipped my coupons to my list and be on my way to shop when the store opens at 7 am tomorrow morning.

Now, think about this:

Staple hygiene items such as deoderant,shampoo, body soap/wash, shaving cream, razor blades, conditioners, lotions, Qtips, tooth paste, tooth brushes, mouthwash, not to mention cosmetics, personal products and any other daily use body producs, based on a family of 4 using all or some of these products regularly, can cost upwards of 100.00 per month.

Any given month, at any given national chain store, all of these items can be had for free - yes free using sales, store discount cards, store coupons and manufacture coupons. You are buying brand name, high quality items now, not store brands or other generic type items.

So - you find these items on the correct "free" sale and you stock up - say 1 years worth. That is a realized savings of 1,200.00 per year (using above figures). To get just these items free, you may spend a total of 2 hours including finding, clipping, and sorting of coupons, scouring sale flyers and matching all of the above up, driving to the stores and purchasing these items, bringing them home and putting them away. So consider you have just saved 1,200 for 2 hours work, that is 600.00 per hour. Can any of you say you make that kind of money?

Now, if you are really diligent, and have paid very close attention to rebates available both from the manufacturer of the product as well as the store where your purchased it, or maybe even both with the inception of online rebate filing, you can profit in real cash

This is all being done legally, morally and ethically, with very little effort on your part.

With just doing this - you can take the 100.00 you would have normally spent in CVS on toiletries and head on over to the grocery store and stock up on free range chicken and organic veggies. That is a whole nutha post - I can also explain how to leagally, morally and ethically get your organics free or very inexpensively.

ruabich

I've been a cashier.. no one gets docked for extra transactions from one person.. and who exactly would decide if it was an unnecessary check-out??? The store that is making money whether one person buys in 5 transactions or 5 people buy in 1???

cheynesnana

So... You don't find all these items useful??? Shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, shaving cream, razors.. etc??? These items can be had for free or pennies.. and they can be kept for a long time.. so why not get them free and stockpile instead of having to pay full price when you need them?

Also.. it's HotCouponWorld.com... :)

cheynesnana

antikitty

Not only lower income people use coupons the way Crissy did in this article. Alot of middle and upper class people do as well, they use the extra money they save to put into investments or retirement, whatever. Thats usually why they are in the higher economic bracket, because they are savy in ways of spending wisely and saving money.

For people who think that a few hours a week is too much time to spend looking for a good deal to save money to put into retirement, your childs college education fund, or live debt free you may be the same people who couldnt take the extra time to learn what an adjustable mortgage really is and as soon as it adjusts and your mortgage jumps up an extra $500 a month you will need to learn fast where to find the deals and coupons. I am sure hotcouponworld.com or whoever will welcome you open arms and teach you the ropes.

P.S. not all coupons are for "junk" food. I am vegeterian and I prefer to eat organic in most instances and I still get coupons for the items I love and am able to save at least 50% each time I shop on my grocery bills and my freezer and pantry is fully stocked. Plus I am usually able to get toothpaste, razors, shampoo and such items I use on a daily basis for free or close to it. And you usually cant get store brands for that cheap so its almost always brands I have always used and loved.

antikitty

There are quite a lot of coupons for dairy, bread, meat, and healthy and organic foods.

You might have a corinary because of the amount of money you're spending but I won't because I eat healthy with coupons.

Coupons4u

I will preface my comments. There are shoppers who have an addiction problem. They use coupons for the wrong reasons. There is a valid argument with this specific group.

I am a vegetarian who coupons. I do not buy much "junk food". I saved $160 through coupons and sales in two hours. I do not need to shop until July. Ninety percent of my coupons are organic coupons; the other ten are a mix between HBA and entertainment coupons.

I spend 20 minutes a month clipping and sorting coupons. I spend 3-4 hours a month grocery and sales shopping. I live within 5 minutes of two grocery stores and a Target.

I never run five orders at once (there is nothing wrong with this if done in an expedient manner). If I have a large cart of items, I allow people with smaller orders to check out ahead of me. When I am at the grocery store, I check out at the Uscan (non-12 item or less lines) to ensure we do not tie up the cash wraps.

In the last 2 weeks, I've saved $448 in four hours. This is $448 less dollars my husband will have to earn over his professional career. Why would any of you purposely retain longer careers because you can't be bothered with coupons? This is a sure sign of pseudo-intellectualism.

Please desist with these spurious comments. They have little basis in reality.

jswede1149

This comment is way out of line. Most people CHOOSE to stay home to raise their children. It has NOTHING to do with holding down regular employment. The parents that do stay at home; their job does not end at 5pm nor do they work 8 hrs job. They work 24/7 with no pay, no thanks, and no one else to help.

There are people out there that want to save money and will find a legal way to do so and there are people who dont' want to and don't.

THose that don't and feel the need to grip about couponers being considerate of other people, well those that don't use coupons need to be considerate of those that do. Your time is as valuable as everyone else. No one is above anyone else. So what you want for yourself, is most likely what others want for themself also.

Coupons4u

While there are rarely coupons for fresh produce, you can still use coupons to get it free or really cheap. A few months ago there was a deal where if you bought 7 boxes of Kellogg's cereal you would get a coupon for $10 off your next order, good on just about anything in the store. I used coupons to get those 7 boxes for $2 total, then I had a $10 coupon I could use on produce. I did that several times. The food pantry was grateful for the 50 boxes of Rasin Bran, which is reasonably nutritious, and my family had fresh pineapple as often as we wanted. There are deals like this rather frequently if you know where to look. Also, I have seen frozen vegetables free after coupons.

Many coupons are for non-food products. I got up this morning and took a shower. I used free soap, free shampoo, free conditioner, free shaving cream, and free razors. I then got out and used my free deodorant, free toilet paper, free lotion, and free makeup (applied with a free makeup brush). I brushed my hair with my free hairbrush and used free hair styling products. I brushed my teeth with my free sonicare toothbrush (I did pay for the new brushhead I needed) and free toothpaste.

I then changed my baby's diaper with free baby wipes and diapers that cost about $3.50 per pack of 35.

With all the money I saved using coupons on these items I can afford to buy healthful foods for my family.

Could I make more money working? Not in a part time, mostly work from home, very flexable hours job where I can take time off whenever I feel like it and bring my children with me when I have to. When I do get a babysitter, I usually pay her with stuff instead of money.

$1 saved is not really $1 earned. Depending on you tax bracket, $1 saved can be $2 earned.

TheWoman

quiltinaway

Sure, I'd like to save big bucks on stuff like the rest of us but not at the expense of a corinary.

Diningbadger

Around here, stores will not give you cash back for saving on coupons. I had a $1.10 coupon on a box of cereal and I used the coupon. The cahsier took 10 minutes of everyones time to call the office and see if she could allow it because their store policy was nothing over $1 was allowed. My jaw dropped. So I went to a sister store across town the next week, and they said that was wrong. They also added that I should not have gotten any money back from it, but the coupon should have been taken at $1.10. I kept trying to tell them that the darned box of cereal was $3.68 so there was no way I was going to get $ back. So, I just don't go to that store now.

ghoster

The guy who was giving the speech would get paid to shop, much like Chrissy here. He'd make $2 on each pair of cereal boxes, or $1 on each bottle of nyquil, or whatever.

There were a few things he did to get even more out of it. He wouldn't buy anything he actually needed. EVER. BUT, he always walked out not with goods, but with money. He walked out of the store every time with a huge wad of cash... (figuratively... he actually walked out with $500 in-store gift cards that he paid nothing for).

Basically, he'd find what he considered a winning combination, like the cereal example. He'd go online to a website where you can buy 100 or 500 of the same coupon from someone who's sitting at home just clipping them. So he'd buy 1000 of the $3 off coupons, and 500 of the buy one get one free coupons.

He'd go into the store, he'd bring 500 boxes of cereal to the front, use the coupons, AND BUY A $500 IN-STORE GIFT CARD.

THen he'd walk out of the store, drop the 500 boxes of cereal, and drive home, keeping NOTHING but the $500 store gift card. He'd literally trash the goods he just purchased and leave the store with $500. Sometimes he'd even do the right thing and donate them to food shelters, but the point is he didn't care at all what happened to the cereal. He just made $500.

In fact, for some products it got even better. Some allow you to rip off the labels and get everything from movie tickets to clothing items. So not only did you make $1.50 on each Sunny Delight you bought, but you ALSO make an $8 movie ticket for every 4. That means for each 4 units you buy, you make $8 + $6.... and even if you never intend to use the movie tickets, I'm SURE you could resell them to someone for $5 each. The sad part with this one, though, is that he was unable to donate any food items without labels or proofs of purchase. The shelters wouldn't take them, and so he often just left them on the side of the road somewhere.

Remember, this is completely without even using the goods you're buying. This is just using coupons only and then throwing hte products into the garbage.

For all those people saying using coupons to buy goods you're not gonna use is pointless, that's wrong. If you're MAKING money on every unit, you don't care if you're buying shampoo, food, or dog shit. It ultimately doesn't matter. You're getting paid to walk out of the store with it... the more you walk out with, the more they pay you.

It's only obvious when they set up systems like this that people will take it to extremes.

rawblem

clickable

clickable

I'm still an intensive coupon clipper, for personal care items, makeup (drugstore-type brands, not high end), cleaning and household products, and pet supplies. When I have two $3 coupons for L'Oreal foundation, for example, and the store is having a weekly two-for-one special, I can get two foundations for a fraction of the cost of one. Each one rings up separately at the register (so I can use both coupons for buying two items). Because of the "twofer," the register will later deduct the price of one of them. So, for example, if the foundation costs $12, I'm buying two for $12, applying a $3 coupon for each one, and end up paying $6 for both. At CVS, I usually plan to use other benefits that lower the price even more - buying products when there are Extra Care Bucks offered, and using coupons CVS sends regularly by e-mail, such as, for example, $4 off any $20 beauty products purchase, or store coupons for specific brands. I buy all my cosmetics, skin care, and personal care items, and many household products, using this strategy. It quickly adds up to substantial savings.

I find you need to stay focused on whether the "bargain" is really useful to you or whether it will gather dust because you realize you don't want to switch from your "regular" brand. If you're careful to buy only what you can use (or donate to a shelter or food bank), coupons can still be very valuable even if you mostly avoid the food-related ones.

clickable

Keep up the good fight.

@lamorevincera:
You prove my point. While many are quick to jump few in this world are willing to accept that they may have jumped to soon and even fewer are willing to publicly retract.
"thumbs up" to you for being mature enough to not only think what you said but to publicly state it.

KevinReyn

dirk1965

In some cities, I would totally agree with you. However, where I live now, making $20 an hour is exceedingly rare. Most people in my rural town are lucky to be in the $10/hour range, if they're employed at all. My take is that if you'd otherwise spend that time, say, watching tv or just dinking around, this extreme couponing might be worth the effort. Even without going to Crissy's extremes, we can all take away a few useful tips from her experience. I love feeling like I just stole a box of Lucky Charms after using a good coupon trick.

Illiterati

Bigtime couponers will tell you the big savings are in the Catalina deals and Rx transfer gift cards. But then again, I'll eat anything.

RandomHookup

skatanic

kimandkathess

@RandomHookup: Regarding the bar codes, the codes are set by some quasi-governmental organization and each manufacturer applies for the first five digits. Most companies have brands save because you can have, technically speaking, 99,999 unique codes (the last 5 digits of the UPC) per manufacturer code (the first 5 digits of the UPC). Most brands don't have that many different items. So at my company, you can use a coupon for one product, technically speaking, on I think 8 different brands.

RosyGlasses

We also encourage our members to treat cashiers kindly.

hotcouponmama

Crissy, I'm VERY glad to hear that you are so considerate of others. From my experience, people who know they'll be there for a while and are willing to let others go first are damn near fictitional.

Having been a cashier, I can tell you that most coupon clippers aren't very nice people. I hate to say that, but it's the truth - they try very hard to slip in expired/wrong store/wrong product coupons, and when you tell them that you can't ring a coupon up because it's for a $100+ Sonicare system and they're just buying a $3 toothbrush, they scream and insult you. It gets to the point where you see someone with coupons and sit there mentally going "PLEASE, not my register, PLEASE".

I'm very glad to hear of your consideration for others, and I am quite happy to eat crow here. :)

As I said originally, I do admire your tenacity and resourcefulness.

/munch munch munch... mmm, crow
//I have a feather stuck in my teeth now. ;)

lamorevincera

ncgirl

HCW has a database with every coupon out there we know about, and we even have a couponing board for shoppers transitioning to a green lifestyle as well - and those members there get some screamin' deals on organics.

As to the savings? I am a FT MBA student, and I've couponed while working FT jobs as well. My savings over the last five years off retail...$55,000!!! You know where that money goes? It fully funds a $16K 401K plan. So I am saving after-tax dollars that I use to fund a pre-tax account. The savings for us, combined with the interest earned is huge. And we're a 6-figure earning household. You'd be amazed how many people are professionals who coupon. We have mods who are pharmacists and lawyers. We have members who are business owners. For many of us, we want to keep what we have, not give it away paying retail. And the cashiers in my area...they're thrilled cause I share the deals with them. They are working for little above min. wage - they are happy for the extra coupons I throw their way.

Is couponing for everyone? Not really. You have to commit to wanting to save that kind of money. But there's lots of ways to save on food and get the quality of food you want - you just have to be willing to be out there.

As the forum owner, I am thrilled when I read about how this has changed our members lives. They have paid off debt, houses, cars. They are going back to school with their money. They are retiring early. They donate THOUSANDS of dollars and products back into their community. Many of them (myself included) even have keys to their local foodbank so they can drop off goods whenever they want.

We appreciate those who pay full price and think nothing of it - it keeps the good deals coming for the rest of us!

hotcouponmama

Definitely. Some weeks it's a total waste and I pitch the entire insert. On the flip side, P&G BrandSaver week is my favorite. Good for me, good for my local shelter!

Locally we get coupons doubled to $1 but not over; where I used to live they had double and triple coupons, no limit. That makes a biiiiiiig difference in how well I do couponing. I've also lived places where there's no doubling.

(And ignore the haters. There's always some dope who has to chime in on frugality posts going, "Saving money is stupid!" Must be nice. :P )

Eyebrows McGee

The dog food coupon I referenced is Pedigree brand. I do not have a dog (cost $0) so I don't know the prices. If you use this coupon, you will save 7 1/2¢ a can. Your deal on Zest soap is great. But I don't get coupons for Zest soap, and my supermarkets (Wal-Mart, Albertsons, Lowes Big 8) do not double coupons. So I get 40¢ off frozen garlic bread slices and $1 off Oust air freshener.

Clearly there are big regional differences in coupon availability. Crissy must live in a part of the country where there are a lot of coupons available. If I tried to live on coupon purchases, I'd starve. I check the coupons every week I get a Sunday paper, and I usually browse the mail ads that show up on Tues or Wed each week. They rarely have deals that make it worth my while to make a special trip.

Albertsons and Lowes here have extremely high grocery prices, usually 2 to 3X (no exaggeration) Wal-Mart's. I don't like paying $5 for a 5-lb bag of flour, $6 for a gallon of milk and $3.75/lb for hamburger. El Paso has higher than national average grocery prices. Nobody gives coupons for produce here, although there are ethnic markets with inexpensive produce.

I'm aware of that smart-buyer online service you speak of--it was featured on Consumerist a few weeks ago. It is not available in El Paso, a city of nearly 800,000 people.

So my conclusion is that some of the snark you find on here is due to the fact that there are meaningful differences in coupon availability throughout the U.S. The rest of the snark comes from the fact that internet commenting is more locker room than group therapy. Nothing personal, Crissy; it's just the nature of the beast.

ChuckECheese

CrissyT

If you're still here, I would like to know how you find coupons for normal items? Most of the coupons in my Sunday paper are for snacks or non-food items, and most of them are for new products the manufacturer is trying to push. I would have no problem devoting time to couponing but it is rare for me to find a coupon I can actually use. How do I do it?

daniinpa

I coupon clip and use them on a limited basis and manage to save a decent amount. I scan the ads every week and clip the coupons for the products that we use anyway - the brands of toiletries, the brands of cleaning products, the cereals, etc. I keep them filed and then when we go shopping I pull the ones that are on that week's list. I also keep an eye out in the grocery store for products that we use (like cereal or spaghetti sauce and pasta) that may be on super sales but not on that week's list and stock up when they are on sale.

I save maybe $250 a year just from the coupons, which take practically no time to do...not sure how much more I save just by keeping my eye out for the sales as we work our way through the store. It works for us, saves us some money and takes practically no time or effort.

NancyNally

First off, let's start with the dog food. The coupon was for Alpo, right? My local store had it on sale for 10 for $10 last week. A dollar a can. And they double coupons. So, that 75 cent coupon is worth $1.50. So that's a can and a half of dog food for free.

And last time I checked, my dog planned to eat on each of the next 10 days.

Here is another example, I'll work the math for you:

3pk Zest Soap
--
Original Price: 2.29
Sale Price: 1.50 (2/$3)
Coupon Value: 70 cents (35 doubled)
Total Cost: 80 cents (Price per bar: 27 cents)
--

When was the last time you spent twenty-seven cents on a bar of national brand soap? 1964?

Hell, I can't even claim to be a coupon genius anymore. I used to do all the hard work. Now I use a service that tells me "Hey, on March 30th, there was a coupon in the Smart Source for 75 cents off of Product X. Supermarket Y has it on sale for 1.50 and they double coupons! It's free!"

aristan

I still would like to know how she saved ~$36 on:
"Crissy also explained that when a coupon reads "1 coupon per purchase" you are not actually limited to using it only once. For example she took 2 boxes of cereal that were buy 1 get 1 free for $3.79 a box. Crissy also had 2, $3 off coupons to go with each of the boxes of cereal. Crissy made over $2 on the cereal. At checkout Crissy's total was $15.38, she saved $36.22."
According to my math that was only, what? $10? So, wait, the store gave her about $20 to walk in and take stuff off the shelves? If so, I should quit my day job and cut coupons for the rest of my life.

So lets argue this coupon thing for a second. So, lets argue that coupons do indeed save you money.
I decided to do my own investigation.
I googled for "dominick's coupons" (its right down the street so why not) and found:
[www.chicagotribune.com]

Seems pretty legit right? Because all newspapers are trustworty. Well, I proceed to the coupons link and it seems fairly user friendly. I click on a few coupons, and low and behold it wants to install some spyware/adware crap on my machine. Over my dead body.
I don't give up easily. So I googled for "grocery coupons" and came up with: coupons.smartsource.com
Seems legit, although the idiot who programmed it put in JS code to prevent you from going back in your browsers history....why would they want to back to the previous page?
In any case, I selected a coupon and again it wanted to install crap on my computer. I even dugg a little deeper and one wanted my email + zipcode (why would you need my email to show me a coupon?). Then I also stumbled upon a site that looked like the first but the HTML was screwed up and wanted to install the same crappy spyware.

$.60 says she has 10 tons of spyware/adware on her machine. Dibs on helping her uninstall that crap + the $140 she "saved".

So in the end, you are not "saving" any money. Because the money you "saved" you have to use to hire some geek to come and fix the computer you screwed up. Or do what most people do is just buy a new one after they have trashed the one they currently have.

I have seen some useful coupons floating around, like $5 off at best buy or something...but it is NOT worth installing spyware and getting paper cuts for the amount of money you would save from coupons. Morale of the story, everything is good in moderation.

Someone prove it to me with broken down facts that coupons are actually worth it. Otherwise, from personal experience, I am telling you that the news article is a little fishy in terms of how much she ACTUALLY saved.

Sorry for my rant, its late and I'm tired. So if some of it seems a little...unapporatite it's my asleep brain typing.

k1ll3rdr4g0n

CrissyT

SmartSource: BBQ sauce; ziploc bags; sweepstakes; airborne; glade air fresh; contrived yogurt snax; baseball caps; omaha steaks; discover app; shampoo; deodorant; candy; nutrisystem; pledge; air freshener; dow bathroom chemicals; stain remover; bug killers; windex; english muffins; sleep number beds; discover card app again; oil of olay; oreck vacuum; checks; tampons; dog snax; air freshener; address labels; bras; weird arthritis gloves; direct tv; and grandy's restaurant? (33 items)

and redplum: frozen garlic bread; fruit juice; arthritis supplement; canned dog food; skin lotion; skin lotion; sandwich crackers; visine; check printing; bras; foot pads; dish network; and eyeglasses. (13 items)

Here's what I've learned:

1. There's almost no food. BBQ sauce, english muffins, Ocean Spray juice, steaks, candy, kids' yogurt snax, frozen bread, snack crackers. 8 items. Most of the items are barely food--they're really unhealthy snacks. The only near-staples are the muffins and the juice.

2. Most everything is discretionary and premium-priced, such as credit cards, satellite tv, name-brand cleaning products, pseudo-gourmet beef, silly inflatable beds and name-brand toiletries.

3. All these things are priced at a premium over similar products. Some of the items require large purchases--you must buy 10 cans of dog food to get 75¢ off. Even with a coupon, there are almost certainly much cheaper alternatives available, e.g., I'd never buy eyeglasses at EyeMasters.

In the old days, I remember getting coupons for coffee, frozen OJ, sugar and paper towels. Indeed I would be constipated if I tried to eat this food, what little there is. There are 3 separate ads for air fresheners.

My jokes before were aimed at the fact that for most of us, these coupons won't allow us to buy needed products, and we won't really save any money if we try, because we'll have to buy premium brands and unhealthy, unneeded items. YMMV: In other cities, there may be more couponage. FWIW, I have no interest in organic foods or farmers' markets. I don't consider one's grocery shopping habits an issue of terpitude--it was just teasing.

By the way, on Scott Tissue's website, you can get virtually unlimited $2 off coupons for TP and other products.

ChuckECheese

Let's boil this down: Crissy is doing something that works for her and some other people would like to take her knowledge utilize it for themselves. If you can do that great, if not, you're not out much more than your time reading the article.

End of story.

CStogdill

katekate is squared

i had to at least come to her defense on THAT aspect of this.

fall_farewell

5 small transactions still takes quite a bit longer, because she has to pay for each transaction seperately, so it is the processing/etc that is going to make it take longer.

obviously if there is no policy against it, then she can feel free to do it. but just because theres no policy against someone being a douchebag, doesn't mean they SHOULD be one either.

she is just being obnoxious. coupons take forever anyway.
if i was behind that person in line, i'd change lines or hope the cashier has the power to do something.

theres a line you cross from being a good wise consumer to being a dumb obnoxious douchebag.

***understandably, there are situations where this could be more reasonable. i do understand that maybe she has 5 children and both her and her husband have jobs just trying to make ends meet. H

**HOWEVER, you have to realize that no one else in the line behind you knows that and most do not care. NO MATTER HOW TOUGH your life is, you still have to be considerate of others too, not try to take in all the sympathy you can.

fall_farewell

As a customer, I would be annoyed to be stuck in line behind her during her multiple transactions. I know we all need to have plenty of patience when shopping, but we all have our limits.

Coupons are a lot of work for the benefits you get from them. I find it is only worth cutting and searching online for them if you get at least 25% off your purchase. Otherwise, it's not worth your time.

anyanka323

donkeyjote

By what scale is this woman fat?

Between the free-floating misogyny and "blame-the-victim" comments I sometimes wonder why I read this site...

MMD

Everyone who's bitching and moaning about waiting behind her, take a deep breath. Standing in line for an extra five minutes isn't going to ruin your day, keep you from destiny, or kill a small puppy. Patience is a virtue that sadly most of the public lacks.

Scrugger

Eyebrows McGee

teapartys_over

Slytherin

A coupon usually has a barcode of 5-BBBBB-CCCDD-E. The "5" tells the computer that it's a coupon. The 5 "B" digits tell the computer what company issued the coupon. The 3 "C" digits tell the computer what products the coupon will work with. The 2 "D" digits tell the computer the value of the coupon. Finally, the one "E" digit, the check digit, makes sure that the eleven other digits are correct.

The key here, however, is that if there is a conflict between what the barcode says and what the text says, the text always supersedes the barcode. I know some of my customers try to play the cute little "coupon decoding" game to cheat the system, but any use of a coupon other than the manufacturer's intended use is a form of coupon fraud.

wjmorris3

mythago

ChuckECheese

whatsthisnow

As for me, I don't wallow in such a base activity such as coupon clipping. I'm a yoga instructor with zero percent body fat who on consumes organic, free-range, vegan, skinless chicken and hydroponic vegetables (I don't like my food to touch to dirty, dirty dirt). Whenever I'm not self-actualizing or spending moments of soul-fulfilling profundity with my children, I compose tetra-stanza poems that are immediately purchased by my well-bred patrons for thousands of dollars each.

If Crissy can't do the same, it clearly a mark of her moral and social inferiority. But I will try not to judge.

rwyuan

If you dont want to do it thats cool but again why beat someone else up for wanting to do it?

I have done a couple of transactions before and it goes like this.
Scan scan scan hit total.
Swipe card type pin hit ok get reciept
Scan scan scan hit total.
Swipe card hit credit sign receipt I am outta here.

To be honest it usually takes more time for the cashier to keep up with me then it does for me to get the job done. When you do get a shapr cashier (rare anymore) its a joy cause your in and out in no time regardless of the line.

KevinReyn

RandomHookup

Freebooter Fox

You never know what the people in line behind you are going through. You could have a person behind you who really needs to get the medicine they're buying home to their sick baby, or even just someone who's had a bad day and just wants to get home.

And knowing how incredibly slow the CVS stores around me are, I'd honestly be ticked off that I had to wait 30 minutes or so in line, simply because someone ahead of me wanted to play the system. I just can't see that as being considerate of others, which is pretty important to me.

lamorevincera

ideagirl

Len Bias Cocaine Surplus

I intially chimed in on this thread simply because here is someone trying to save some money and we dont know her circumstances and people are so quick to judge. I really didnt expect that from this crowd I would have figure they would have been cheering her on.

@mermaidshoes: I had a not so witty response for your desire to clock someone for asking you to do your job but the more I thought about it the more I realised you already did my work for me.

KevinReyn

verucalise

drjayphd

verucalise

additionally, i usually find that most coupons are for things i wouldn't buy anyway. i'm not really saving if i'm buying something i don't want to eat.

mermaidshoes

Also, the 5 transactions at once is BS. That's just rude. I do two transactions, max, going to the end of the line after each one. There's no reason other people need to be inconvenienced so I can save some money.

I don't think I've paid for toiletries or cleaning products in a few years, thanks to CVS & Rite Aid. They're not just sitting in my basement, collecting dust - I stock up on free or nearly free items and donate what I won't use to the local battered women's shelter. It's a low cost way to help families in need.

Gin&Yonic

But you gotta admire her effort and planning.

BlackFlag55

And it's not like, if you get knocked up and don't need them for a while, you can't donate them to a woman's shelter!

When I'm all stocked up on "feminine products" but get a great coupon, I buy them anyway JUST TO DONATE THEM to the battered women's shelter. They ALWAYS need them and they DO cost a lot!

(And now I'll do it with glucose meters too, now that I know!)

@teapartys_over: :D I want your pasta sauce now!

My favorite stew takes four hours ... it's dead easy, only 10 minutes of prep and then add things twice during the four hours, but you have to have four hours at home to make it, so even though it's cheap, easy, and tasty, only a few of my friends who beg the recipe can make it, since they're not home from work until 5:30 and want to eat before 9:30 at night. :P

I work half at home and half outside the home, so my menus are sort-of split between things that take a lot of babysitting (but not much work) and things that I can pull together in 10 minutes (and tend to involve more convenience items).

Eyebrows McGee

I know I'll need the car to go shopping, so I'll always have the coupons and store loyalty cards with me whenever I go.

MercuryPDX

"The fact that she benefits is immaterial -- she still has made anything useful or provided a useful service."

I honestly feel that attempting to respond to this would be fruitless and a enormous waste of time. Your basic misunderstanding of the way the real world works is showing, and I think we are real close to hearing all about Ayn Rand.

You make me long for an old-skool Usenet-style killfile on The Consumerist.

DeliBoy

As an adult I still shop sales and stock up on healthy-ish foods, dried goods, and other things. Otherwise we eat mostly fresh foods. I do often use coupons for household items.
This year, using just Walgreens sales and rebates I got at least a year's worth of deodorant for 2 people for 10 bucks, and free toothbrushes, after rebates. Am I putting them out of business? Hardly. Also, it took about 10 minutes of effort, per week. I think it's worth it.
To the person who thinks it's ridiculous to stock up on tampons: Are you kidding me??? Those things cost a fortune.

whatsthisnow

kwbridge

DamThatRiver

The glucoise monitors idea, cheers!! This is the elightened mind set I have come to appreciate at this site. I never thought to do so but I will now as well as others.

KevinReyn

wring

as much as I'd had to be after her in line, not everyone have the same opportunity to make money

qrius

Hi

The definition of a scam
A fraudulent business scheme; a swindle.

Yes when businesses "scam" us that is bad. When businesses say one thing and do another that is bad. When businesses refuse to honor their own policies yes that is bad.

When you play by the rules and follow the policies even though you might play a little harder or for that matter actually put some effort into using those rules and policies to their fullest I fail to see how that is taking advantage of them.

FYI another definition for you
Take advantage of,
a. to make use of for gain: to take advantage of an opportunity.
b. to impose upon, esp. unfairly, as by exploiting a weakness: to take advantage of someone.

I see this purely as definition a. because no one is exploited unfairly. Dont believe it lets look at it.

The manufacturer - Get their product purchased and into the hands of the consumer who may tell their friends how good it is and lead to more sales. Believe me if it wasnt in their best interest you wouldnt see coupons.

The Store - Depends on the shopper. In many cases that same shopper that takes advantage of the coupon also buys stuff that is not on sale and thus they make their money off that AND the money the get reembused from the manufacturer. In most cases the store actually makes out better.

The Clerk - Ok so god forbid you have to do your job. Who give a flying F if its me makeing 2 or 3 transaction or 2 or 3 other people? Your job is still the same, that is what you are pulling a paycheck for. So ok maybe I am taking advantage of you but thats a stretch.

Other Consumers - Ok these can be the people who get hurt by this but in most cases even the multi transaction cases the hurt it minimal. I am still going to buy the same amount of groceries regardless. And the actual time taken to take my payment between them is really insignificant but time can dialate when its the only thing your focusing on, take a deep breath and breath it will pass.

And lastly a third definition
Loop Hole
a means of escape; esp., a means of evading or escaping an obligation, enforcement of a law or contract, etc.

Coupons and coupon handling procedures have been around for a very very long time. If there was a loop hole to exploit dont you think it would be closed by now.

Just to give you a little food for thought. If coupon abuse was such a bad thing why do you think that stores offer doubling and tripling of coupons or for that matter accepting of coupons from other stores?

So yes when a company tries to willfully screw someone you bet pitchforks and torches to the front gate. Using a system that is in place for the sole purpose to generate more revenue for multiple participants and doing so to its fullest extent? Big pat on the back for a job well done.

KevinReyn

BTW, if you ever see the coupons for Blood Sugar Monitors, buy them, even if you're not a diabetic. The coupon is generally for the price of one of the monitors, meaning that the monitor sells for $20 and you get a $20 coupon in the paper. So it costs you nothing. Your local Homeless shelter, EMT, and Senior Citizen Center will kill for these.

Will do. Awesome idea. I see these coupons all the time and think: "I have one, what do I need with a second one?"

Now I know! Thanks so much!

marsneedsrabbits

firesign

You wrote: Agreed! If all you want to do is feed your kids Cap'n Crunch, Hamburger Helper, and other sugar/salt-laden junk, then go ahead and clip coupons. When was the last time anyone saw a coupon for fresh vegetables or organic milk/eggs?

All the time? There are plenty of coupons for "Buy a pound of bacon/gallon of milk/bottle of salad dressing?etc, and get bread & tomatoes for BLTs/5 pounds of bananas & Vanilla Wafers/lettuce and veggies for a salad to go with the dressing?etc.

They are out there, but they require a specific purchase and since they are higher value coupons, they are often sent to people who have signed up with the company or their advertising arm.

marsneedsrabbits

I guess my point in it all is that I was pretty surprised at some of the responses I saw here. I thought most of the consumerist regulars had similar value sets but it appears those values are contingent on if they are personally affected or not. But alas I take solace in the fact that many of those posting the arrogant comments like "I make more then she saves" are probably a paycheck away from being in need of coupon cutting lol.

I love to use coupons - its a fun activity for me and the boys, we shop together and when they are older, and they cant wait, they will get their own little lists and it will become a game for them to see who can get their list the fastest. The net side effect is I spend some quality time with my kids and I am able to keep a few dollars in my pocket that would otherwise go in my belly.

KevinReyn

Pixelantes Anonymous

hi

You wrote: So you were gonna spend $200, you'd save $100, but how hard would it be for you to be creative or just work for $20 an hour for 5 hours and make that same $100 you saved then spend an hour and get what you want.

First off, 20/hour x 5 is not 100 dollars after taxes are taken out. So, maybe she's have to work more like 7-8 hours for that 100 dollars after she paid child care, taxes, paid for gas, etc. Assuming she could get a 20/hour job.

And second, doing this once a week at "off" times probably makes it possible for her to not work & be home with the kids, something it is difficult to put a price on.

marsneedsrabbits

teapartys_over

When I was out of work, I started using coupones and found coupons on name-brand items at the grocery store were still more expensive than generics at the same store, or the bulk purchases at Costco. What I was able to do was identify about 30 of my family's most commonly purchased items, and then I shopped the best deals for those items. For food, buying what was in season was fresh and cheap, and bulk buys and freezing from Costco was best for meat, chicken and fish. On things like coffee filters and paper towels, finding a generic, store-brand or off-brand that I liked was the best deal (who needs name-brand garbage bags?).

The rest of the time, it was look for store specials and, if you use that item all the time, stock up when it's on sale. Coupons were best on toiletries and personal care products, esp. on name brands that you don't want to stop using. Generic mouthwash - yuck! I'll wait for a Listerine coupon, thanks.

The key that I found was to concentrate on the things you bought most often, and experiment to find the best value for your buck on those few dozen items. That cuts your core bill week to week, then you can save more by watching for sales, specials and appropriate coupons. Biggest waste of money was buying things we didn't use just because we had a coupon. Only exception was when it was a new product we wanted to try.

PaperBoy

Yeah, hard work at actually creating something and frugality in actually doing more with less. What she does is actually economically (and IAAE) completely worthless -- it creates no net utility. All she does is shuffle around paper creating pretend value. The fact that she benefits is immaterial -- she still has made anything useful or provided a useful service.

*To be absolutely fair, you could argue that companies benefit from having tools that push consumption of over-inventory goods. They don't have any interest in just giving those goods away though.

nonzenze

teapartys_over

inboulder1

Do I store everything? Not a chance, but I do pay attention to what's on sale and I shop at a couple different places. Even if you aren't going to spend hours clipping coupons (I'm definitely not) you can tailor your shopping to save a decent amount of money without much effort.

enm4r

Voyou_Charmant

strathmeyer

no.no.notorious

HaloZero

There's an 8-year supply of mouthwash stashed in the hall closet. Her children's friends wonder why the kids all have canned green beans and instant potatoes stowed under their beds. Every three or four years Crissy calls the exterminator to kill the weevils and she drops off the 4-year old Chex at the food pantry.

ChuckECheese