Home Economics

[Miss Neecerie]

But how much are you *actually* saving every week? And is the 50 cents or whatever you're actually saving a week worth the time it takes to hunt for the coupons? Maybe it is, or maybe it does actually save you a lot of money. I'm just trying to throw out a cautionary warning for some people, because with pay services like this, you really do have to work to see the savings, and it's easy to end up spending more than you save, especially if you're kindof flaky about stuff like I am lol

Well thats the thing....I know a bit about the grocery game and it is time saving compared to say trying to look at 4 store circulars to figure out which one is on sale and which cupon goes with which.

They basically match up the sales, with the current crop of cupons out there. They then tell you what week the cupon came from in the sunday paper, what the store is that has it on sale and so forth...you dont even have to cut them out until they come up on super sale. Just file away the -whole- cupon section of the paper with the date noted on it, and you are set. There is no hunting.

So if you are a cupon user in the first place, its a time saving boon, but if you are unlikely to use cupons no matter what....then no.

 

[desi_de_lu_lu]

I think I am too A.D.D to figure out the grocery game.... I am going to read more on their website.. try to figure it out.

(I just don't want to pay...up front.)

 

[KittyT]

Well thats the thing....I know a bit about the grocery game and it is time saving compared to say trying to look at 4 store circulars to figure out which one is on sale and which cupon goes with which.

They basically match up the sales, with the current crop of cupons out there. They then tell you what week the cupon came from in the sunday paper, what the store is that has it on sale and so forth...you dont even have to cut them out until they come up on super sale. Just file away the -whole- cupon section of the paper with the date noted on it, and you are set. There is no hunting.

So if you are a cupon user in the first place, its a time saving boon, but if you are unlikely to use cupons no matter what....then no.

Oh, so I have to pay a weekly fee AND pay $1.75 for the Sunday paper? No thanks lol

 

[sixsexsix]

I just look on free coupon sites....while at work! Doesn't really "cost" you any time if you are able.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

Oh, so I have to pay a weekly fee AND pay $1.75 for the Sunday paper? No thanks lol

Again....for someone who -already- buys the paper and uses cupons, the fee might be well worth maximizing the savings they are already getting.

Obviously, if you wouldn't clip cupons in the first place then no, it isn't a savings for you.

To each their own. I don't scoff at people who use different methods to save money that I might find silly.....

 

[Josephine]

But how much are you *actually* saving every week? And is the 50 cents or whatever you're actually saving a week worth the time it takes to hunt for the coupons? l

I save about 50% on my bill using the Grocery Game (sometimes more, sometimes less), and I'm picky about what I get. It is SO worth it. Time wise, from visiting the site, figuring out what you're going to get this week, printing the list and clipping coupons is maybe 45 min a week, at the most. I'll get the Double Sunday paper at the store in addition to the one I get at my house, so I have 3 coupon packets to clip from.

I gladly pay them to figure out that Hunt's canned tomatoes are at the lowest price they'll be in 12 weeks, and that a coupon that will take them to 75% off is in the Red Plum packet from the March 12th paper. I don't have to track the best sale price, or go through every coupon packet I've saved to find the coupon if there is one, or clip a coupon on the off chance I'll use it later.

 

[Paisley]

I think I am too A.D.D to figure out the grocery game.... I am going to read more on their website.. try to figure it out.

(I just don't want to pay...up front.)

If you go to the bottom of the page, you'll see where you can get a 4-week trial for $1.

I cut out coupons and put them in a coupon book by category--I don't like to hang on to newspapers. The list is in a table form that shows regular price, sales price, and any coupon info. If you can read a bus schedule, you can read the grocery game table. You do have to go to the web site each week--they don't e-mail the list.

Part of the idea is to stock up on products when they're on sale, not just buy things when you need them.

Some weeks, I save a few dollars, other weeks, more. (I don't save as much now that I don't buy meat or produce at one of the stores they keep track of.) If I ever figure I'm not saving money with it, I'll cancel it.

 

[Caroline]

I save about 50% on my bill using the Grocery Game (sometimes more, sometimes less).

I use the free site, hot coupon world. They have a specific section for grocery stores, and they post the sales, clearance items, and generally do a lot of matching up of the coupons for you. Coupons are often vehicles for moving new products, many of which range from the impractical to the toxic, but there are always good standby deals, like butter on sale 1 month before Thanksgiving, + butter coupons. I have children who always want the bizzare foods marketed towards them so the coupons let me indulge them a tad. I tend to get into couponing, then get a litlle burnt out, but I swear, I'll never pay more than 25 cents for toothpaste again!

Slickdeals.net has a lot of links for free samples. They are getting thinner as the economy lags, but Walmart, whatever you feel about them, always has samples and there is no post-request pestering if you don't want it. Again, never have to buy deodorant again

We have a store called America's Food Basket calls itself an "ethnic" store, which is great for off-season herbs like cilantro. I use a lot of that so it's a dream come true when the farmer's market is over. We also bought some strange Jamaican "grenadine" which I haven't tried yet but I hope is good - it was cheap!

And the farmer's market. No reason at all not to use our local one. THe prices are as good if not better than the grocery store, and much fresher!

And, as always, liquor is the budget killer. I haven't worked that one out yet...

 

[KittyT]

To each their own. I don't scoff at people who use different methods to save money that I might find silly.....

My apologies, Miss Neecerie. I was not trying to scoff or be condescending! I'm just trying to figure out how this thing works and sometimes my dry humor doesn't come across correctly online. Again, my apologies.

I save about 50% on my bill using the Grocery Game (sometimes more, sometimes less), and I'm picky about what I get. It is SO worth it. Time wise, from visiting the site, figuring out what you're going to get this week, printing the list and clipping coupons is maybe 45 min a week, at the most. I'll get the Double Sunday paper at the store in addition to the one I get at my house, so I have 3 coupon packets to clip from.

Thanks for the info, Josephine. Paisley said she usually saved at least $1.25/week. Obviously, 50% off your grocery bill is significant and gives me a better, more solid number to look at. Also, it's good to see what you think your time estimate is for this, since that's an important factor.

This is definitely interesting and useful information. Perhaps I will look into it further, especially since the fella has started buying the Sunday paper for himself.

 

[Caroline]

This is definitely interesting and useful information. Perhaps I will look into it further, especially since the fella has started buying the Sunday paper for himself.

Well, if he's buying the paper, it's worth a look. It's definitely a "know thyself" situation. You know what you'll use and what you won't.

And to prattle on more about general home econ...

I can't stress enough - TURN DOWN THAT WATER HEATER! I cut our gas bill in half by doing this and hanging up laundry. I think most plumbers atomatically set it to "high" when they install it, but you can save a lot of money by just turning it down a notch or 2! The gas bill is the one bill that is always lower than I estimate now because of this one step.

 

[fortworthgal]

Okay, I'm not one of the grocery game users. I basically grocery shop at 3 stores that are close to my home or office - Target, Wal-Mart, and Tom Thumb. I have certain things I buy at each store. I look at their weekly ads, but since I keep us pretty stocked up by buying when things are on sale - our weekly grocery list is maybe 5-10 items. I can drop into Wal-Mart on my way home from work to pick up my bag of cat food, and take a minute to walk around and check prices and sale items and pick up any extras. I guess I have a little more leisure with my shopping and when I purchase things, because A. I'm keeping a stocked fridge & pantry at all times so I'm not in danger of being out of a necessity item, and B. I'm only feeding 2 people and not a whole family with children. Also apparently some of you have husbands with hollow legs, and I can see that being a factor. lol

For me personally it isn't worth it to visit multiple stores - gas expense and time. I do make a list, but I am not really all that organized when I do my shopping. I don't map out multiple stores from ads and coupons. I visit my 3 stores for the staple items, and sometimes I end up with things that weren't on my list, but were on sale for a great bargain. Basically I show up to get what is on my list, and see what else is there that might happen to be on sale. I'm kind of a "fly by the seat of my pants" grocery shopper. lol

 

[desi_de_lu_lu]

If you go to the bottom of the page, you'll see where you can get a 4-week trial for $1.

I cut out coupons and put them in a coupon book by category--I don't like to hang on to newspapers. The list is in a table form that shows regular price, sales price, and any coupon info. If you can read a bus schedule, you can read the grocery game table. You do have to go to the web site each week--they don't e-mail the list.

Part of the idea is to stock up on products when they're on sale, not just buy things when you need them.

Some weeks, I save a few dollars, other weeks, more. (I don't save as much now that I don't buy meat or produce at one of the stores they keep track of.) If I ever figure I'm not saving money with it, I'll cancel it.

Can I ask, on the average, what you normally spend on groceries for the week? I have a budget of $75 which doesn't go that far. Do you see your grocery bill for the week go from say, $100 to $50?

 

[desi_de_lu_lu]

For me personally it isn't worth it to visit multiple stores - gas expense and time.

Same here.

 

[desi_de_lu_lu]

I can't stress enough - TURN DOWN THAT WATER HEATER! I cut our gas bill in half by doing this and hanging up laundry. I think most plumbers atomatically set it to "high" when they install it, but you can save a lot of money by just turning it down a notch or 2! The gas bill is the one bill that is always lower than I estimate now because of this one step.

I will have to see what my water heater is set at...especially since in Southern Arizona the water runs out of the "cold" spigot lukewarm anyway. (well, honestly you can make tea from your "cold" water spigot in say..the months of June - October)

 

[Caroline]

(well, honestly you can make tea from your "cold" water spigot in say..the months of June - October)

Oh my! You don't know how nice that sounds right now, as our heat engaged last nite!

 

[KittyT]

Oh my! You don't know how nice that sounds right now, as our heat engaged last nite!

No kidding. It's almost the end of May and I'm still having to turn the heat on some nights.

 

[BegintheBeguine]

I'm still using the Madras curry powder my dad gave me for Christmas in 1990. It's still good, it's still good! Ditto the Hungarian paprika from 1987. And the cardboard box of French's cloves marked 20c. Plus herbs. I haven't bought a jar of seasoning this century.
My supermarket doesn't accept computer-generated coupons, drat them. I've gotten some good advice from this thread anyway, gals.

 

[Josephine]

Paisley said she usually saved at least $1.25/week.

No, the Grocery Game costs $1.25 a week, we don't save $1.25 a week.

Can I ask, on the average, what you normally spend on groceries for the week? I have a budget of $75 which doesn't go that far. Do you see your grocery bill for the week go from say, $100 to $50?

I like to spend about $100 a week for the 5 of us. That's after my savings. So my bill might have been $175 before the sales and coupons brought it down to $100 or less.

But it fluctuates. One week I might just get 5 different things, because the items on sale aren't what I want. I don't care how good a sale it is! lol So I spend $50.00 total and bank the unspent $50. A week or so later, lots of things that we like might go on sale so I will take that $50 I banked and spend it getting more of what we do like. And sometimes things are on sale and the doubled coupon get it for you for free.

 

[Josephine]

If you go to the bottom of the page, you'll see where you can get a 4-week trial for $1.

BTW, if you do decide that you want to do the trial, collect a number of weeks of coupon packs before starting, about 5 or 6 if you can. You pull from many weeks past and I wouldn't want you not to do well on your trial because you didn't have the packets. I save the entire packet and put it in a 3 ring binder, each week in a page protector. That way I don't have to clip coupons that I think I *might use.

 

[Paisley]

Can I ask, on the average, what you normally spend on groceries for the week? I have a budget of $75 which doesn't go that far. Do you see your grocery bill for the week go from say, $100 to $50?

I shop at two stores: Sunflower Market, which has great produce and meat and low prices, and King Soopers, where I buy most other groceries. The grocery game covers Kings, but not Sunflower. I'll give you about a month's worth of results for King's:

April 22: saved 42%, or $7.76.
April 29: saved 12%, or $4.97.
May 13: saved 40%, or $7.76 (same as April 22--I checked)
May 20: nothing--I didn't shop at King's because there was only one thing on the list, and I wasn't willing to make a trip for it.
Not sure what happened with early May--maybe the receipt is at home.

I saved on canned soup, nuts, eggs, strawberries, onions, a cooling rack, a cookie sheet and yogurt.