Couponing - Minneapolis,MN

I have no idea how those women can save 90%+ - I am happy with 30% & *thrilled* when I get above 40%, which is usually only when there is a great BOGO sale. I do follow the blog www.creativecouponing.com, which is also based in MN. She posts coupon matchups for local stores including Rainbow/Copp's/Pick'n'Save, Cub & Target, and posts when new online coupons are posted at coupons.com & target.com.

These women actually BUY coupons in bulk, and also cheat to get such big discounts. The show is being called into question, becuase so many of the women are actually commiting coupon fraud. (you can google -extreme couponing coupon fraud. LOTS of info can be found.) In addition, they spend as much time as a full time job clipping coupons and planning. Most stores are changing their coupon policies, so that this kind of shopping won't be possible all that much longer. Who needs 50 bottles of mustard, anyway?

If you just really want to learn, you could look at the TLC webpage and google the women featured. Many of them have their own blogs. You can also google for couponing blogs with your city or state. Good luck. I found these, that are based in MN:
http://www.pocketyourdollars.com/
http://minnesotacouponadventure.blogspot.com/

Whatever you do, just buy products you could use...or plan on donating them. I don't get the purpose of "buying" a product, even if it is essentially free, if you can't use it! What a waste of time!

I do coupon, but frankly find it takes a lot of time and may not be all that worth it. I'd rather be doing something with my kids.

I've been couponing for about 3 years now and I promise you, those ladies are definitely cheating the system...somehow...someway.

Go to www.krazycouponlady.com...she has alot of great advice, leads, deals, etc.

I've done some of the extreme couponing. I found that if you work part time for minimum wage for as long as you spend getting the coupons, cutting the coupons, etc., etc, you will end up with more money with the job.

One of the extreme couponers was a single man with no girl friends. He had a closet full of feminie products. Is this just plain senseless or what?

Wise shopping will help you more.

Good luck to you and yours.

I just did my first big coupon 'adventure' yesterday!! I had someone who is an old hat teach me what to do and she said:

1) you can't be brand loyal
2) you buy only what is on sale and ONLY if you have an additional manufactures coupon to go with it.
3) you plan your meals around what is on sale
4) she writes her shopping list (from the sales circular) takes only those coupons with her and buys ONLY what is on her list.
5) she never shops at a store deli... only the pkg. meats & cheeses for lunches, etc.

She buys all of their non lunch meat in bulk (1/4 of an organic cow that is butchered for them) and she feeds a family of six on $75 a week (less the aforementioned beef). She usually buys $125-$150 worth of food and then after coupons she pay about $75 out of pocket. She will buy in bulk for things like hamburger helper, etc. but they use it all and she's not like those crazy coupon ladies!

Sooo I tried it for the first time this weekend.... the only difference for me was that I do like certain brands so I did shop what I liked and I do buy our cheese and meats from the deli and I bought a ton of stuff for my hubby (expensive razor cartridges.. but with a coupon!) . It took a while to get the feel for it down and to keep the coupons organized and all - but I did great (for me!!) they even had to call the manager over approve the sale b/c they said I saved so much.

I spent $312 less $115.21 in coupons (10 were doubled) for a total of $197.63 out of pocket (plus fuel rewards and 36 tickets toward some 'game ' they have going now... I won $2.00 of my last set of tickets.) I hadn't shopped in a while and I bought a lot of non food items so I did spend more than most coupon cutters - but as my husband said it's like free money b/c we would have bought all that stuff anyway!

If I ever get more extreme I would only buy 10-20 of an item if it was something I could donate to a shelter or food kitchen. The people who hoard are just ridiculous and ruining it for the rest of us. Another site you can check out is suzyscoupons.com. Good luck!!

Those ladies are nuts! They have 50 of one item because the buy (or get somehow) 50 newspapers with all those coupons. Who on gods green earth needs 50 bottles of ketchup (other than a shelter) before they expire. I was watching that show with my husband last week and could not believe how much "stuff" they get. I did not see anything that would make a good healthy meal for my family. There are ways to save, but they are crazy extreme.
I love the Pocket your dollars blog. You can follow her on facebook too. She does a lot of the coupon/ad matching for you. If you have 40 hours a week to go through ads and shop at many different stores, knock yourself out :-)

I think they are using double coupons for the great deals, which is not offered where I live. I used to survive off coupons when I was single and I was able to double coupons at that time.

Otherwise, they are likely taking advantage of a sale like what we have right now. The store offers an excellent price, for the purchase of 10 items mix or match. Let's say it is deodorant, 10 @ $0.99 for a small one. Then they find a way to obtain 10 $1.00 off coupons and they receive $0.10 back. I used to think you could not use more than one like coupon, but that is not true. It is one per purchase, so in this case there would be 10 purchases.

pocketyourdollars.com is a great place to start! The woman lives in the twin cities and is often featured on the local news and TCL (Twin Cities Live). All the work (almost) is done for you on the website; they match up sale ads with all current coupons out for stores like Cub, Target, Walmart, Menards, Rainbow, Cobb, etc, and there is a database of current coupons. When you need a coupon for a deal it will say exactly where they found it and have a link if available online. All store policies are listed, there are tips for your own shopping. I live just outside the cities and have been following the website for about 6 months now and I have learned so much!

I use a LOT of coupons...but not to the extreme that they show on tv. I think that is just ridiculous....I mean...who needs 100 bottles of soy sauce even if they DID get them for free?? ( And they didn't get them for "free" because they BOUGHT those coupons from a coupon clipping service online somewhere!!!)
There are 4 of us at my work who are into couponing and each week we all bring our unwanted coupons from the Sunday paper to work and we all go through them to get what we want or need. You can also get coupons off of websites online...but there are limits to how many you can print each week or month.
There are also coupons that are hanging in the stores (they have a name for them but sorry...can't remember it right now)....when I see coupons like that and know I can use them I will take 3 or 4 so I have them to use in the future, before they expire.
On Sunday...especially the first Sunday of each month, in our area, there are usually a lot of good coupons in the paper...if I see that it is a really good coupon day I will go to the store and pick up a couple of extra newspapers...so that I have the extra coupons to use.
Don't buy things just because you have coupons...it is just a waste of money....only buy what you know you are going to use. These people that have rooms and rooms of food stockpiled are probably throwing away a big portion of it because it goes bad before they can make use of it.

I cant find one single store in my area that doubles coupons, or takes any otherstores coupons as I see on those shows. I know a gal who started trying to use coupons to an extreme and when she proudly annonced how last Sunday morning she found a great deal I was interested. She then told me how she went to the local kmart with newspaper stands outside, and put in her 50cents for the paper, opened the box, and then took every paper there was! Ok, I said, that was stealing. My daughter used to have a paper route and we know that just cost the carrier for those boxes a ton of money out of their own pocket! So, beware of these people who claim they "bought" all those papers to get the coupons. And also, with the club cards, and membership cards at so many stores, they know when you use a coupon and have limits on how many to a family are allowed. I dont know how anyone gets 100 soy sauce for free when most coupons say limit of 3 or 1 to a customer. (And really, I think in 38 years of marriage, I have bought and used maybe 6 bottles of soy sauce. lol) I think the way I save money is to buy when an item is on sale, and buy how much I will need in the time it takes for that item to come back on sale. Usually everything is on sale every 6 weeks or so. If I need chicken stock for rice, and make rice once a week, I see it on sale and buy 6 cans of it. If I happen to see a coupon for chicken stock I will use it and get the coupon deal on 1 can. Im not out to distroy the grocery industry just so I can fill a room in my house with foods and items that I probably wont be able to use before they go bad anyway.
EDIT.. Also I try to look on each package for MADE IN THE USA, and I will try an off brand if its from here and skip the other countries brand at least once. I have found some USA brands are very good and I had never tried them. I hadnt thought of looking to see where it is from until last year and am shocked at how much food is imported. And how often a brand will change where it comes from too. I bought Dole fruit once from USA, and the next time it was from Japan. So coupons or not, you really do save the whole country some money when you buy local. It might be worth it to pay for the local brand instead of using the coupon for a few cents off.

Keep in mind... nothing is totally free. These gals are buying newspapers to get coupon inserts or using clipping services (which you still have to pay for) and are raiding dumpsters, stealing other peoples inserts, having people save their inserts and give it to them, etc. I am lucky that there are several stores in my area that double coupons... I love that!! When I do my big once a month shopping trip, I can save between $65-$95 and that's utilizing in store deals as well. Keep in mind too, that items have an expiration date (even toothpaste) so I'm sure most of the things in these ladies stockpiles is out of date, especially when you have 100 deoderants!

I don't do good with coupons because we're such a picky family BUT I've tried and studied and learned. Here's what I've observed. You can match coupons with ads and save a bundle and even get things for free. There are places that do this for you for a small fee like Coupon Sense. I tried this company but it didn't work for my family. You save the coupons but don't cut them out until you need them. Keep an eye on ads and things on sale because usually there is a coupon also for the same item. I think what people do is plan their meals around the ads and coupons. This is why it didn't work for us. I was trying to make the coupons and ads match my meals rather than planning my meals around what was on sale or what I had coupons for. I'm super picky and won't buy packaged meals and my family has food allergies etc. Plus, my hubby is a picky eater and picky about certain brands. So I found that I'd spend hours on price matching, coupons and ads only to save $5 a week. Hardly worth the effort. I was amazed at people who'd save $200 and only spend $10. I was feeling so guilty until someone told me how they plan their meals around the ads, sales and coupons. It's a lot of work too. I wish it worked for us. BUT I found different stores where I can get high quality foods for cheap or save 5% every time I shop etc. For me it was a matter of finding the right store (or 3.) I hope that helps. Good luck!!