Very good thread. I used to be the coupon queen, many years ago, but I'm not impressed with the selection of items one can buy with most of them now and only use them occasionally.

Why don't they make coupons for items good for you? Well, my idea of healthful doesn't include most of the processed selections and the coupons seem to be mostly for novelty items, highly processed convenience food and fad food. I suppose a coupon is an incentive for an untapped market to try an item, and most of us already know what milk, broccoli and lettuce on the head taste like.

I don't use coupons - precisely for the reasons suzy said: they're always on processed foods, brand name stuff that I would never buy, let alone eat.

If they really want to promote thriftiness, they could offer them on flour. Making home-made bread is far cheaper, and far healthier. I have a feeling that it's going to be much easier to watch one's food expenditure if one actually knows how to cook.

(My SIL says there are two types of cook: people who actually cook, and people who just assemble things)

DH since retiring for some reason unknown to me,likes to grocery shop and especially when there are bargains. With coupons and then a store sale on top of that he has purchased things like toilet paper, cat food,coffee..all name brands,for almost nothing. I don't know how he does it. I just went into his desk and pulled out his envelope of coupons. This is what I found in there.
salsa,GE energy lightbulbs,Minute Maid orange juice,Northern toilet paper,Folgers coffee, Maxwell House coffee,Peppridge Farm 12 grain bread,Pillsbury flour,Smuckers natural peanut butter,V8,carton of Swanson's chicken broth,Bounty paper towels,Crest toothpaste,Hillside bacon,Hellman's mayo and lots of cleaning products,the brands I use,like Gain,Chlorox,Windex,etc. He also has some in there for junk food like you've mentioned including frankfurters,jelly,cookies and chips.

I use coupons if they're for items I'd buy, anyway, like toothpaste or laundry detergent. But lately, it bugs me that usually one has to buy two of the item to use the coupon. I'm not going to spend $16 (approx.) for two boxes of laundry detergent, even if I will eventually use it. Spending that amount to save just one dollar isn't smart.

Marda, where does your DH find those *good* coupons? Most of the ones in the Sunday paper are for stuff I don't use or want.

Once, a couple decades ago, I went to a major local market chain with my box of coupons and did a major shopping. There were at least two, maybe three carts full and the cashier ended up with a total of $34. She was upset and asked to re-ring the purchases since she said that couldn't be right. It rang up to exactly the same total. I didn't have a coupno envelope, I had a large metal file box one normally keeps checks in. Stuffed full.

My strategy was to buy the smallest sized container of each couponed item, because they doubled the coupons then. That meant that some were free, and some only pennies. I don't know of any stores now who double coupons. I also took the Capitol city's Sunday paper. Only for the coupons, since the local ones didn't issue them. It was well worth the price of a Sunday subscription. Now, the coupons are for less, expire sooner and for such out of the ordinary supplies, I would not use them. I do find, however, the inet has helped in that regard. I get as many coupons for things I really would use (like evaporated milk, or chocolate chips) online. One of our larger markets, has automatic coupon redemption. It's built into their system to give you the coupon amount when scanned if you buy a qualifying article. That's nice.

I have never minded marketing, because like Marda's husband, to me it's a mind game. I am a from scratch cook, and I don't find too many coupons for flour or sugars or milk, without the caveat that I must buy so many of another product to qualify. I did shop an Amish bulk food store and got things like pectin for canning for less than three dollars a POUND. LOL. It's over two dollars for one little packet at an English store. We get a free shopping paper each weekend, delivered all over the county.......and I don't drive from store to store to get some from each one with good specials......but do change markets as needed to take advantage of which one has things on special and buy only those things each week. I can do that because I lay my food ahead. The only thing I can't easily preserve or freeze are milk and cheese, and one can freeze milk but it it a devil to thaw. The cheese I buy locally.

The stores here always double their coupons and Meldy,he gets them from the Sunday papers. We get several. I know he gets them there because one time I threw them out before he had a chance to look through them. Won't do that agian.LOL

Yeah, Suzy, it's been at least 20 years since coupons were used regularly back when I had 2 cats and a growing teen with hungry friends to feed. Then I often saved 10 to 15% on major shopping trips. I still occasionally use coupons for cleaning or paper products but rely more now on in-store specials...very often for fruits, veggies and meats as well as basics. The grocers are wise to get you in their store for specials thru weekly mailings...after all you can use coupons anywhere and like so many, I no longer subscribe to a newspaper.

What I really miss are the batch of $3 coupons for a carton of Salems arriving in the mail every month or so....don't know if they were discontinued or I got dropped from list. josh

I save a small fortune on coupons esp on tooth paste,shampoos,laundry soap,toilet paper,and much more than i can remember at the moment. Our local Kroger doubles $1 coupons and triples up to 50 cents. I dont think ive paid a cent for toothpaste in years. I usually end up donating some of my goodies to local womens shelters and food banks.

Most of our local stores double coupons up to $.99. Once in awhile, one of them will offer triple coupons, also up to $.99. I like having some of those!

I gave up on coupons because I always forget to give them at checkout! I have made list, marked every thing I had a coupon for, bought the correct items, check out, get home and darn it all, there are the coupons still in my purse. I never go back to get the money because it usually isn't that much, not many coupons for stuff I actually use, or the brands I use.

Well I'm a coupon person, especially for non-food items. Just this past week Target had "Dollar Days" & I stocked up on laundry detergent, paper towels, toothpaste, cleaning stuff, etc. I always check whether the store brands are cheaper than the name brands - even with the coupon - before I put something into my cart. When I looked at the sales slip when I got home I found I had saved about 30%.

It takes a little more time to shop this way, but in these troubled times (especially today) every little bit helps.

Believe me I am going to start getting the Sunday paper again and will be cutting coupons and if I have to tape them to my forehead I will give them at checkout.
The IRA statements are rolling in and the figures are not good, not good at all.

Linda ~ check on-line. Most companies offer coupons and all it costs you is the paper and ink to print them. Compare prices carefully because unless you can get double- or triple value, most coupons aren't really money-savers for the type of item. Also note that many coupons limit you to one item and/or to a particular size -- which may not be the least expensive size.

Out of curiosity, I compared paper towels a couple weeks ago (and by now my figures are estimates, not exact). First let me say that this is one of the few products for which I usually buy only a specific brand-name, but for the sake of comparison I did buy some off-brands and checked them for absorbility -if that's a word, lol. There are 4 major grocery chains including a discount-type, and one big box store in my area and numerous other stores offering paper towels; I price-checked at ten different stores. The size considered was the "Jumbo" roll, not the standard size. My area does not do double-coupons, but some stores do accept competitors' coupons.

The prices ranged from $2.29 per roll, to $1.00 from the local dollar-store. That's a big difference! The dollar-store's quality was only slightly less absorbant than my favorite brand and better than many of the other offerings. The next best price was from stores on weekly special.

My first point is that the best value of coupons is obtained when the final cost [with coupon] is sufficiently less than a comparable item [without coupon] to be worth the effort of collecting and using the coupons. My second point is that stores are still offering loss-leaders which are of significance while not requiring snipping or filing. And my last point is that it pays to compare off-brands to the BigNames because there may not be any difference or only a slight difference in the perceived quality.

And, yeah, I bought a year's supply of paper towels from the dollar-store. Which is also a point to consider... if you buy in quantity, you won't be caught with "have-to-have" shopping and you can wait for really good deals to come around. Of couse, you need to know what price really is a good deal, so a small notebook can be invaluable in tracking the prices of your often-used items.

Those are great points to make, and part of my philosophy for shopping. Loss leaders depend on people who shop when they are out of something, because they know you'll go there for the cheap item, but shall probably buy one of their other items where the profit margin is substantial.

The other good point is that prices aren't static. We've all been seeing dramatic jumps on certain items, exceeding the rate of inflation. If an item has a long shelf life, and you get a great deal on it, and you stock up on it you will often notice when you do finally run out, the prices have gone up considerably. So, your margin of savings isn't static, either. Each week you don't have to buy another unit, you have saved more on it than the week previous.

I stocked up on shortening last year, with the intention of using it in my french fryer. I mean I stocked UP! Well, I never used my french fryer that much, and didn't use it up. I happened to notice this same generic brand (you don't need expensive oil for deep frying) went from $1.79 to $3.49. So, all the pies I have been making to put in the freezer from all the fruit we have harvested this year, was made with the generic shortening and cost me half as much as they would have last year. So.......I didn't save the ten cents they were initially marked down on the last can I used, I saved nearly a dollar fifty.

So, all the pies I have been making to put in the freezer from all the fruit we have harvested this year, was made with the generic shortening and cost me half as much as they would have last year............

I meant to say they cost me half as much to make than they would have cost, had I bought the shortening this year. Needless to say, I keep a handle on 'use by' dates.