Discussions

Does anyone know how couponing works? Where do you even start or find them? Has anyone used them to actually save any money?  
 
Also looking for any tips on budgeting and saving. I am okay with the basics, but would like to know a little more.

I have been able to do this in Brandon, MB! I collect flyers and cut out the coupons of interest. I use the Groupon App on my iPhone a lot. Kraft Canada has a website with coupons. Plus, there is ebates coupons. SC Johnson has coupons available to those that register to their site. It has taken me some time to figure this out but it's a hobby. First, I made a list of all the toiletries and cleaning supplies I use most and than I look for those particular coupons. Check out the entrance of Grocery stores they usually have a board of coupons. I shop a lot at Michaels for craft supplies and find coupons in flyers plus use their website deals combined with the discounted days they offer. I find most of my extreme couponing is at Superstore, Michaels, Walmart in that order. Another place to look for coupons is in the packaging of products you already buy. Packages like cereal boxes, rice boxes all have cutout cardboard coupons.

Couponing, from what I can tell, *can* work if you buy a lot of name-brand products and processed stuff. It really depends on your consumption and buying habits.  
 
I personally don''t find couponing worth my while because of the time involved and the lack of coupons for the thing I routinely buy.  
 
For example, we don''t eat a lot of processed food, and I find it''s the same price or cheaper to buy store-brand products vs. the name brand product even with a coupon when we do. But rarely are there coupons for things like big bags of rice, pasta, tinned tomatoes, flour, big bags of oatmeal, milk, bananas, etc. I wait for sales on things like toothbrushes, shampoo, toothpaste, etc, and even then I don''t buy expensive/fancy ones to begin with.  
 
Say you spend a hour a week searching, printing and organizing coupons. In my experience, with our consumption habits, it "pays" me better to spend that hour making a meal plan, inventorying our current items on hand, and creating a detailed shopping list. I might only "pay" me $5 or $10 for that hour I spend on coupons, but it would "pay" me $50 or more doing the actual planning.  
 
Some people who have children in diapers, for example, can save lots of money on diapers by scrounging coupons... maybe. When we used disposables, I found it was STILL almost always cheaper to buy store-brand diapers at regular price vs. a name brand even with a coupon. Bonus if the store-brand ones were on sale! But since switching primarily to cloth diapers in 2007? (I think), and continuously having a child is diapers since then (sometimes more than one), it "pays" me more to use and maintain cloth ones.  
 
If you think of money as a unit of work (how many hours did someone in my household have to work to purchase that? don''t forget you''re calculating on gross earnings vs. net spendable income!), it sometimes makes it clearer what''s worth spending time on, and what''s not. I also helps to "pay" yourself in savings when choosing what sorts of money-saving activities you''re doing... if you knew you could "pay" yourself $80/hr grating your own cheese vs. buying it already grated, would you *ever* buy pre-grated cheese again?  
 
Edited by Abbysmum, 2016-12-13 08:14:30

Curious what locally relevant groupons folks have had luck with?

Another big on is the loyalty programs. PC has their points which accumulate fairly quickly and they seem to customize some extra points for you. Coop has the equity program, and sobeys also has a points system. The points systems are good for money back quick where as the equity side of things is more long term.

I've used this website to help stretch our grocery budget. There have a variety of offers. It's like a digital coupon site. I don't specifically go out to purchase the items offered, but I make sure to check the site weekly to see if any of the offers match up with what I need.  
 
https://www.checkout51.com/  
 
I've also saved a lot of money using the PC points at Superstore. I have the PC financial credit card, so that increases the amount of points I can earn. Every bit counts!

Budget program for computer or phone...  
 
https://www.everydollar.com/

Groupon is only available for coop and giant tiger in Brandon  
I would love to see it at our superstore.  
I definitely use Groupon at both of these stores.  
 
I also use Checkout51,  
coupons,  
Superstore loyalty program  
and Shoppers Drug Mart loyalty program.  
I brought home $200 value products a few weeks ago, and all said and done, I got paid $5 to take them.  
 
Yes couponing works, find a buddy to do it with, it''s a great savings and a fun hobby!  
 
Edited by momofthree, 2016-12-13 19:59:41