Saving Money on Groceries/ Coupon Clipping Service

I've never used a service, so I don't have any information about that part of your question.

What I do is, on Sundays, I go out and but a Sunday newspaper (or 2) IF there are coupons in them. Every once in a while, there aren't any in there.
When I get the sale flyers for the grocery stores weekly sales (usually Thursdays), I make a list of sale items I'm interested in. Then, I go through my coupons and try to match coupons with sales, if possible.

The best weeks are the weeks that have 3 or 4 coupons printed in the flyer that double one of your $1 coupons. I save $6 to $8 right off the bat those weeks.

One week for example, Green Giant frozen boxed veggies were on sale for $1 each (which is more than 50% off the regular price). I had a coupon for $1 off of three. I also had one of those coupons that doubled it, so I got 3 boxes of veggies for $1 !! They would have normally cost me over $6. Celestial Seasonings Tea was on sale for $2.50. Again, I had a $1 off coupon, which was doubled, so I got the tea for 50 cents. Colgate toothpaste was on sale for something like $1.88) -same deal- so I got it free :D

I typically save more than $80 a week with sales and coupons.

Another thing I do is, once I've found out which meats are on sale that week, I make a meal plan for the week, and try to get everything in 2 trips (because I shop for the sale items @ 2 different stores). I'm a SAHM, and we have 4 children- we were spending tons of money each week before I started doing this. I actually enjoy it because it feels like a challenge to see how much I can get for the lowest price possible. It helps to increase our standard of living because I get so much more by sales/ coupons.

Another thing that helps is I go Thurs. or Fri. evening after supper without the kids :) So much easier that way. There are only a handful of other shoppers there, and I can take my time without any, "oh mommy, can you please, please buy this?" so I wind up spending less that way too.

You should never have to pay money for coupons! There are so many ways to get them for free. For starters, check out coupons.com. Sign up for the rewards program at the grocery store you use most, if there is one, or ask customer service to include you on coupon mailing lists. If you don't already subscribe to the Sunday paper, ask friends or neighbors, or even your local library, to hold the coupon inserts for you. You can also try going to a fast food restaurant Sunday morning and see if there are any left behind. Become familiar with the "drug store game" and get all kinds of things free (or even make a dollar or two) every week at your nearest Rite Aid, CVS, or Walgreens. Target also has lots of printable coupons you can combine with other manufacturer's coupons to get stuff for free or super-cheap.

I recently started a blog to help people get things at stores for free, www.freeorbetter.blogspot.com. There are zillions of other blogs with the broader theme of frugality that can point you in the right direction. Some of my favorites are moneysavingmom.com, swaggrabber.com, mommysavers.com, wickedcooldeals.com. Hope that helps!!

Sorry if this is a double post. I answered this morning, but it hasn't shown up on the site, so I don't know if it went through.

I do clip coupons and we save quite a bit of money that way.
I only clip coupons for items we use.
I usually will only use coupons if I can use at least 2. ie. a store coupon and a manufactors coupon, even better if you can also use a competitor store coupon.

I will usually also buy BOGO and double up the coupons. It is not to difficult to actually have stores pay you for some items!

It takes a little while to build a good stash but try looking at coupon blogs and email lists in your area. Facebook is a good place to start looking for that kind of thing. In the southeast I love www.iheartpublix.com (there is a also an Iheartkroger.com) and CouponersUnited

Couponing is great, but there are some caveats:
- A lot of the food items that have coupons aren't the healthiest ones around. I have found that I only really clip for dairy items, some canned goods and frozen veggies. I wish they would offer coupons for fresh produce and meats, but a girl can dream, right?
- The stores in my area that double coupons are by far the most expensive to begin with. If I take the time to go to 3 different stores to ONLY buy sale/coupon items, I might save money. With a toddler in tow this idea = torture, so I stick to the store with the lowest everyday prices and do my best to combine coupons with sale items.
- I plan my weekly menus by looking at the weekly store flyer, and try to center meals around what's already on sale. I don't know if it's just here in New England, but I have never been able to find a coupon deal that earns me money back on my purchase. Prices are just too high for that, stores have limits on BOGO and $1 coupons, and only double to $1. Unless I'm just not trying hard enough...
- We buy our meat in bulk from a club store. This gives us much better quality than the grocery store, at a decent price. We freeze it in meal-size portions so I can just add grocery items for a complete meal.
- One thing I did learn from Extreme Couponing is the shopping cycle - one woman said she has found that any item will have a coupon/go on sale once every 3 months or so. She stocks up on a 3 month supply at that time. I do NOT understand the people buying 200 Butterfingers or 500 sticks of deodorant. Sure it is "free" (not including your 20 hours/week searching for deals), but at what point does your coupon addiction turn into hoarding?

I have been watching this too!!! I am so jealous of how much they save! I want to start... I have started looking around on websites and there are, in fact, coupons on a lot of sites... Target.com has tons if you have a supertarget around. I do agree, however, that most coupons are like, save 60 cents on 2 or whatever. I don't understand where the people on that show get such awesome coupons.