The Grocery Game - Katy,TX

Do not let the savings trick you. Know the prices of the food you buy. I did a research on this by making a list of food to buy and went to Krogers used the coupons for each product. Then I went to Albertson Groc (Randal's now)and priced the exact same product and the total price was cheaper without using any coupons. But if you really know the base price is already good then the coupons are great. We hardly buy anything without being on sale.

I've recently started using coupons as well. As far as I know you can only stack coupons at Target and Walgreens (at least at the stores in my area). Stacking coupons is when you take the coupon the store offers and a manufacturers coupon and combine them to get a bigger discount. For example, Target has their own coupons at their website you can print. Let's say they have a .50 off the purchase of one coupon for pillsbury icing and then there is a manufacturer coupon for .50 off pillsbury icing you can use both of those to buy one thing of icing and get $1.00 off. The yellow coupons at HEB are manufacturer coupons that can only be used at HEB but because the are manufacturer coupons you can't stack another manufacturer coupon with it. I thought about playing the grocery game but didn't want to pay money to play so, I found other sites that have everything listed for free.
here are a few of my favorite sites.

pinchingyourpennies.com they have a blog as well as a forum where you can find the deals by state. I highly recommend reading their coupon 101 section.

deelseekingmom.com

athriftymom.com

coupons.com (where you print online coupons)

organicgrocerydeals.com has a target coupon generator

afullcup.com

Mypoints.com is another site that has printable coupons and you get points for every coupon you print and redeem and those points can be used to buy giftcards. Those should get you started.Best of luck.

Use www.couponmom.com instead. It's free! Also Google "using coupons" and you will find a use resource for couponing, including individual moms who have great blogs and pod casts from the Savings Queen. It is a huge thing right now. Fun but very overwhelming. Just enjoy yourself. Every penny counts!

A.:

I personally love The Grocery Game. I admit I don't use it every week but the weeks I do more than offset the weekly fee. My top savings has been just under $50 in coupons in one shopping trip to HEB (about 30-50% of my bill).

HEB's policy allows stacking of store and manufacturers coupons on the same item. They recommend having the store coupon scanned during the transaction and the manufacturer coupon at the end of the purchase. The only problem is there are not many HEB Store coupons out there, if any.

The only thing you have to watch with The Grocery Game (at least in our family) is buying items you don't want simply because they are on sale. It's hard to train yourself to purchase before you need but that's the idea behind watching the sales. On the other hand, we have tried items we never would have before and have found a few new favorites.

The Grocery Game works well with the other websites out there. What I particularly like about The Grocery Game is that it is HEB specific and does all the comparisons to the readily available coupons (they only look at the ones from the Sunday paper) for me. I don't have to print anything off the internet and I don't have to hunt down various magazines. I'm not saying the other programs aren't good, it's just that this one is great for me and the amount of time I have to commit to the process.

Hope you have a particularly blessed holiday!

www.hotcouponworld.com

It's the BEST resousce for all questiosn about qpons!

Manufacturers will make special deals with certain stores for those coupons. Walgreens may have gotten a special purchase on the product or the manufacturer subsidized a portion of the advertising for Walgreens--WalMart wasn't part of the "deal" and they may not even be able to redeem it with the manufacturer. Retailers are not obligated to take coupons imprinted with another company unless they specifically acceopt competitor's coupons.

If the couupon had manufacturer on it then it should not have been a problem. Although some stores may see another store printed and say that they can not take it.

Stacking coupons is where you use a store coupon and a manufacturer coupon to save more. Ex: A Walgreen's and manufacturer coupon for the same item.

Also, you can get almost the same information from CouponMom.com without having to pay for it.

KUDOS for saving so much money!

A.,

I have not played the grocery game. I am interested in learning more, so I will read your replies. Congratulations on your savings.

Take care.

There are several tricks to using coupons. First of all, if it has a store printed on it, it is not a manufacture's coupon. It is a store coupon. Sometimes, the coupons that come in the papers and such have a few store specific coupons mixed in.

Check around your local stores. There are some who accept competitor's coupons in hopes of getting more business. Also, some stores will double or even triple the value of coupons under a certain amount. You should find out which stores offer the best value for your coupons. (And here is a tip - Wal-Mart never will. They are assured that they will make money. The deals are to be found with smaller grocers, who know that they must compete to stay afloat.)

Some of the stores also offer membership cards, that give you better prices. These sale prices will stack with coupons.

I have actually never heard of the coupon game. I am just a frugal mom from a frugal family. I hope some of this helps.