How not to "save the economy"

[Kiwi]

I say good for her, I use coupons and savings cards religiously. I also have every single loyalty club card you can get around here and I am a member of the chain resutants clubs so I get free food at the places we eat out at.
I get food coupons when I fill up my car, I get manufactors coupons emailed to me and I have had free hotel nights, free (or almost free I always tip) meals at resturants around here. Free subway and qiznos.

I have two rules, it can't take up much time and I won't go to a place specifically to use a coupon (around here almost everywhere takes competitors coupons) so I can go to one store and get everything at once and still get the discount. I wish my area doubled coupons!!!

[Rine]

That's awesome. My mom used to be a bit like her, but not as extreme. She'd spend about two or three hours a week clipping coupons and go to the Commissary after that. She had a family of seven to feed so tried to save as much as possible.

As long as this woman isn't nasty to employees, I think what she is doing is pretty good. Lots of food in that pantry though...I like more fresh foods than just processed.

[mattm04]

A couple hours a week to me is two or three. To cut the coupons, check the fliers, find the coupons must take longer.

[BarbieGirl]

I highly doubt she does all the work herself. I follow a couple of savings blogs and it seems that each blog has their favorite store they shop, so really if you follow their shopping lists it gets really easy. Although they do tend to have LOTS of frozen or processed foods. So I don't save THAT much since my kids have allergies and I like to make things from scratch, but on the other hand making from scratch is slightly cheaper sometimes. I just wish their soy milk went on sale/ had more coupons.. $2.75 for a half gallon is insane!

[Aethian]

Might as well get the next size up, which costs less per pound, and spend less per pound than you'd be spending for the smaller size and the coupon book.

Doesn't always work. Like last night I took a friend out grocery shopping since she doesn't have a car. She was going to get a mongo sized bottle of mustard. The same type of mustard in the smaller ones was on sale but she insisted the bigger one was a better deal.

So we pulled out the math and you could get 6 for a dollar less then the big bottle, which has more then the big bottle. Gotta love paper, pen, and calculators.

[Ben_Who]

I'd hate to be behind her in line...

Seriously, more power to her for doing it this way, but that wouldn't be possible around here; none of our supermarkets do promotions like double coupons or BOGO deals, so all you get is the face value of the coupon. And since you can't game the system by combining coupons or double coupons or any of the other tricks she's using, there's just not enough money saved to make clipping coupons worth it around here. Might as well get the next size up, which costs less per pound, and spend less per pound than you'd be spending for the smaller size and the coupon book.

Love, Who?

[draggar]

Thats what I asked myself when I re watched the segment for the third time. I bet anything to get that weeks worth of food it takes about seven weeks of shopping to get enough items together to make one worth of meals.

I found a recipe that takes a 1/4 lb of fish...it's for one.

But as long as that 1/4 pound of fish isn't previously frozen (and thawed) you can throw it in a freezer for later use.

That's all well and good...but all I saw in her pantry was a lot of processed junk. What about fresh fruits and veggies? I never see coupons for those, and only rarely do I see coupons for meat. That, for a family of four, would cost more than $4/week.

I was thinking the same thing but in regards to milk, eggs, etc..

I'm willing to bet she has several full sized freezers - I quite often see frozen vegetables on sale (its not uncommon to see them buy-one get-one and 1/2 off). I'm also willing to bet $4 a week isn't her true average (don't forget - it needs to be news worthy, too)

Personally I'd love to have a pantry stocked like that (but not just with hamburger helper and rice a roni - canned goods and some other non-perishables too) - it's great for disaster preparations and most of it will keep good for a very long time.

Honestly, I can admire her a little. She has a lot of discipline to be able to go to the grocery store and CVS and just concentrate on the things she'll get for free or next to nothing - how many of us can do this for a few weeks, let alone months and years? I have a hard enough time just concentrating on th BOGOs.

She also has the discipline to sit in front of her computer for hours every week and search out coupons and not get distracted by Facebook, Pogo, and other "fun" sites (if she does it doesn't interfere with her coupon hunting). I have a hard enough time taking 30 minutes just to update a site!

Too bad my grocery store doesn't offer double coupons and rarely give out their own coupons plus it is getting harder and harder getting them to accept web printed coupons (due to fraud and abuse).

[Krivak]

Thats what I asked myself when I re watched the segment for the third time. I bet anything to get that weeks worth of food it takes about seven weeks of shopping to get enough items together to make one worth of meals.

I found a recipe that takes a 1/4 lb of fish...it's for one.

Well, i suppose we found her part time job... Theoretically, by the money she is saving from those coupons, matched with what a normal family would spend every 2 weeks, and you take that, lets say, 280 dollars (remember, every 2 weeks grocery shopping with a 280 dollar total), it would average about a min wage part time job. (yeah, i know 280 per 2 weeks is a good one. I have a part time job that is min wage)

Besides, that was only about shopping stuff. Doesn't make a mention of fast food, pizza (sorta different), or sit down restaurants that are known to be associated with being American.

(edit: some of the above was edited to actually make sense)

[Aethian]

What about fresh fruits and veggies? I never see coupons for those, and only rarely do I see coupons for meat. That, for a family of four, would cost more than $4/week.

Thats what I asked myself when I re watched the segment for the third time. I bet anything to get that weeks worth of food it takes about seven weeks of shopping to get enough items together to make one worth of meals.

I found a recipe that takes a 1/4 lb of fish...it's for one.

[draggar]

I wish my wife even tried to act like that - I don't have the time to go scanning for coupons etc.. all the time.

[PepperElf]

i can't bash her for this either

since what she did was legal, hey... if she can feed her family off of that little money then more power to her.

[AdminAssistant]

That's all well and good...but all I saw in her pantry was a lot of processed junk. What about fresh fruits and veggies? I never see coupons for those, and only rarely do I see coupons for meat. That, for a family of four, would cost more than $4/week.

[Aethian]

well she did way she had the stockpile so she can help hungry people...

yea the hungry people of her family that wasn't for a non profit food pantry, thats just for personal use.

[Sliceanddice]

well she did way she had the stockpile so she can help hungry people...

[fireheart]

I wish we had things like that in SA. Coupons haven't really taken off here. Oh, we have loyalty cards at a couple places where you get "points" and "cash back vouchers", but I would love to be able to save a couple bucks on my groceries every month...

Mind you, her stockpile is freaking scary....

We went from coupons through to loyalty cards....reason being that it's harder to lose loyalty cards than it is coupons.

And for some reason, SA made me think of my home state....even though I know you live in South Africa.