Question for the pros about getting 75% off

[choosymom]

I struggle to get over 65% savings at Dillons which is our only local store except Walmart. I have been couponing seriously for 1 1/2 years. I just can't seem to ge high percentage off. We buy little junk food. What tips do you pros have to get the higher savings, I also do not buy more than my family will use usually 3-4 at the most at a time. I do have a stockpile on lots of items. TIA

[rachellepeters]

The big savings comes when you buy alot of the free's. We do eat candy, pop, snacks etc. And those are always easy to get free.

It used to work out that if you had a .50/1 q for a .75 item, you'd make .25, so many times I'd have 95+% savings and that included meat, milk, eggs etc...now, the doubled part of the coupon will total the items price..so no overage :(

I still average probably 80% savings, but it takes trading for free coupons for bread, and $ off meat WYB other things, etc. And it's just two of us, we are expecting soon and I imagine when I have to buy healthier items down the road the savings won't be as much.

Trade Trade Trade for your q's...and even when you have free's hold onto them until they are better than free. I love using them with B1g1 deals etc.

NOW...I will add...a free q during the mega sale will get you .50 profit, and sometimes there are deals that will be free PLUS you get a $ catalina back...those are the only 2x's now that i know you can use coupon "profit" to buy extra items.....anyone else know of anything different right now?

[MelInKansas]

Yes, I agree, on here I have found and traded for coupons that I don't think would be available here. Contacting companies to get the FREE coupons and then trading the FREEs you get that you might not even want for things you can use. But for your things like meat, milk, eggs, seafood, produce, again there are often tearpads that will get you some $ off on those staples when you buy another product. Winetags - which you can't even find here in Kansas I don't think, at least I never have, because they can't sell wine in grocery stores. One thing to caution you, especially trading for alcohol related coupons, make sure they are valid and can be used in KS (or wherever you will be shopping). Many traders don't realize the state restrictions or aren't clear about them.

For me, the more time I can put into it the more savings I can realize, the reason I haven't been having as high of percentages lately is there have been a lot of other personal things that have kept me from spending as much time as I did at one point. We are on a heart-healthy diet and I do think it's really possible to have 75% savings even when you are limited to what you can buy. But when its free I do sometimes buy junk food for me or the kids.

Personally I've only ever had my really high percentages when I am ONLY buying what's on sale that I have coupons for. I try my hardest to only shop for sale items and plan our menus around what is available very cheap or free. But I realistically can't do that all the time for everything, again I could if I had unlimited time but I just don't. I plan as much as I can and stick to my monthly budget and I'm pretty happy with that. Since I started couponing I have cut my budget on grocery, hba, baby, 30% and am buying a lot more than I used to, so again, that's good enough for me and I'm happy.

[choosymom]

How and where do I trade I am game for that. Thanks ladies.

[kschick96]

Also, really keep an eye peeled for items on closeout and manager's special. Pair these with coupons and you have MAJOR savings! This week, I came across a bunch of Wet Ones Wipes on Manager's special and had a couple of cats for .75 off. They were originally marked for something like $2.87, manager's special price was $1.37-I paid .37 becuase of the combination of the manager's special and the coupon. Each store is often times different on what is on closeout and manager's special-but when you come across them-they can make for awesome deals!