Interesting replies, everyone.
I'm not so much interested in slaving away trying to find the steal deals myself.
I'm more interested in figuring out whether it can be worthwhile to become a coupon supplier to others that want to find the great deals and take advantage of them.
When someone has a stockpile of paper, and that stockpile of paper often has a bunch of coupons inside. Is it worth a papercreter's time to pull out those coupons and offer them to those who take the time to do all the deal searching?
And... on a related side issue...
For those that do coupon a lot... have you ever seen a coupon offer for Borax? If so where?
--- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, Garth & Kim Travis <gartht@...> wrote:
>
> Greetings,
> For the other side of the coin. I have found couponing did no good for
> us. Once in a while I can get real whole food, such as eggs or butter,
> but mostly it is just prepared foods. If you eat that stuff, you can
> save money, but if you don't, it doesn't work.
>
> My toothpaste is my own home made soap. Same with all cleaning supplies
> and shampoo etc. I need specific toilet paper since I use a microflush
> composting toilet, so no coupons. We don't use napkins or paper towels.
>
> I have yet to find my organic, free trade coffee on coupon. Dairy these
> days is from our own grass fed cow. Salt never seems to be on coupon,
> or organic pepper.
>
> How much you can save on coupons really depends on what you buy. We
> found we save even more money by making/growing our own not buying.
>
> Bright Blessings,
> Garth & Kim Travis
> www.TheRoseColoredForest.com
> Bedias, Texas
>
> On 7/31/2013 9:36 AM, trendawareness wrote:
> > I do papercrete while my wife and daughters do coupons.
> >
> > Here's the bottom line.
> >
> > Yes, you can save a lot of money with the skillful use of coupons, but
> > like with papercrete, there's a lot of labor required.
> >
> > Not only does it take a lot of time to clip the coupons, but they must
> > be cataloged (not just sorted) in order for them to be matched to future
> > store sales and promotions.
> >
> > Where you get the most bang for the coupon is matching an older coupon
> > with a new sale where you can apply the coupon to the sale price. Done
> > skillfully, savings of 75% on a particular product is very doable. Then,
> > wherever possible, you buy in bulk during the sales to maximize your
> > long-term savings.
> >
> > The art of couponing is the adjustments to the ever-changing coupon
> > policies. Some stores will double coupons, others restrict how many you
> > can use in a single transactions. The latest variation is the mandatory
> > use of electronic coupons before paper coupons, restricting your ability
> > to decide which coupon you wish to use first.
> >
> > Another dimension is keeping track of multiple stores, although if you
> > live rural, as many papercreters do, this may not be an option. I'm a
> > suburban papercreter, so the wife has three major grocery chains nearby
> > and the savings more than offsets the few extra miles.
> >
> > With all this said, the downside is that hard-core couponing requires
> > 20-30 hours of work per week. Yes, it can be a full or part-time job and
> > if you have a large family, but the potential savings can be the
> > equivalent to working a part-time job. In other words, rather than
> > picking up a minimum wage part-time job, you or your teen could "make"
> > just as much money couponing 20 hours a week.
> >
> > If you don't have that much time, then realistically you can still knock
> > 25% - 50% off your typical grocery bill using coupons coupled with other
> > frugal living techniques, such as shopping the sales, buying in bulk,
> > canning & freezing, etc.
> >
> > I hope all this helps.
> >
> > Now my rant against the "extreme couponing" TV shows. Like the
> > "prepping" shows, they are not representative of the community as a
> > whole as they seek to sensationalize things using staged events. Most
> > hard-working couponers are the humble hard-working type who detest the
> > materialistic orgies depicted in the coupon shows.
> >
> > While a serious couponer will have a shelf full of toothpaste or toilet
> > paper, but they know they actually need such things and they'll be used
> > over time. But for someone to clear out a shelf of diapers when they
> > don't have any babies is discourteous to other shoppers and little more
> > than vane trophy collecting.
> >
> > In response, the coupon shows have emphasized that many couponers donate
> > what they don't need to charity, which is often true, but that does
> > little to excuse their crass, orchestrated sensationalism. Again, much
> > like the so-called "prepping" and "survival" shows.
> >
> > My two cents....
> >
> > --- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com
> > <mailto:papercreters%40yahoogroups.com>, "JayH" <slurryguy@> wrote:
> > >
> > > I've used the occasional coupon, but from what I'm being told, there
> > are people that get rather crazy about it and collect hundreds or
> > thousands of coupons in an attempt to get truckloads of free or very
> > cheap stuff. I guess there are people that are willing to even purchase
> > coupons from others because it saves more money than they spend buying
> > coupons.
> > >
> > > Anybody done it? Anybody partnering with a coupon collector?
> > >
> > > Could it be profitable for a papercreter to take the time to sort
> > through their paper supply to set aside whatever coupons might be in there?
> > >
> > >
> > > I don't claim to be an expert on this topic. I'm just asking
> > questions, and would be interested in learning about other's experiences.
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > No virus found in this message.
> > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com <http://www.avg.com>
> > Version: 2013.0.3392 / Virus Database: 3209/6538 - Release Date: 07/31/13
> >
>
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