Frugal Fridays With Jen- Stockpiling Coupons To Save Big

Yesterday I scored big- my sister and I went shopping at our local Kroger and, armed with a handful of coupons, we were able to get 22 boxes of pasta for free- I even earned $0.49 by buying a few of the boxes. In total, I was able to save 55% off my bill. (Don't worry, we didn't clear the shelves.)

I was able to do this by pulling out a couple inserts from my coupon organization system and printing a few coupons from the manufacturers website. I usually buy a single Sunday paper for coupons.

Sometimes I regularly stockpile coupons for things I need daily, like baby formula, almond milk, and peanut butter. Most of the time, though, my first step is scanning my favorite blogs every Sunday for this week's match-ups and seeing if there are any fantastic deals. Most of my money goes to fresh produce and milks, but if I see a great deal where I can get a lot of freebies, or a great deal on my "stockpile is low" list, I will then cruise my favorite coupon clipper sites to get 10-20 coupons at a time. Since these coupons have to be mailed, I always do this on a Sunday so there is ample time to get the coupons for the deal before supplies run out at the stores.

One word of caution: Always add the cost of the coupon into the final price of the deal. If you can't get coupons by sharing, clipping yourself, or printing online, and the price of a clipping service is too high- it may be better off not to get the deal at all. The deal I got this week was gotten without a clipping service.

Where to go to stockpile coupons?

I don't think buying 10 Sunday papers to get coupons is a good value- and I'm not willing to wade around at the county recycling dumpster to look for coupons.
Here are my usual haunts:

Ebay is a great place I often use. I try to go for the "Buy It Now" dealer who offers free shipping, if possible. I use this most often for those hot deals that I can only get this week.

The Coupon Master: I don't use this as often since there is a handling fee per coupon, a $3 minimum order, as well as a $0.50 administration fee and shipping. They also ship every Saturday, and this is too late if I'm trying to get a weekly deal. However, if there is an almond milk coupon I can't find elsewhere, I may go for it.

The Coupon Carry-Out: This also charges a handling fee per coupon and shipping for orders less than $15. Shipping is not daily, but an estimated shipping date is posted on the home page. This is a place I would use for frequently needed items as well.

Martha (MM) posted on her blog recently about the Coupon Chief. I do a fair amount of online shopping, and they have a huge number of coupon codes to use while making an online purchase. Do you know of an online coupon code from an email or while surfing a retailer's website? Share it with someone else on Coupon Chief and earn 2% of the profits. You can earn up to $25 per store per month.