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Post by normal on Mar 24, 2009 9:20:31 GMT
Does anybody use them?
My Dad was a coupon freak, he used to clip coupons all week and then spend his Saturdays going from store to store. I'm sure he spent more on gas than he saved with his coupon addiction.
Lots of people religiously collect and use coupons for the few cents off on items they use. It can really add up in savings. Others get a little crazy like dear old Dad. Still others can't be bothered.
I was wondering if anyone here has started to use them because of the current fiscal down turn.
Have always clipped the odd one. Or, like me never really thought about it much and only used one if it was a really good deal.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2009 10:53:21 GMT
I have only used them occasionally when the savings was fairly significant ($1.00 or more). I know people who use them and save a whole lot of money. I am not that organized and there always seems to be some hitch that I didn't see in the fine print that invalidates it. I once saved up Community Coffee coupons for a really long time and the prize was a piece of junk.
I've seen alot more people using them of late,I always manage to get myself in line right behind them.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2009 11:00:28 GMT
My parents would save more than $20 with coupons every time they went on their 'major' monthly shopping trip at the Tampa military commissary 40 miles away (as opposed to normal local shopping). They had the coupon file and everything.
Using coupons amuses me sometimes, and when I am in the United States on a Sunday, I always buy the newspaper so that I can comb through the coupons. However, in France there is not much of a coupon culture. They exist but are not distributed all that much and are used even less. But I scrupulously go after the "your first purchase refunded" deals and know exactly how to peel off the bar codes, circle the amount on the receipt, send it all within 48 hours and demand refund of the postage.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2009 11:18:07 GMT
That's funny. I too occasionally go through the Sunday local paper when I get it and will check out stuff but I invariably will end up buying stuff simply because it's a "good deal" and not really need it.
As a child we saved Green Stamps or something like that and we had to sit for hours glueing them into little books. My brothers always stuck me with the smallest redeemable stamps. I hated it!
I also remember one of biggest childhood disappointments was my best friend Maggie and I saving Bazooka Bubble Gum comics to get some "walkie talkies", we waited forever for them. When they arrived they were the equivalent of 2 tin cans with 2ft. of string between them.
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Post by tillystar on Mar 24, 2009 14:32:43 GMT
Oh no Casimira, you made me sad about your walkie talkies! I can imagine the excitement and the disappointment!
We do our monthly shopping online and get it delivered. I am a supermarket slut and use whoever I have found the biggest online discount code for - usually can get free delivery and about 20% off.
I don't really use coupons except for nappies as they get sent through the door and are usually £2 off so worth bothering.
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Post by rikita on Mar 24, 2009 15:08:33 GMT
in the US i knew various people who used them to buy stuff they wouldn't have bought had they no coupon for it.... here they are not common at all...
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Post by gringalais on Mar 24, 2009 15:12:42 GMT
We don't have them here either.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 24, 2009 16:16:27 GMT
They are not common in Mexico. Sometimes they come with my phone bill, and they'll be for something like Domino's Pizza.
In the States you get (or did when I lived there) wads of them in the mail -- big square envelopes stuffed with them. Also the Sunday paper has a bunch of inserts with coupons. I never used them much unless they were for a brand of something I would have purchased anyway.
You hear people say they saved x dollars a month with coupons, but it turns out they saved it by buying their non-preferred brands that were more expensive than their regular brands even with the coupon discount.
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Post by spindrift on Mar 24, 2009 22:15:49 GMT
I don't use coupons. I don't buy newspapers and I don't have store loyalty cards. I'm trying to be anonymous.
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Post by rikita on Mar 25, 2009 19:54:04 GMT
ah this one store often asks if i have a loyalty card - thing is, i bought a couple of bigger things there (small hiking backpack, big hiking backpack, things like that) so i always mean to apply for one, as i guess i'd save some money... but i am too lazy.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2009 19:52:48 GMT
I just received some coupons for AA Duracell batteries -- now that is something for once that I always need, and I will certainly use them.
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