The Great Coupon Debate

verrrry simple solution. buy all your stuff first and offer the remainder of the grocery budget up to the hubby. after all your stuff is the healthiest and most important for the nutritional needs of your kids. not to mention that, at least in my house, i am the one who plans & prepares the menu. so there!!lol!

I'm somewhere in the middle. I don't eat a lot of processed foods, but I'm not above substituting things I can get free/cheap for meals now and then. Usually it's my meals on the weekends that are less healthy/locally grown/unprocessed (and cheaper) while my meals during the week are the stuff that's better for me. It's a tradeoff, but it works for me in terms of balancing finances and nutrition. It also helps that I'm single, live alone and am not really picky about what I eat in terms of taste.

I also use a lot of coupons on non-food items. Thanks to combining sales, coupons and rebates (love Walgreens) I haven't paid more than $0.50/item for hair care, toothpaste, deoderant, soap and similar products in a couple of years. Often times I get these items free.

Funny, I was just talking about the values of coupons the other night with my hubby. I kinda think that coupons are most valuable if you do have brand loyalty. If you are willing, as I am, to buy generic brand food, it's almost always cheaper than the name brand food even with coupons. (And there are rarely coupons for generic brand products.)

Good idea to allow yourselves a whole month of comparing shopping prices. A week wouldn't be a good test. Bad idea to do it during the holiday season. You'll find prices skewed, but you probably also cook differently this time of year. I have always been a cook at home from scratch type too, but since hubby was "downsized" we are definitely saving more on your hubby's plan. I'll be interested to see the outcome!

I don't do any of the above, I go by price per unit. Which Mac n' Cheese is cheapest, brandname/storebrand/Costco? I don't have brand loyalty, I have survival of the fittest when it comes to my pennies.

Certain items get no compromise however. Wife picks the toilet paper and she gets the toilet paper she wants. I don't debate and I live longer. If I buy juice, I scour over the package to see where the fruit is coming from (especially orange juice). Once I identify that the fruit isn't coming from Brazil or some other country, I crack the numbers and go that route.

I keep track of it all using my HipsterPDA and show the item and price per ounce. If there's a sale, I whip out my cell phone and do the math on the fly. If it comes out cheaper to what's on my cheat sheet, I make the purchase.

The fact that he grocery shops at all would be a dream for so many reasons, let alone being price conscious about it.

I think so many issues about food between parents are about control. But that's another story.

Lately Money Saving Mom has had several guest posts where people talk about combining coupons with the effort to eat more fresh and organic foods. The basic idea is to maximize coupons savings you CAN use and use the saved money, or the Catalina coupons, on the organic and whole foods that you want. For example, I am always going to use coupons on cereal and get it for $1 a box, and I am going to use coupons at CVS to get most of our toiletries, baby products and medicines free. That does free up some money for the organic produce I want.

But if you really find that you don't want ANYTHING shown in the coupon flyers, for goodness sake, save yourself the time! And if your husband really just brings home things you won't use, just turn over your charity budget to him and let him deliver his coupon steals right to the food bank. God knows, the food banks need all the help they can get right now.

I blog at www.shopliftingwithpermission.com.

I'm like you in shopping for food. Organic, hormone-free, local, etc. as much as possible. I go to local farm stands and supplement with Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, and Costco.

I find that the coupons for groceries at Safeway, for example, often come out more expensive per serving when you compare to buying in bulk. Yoplait goes on sale for $0.60 per 6-oz container at Safeway, or $0.10/oz; if you buy a 32-oz tub of 365 organic yogurt at Whole Foods, it's $2.50 or $3 regular price. You're still saving money, and probably getting a better product, at Whole Foods.

If your husband goes crazy over coupons, maybe you could turn over clothing shopping to him? There are a ton of deals out there on the internet and frankly I think I've saved much more that way than by clipping coupons for groceries. I know clothes are not as much of a necessity as food, but in terms of compromising, I'd rather do it with what goes *on* my body than what goes *in* it.

I also like the suggestions from previous commenters on donating to the food banks-- sounds like a good solution to me.

The Sunday newspaper used to be full of good coupons
but I don't find that to be true anymore.
Now I have not tried getting coupons from ebay but wouldn't they be the same as the Sunday paper?

Coupons for some staples would sure be nice. I live alone and I don't eat that sugary cereal. I do get my oatmeal from the dollar store- 10 instant pks for a dollar. I get my paper goods and cleaning supplies from the dollor store too.

Nowhere do I find vegetables and fruits that are a really good sale. Apples are supposed to be pentiful and cheap right now but the prices here in Texas have not come down one bit on Apples. If anything, they have been increased.

I use 'em as often as I can on items that I routinely purchase or have a genuine desire to try but I try to be very conscious to avoid letting coupons sway me into buying stuff that I wouldn't considered otherwise. And I also don't usually let coupons strongarm me into paying more for a name brand than the competing generic - assuming that the items are very similar.

You can leverage coupons for a moderate savings and still not let them cloud your decisions. Just keep a healthy dose of skepticism and if, upon some comparison, the coupon isn't going to save you money or offer some distinct advantage, then leave it on the shelf for someone else to consider using.

And of course, remember to shop the perimeter.