Comments about ‘Power shopping: Savvy use of coupons can save you lots of money on groceries’

She has never missed a meal.

A tip:

Buy your gift cards from Smith's that give you a discount on your overall groceries with a credit card that offers you higher cash back on grocery purchases. Citicard offers 2 percent all the time for grocery purchases, but Discover occasionally offers 5 percent at certain times of the year. If you buy a $500 gift card, sometimes the store will give you a 10 percent bonus. And if you purchase it with a Discover Card during it 5 percent cash back period ... well you can do the math!

If you are saving that much by using coupons you are not eating very healthy. They do not give out coupons for fresh fruits and vegetables. Most coupons are for processed junk food.

I think it is great that they save so much money using coupons. but if you are a truly healthy eater (fresh fish, fresh fruits and veggies, eat things not in boxes then it is a bit of a different story. buying boxes of mac and cheese for $.10 is great, but it is still mac and cheese and not at all a healthy choice. i hate to say it, but almost all of the coupon queens/kings i have seen are very overweight. i dont think it is a coincidence. i realize there are exceptions, and coupons can be found on some healthy items, but the fact is, if you want to eat healthy all the time, you cannot do it on coupons. its not worth the trade for me and my family.

The multiple cleaning products for every surface are not only expensive but unnecessary. I do most of my cleaning with a spray bottle filled with a little dish soap and filled with water. Another spray bottle is vinegar and water. Those will clean almost every surface.

Laundry deteregent can also be conserved by using a fraction of the amount listed. Start with 1/3 of the recommended amount and adjust from there.

Manufactures like to invent a problem and then sell you a product to solve it.

I am not on any kind of food budget but I will occasionally cut coupons for laundry soap, toothpaste, dish soap and other cleaning items. I find that the food coupons are for processed junk food or things that my husband would ask me why are we eating this? A detailed shopping list, looking at the ads and not going to the store hungry usually serves me quite well.
We also don't go out to dinner very often, not due to a lack of funds, but the portions are too big, too much salt and in general not very good food. I thank my mother for teaching me to be a good cook but a lousy seamstress -she said you can always pay for someone to hem your pants or skirt but you still have to cook for yourself pretty much everyday.
I must say after spending one month in Palm Desert on holiday this past February, the grocery stores in Salt Lake pale in comparison to he ones down there -oh Bristol Farms oh la la! Even Ralph's was better than Dan's.

PYP has recipes for homemade cleaners, detergents, baby wipes, and more. Check the forums.

Most coupons are for things that aren't healthy. They're for sugared cereals, mac & cheese, etc. If you shop at Smiths, they keep track of what you buy and mail you coupons every once in a while that are great deals. I do just as well by shopping the case lot sales, and weekly sales. That way you can eat healthy.

There are coupons for items other than food. When we lived in Heber we would go in when Smith's was doubling and we bought cleaners, shampoo, nail stuff and more. Also...there are many cupons for food that is decent and combined with the money you save we can buy the fruits and veggies. For those of you that say they are overweight...so are others. It has nothing to do with cupons. We would regularly pay under 100 for three grocery carts of things for us, neighbors in need or for the soup kitchens. Teach the kids to be thrifty.

But coupons are also based mostly on processed foods. Not necessarily just sugared. I'm a scratch cook and coupons just DO NOT save me money. I don't eat that stuff and wouldn't for some slight money savings. My meals average out to about $1.50 per person per meal. High taste, low fat, low salt, no preservatives.

Learn to cook and you can be inexpensive and eat well.

Don't clip coupons when you can just buy a supersaver card and save money on things you buy everyday.

Utah also pales in comparison with stores who double or even triple coupon values. I have several friends who have 4+ subscription to the Sunday paper but what a waste, even if its recycled.

There are many many coupons for things other than food. You can save a lot of money by using coupons for household things like dish soap, laundry det., medicines, deodorant, toothpaste, dog food, razors, makeup, shampoo, etc. etc. I take the savings from these items and buy more healthy produce and organic items for my family and can still stay within my budget. You can definitely use coupons and eat healthy. Just because there is a coupon for it, doesn't mean you have to buy it.

I use PYP and love the savings. Living in St george I can get extra coupons from retired neighbors that don't use them. With careful planning I have bought $800 (overpriced retail value) worth of groceries for under $40.In the past 2 years besides sales tax, I have not paid a penny for laundry and dishwashing detregent, toothpatse, deodorant, and bar soap and I got only name brand products.

Sadly some grocery stores, like Harmons(and select albertsons) won't let you power shop anymore. This means if I get 6 coupons for laundry detregent and want to buy 6 bottles, harmons stopped letting you do this. They will only let you do 2 maximum.
This article is great but make sure you check PYP website or check with your local store to see if they allow this. It is very frustrating to spend time planning only to find out the stores are cutting back on customers using coupons.

I love PYP!!! By visiting this website I have greatly improved the quality of the food we eat plus built a nice food storage.

There is tons of information on PYP!!!

Those of you who say you can't eat healthy and use coupons have just never tried. Or else you're doing it wrong. Or else you have preconceived notions that you can't get past.
There are always self-righteous people who claim to be 100% scratch cookers who poo-poo coupons. Do those people not wash their clothes or brush their teeth or use deodorant? I believe these people do eat healthy, but I think they must not have to do it on a budget, or they wouldn't discount the savings that can be had using coupons. Sure, if you have all the money in the world, coupons are useless to you. So why are you even reading this article and commenting on it?
Either you haven't really tried to use coupons, or you're using them wrong. Yes, you save less money eating healthy and using coupons than buying cheap processed foods with coupons. Maybe the savings is less if you eat healthy, but any savings is good savings if you're on a budget.

Even if you cook from scratch or eat healthy, you can still save money (lots of it) with coupons unless you live on a self-sustaining farm where you grind your own flour, butcher your own meat, grow your own spices and milk your own cow. And even then, you still need cleaning supplies and toiletries. You can even save money on vitamins, medicines (including prescriptions), baking pans, mops & brooms, pens & pencils, makeup, tape...I could go on and on. Is there anyone who doesn't use things on that list?
I haven't paid a penny more than tax on toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo or deodorant in several years. And I won't for at least the next two years even if I stopped buying it right now thanks to a great stockpile. It also gives me a great opportunity to help out charities, food banks and disaster victims where I can't afford to give nearly the equivalent in money. And for those of us who don't mind occasionally eating a (free) boxed dinner, the savings can be phenomonal.

I love PYP! Using coupons has SAVED me so much time and money! I no longer have to pay for razors, toothpaste, shampoo, styling prod, shaving cream, lotion, candles, cleaning supplies, deodorant, air freshners or paper towel.
I have payed very little for peanut butter, oatmeal, granola bars, healthy cereal, juice, soups, biscuits, chicken, ham, and even produce from time to time.
There are lots of coupons for unhealthy foods but I do not buy a lot of those. Plus the savings that I get allows me to spend on produce.
The cool thing about PYP is they tell you when produce is at a good price and that is the week that I buy that variety.
If you want ot learn more google fabulesslyfrugal.

healthy first, thrifty second, I think you are completely wrong when you say most coupon queens and kings are overweight.I personally know many people who use coupons and we are not over weight... not a one of us! You can eat healthy and use coupons... and you can use coupons and sales to get good buys on meats and veggies.For example Albertsons recently had a sale that if you bought so much money of certain products you got $10 in free meat. For me that meant buying the products I would use anyway and getting free meat... My freezer is now well stocked and I won't be needing to buy meat for SEVERAL months! and the money I save using coupons I can now spend on fresh veggies and fruit, something I could hardly afford to buy before.
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As stated above by Fabulesslyfrugal...
"I no longer have to pay for razors, toothpaste, shampoo, styling prod, shaving cream, lotion, candles, cleaning supplies, deodorant, air freshners or paper towel."

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Oh, by the way, I am 5'2" and weight about 110 lbs... I hardly think that is over weight :)

Besides the newspaper coupons, I receive a lot in from the Smith's where I shop, some of them because I have a Kroger credit card. I'm not into the clipping services that the article wrote about, but I disagree that coupons are only for junk food. On Saturday I used coupons for organic salad greens, dairy products, deodorant, and laundry detergent. Yes, you should be choosy and don't buy stuff just because you have a coupon.
For those who don't like thinking about all that paper being wasted, you can order an electronic subscription to either the Tribune or the Des News and just print out the coupons you want.