Last month, Apartment Therapy weighed in on Extreme Couponing. Like many of the reader comments, the practice strikes me as both strangely fascinating and completely over-the-top, but it got me thinking - can couponing be green?
Frugality is often associated with more mindful living, but in my experience most coupons are geared towards processed foods and chemical-based household products. While larger grocery chains continue to expand their organic and less-processed selections, finding coupons for these types of food items might be getting easier, but is it still worth the effort?
Here in Seattle, resources like the Chinook Book offer coupons for everything from groceries and restaurants to yoga classes and home improvement stores. (Chinook Book is now offered in 4 other metropolitan areas, including the Bay Area, Denver/Boulder, Portland and the Twin Cities.) It's a great way to save money and invest in the local community, but the food coupons are limited and probably not a long-term solution to saving money at the grocery store.
Making smart decisions at the grocery store can be a financially daunting process (you've heard the "Whole Food, Whole Paycheck" joke), but aside from coupons, there are other proven ways to save money without sacrificing quality. It's a subject that's been discussed on Re-Nest before and includes everything from buying from the bulk bins to growing your own veggies and raising chickens.
So what are your tips for saving money on groceries? Any green coupon clipping strategies or favorite tricks for getting a deal on healthy, sustainable food? Has anyone explored options outside the standard grocery store, like participating in a co-op or food sharing program with neighbors?
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Am I the only one who finds it's a waste of time and energy to do the coupon thing if you're only feeding 2 people? I never find anything I actually want or need that I would buy anyway offered in coupons. I guess we don't buy that much prepared or processed food in my household.
I don't eat processed foods and have a small family. I buy whole "ingredient" type food and cook from scratch. I use coupons when and if they are available for the things I use. I'm selective about the things I use too. I average saving 50% per trip. I usually do better with the store specials than with coupons but I am surprised that there are coupons for healthy food, some organic, and green products out there if you look. Since I'm not extreme by any means, not having as many coupons available for the products I buy, keeps me from loading up my cart every week with 87 bottles of mustard. I use the coupons as a tool to save money in one area of my food budget and put the savings toward fresh organic produce.
Sign up for emails from companies you frequently buy from and they often send coupons. Stonyfield is great for this.
Great post! It's amusing to consider couponing as being "green" when the post photo shows paper in a dumpster. In our town we have dozens of coupon flyers drifting along the street, littering lawns and reminding me how many trees are destroyed for nothing.
I think that 99 percent of printed coupons are probably not used.
Here's my rules for saving money:
Eat less. You'll save a bundle in health care costs. Melt some chocolate over fresh strawberries for dessert.
Buy local to support the economy.
Grow your own, and learn how to do it seriously so the plant continues to yield enough to pay for itself and then some. I container grow and it still pays off.
After you grocery shop, put stuff back. I find at least $20 worth of stuff I impulse-grad and realize I'm just tired, hungry and have a headache and I did not think through my purchase. When I get home, I'm always glad I did and I have dineros left over.
Impulse-grab, not grad. LOL
I totally agree with Emmi!!
watching the extreme couping makes me throw up..:(...they are nothign but hoarders...the more these people make things fly off the shelf of a grocery, the more companies will produce and stock up the shelves again...and then issue coupons for people to buy their wares..its completely ridiculous
I am a super frugal cheapskate. I don't coupon at all. If you want to eat real food from basic ingredients, it's a total no go. I still look through all the coupons I can get a hold of, but it's very rare that I get anything I can use.
I get a better deal shopping dry goods at Costco, to reduce my packaging, and doing most of my own cooking with make ahead meals. (Once again to reduce packaging.)
I too have found that couponing does not fit my lifestyle or the types of food we eat. I do better with buying store specials or using the store coupons. For example this week there was a coupon for eggs 4 for $5 that was a good deal for our family especially with 2 teenagers.
I use coupons sometimes, but mostly for non-food groceries, like cleaning supplies, tissues, etc. I'm pretty sure the only food we consistently use coupons on is cereal. But during the warmer months we get a lot of our food at the local farmers' market, where coupons are useless to us.
Honestly? I'd rather spend a little bit more money buying fresh, healthy food and find ways to cut costs elsewhere.
I have a nifty little coupon sorter and I use it to collect coupons for things that I definitely will get, or want very much to get. I have one compartment for things that would be nice to get, but meh (candies, etc). The ones that get used the most are the ones for diapers, soap products, trash bags, that kind of thing.
The problem with couponing your food is not only that it's generally processed crap, it's that they are only on the national brands. There are some things that are just way better in a specific brand, but I'd say about 90% of what food I purchase is generic brands. And 99 times out of a hundred, the generic brand is cheaper than the national brand even after the coupon. So if I were to start using only coupons like some people do, I'd be spending MORE! And eating worse! It's not like I'm going to find a coupon for green peppers and raw spinach!