no shopping week

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what happened i havent seen any post. did anyone besides me do it my week will be up tomorow. now i can get my oud truck fixed and get a hair cut. Bob in s.e. ks.

-- Bob Condry (bobco@hit.net), October 05, 2000

Answers

Hi Bob!

I sort of inadvertently joined the no shopping week----I'm broke right now and haven't bought anything!!! Fortuantely I have enough food and stuff stored away to get me through such times; I did'nt even buy gas, instead driving an old car I have instead of my usual pickup, the car getting about 24 mpg. Sort of miss my morning goodies, but I'm obviously not starving to death, so it's not a big deal. How did you do?

-- Hannah Maria Holly (hannahholly@hotmail.com), October 05, 2000.


well i gotta tell you, i saw something i never saw before in my life, and i would not have believed it if i had not been there in person.

when i got off work at midnight, i stopped by the 24 hour iga supermarket. i had only 2 items in my hands, things i needed no matter what, even if this is no shopping week.

at night, there is only 1 checkout lane open. as luck would have it, the woman in line in front of me had a FULL cart of groceries, just the normal groceries and stuff we all buy in the supermarket.

when the cashier finished ringing them up, he told her it was $57.82

she whipped out a fistful of coupons, and boy do i mean she had a handfull of coupons. i rolled my eyes up and around, so did the cashier. i thought to myself, great here i am with 2 items and this woman has a full grocery cart, and now she pulls out a fistful of coupons.

well i was just absolutely flabbergasted when he got done scanning in all those coupons !!! her bill was $15.26 cash !!!! it had been $57.82 !!!!!!!!!!!!! saved $42.00 !!!!!!!! she had such a triumphant look on her face. i asked her how she had done it !!! i mean, i am thrifty and frugal, even cheap, and i have never seen anything like that before in my life!!

she explained to me that EVERY SINGLE ITEM she had bought had a coupon. she did not buy ANYTHING unless she had a coupon for it. the store gives double the value of manufacturer coupons, plus it also gives out store coupons for up to a dollar on each individual item you buy. in other words, each item she bought tonight she also got store coupons given to her for her next trip in. she was crowing to me and the cashier that we should follow her around and learn how to really save money. i was sure tempted to take her up on that.

anyway, i have to say, she bought basically the same items that each and every one of us normally does on a normal trip to the grocey. she had all name brand canned goods, (not the store brands), boxed dry goods, some frozen items, paper towels and toilet paper, and even red meat and chicken !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! every single item she bought had a coupon !!! she had juices, sodas, pasta items, fruits and veggies, milk, etc etc etc. just normal every day grocery items. $57.82 cents worth for $15.26 my gawd was i shocked !!! she said she gets manufacturer coupons from the newspaper and also some ladies type magazines. well heck, i gotta admit, she is making a convert of me. next time i might not pickup the 4wheel drive macho magazine and i might buy ladies home journal !!! hehhe

now if i can just figure out how she saves at the gas station........i shoulda got her name and phone and called her.....

gene

-- gene ward (gward34847@aol.com), October 06, 2000.


I'm still hangin' in there. Amazing how after a week or so, the thought of stopping for this or that is just not there. I don't even think about it. I am going to have to get gas this weekend, but that's all I'm buying this month. That's quite a story, Gene. I'd read about "couponing", actually someone mentioned it here recently, about a site where you can get info about it. Anybody?

-- Cathy Horn (hrnofplnty@webtv.net), October 06, 2000.

Gene, I went shopping with my ex-sister-in-law who bought $90 worth of groceries for $10. She had coupons plus refunds. It's a lot of work though, at least like a part time job to save all that money. My best was about $50 for $18. There are refunding sites, but I don't buy much "regular stuff" at the grocery, any more.

-- Cindy (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), October 06, 2000.

Here's a site that lets you print out store coupons. Unfortunately, they're mostly located in larger cities -- not much use to us, since the closest one is about 1-1/2 hours away!

www.lowermybills.com

-- Anne-marie (ambelanger@mail.com), October 06, 2000.



Hi Hanna Marie yes i got along fine my truck broke down so i had to walk to the coffe shop . kinda liked after a day or two but didnt go as often as before.hope to get truck fixed sat then ill have whees again. they are about ready so ill need your add. soon Bob in s.e.ks.

-- Bob Condry (bobco@hit.net), October 06, 2000.

Gene, at one time I made a "career" out of couponing, too, although I don't think I ever hit the big one like that woman at IGA did. It was sort of like a game. However, I finally gave it up, b/c I don't buy brand name products much anymore, preferring to make my own stuff from scratch, etc. It's a good thing I guess for folks who are busy (but then they might not have time to do the coupon thing, which IS time consuming). I just got sick of supporting the advertising, packaging, marketing, etc., as much as not wanting the product, too.

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), October 06, 2000.

I agree with you sheepish, I don't buy very many name brand products, and bake everything from scratch, when I first got on the net a few freinds told me about some sites to get coupons and free stuff, I tried it for a while, but it was very time consuming and I ended up getting a lot of spam after filling out all those forms. I decided my time was better spent elsewhere. As far as the no shopping week, I did o.k. because I have food storage, we did buy my son some blue jeans because it got cold, this week it seemed like we needed more food stuffs cause I didn't shop for 2 weeks, so it all evens out in the end, but it did make me more think twice before stopping off at this store or that one, and not going very many places helped a lot to. My next goal is not to buy any NEW clothing for maybe the next 6 months, maybe a year, who knows I'll try, I'm not a big shopper anyway, except at Garage Sales and thrift stores and even at those you have to have self control over what your buying, if not you end up with lots of stuff you don't need, or might use one day, and accumlate clutter, I've been there and know people who buy anything cause it's a good deal whether they need it or not, I try to make a NEED list which is usually coats for the kids for next year, etc. Well thats my 2 cents worth.

-- Carol Waldrop (cwaldrop@peoplescom.net), October 06, 2000.

We did it, except for our yardsale $10. By the way, the super couponer probally uses the same method my wife use , "Cashing in at the Checkout" by Susan Samtur ( www.refundlebundle.com) . Lynn will probally turn it into her new full time job by next year. As she tells me , "If we're saving money,we're making money."

-- Jay Blair (jayblair678@yahoo.com), October 07, 2000.

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