# Extreme Couponing in Canada



## 44545 (Feb 14, 2012)

Yes, it's possible. I'll just put this here...

















... all that was pennies on the dollar.

The "Smart Canucks" forum has a lot more info than I could possibly post here. In short, price match at stores that do it (No Frills, Walmart and SuperStore come to mind) and use coupons creatively, like a $1 off any size coupon on the $0.50 travel size bottle.


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## Homerhomer (Oct 18, 2010)

Good on them if someone is into it, but I often wonder how much effort goes into this couponing thing, research, driving to and from, barganing, arguing with cashiers and on and on and on, and if one were to put all that effort into making money they would probably be way ahead of the curve especially if we deduct all the junk that is purchased just because they were on sale.


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## Sampson (Apr 3, 2009)

That's more Listerine than I'll use in a lifetime.


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## Jungle (Feb 17, 2010)

I think I know who did that. I offered to be the agent so we could sign a contract with TLC and do a show, but no dice.


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## 44545 (Feb 14, 2012)

Homerhomer said:


> Good on them if someone is into it, but I often wonder how much effort goes into this couponing thing, research, driving to and from, barganing, arguing with cashiers and on and on and on, and if one were to put all that effort into making money they would probably be way ahead of the curve especially if we deduct all the junk that is purchased just because they were on sale.


We asked ourselves that same question. For us, it was an hour or so extra a week and that was all at the kitchen table sorting coupons and circling deals in flyers. Oh, and ordering coupons on Save.ca or P&G's BrandSaver.ca sites.

We don't buy stuff we don't use; our focus was on non-perishables that we would consume over a period of months (or years, in the case of the detergent, mouthwash etc)

FWIW, we cut our grocery bill in half last year doing this and it's likely to stay way down on account of all those things we don't need to buy.


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

Sampson said:


> That's more Listerine than I'll use in a lifetime.


Maybe you aren't using enough.


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## Jungle (Feb 17, 2010)

When you stack that much, does it become extreme couponing or hoarders? lol


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## blin10 (Jun 27, 2011)

+1, waist of time... and most of the stuff is useless anyways, how much peanut butter can you eat? how much listerine do you need ? how much kraft sauce do you use? what do you need so many cases of tide for? etc,etc



Homerhomer said:


> Good on them if someone is into it, but I often wonder how much effort goes into this couponing thing, research, driving to and from, barganing, arguing with cashiers and on and on and on, and if one were to put all that effort into making money they would probably be way ahead of the curve especially if we deduct all the junk that is purchased just because they were on sale.


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## Plugging Along (Jan 3, 2011)

I think it's great. I actually did similar something similar when both my spouse and I weren't working. We cut our grocery bill by more than 50% in using coupons, and being really creative with our shopping. It did take me alot of time, but that's what I had then. Now, because of those great couponing and shopping foundations (yes, there is such a thing), I still get alot of benefits. I spend about 30 mins a week planning and finding coupons and my grocery bill is still about 25% less than what it used to be 4 years ago, and that's with growing kids and inflation. 

I do see a difference between stock piling (which I do alot of) verse hoarding. Saving up for the things that you know you are going to need and use and building up a reserve. Hoarding, you are saving for the sake of saving it, without any purpose for the reason that you MIGHT need something. For example, when we were expecting our second child, there was a huge diaper sale, we picked up 2+ years of diapers for under $700, that would have easily cost us $2500. I thought that was smart stocking piling, as they never hit that price since. Hoarding would be buying diapers now, knowing I will never have another baby just in case. 

My stash of stuff has alot of the things in that picture. I wish I had that much tide. I think some things you will always use, so why not stock up when cheap or free. One can always give them away, which hoarders do not.


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## 44545 (Feb 14, 2012)

I'm amazed at the apparent animosity demonstrated in this thread. 

For what it's worth, the item at the front of shelf doesn't necessarily represent what's behind it. We keep FOUR extra jars of peanut butter, not 24. (I believe there are packs of oatmeal and croutons behind those)




blin10 said:


> ...most of the stuff is useless anyways...what do you need so many cases of tide for? etc,etc


We got the Tide at about $5/115 load bottle. (it's usually $25)
8 bottles x $20 savings each = $160 saved.

Over the next two years, we will use the detergent.
The difference is, we won't need to buy it "when we run out" and pay $25/bottle.

Note: there are no stacks of newspaper on the floor or junk piled on the couch.
We aren't hoarders; if anything, we're minimalists. 



Plugging Along said:


> ...I do see a difference between stock piling (which I do alot of) verse hoarding. Saving up for the things that you know you are going to need and use and building up a reserve. Hoarding, you are saving for the sake of saving it, without any purpose for the reason that you MIGHT need something. ...
> 
> My stash of stuff has alot of the things in that picture. I wish I had that much tide. I think some things you will always use, so why not stock up when cheap or free. One can always give them away, which hoarders do not.


Bingo! We even give items to charity from time to time. (SPCA/Humane Society loves getting soap, blankets, pet food)

*** *** ***

Our shelf represents "dollar cost averaging" or perhaps "consumption averaging." We buy things we need when we can get them at significantly reduced cost. That money gets invested and earns us money.


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## Homerhomer (Oct 18, 2010)

CJOttawa said:


> I'm amazed at the apparent animosity demonstrated in this thread.
> 
> .


Don't take it the wrong way ;-), and I don't think there is any animosity at all, it's just that number of us think that for us it's not worth the effort ;-). If it works for you great.


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

I tell my husband when we buy in Florida we will be extreme couponing ,it is more difficult to do in Canada because we don't get many coupons where we live.There was a store where my parents live that allowed coupon stacking ,they shopped there for years but now they stopped that practice .


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## rd_aaron (Jun 24, 2011)

blin10 said:


> +1, waist of time... and most of the stuff is useless anyways, how much peanut butter can you eat? how much listerine do you need ? how much kraft sauce do you use? what do you need so many cases of tide for? etc,etc


Lol... peanut butter is useless? Tide is useless? Do you not eat or wash your clothes? Those things don't go bad, so if you have the room to store them, what's wrong with buying multiple items if it's really cheap? If anything, your input to this thread is useless.


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## rd_aaron (Jun 24, 2011)

I think I'd have trouble doing the price match thing on a ton of items. I would feel bad for holding up a lineup if it was busy. I'm interested in coupons though, assuming you could print off a bunch and then just have the cashier scan them all in after they rang everything through.

We live in a small(ish) condo right now so it would be tough to stockpile too much of anything, but I've always been of the mindset that if I find consumables that are really cheap, I'll try and buy a bunch to save money long term. I'll have to check out the Smart Canucks forum.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

I don't buy Tide. It is overpriced. Yes, you can get it at a reasonable price with coupons/sales, but the required investment in time is too great for me as I don't require much (a 102 load bottle would last me well over 1 year).


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## Koala (Jan 27, 2012)

Peanut butter does go bad, when it was just me I wouldn't go through a large jar of it before it would turn rancid. It all just depends on your needs. I do stock up on certain things, like a shampoo that is no longer being produced when I come across it (any suggestions for someone with sensitive skin and allergic to scents?), OTC medications I take consistently, and a few favourite things that the dollarstore only seems to carry at certain times.

As for couponing, I thought that if you had a $1 off coupon for a $0.50 item, you would only get $0.50 off. Is it province dependent?


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

Well I did my own version of value shopping today ,I went to a Zellers that is closing out and they had the Healing gardens Bath Salts for $1.58 regular $8.99 .I bought 21 bottles their entire lol ,love my Jacuzzi baths and they don't bubble up when jets are on.I also bought 17 bottles of different Healing Gardens Body lotions and Massage Creams for $2.38 and these were $11.99.


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## 44545 (Feb 14, 2012)

rd_aaron said:


> I think I'd have trouble doing the price match thing on a ton of items. I would feel bad for holding up a lineup if it was busy....


We go early in the morning (7am Saturday shopping) so there aren't any lines. Matching only takes a second per item - they look at your flyer and just key in the new price. 

You touched on one of the big reasons people don't do this: they feel bad about it.
The first time we cut our bill in half we stopped feeling bad. 



Koala said:


> Peanut butter does go bad, when it was just me I wouldn't go through a large jar of it before it would turn rancid. It all just depends on your needs. I do stock up on certain things, like a shampoo that is no longer being produced when I come across it (any suggestions for someone with sensitive skin and allergic to scents?), OTC medications I take consistently, and a few favourite things that the dollarstore only seems to carry at certain times.
> 
> As for couponing, I thought that if you had a $1 off coupon for a $0.50 item, you would only get $0.50 off. Is it province dependent?


It's store dependent. 

At Walmart, if you have a $1 coupon for a $0.50 item, THEY GIVE YOU $0.50 BACK.

Overage can be applied to other items purchased. That's what I'm talking about on the extreme couponing front. 

Find a $5 off coupon and then buy the "travel size" item for $1. Take the $4 and buy lettuce and carrots. Walk out with more money in your pocket than you started with.


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## rd_aaron (Jun 24, 2011)

Koala said:


> Peanut butter does go bad, when it was just me I wouldn't go through a large jar of it before it would turn rancid. It all just depends on your needs. I do stock up on certain things, like a shampoo that is no longer being produced when I come across it (any suggestions for someone with sensitive skin and allergic to scents?), OTC medications I take consistently, and a few favourite things that the dollarstore only seems to carry at certain times.
> 
> As for couponing, I thought that if you had a $1 off coupon for a $0.50 item, you would only get $0.50 off. Is it province dependent?


Just about anything will go bad after you open it. That's not the point. If it's unopened it will last for close to year, if not more. This applies to a lot of things, not just peanut butter.


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## MoneyGal (Apr 24, 2009)

I think this is one of those areas where you just have to know yourself in order to know whether it will work for you. I don't eat or use a lot of packaged food or goods (don't worry, I use deodorant), so there's no savings for me on buying croutons, peanut butter, oatmeal, etc. in boxes. And I cloth-diapered both of my kids, so I didn't spend even $700 total on diapers during that part of my life. (I have an ultra high-end washing machine and I use a very small amount of detergent, like a teaspoon per wash, so one box lasts about a year. I bought two boxes last time I saw them because they were 2-for-1, so now I have detergent until sometime in late 2014.)

Also - for me anyways - I actually believe it is more frugal to buy stuff as you need it, and not before. I let the supermarkets store stuff for me and I avoid packaging, so I'm honestly not spending that much at the grocery store in any case. I think having a smaller house is probably my most frugal thing in life, and I'm just not interested in spending time thinking about how to get deals on packaged goods (or even in driving to the grocery store - I mostly just walk, which reduces the amount I can carry in any case). 

NEways, this is all just to say "to each their own." It's like people who suggest you should cook ahead at night and bring extra for your lunch at work the next day. This is a good strategy - I do this - but the per-meal cost is *higher* than if I was eating sandwiches at work. A sandwich would cost less than another serving of last night's dinner.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

This is certainly the right way to go about couponing, but of course it's not how the vast majority of coupon users do it - they buy things they don't need because they have coupons for them. Fortunately you and other proponents posting here are smart enough to avoid that trap, but it's the intended trap and the basic reasons why coupons are offered: to get people to try new things they otherwise wouldn't have bought.

Like MG this is not something that works for me: I buy most of my cleaning and personal care products in bulk with reusable containers (shampoo, laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, dishwashing liquid) -- I buy them once and take the container back for a refill as needed. I recently bought a year's supply of shampoo for $25, no coupon but the bulk prices tend to be cheaper. I've been reusing some of these containers for 15 years now.

That said, I think stocking up on some things makes sense if you have room; for one thing it can be a way to sidestep inflation. As a silly example, I bought a big box of staples (literally staples, the kind you use to attach pieces of paper together) at a flea market in 1980, and I haven't used them up yet; I reckon I have enough left to last me the rest of my life. If the price of staples went up 600% it wouldn't affect me. But a lifetime's supply of staples doesn't take up much space; they're in my desk drawer. A lifetime's supply of toilet paper would require an addition on the house.


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## MoneyGal (Apr 24, 2009)

Mr. Moneygal has Flyerland.ca as a (huge) corporate client. I feel like I know EVERYTHING there is to know about couponing, and we still don't do it. :02.47-tranquillity:


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## Spudd (Oct 11, 2011)

Brad, where do you buy the shampoo/etc in bulk? I didn't think Bulk Barn carried that sort of thing; is there another source for bulk goods?


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

Spudd said:


> Brad, where do you buy the shampoo/etc in bulk? I didn't think Bulk Barn carried that sort of thing; is there another source for bulk goods?


Here in Québec there's a company called Nettoyants Lemieux (http://www.produits-lemieux.com/index.php) that has a number of distributors in my city; you can buy all kinds of products in bulk there. Some health food stores and co-ops also do this with different brands. I got used to shopping this way when I lived in Vermont, where all the food co-ops offered food and cleaning products (and shampoo, etc.) in bulk; you bring your own container.


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## Guigz (Oct 28, 2010)

Just a point of clarification.

Upthread, the OP (I think) mentioned that they had saved 8 x 20$ by purchasing 8 Tide containers. Does anybody actually buy Tide at 25$ per bottle? Aren't you actually inflating your "savings" by comparing against the inflated price versus the "coupon" price?

Same with those that mention "cutting their bill in half". Is that on your receipt (i.e., you saved 50$ on a 100$ bill) or actually compared against your set level of spending (i.e., you have half of your food budget left over at the end of each month)?

I don't think couponing would work for me. I absolutely hate spendind time in stores. I have a list of "buy" prices for common stuff that I often use and buy when the price is below the target. When I buy, I do so in bulk. If the price is higher, I do without.


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## MoneyGal (Apr 24, 2009)

^^^ This. The "I saved $x on a bottle of Tide!" is a form of anchoring. If no one actually buys Tide at the MSR, the savings attained is exaggerated. I'm surprised no one ever talks about this aspect of couponing - the reality is that *there are always sales in the grocery store.* If you aren't brand-conscious, there is always some form of what you need on sale in a given week. If you averaged out the price of Tide (or detergent in general) over the course of some period of time, you will find the price is not $25 but, say, $15, or $12 -- so the *actual* savings is much less than the perceived savings.


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

MoneyGal said:


> ^^^ This. The "I saved $x on a bottle of Tide!" is a form of anchoring.


I wonder if people do this with cars. I've often heard that new cars depreciate N% (30-40) when you drive it off the lot, which I always thought was exaggerated. First of all, nobody drives a new car off the lot and then puts it up for sale. And secondly - are they comparing the used car price (let's say one year old) to the actual (negotiated) sale price of the car which would include taxes?


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## crazyjackcsa (Aug 8, 2010)

I believe the 30%-40% would be the trade in value of that new car. While it's an odd comparison, think of it like a video game. If your kid buys a video game on Tuesday, beat it in three days and trade it in, in brand new condition, They will only get half of what they paid for it just three days ago.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

crazyjackcsa said:


> I believe the 30%-40% would be the trade in value of that new car. While it's an odd comparison, think of it like a video game. If your kid buys a video game on Tuesday, beat it in three days and trade it in, in brand new condition, They will only get half of what they paid for it just three days ago.


Yes, but what does this depreciation mean in practical terms? If a lot of people bought their cars and then returned them a few days later, there would be a booming business in 3-day-used cars, because they'd be so comparatively cheap and so hardly used. In the computer world there is in fact something like this: "refurbished" electronics, which in many cases are brand-new (often unopened) electronics that were returned unused. Those are a great deal, and they're pretty easy to find. But how often do you get people returning cars after just a few days? I'm sure it happens, but if there's a way to get those cars at such a reduced price I haven't encountered it.

If you're planning to keep your car, its depreciation doesn't really matter. I have no idea what my current car is worth, nor do I care, because I don't plan to sell it, I will just drive it until it doesn't want to be driven any more.


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## rd_aaron (Jun 24, 2011)

brad said:


> Here in Québec there's a company called Nettoyants Lemieux (http://www.produits-lemieux.com/index.php) that has a number of distributors in my city; you can buy all kinds of products in bulk there. Some health food stores and co-ops also do this with different brands. I got used to shopping this way when I lived in Vermont, where all the food co-ops offered food and cleaning products (and shampoo, etc.) in bulk; you bring your own container.


That's pretty cool. It reminded me this which I thought would be a great business idea. I haven't seen anything like you've described in Alberta or Saskatchewan.


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## MoneyGal (Apr 24, 2009)

brad said:


> Yes, but what does this depreciation mean in practical terms? If a lot of people bought their cars and then returned them a few days later, there would be a booming business in 3-day-used cars, because they'd be so comparatively cheap and so hardly used.


But people do wreck their cars a few days after buying them, and the insurers need to price out the loss.


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## 44545 (Feb 14, 2012)

Addressing the issue of "anchoring", our Tide bottles are 120oz (4.43L) 96 load HE Actilifts at $28.10 each. ($112.40 per 4-pack on Amazon)
Here they are on Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Tide-Efficien...ef=sr_1_2?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1337995524&sr=1-2

We are not reverting to "mental math". We track everything using Microsoft Money.

I accept and respect the statement, "to each their own."
Do respect that this is NOT a case of "we aren't saving as much as we think we are."


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## Sampson (Apr 3, 2009)

CJOttawa said:


> Do respect that this is NOT a case of "we aren't saving as much as we think we are."


I'm not knocking it, but I think someone upthread mentioned nominal value of savings. Couponing and saving is great, but the amount saved on these items would be paled by other purchases.

If you can buy a house below market value, or buy a luxury car in the US vs. Canada, you could be saving thousands, if not tens of thousands of $, with perhaps the same or even less effort than a year of couponing.

n.b. our household uses tonnes of coupons too, and my breath smells perfectly fine Mike, without all the mouthwash.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

Sampson said:


> you could be saving thousands, if not tens of thousands of $, with perhaps the same or even less effort than a year of couponing.


It doesn't have to be an either/or choice though: couponing can be combined with those big "pound-wise" savings to provide even further savings, although granted the effort-to-payoff ratio is not the same. 

Getting back to cars, all I meant about the depreciation issue is that from a practical standpoint the argument that you shouldn't buy a new car because it depreciates so quickly has never made sense to me, because you can't really do anything with that knowledge: you can't generally go to a dealer and ask for a three-day-used car and get a big discount. You can buy lightly used cars, and that makes sense (my mistake was always buying heavily used cars and then paying dearly for repairs and towing, and having to deal with having an unreliable vehicle).


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

brad said:


> (my mistake was always buying heavily used cars and then paying dearly for repairs and towing, and having to deal with having an unreliable vehicle).


Been there done that.


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## MoneyGal (Apr 24, 2009)

CJO: I didn't mean you personally, and I was just using Tide as one example. I apologize if I offended you; that was not my intent. 

Here's another example I hear ALL THE TIME: friend or acquaintance says to me, "Look at this great [item of clothing] I bought -- I saved [amount of dollars] on it!" The price being used as the comparison is the MSR on the tag. If I ask, "but would you have bought it at MSR?" (and, more to the point, *it didn't sell at the MSR*). So what is the "true" price of the item? If it didn't sell at the MSR, such that it was on a clearance rack at Winners (think about all the sales cycles that piece of clothing has been through) -- how can you {read: "anyone"] genuinely argue that the "true" price is the MSR, and calculate your "savings" based on that? 

What's the price of coffee? What's the price of a car? There is huge variation in the willingness of customers to buy the same commodities at different prices, and brand loyalty plays a part. Coupons exist in that fictional space which has customers anchor on the MSR or the full retail cost as the "true" price of an item. It is possible to exploit this in return, and apparently you are doing this -- but the whole exercise is predicated on larger conversations about pricing, value and brand.

(I'm typing in a hurry, and likewise there is no offense intended and I hope none communicated.)


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## 44545 (Feb 14, 2012)

MoneyGal said:


> CJO: I didn't mean you personally, and I was just using Tide as one example. I apologize if I offended you; that was not my intent.
> 
> Here's another example I hear ALL THE TIME: friend or acquaintance says to me, "Look at this great [item of clothing] I bought -- I saved [amount of dollars] on it!" The price being used as the comparison is the MSR on the tag. If I ask, "but would you have bought it at MSR?" (and, more to the point, *it didn't sell at the MSR*). So what is the "true" price of the item? If it didn't sell at the MSR, such that it was on a clearance rack at Winners (think about all the sales cycles that piece of clothing has been through) -- how can you {read: "anyone"] genuinely argue that the "true" price is the MSR, and calculate your "savings" based on that?
> 
> ...


No offense taken MoneyGal.

Right with you all on "penny wise pound foolish."

I too roll my eyes when people say, "I saved so much on {insert bobble here}!" while someone points to something they could _easily_ have lived without.

Other people buy more on points cards (Air Miles, Aeroplan, HSBC, whatever) because, "they get points." That same mentality when applied to couponing leads to overspending not saving.

On the other hand, we have a list of staples we need (lettuce, tomatoes, milk, flour with which to bake bread, soap to wash body and clothes with) and we have made it our goal to hammer down our spending on these items.

We do not go so far as to "make our own soap from scratch" like some folks. Again, to each their own.


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## realist (Apr 8, 2011)

I like coupons, but I find that I generally save more on "no name" brands, or waiting for sales than I do for coupons on brands that I don't normally buy. Same thing with CostCo when I had a membership - it was often cheaper there but was often a more expensive brand than I would have bought otherwise.


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## MoneyGal (Apr 24, 2009)

Since we're doing movie references, here's a favourite: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgv7U3GYlDY

"By Grabthar's hammer...what a savings."


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## Guigz (Oct 28, 2010)

CJOttawa said:


> We do not go so far as to "make our own soap from scratch" like some folks. Again, to each their own.


I TAKE OFFENSE AT THIS!!!!111ONEONE!EXCLAMATIONPOINT

Nothing wrong with homemade soap... Now I know what to do with bacon grease!:biggrin:


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## MoneyGal (Apr 24, 2009)

Lololololololol. 

That's right: I make my own soap [not anymore, but I used to], bread, and clean my own house BUT I DON'T COUPON!


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## Sustainable PF (Nov 5, 2010)

PB has an expiration date.


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