Super Couponer’s Compete! What’s Your Thoughts?

Here is a fun post that we wanted to put up for you today! It is a very interesting story!

This story is about 2 Super Couponer’s that are competing to see how much they can get for $50.  This was a story that the Nightline team did! It is very interesting.

So here’s what we want you to do:

• Watch this video
• Then give us your assessment! Doesn’t need to be long!

Here’s the video, then you can read our assessment after:

Ok, so here is our thoughts on this:

First, it was super fun to watch, especially Nathan at Kroger as he shopped on this current week’s sale! So we have the same sale going on here and in fact we shopped this sale too and you can see our results.  We spent $49 and Saved $139 – essentially 74%! This is an average week for us, we can typically spend between $30-$60 and save $100 or more.

Second, in the case of Nathan at Kroger, his Kroger doubles (awesome! What a couponer’s dream….) and ours doesn’t :(, so right there he would save way more than us if he bought the exact same items.   PLUS his cart had similarities to ours (e.g. the Tuna), but also dramatically different!  I like what the news reporter said when he verbalized his thoughts as this was exactly what we were thinking, “he’s just buying for the sake of buying.”

Third, Jill had a philosophy and style of couponing that would be more in line with what we try to do and buy! Her style showed “balance” in her purchased products and showing that she saved a dramatic amount of money while buying the things that she would probably normally buy! As with us, in our budget, typically less than half of our budget goes towards the sale/coupon items, then most of it to the fresh fruit, veggies, milk, bread, eggs, meats, etc.!  Again, we really liked what the news reporter said as it was our thoughts exactly, “Now Coupon Queen’s cart actually looks like what my cart would look like if I were out grocery shopping!”

Now as we have been couponing for quite some time, we have found more creative, cheaper and healthier (in our opinion) ways of buying our produce, meat and milk. You will see us buy many of these things in the grocery store, but that is not all that we are consuming for that week as we use other sources too!

For example, we have started using a produce co-op and spend $25 for an organic basket of produce that lasts 2 weeks! We purchase a 1/4 – 1/2 cow a couple times a year – which is meat from a cow that is grain fed and “organic.”  PLUS we also have our milk delivered from a local dairy that also provides a more natural and organic milk. We have not always done this, but slowly added these things to our shopping.  Not because it is necessarily cheaper (although many times it is!), but because we enjoy them and prefer them and they fit into our budget of $60 a week for groceries, toiletries, personal care items, and diapers!

So all in all, they both did an incredible job – our picked winner is: Jill.  However, a shopping trip like Nathan’s for food storage and stock up purposes is not a bad idea to do every once in a while – just remembering to add all of the other essentials too! Also, a shopping trip like Nathan’s would also be good to do to help support food banks and homeless shelters.  We shop for the FREEBIES and OVERAGES too, even if it is not an item we would use to be able to give to someone who can!

Please remember too (just like Jill stated) that it also depends on the store and the sale. Each week is different and not a massive huge sale every week. We also love what Jill said about the Sunday newspapers – the value of each newspaper is literally like $100 being thrown onto our driveway!