FALL 2021- Post your FINDS ! Lets have some FUN!!

Another thing I've noticed is that the grocery forum on SD rarely get any new members. Most of us have been here for a long time and even I who joined in 2012 looks like a newcomer compared to most of the active members here. I started out at FW in the early 2000's and moved over here after their grocery forum was deleted (I think there're a few of us here that came from FW although I haven't seen the others in a while). I'm sad to see long time members leave (and where do they go?) though. It's not like you just decide one day that you're going to quit couponing and go back and pay full price instead after years of couponing. I might take a break from CVS from time to time but once you start couponing it's very hard to quit.

(I'm a tomato snob)

Garden tomatoes have been great this year!

Actually, I've known a couple
One saw it as more like an addiction and wanted to put more time into her little girls.
We loosely kept in touch the next couple of years -AFAIK, she just went back to normal shopping.

We've done pretty well financially, due in part to NOT having grocery bill for a few years and no DS outlay for many more years. It even impacted family dynamic. DH's family was very "to the penny" about paying back if someone picked up an item for them. But when I started refusing payment, everyone seemed to get more relaxed and willing to give/share without keeping "score".

We invested the savings and are millionaires, on the books (a Bay Area house has a lot to do with that). So I only do as much as makes me comfortable - the less I spend, the more I have to spread around. I don't do rebates anymore. Doing scenarios is my version of sudoku - math puzzles to keep the brain going, and with some kind of reason. Everyone around me is into jigsaw puzzles & it kills me to see all that work go into a project - just to break it apart & put it back in a box. At least MINE is a donation box.

I prefer giving stuff, that someone is likely to use, rather than $ that is so easily diverted. I worked in soup kitchens & saw some of the shenanigans. Maybe I was naive, but funneling the good clothes & donations to the guy who offered "protection" just didn't feel good. He'd sell the stuff, I was told for drugs. Ick. I guess it's like bribing officials to get needed food to people in 3rd world countries but still - I'd rather contribute the food than know my contribution is greasing some slimeball's palm.

I had 4 CVS cards and gave one with ECBs to a couponing friend who had been stuck outside the USA during early pandemic. She intended to help ailing family for a month or so and couldn't return for a year. And she worked that sucker in a way that made me proud - I'm sure cashed out as much in rebates as the ECBs on there. THAT feels good, when it's a hand up to get someone up to speed. and I felt good without the pressure of so many cards. Going back to two CVS cards rather than give it up quite yet b/c I cannot face just bouncing back to full price - esp. while prices are rising.
But taking it slow, I might eventually do so.

Having a stockpile with a lifetime supply of some items helps, too

Missusg, you certainly have your stuff together. I agree with all you said above.

For me I am trying so hard to get down to two cards for CVS. I had the third one down to $5 several months ago but now over $150. With prices so high in the grocery stores, I've been buying a lot of my groceries at CVS(too bad dairy isn't allowed in PA). Helps to keep the cost of meat and produce more in line with my budget.

I accumulate all the excess my two children(and 6 grandchildren) don't use and sell at a flea market 1-2 per year. That money gets earmarked for our groceries and in the glory days to pay to eliminate all my grey hair. Our budget for food is down to zero and has been for years. I use the cash from the sales to buy gift cards when the groceries offer bonuses for doing that to save even more. I do not cound dining out at restaurants in that grocery bill but since covid, that has dropped way down although it is picking back up again, thank goodness(getting tired of cooking). We also have a garden to grow some of our favorites(I'm a tomato snob).

It's nice to hear how others explain this addiction we have and I will never deny that it is an addiction, but I like to think of it as more of a game, one that I enjoy winning.

I can't find the Giant Eagle thread. I looked through all 37 pages in this forum and it's definitely not there.

Anyways, it's been ages since I tried to use a coupon more than the price of the item. How are they handled nowadays? Barilla Vero Gusto pasta sauce is on sale for half off ($2.49) starting Thursday and the high value coupon ($3) is still valid until 10/17. Thanks.

Reporting back (if anyone's actually in the GE region) that the coupon went through beeplessly and took off the entire $3 because the item rang up as $4.98 then underneath it with another line of discount of $2.49. I had other items in my transaction to cover the O.

Also bought some Chi Chi's soft flour tortillas for $0.69 per pack (10 packs). It's on sale for $1.69 and part of their "buy 5 save $5 sale". I didn't have the time to investigate what other items were included in the sale since GE is not my first choice of store nowadays so I ended up buying 5 packs. They also had a ton of Asian grocery items on clearance. These were on their regular shelf and marked as "discontinued" for 75% off. Great way to try some otherwise expensive items I wouldn't have purchased without the discounts.

Too bad we don't have a GE thread anymore (don't think there's any interest in starting one anyway).

We would get less than 20 here. It's wild, every street around us get 100+. We love Halloween and went all out the first couple of years with decoration, costumes, tons of full sized candy and all of that effort was for nothing, none of the kids that stopped were even very appreciative of the effort. So we stopped. Now we ride our bikes in the rest of the neighborhood and enjoy the evening. The rest of the neighborhood is like a movie set, bonfires, people showing movies on blow up screens, etc.. Our street is just a total dud.

Threads have really changed over the last few years. People used to share so very much; and at all hours of the day. Slowly things changed--stores closed, posters were chased off SD by anonymous bullies, deals lessened, store ownership through mergers, etc brought new philosophies; coupon fraud went rampant; plus more.

It's nice when people share, but some readers want to be spoon fed. It's a tougher game now. Thanks to all of you for being kind, sharing, and helping.

I'm sad to see long time members leave (and where do they go?) though. It's not like you just decide one day that you're going to quit couponing and go back and pay full price instead after years of couponing. I might take a break from CVS from time to time but once you start couponing it's very hard to quit.

Actually, I've known a couple
One saw it as more like an addiction and wanted to put more time into her little girls.
We loosely kept in touch the next couple of years -AFAIK, she just went back to normal shopping.

We've done pretty well financially, due in part to NOT having grocery bill for a few years and no DS outlay for many more years. It even impacted family dynamic. DH's family was very "to the penny" about paying back if someone picked up an item for them. But when I started refusing payment, everyone seemed to get more relaxed and willing to give/share without keeping "score".
We invested the savings and are millionaires, on the books (a Bay Area house has a lot to do with that). So I only do as much as makes me comfortable - the less I spend, the more I have to spread around. I don't do rebates anymore. Doing scenarios is my version of sudoku - math puzzles to keep the brain going, and with some kind of reason. Everyone around me is into jigsaw puzzles & it kills me to see all that work go into a project - just to break it apart & put it back in a box. At least MINE is a donation box.

Sounds like you found some good deals. Great! One more thing to check out that always worked for me at Giants (but not sure if it's still their policy); if the item rang up incorrectly, the store gave one to you for free. So often sale tags had not been removed so item would not ring up at sale price (sale actually ended but tags not removed) so store would give item for free. Sometimes clerk would remove sales tag and sometimes not. This happened one time with a soup I liked and I got one free for many weeks since the sales tag wasn't removed for months after the sale ended (I think it was the next time the soup went on sale, lol).

Yeah..Kroger used to do that too with their "scan right" guarantee. You get the first item free. They stopped doing it sometime before the pandemic started. Hopefully Giant still does when we eventually move to that area.

Giant Eagle still does the scan right guarantee, I have benefited from that frequently. Not that I shop there that often. It is one of the few places to find tearpads. Thanks for the info on the Vero Gusto. I'll have to see if either of the GEs near me stock it yet. When the freebie PDF was out they didn't.

man that sucks, but at least now you can enjoy everyone else's decor without having to put up/take down your own. lol. what do you do with your candy?


I think it's hard to quit too. lol. It's easy to pull back and stop buying certain things (razors, toothpaste, detergent, etc...) but I dont think I could NOT use any at all. I'll always have a couple lol.

For some reason the thought just popped into my head that ten years ago or so I used to shop regularly at:

-- Smiths (Kroger)
-- Target
-- Kmart
-- Walgreens
-- CVS (sometimes-- would come and go since we have few locations)


Now I shop and do deals at:

-- Smiths
-- Sprouts (much less often)

and the only deals I do are using digital coupons and rebate apps, etc. Use almost no paper coupons unless peelies I find or ones that are mailed to me or print out at the store.

Target, which used to be my main shopping/deal spot I have shopped at so rarely in the past year that they actually closed my Red card.

I quit seriously shopping at Walgreens when they moved from mostly RRs to mostly points. Keep trying to get back in at least a little and get burned every time-- when will I learn?

Kmart of course is dead.

I assumed eventually CVS would open up more locations in my city to compete with Walgreens but I guess they don't want to?

Weird to think about how things have changed!