Couponing 101 in Washington

I have seen a lot of couponing videos out there.   Buy a whole basket of food for .11.   First, are you sure you want that basket of highly processed garbage?    Second, remember the old saying...... If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.    

Dollar store takes coupons,  only if the Verbage on the coupon is exactly what you are buying.   Check quantities.    Lately they have been carrying a lot less name brands than usual.   You can use four coupons per household per day.  That doesn't mean you can get back in line and do another transaction.   You could, probably, go to more than one store if you really needed to.   You can , however , use a two dollar coupon on a one dollar item.  You can't get cash back.  

I have repeatedly used coupons for bounty paper towels, puff tissue,  Werthers original caramels. Hormel pepperoni, Betty Crocker potatoes, glad air freshener.  

Safeway will not let you use two BOGOs on the same item, or a BOGO and a coupon.   QFC will.   Safeways also will not you use a coupon of ot is greater than the purchase price.   Neither will Fred Meyers.  

Grocery outlet and big lots will not let you use manufacturers coupons.   Only their in store coupons.

Winco will let you use coupons, but not stack them.  Most other stores will let you use a store coupon and a manifacturers coupon on the same item,  

If you can add a coupon to a sale price or add a in ad coupon to a manufacturers coupon, you usually can score big.  

The most I have ever made on couponing is 78 percent, the next best was 72 percent.   Both at QFC.  
It's not the norm.  

I do, however average anywhere from a couple of dollars to nine  dollars a trip.    At 300.00 a year, that's like getting a months worth of groceries free.    I don't usually buy junk food with coupons.    The last trip . I had coupons for free candy, cookies, and vegetables.     Chocolate for free!   Does it get any better than that!     LOL.  

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the Put Dinner On The Table meal train from a different

 perspective. Tshe emphasis is on purchasing good food( shelf- stable/ freezer staples )at the lowest possible cost and purchasing enough to last you until it goes on sale again -- Keeping a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you use on a regular basis. It means that when you shop, rather than purchasing just what you need for a day or a week, you  buy a loss leader protein, produce you will 

need on sale, a stock item if it's a RBP, and dairy instead.    This allows you to put well balanced meals 

on the table consistently  for a four dollar a day budget per person.   You spend more time on the 

planning and shopping end of the meal train and less on the cooking end by cooking efficiently.    

Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on four dollars a day, spending more isn't hard.   You still get more bang for your buck.