How to "Coupon" in Canada

A lot of people have been wondering how we've managed to save so much on groceries. I have received a few emails and messages asking about how to do it, how to... "coupon". Allow me to start from the very beginning...

Years ago, when Bram and I were living together in a tiny apartment in Brandon, we had no food and certainly had no money to buy groceries. In fact, for 2 weeks straight, we lived off of spaghetti. No word of a lie. What made it even more humiliating, was that it was from Bram's father, he had to buy us the spaghetti. It was our breakfast, our lunch and our dinner. We picked up food from the local food bank, receiving just spaghetti and sauce (and the occasional bag of cardboard viarety no name brand Cherrios). In dire needs, I would call my cousin for toilet paper. I remember how he had just bought some and when I asked, he replied with "Sure! What's a guy to do with 24 rolls anyway?" And with that, he came to the rescue. Times were tough. However, they got better. Eventually, we were able to afford groceries and a better place to live. Things were great for awhile, until we reached that point again and we had to reluctantly take hand-outs from Bram's singer from his band. She would buy us groceries and just drop them off, not asking if we needed anything. Just a kind gesture. And it was painful. There was no way we could return the favour. Time passed and things got to the point where we had to leave. We left Brandon. The cycle continued and we ended up here (the same scenes repeated themselves over the years, accepting hand-outs and care packages from family and friends).

One night, there was a show that caught my attention. I was flipping through the channels and "Extreme Couponing" came on TLC. We decided to settle in and watch it. We had no groceries in our cupboards and figured that maybe it was about time we did something that was going to help us out, help make things last for a little while. Enter the show. What we saw was so unbelievably shocking, that it grabbed my attention immediately. These women (and one man) were filling their shopping carts and saving HUNDREDS of dollars!! They would take their numerous shopping carts to the till and hand over their coupons. And just like that, from $600+, they paid just mere dollars; $9.00 in one case. I could not believe it! So I started doing a bit of research and found nothing. I could find no coupons, no advice, just people who enjoyed the show and shared their own personal stories with couponing. I found out that in the states, there are different rules than what is accepted here. They have "Double Days", where they can use two coupons for the same item along with their in-store savings. They also can use manufacturer's coupons with in-store coupons and printables. A lot of stores in Canada do NOT allow *printable coupons; I will give you a tip with this later.

Now, after studying the show a few times (watching the same episodes over and over again), and carefully studying the internet, I too, have made this a job. Although I am nowhere near what these people can do (due to restrictions in Canada and my lack of coupon supplies). I am not 'gaining' money back because of coupons, but saving almost as high as they are. Or at least half. Here's how we get our coupons:

I checked out a website after searching online for Canadian coupons. Not a lot of options, as a lot of the sites no longer work or carry expired printables. I found www.canadianfreestuff.com and read the blog on there. It taught me little tips and tricks, ones that cashiers have actually thanked me for (highlighting the expiry date is one example). There is also a forum where other couponers can post coupons and deals they find, also posting which stores have the cheapest deals (thanks to that forum, I used my Betty Crocker potatoes coupon and spent only .47c because of the store's cheap prices Had I had several of the same coupon, I could have purchased plenty of boxes!). Next I found a website that will mail you coupons. However, there is a catch. You MUST use most of the ones you've ordered, or they will consider it a waste of paper and stop sending them to you. It's got great deals, but only a handful of coupons. That website is www.save.ca and they update their coupons once in awhile. You can only order one coupon every few days to months, but order them all if you'd like. Another two good websites are www.gocoupons.ca and www.websaver.ca. Same idea as save.ca, but not as many coupons. Also, www.lifemadedelicious.ca has great tips on what foods to buy that have deals on them (buy a certain box of cereal and you get a coupon for a free item; ice cream, bananas, waffles, yogurt, movie, etc.). Now what we've recently discovered, is using a Safeway ClubCard makes a HUGE difference. Our groceries the other day went from $230 (and I felt my heart race and I started to panic as I thought "WE DON'T HAVE $230!!!!!") and dropped to under $170 just from the card alone. As I loaded the groceries into the cart (I had Bram hand over all the coupons because I'm afraid I'll miss some; glad my husband loves couponing as much as I do!), I noticed that the price continued to drop at an alarming rate. When the people on the TLC show say they get a 'rush', you'd better believe it! Although we did not managed to save so much that we paid in just a few coins, it was nice to be able to hear the gasps as we paid a little over $100 for our entire grocery shop. In fact, it was quite entertaining as the cashier had to call his manager so he could override the cash register because we apparently 'saved too much'. The lady behind us kept a watchful eye as Bram handed one coupon, then another and another, watching the screen as our bill became lower and lower. And then to hear the whispers asking the cashier how much we saved... never thought it would happen to us. It actually feels like I'm doing something illegal; stealing from the grocery store (which I'm not!!).


My three year old son also understands now how important it is to have our coupons with us. He sees something he likes, he makes sure that we have a coupon or he puts it back on the shelf. He has his 'Cars' treat that he gets with his coupon. Even if he pays $3.00 for it, at least he's using his .50c off coupon and is learning how to save. In fact, he also helps me organize and get coupons ready. Sometimes, however, after I've created a nice little organized pile, he'll blow them over in one swoop. That's when I give him paper and a pen and he writes down the groceries we need with the coupons we have.

I am very new to this and in no means do I call myself an 'extreme couponer'. Even though I now have 4 bottles of dish detergent I do not need (one bottle would have been okay, but with the coupons and deals we aquired 4 in total; thank you free items!), it's nice to know that I won't have to buy this product for months and months (and not just because we don't do dishes all the time). This recent shop was our biggest one (thank you, MPI) and it's nice to have cupboards with food in them. And by our careful shopping, we ended up purchasing items that contained coupons to be cut out from the box. FREE items. Once you get going, you notice deals that you've never noticed before, coupons you never knew existed and the fun of chasing around a toddler when you realize he's grabbed all your coupons in a mad hunt searching for any item that he might like (he found my coupons for toothpaste and grabbed a couple of bottles). It's fun, really. It's just the organizing and preparing for the shop that's frustrating...

Once you have your collection of coupons (we went in with our first shop with 2 coupons, I believe), match them up with the flyers you also must collect. Some of these flyers have coupons built in, and some come with that little 'magazine' of coupons (a lot of 'Buy One Get One Free' coupons). CLIP THEM ALL. YOU WILL USE THEM! Match these up to the grocery store of your choosing (may I suggest Safeway if you have the ClubCard, Superstore for the instore coupons you can pick up at the front door or Sobey's if you have their member card which allows you to collect points; the latter being the most expensive and best to pick up your free items there). Write your grocery list to match the deals that are in the flyers, and you've started saving already! For example; we had a coupon for Windex, a 'buy one get one free' deal (or B1G1F as I've listed it in my binder), and Safeway had a deal where we could purchase Windex for the same deal. Now because this was an instore DEAL and we used our coupon to go along with it, we paid JUST TAX for our windex!! Same with our Palmolive. The picture I posted (via mobile pics) is of 4 bottles of dish detergent and 2 bottles of Windex. We paid under $3.00 for it all. These coupons were clipped from the flyers and magazine that came in the mail (which most of you will receive with your ordered Winnipeg Free Press). Unfortunatly, there are coupons that I clipped that I will never use, ie; dishwasher items and soaps or baby formula. Since my parents' dishwasher does not work, I have no use for these coupons. The formula coupons I will be giving to a friend who might use them. What's really sad, is finding out that one of your coupons expired. Our last grocery shop, there were only 3 "Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce" on the shelf, and I had some good coupons; B1G1Fs and a $2.00 off. However, because there were only 3 on the shelf, and one of my coupons expired that day, I could no longer use it. I felt tears begin to build. Hahaha!

I do hope that I do NOT become as obsessed with couponing as the people on the show; but on the off chance that I do, I'm donated any food that we do not need to Winnipeg Harvest, or to somebody who might need it more than I do. Same with the coupons. If I have coupons that I know I will not use (or the item is just to expensive), I'll pass it on to the customer who has the item in their cart. And you'll realize how appreciative that person is too. We've had people help us out for so long, it's time we took off and started looking after ourselves. I hope that this note has made sense, has helped those who have started couponing, and to help those who have no idea what we're doing gain an understanding of how we're doing this (AND WHY!!).

Good luck with your own couponing! And if you need any, I've got an entire binder full that would be glad to help out.



Mel.





*Printables tip: Always call ahead or check with a manager before you attempt to use them. Take your printed coupons to Superstore, they accept most printed off coupons. When you're finished your shop and ready to head to the till, find a young male. Sounds sexist, but younger guys have a tendency to 'not care', whereas women will call you on every... single... coupon... you... use.

Check out www.canadianfreestuff.ca on how to organize your coupons. I started off with a card and an envelope, moved to an empty Kleenex box and now have a binder with my lists of items and card holders for each coupon. They are also in the month they will expire, so I know which ones to use first. You can also check that out in my album "Extreme Couponing in Canada?".