How much do you save using coupons?

When I first started to use coupons, 3-4 years ago my savings were huge. Was buying diapers and other expensive things more often and starting from scratch. Now I notice my coupon usage at the grocery store has really declined….why?

Well, after couponing for a while you usually get pretty well stocked up on certain products. I stock up on what we use if I see it on clearance, and also on 20x days at Shopper’s Drugmart. My husband ran into Shopper’s  a while ago and just happened to notice Live Clean Shampoos etc. in the clearance section of our local store – he bought 4 shampoos, which will last a loooong time for my daughter – so that’s off the list. Doesn’t take too many finds like that to really lower your bills after a while. I stock up a lot of things like shampoo, razors, laundry soap, dish soap, etc. – things that won’t go bad and don’t take up too much space.

Also started buying most of our meat at butcher shops, and trying to do it in one big shop. Same thing with bread, most of it comes from Mcgavins now and there’s often coupons or deal sites ones for there too – hugely reduces my bill at Safeway or Sobey’s. Some weeks all I buy is dairy and produce.

I still use coupons during my regular shop, but instead of it being 40-50$ a week, it’s more around 10-20$ a week now. But, we do use coupons on a lot of other things….like oil changes, outings (bogof blizzard this weekend) – and we use a lot of deal buying site coupons too (lindt chocolate teambuy this weekend too).

What stage have you reached using your coupons? Do you find your shopping bill has reduced a lot? Do you keep a stockpile? What other kinds of coupons have you started to use? And what are your tips or advice to those just starting out?