I found this online and signed up for the $1 for 28 days trial period. It seems pretty cool, but I can't seem to wrap my head around the whole idea of stockpiling. Is anyone else doing it? You can see it here: Teri's Grocery Game (http://www.thegrocerygame.com/).

The only participating store in our area is Kroger, so I tried it for the first time yesterday. I ended up saving $17 on a $90 grocery bill and got a coupon good for $2 of free gas. Hmmmm..... and that was WITHOUT coupons!

I'd never seen the Grocery Game before, but I do use coupons A LOT and I save 30% or more on my grocery bill every time I go. I've saved as much as 75%. That's not including rebates.

Here are some good free resources:

This site lists deals in your area, and there's a kroger list for Texas that is similar to "the list" at the Grocery Game site:
http://www.cutouthunger.org/

This is where I learn the most about deals:
http://boards.mycoupons.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=16

Here is the coupon trading board for mycoupons.com:
http://boards.mycoupons.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=14

There's a huge learning curve, and it's time consuming. However, I'm a SAHM, and I saved almost $2000 on our groceries last year. Once you get the hang of it, it becomes a hobby, and it's actually fun.

I do stockpile, but not excessively. I maybe have a dozen of something at any given time, and usually only if it was free.

I no longer pay for toiletries like toothpaste, deoderant, shampoo, conditioner, toothbrushes etc. because they are some of the most commonly free items. If I do pay for a favorite brand, it's usually under $1.

I'm also able to give a lot more to charity food drives.

I'm no expert...There are people who do much better than I do...But I would be happy to answer any questions I can.

hth,
Rebecca

I think I have looked at Teri's site once before. it looks good. Stockpiling is a pretty easy concept. I have always tried to pick out one thing that is on sale that week for an excellent price and get say $10 worth of it. So when canned tomato and chicken soup is 4 for $1, I get $10 worth, 40 cans. If I have extra money in the budget to buy more, I buy more. I can't wait till Thanksgiving when flour is .69 again. I still have flour from last thanksgiving that I bought on sale. Kept it good by keeping it in the fridge.
Another way to work on stockpiling, that never really worked for me was everytime you use something, no matter if there is still some left is to put that item on the grocery list. Then you are continually replacing what you are using. I have also heard good things about www.couponsense.com but never tried it.

I have my own grocery game. Its called, "The Jamie Work-out". It's where you go around the grocery store and get all the grocery's in the cart as fast as you can. Then as soon as you get to the cashier you have just had a whole work-out that worked your whole body. Legs=running, arms= getting grocery's and everything else. That way, you don't have to go to the gym. You can just work-out in your own neighborhood friendly grocery store.....;cool:

Jamie that's awesome!! That is how dh shops. I would rather take my sweet old time and check every sale tag and markdown, just to make sure I get the best deal. But I can only do that if I am shopping alone. dh has the "more time I spend in the store, the more I buy" syndrome.

I just remembered something else that saves me money on coupons. We don't get the paper. So I felt like I was missing out on sunday coupons. and we try not to shop on Sunday. While I was working at Fry's I learned that Sunday's paper will be marked down to .50 the monday after. There is usually one or two papers left on Monday morning. Another way to save money and get your coupons!!