The Coupon Mom’s Guide to Cutting Your Grocery Bills in Half: The Strategic Shopping Method Proven to Slash Food and Drugstore Costs
A book that pays for itself! The creator of couponmom.com, with 1.6 million subscribers and counting, shares her strategic money-saving techniques for saving big while living well
Americans are hungry for bargains these days, but one woman has developed the ultimate strategy for enjoying a feast of savings. Taking the nation by storm, with appearances ranging from The Oprah Winfrey Show, Today and Good Morning America, Stephanie Nelson has shown countless women and men how to save tho
Rating: 
(out of 23 reviews)
List Price: $ 15.00
Price: $ 3.83
20 COUPONS $2/1 GARNIER MOISTURIZER 6/11/12 | US $1.75 End Date: Friday May-25-2012 3:00:26 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $1.75 Buy it now | Add to watch list |
Question by Mic B: How do coupon books like Entertainment work?
I see these books for sale by schools as fundraisers. I’m wondering how does the Entertainment company make it’s money.Do companies pay to get their coupon in the book? Does all the revenue come from the sale of the book? Or both?
I’m planning on doing something similar for my organization, but I don’t know if I should charge businesses a fee to offer coupons in my book.
Best answer:
Answer by Michael L
It works the same way newspaper advertising works. Both parties, the advertisers and the readers pay. The advertisers pay the lions share of newspaper production, the 25 or 50 cents you pay for your daily newspaper would not keep them in business very long. Your book should work the same way.
Businesses pay to have their business advertised in the book. The coupon is what is called a “loss leader”. The business will take a loss on the initial transaction (discount associated with the coupon) in hopes of generating new business (in hopes that the new customers will come back a 2nd and 3rd time).
The cost to the consumer is nominal and covers the a small portion of the production and delivery costs. The enticement of the sale is that for only $40 you can receive coupons worth $2000. (or something like that)
The big question you need to answer is what to charge the businesses that will advertise in your book. You need to know your coverage area, how many books you’re planning on producing and selling, production and delivery costs, and how much profit you are looking to make for your organization.
You might want to find out what ad space costs in your local newspaper so you can give a comparison to prospective advertisers. Show them the value of a book that local consumers will keep for an entire year versus a newspaper ad that will run once a week for 4 weeks and be used for wrapping fish.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
Coupons 100 -Expires 07/30/12
 | US $0.99 (1 Bid) End Date: Friday May-25-2012 3:00:28 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
Related posts:
- The Men’s Health Big Book of Food & Nutrition: Your completely delicious guide to eating well, looking great, and staying lean for life!
- Alfred’s Drum Method, Book 1 (Alfred Drum Method)
- VCAN Solid Black Large Cruiser Half Helmet
- 4-Way Coordination: A Method Book for the Development of Complete Independence on the Drum Set
- Ichigo Tensa Bankai Sword Cutting Moon
Review by Coupons4President for The Coupon Mom’s Guide to Cutting Your Grocery Bills in Half: The Strategic Shopping Method Proven to Slash Food and Drugstore Costs
Rating:
I am a mother of three trying to cope with cutbacks in our family income. I got wind of couponing from some of my friends and after browsing many coupon websites, decided I needed to read some books to learn more as quickly as possible! I read three books: The Coupon Mom’s Guide to Cutting Your Grocery Bills in Half: The Strategic Shopping Method Proven to Slash Food and Drugstore Costs, Pick Another Checkout Lane, Honey, & Shop Smart, Save More: Learn The Grocery Game and Save Hundreds of Dollars a Month. Each book was very different, so I thought I’d share my opinions- I hope they can help you!
Let me first say what each book had in common: they all promoted their own coupon websites and they all taught about how to get coupons, organize them and shop with them to save on your grocery bill. The Coupon Mom gave a thorough analysis of couponing, but in my opinion the book’s topic was more on frugal budgeting. It spent way too much time stating the obvious and talking to me like I was a five year old.
If you’re looking for a basic review of how to grocery shop/a cookbook, this may be for you. The author do cover in depth about how to cook around your new budgeting system: suggests budget breakfasts like 1 cup oatmeal with 8 oz. milk ($0.20), 2 pieces wheat toast ($0.20), 8 oz. orange juice ($0.16). One whole chapter is devoted to saving on each of the following: meat, produce, dairy and treats.
The Best reason to buy this book: It is thorough and orderly. It covers the topic in depth. It also discusses organic products in depth and contains a valuable appendix with companies that mail coupons in response to an E-mail request via their website.
The best reason to pass on this book: It’s dull and gives too much information for my taste. I mentioned a chapter devoted to produce, dairy, etc. The dairy chapter contained tips like “making your own yogurt or using nonfat dry milk.” Ack! If I needed to do so, I would do it, but I prefer to buy my yogurt, hopefully cheaply with coupons. This book had the broadest approach to grocery shopping in general, which for some, may be appreciated. For a Mom in a hurry like me, I don’t necessarily need to read obvious tips like, “don’t shop when you’re hungry”.
Review by Rebecca Johnson for The Coupon Mom’s Guide to Cutting Your Grocery Bills in Half: The Strategic Shopping Method Proven to Slash Food and Drugstore Costs
Rating:
In the past few months I’ve read seven books on saving money at the grocery store and have been able to save $20 to $40 on each shopping trip. While each book gave new ideas, “The Coupon Mom’s Guide to Cutting Your Grocery Bills In Half” is probably the most comprehensive.
Stephanie Nelson begins her book by explaining various shopping styles and then makes a convincing case for shopping at wholesale clubs. She then explains how you can save when you buy meats, organic foods, dairy products and beauty products.
While a lot of this book is about clipping coupons, some of the information is more about a back-to-basics approach. Do you really want to wash your own lettuce, repackages bulk meats, make your own tortilla chips, make milk from powdered milk and shred your own cheese? I know I don’t but I could be saving even more money if I was willing to give up some convenience foods. I also won’t be giving up my Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract for the 16-ounce bottle at Costco. Yes it is cheaper but there is a great difference in flavor. Yes I’ve done some taste tests with the cheaper vanilla.
So while you read this book you can take all your personal preferences into consideration. Sometimes saving a few pennies just isn’t worth the inconvenience. I will say however I use her advice about using baking soda to scrub pots and pans.
Some of the most valuable information in this book is the websites where you can find printable coupons. There is a list of websites in the back of the book. There is also some information on how to use the author’s website which I found to be useful.
One of the things I think is amazing is how Stephanie Nelson can remember all the prices of all the foods she is buying. She saves even more money when she finds a price discrepancy.
While this book is helpful I’d encourage you to also buy the following books:
Cut it Out and Start Saving: A Guide to Effectively Using Coupons and Obtaining Money from Unexpected Resources
Better Groceries for Less Cash
Shop Smart, Save More: Learn The Grocery Game and Save Hundreds of Dollars a Month
Greatest Secrets of the Coupon Mom
How to Receive Free Groceries
20 Grocery Store Savings Ideas: Grocery Coupon Savings Tips For Those Grocery Shopping On A Budget
~The Rebecca Review
Review by Ralph Blough for The Coupon Mom’s Guide to Cutting Your Grocery Bills in Half: The Strategic Shopping Method Proven to Slash Food and Drugstore Costs
Rating:
My wife bought the book. She didn’t find anything really new and has used coupons for years. Her biggest complaint is that the website wants you to sign up with other sites for coupons. Best thing to do is get a disposable email address for the sign-ups. You are selling your contact info for the discounts.
Couponing and the book will work. Number one rule is that you have to do it! The more effort you put into it the bigger the return. How much extra work do you want to do? How valuable is your time?
Review by Colorado Carole for The Coupon Mom’s Guide to Cutting Your Grocery Bills in Half: The Strategic Shopping Method Proven to Slash Food and Drugstore Costs
Rating:
I am a moderate coupon user, and the book did have new ideas for using coupons that I didn’t realize. I like the idea of emailing companies to get free coupons, and the list of companies and the websites that will send coupons is really helpful. I also like the detailed chapters on other ways to save besides using coupons–like what the best deals really are at warehouse clubs and even how to save on organic food. The book was also really easy to read. Well worth the money in my opinion!
Review by Richard for The Coupon Mom’s Guide to Cutting Your Grocery Bills in Half: The Strategic Shopping Method Proven to Slash Food and Drugstore Costs
Rating:
My wife received this book as a gift and is enjoying reading it and finding new areas to help with our budget. All of the personal stories, as well as great recipe ideas, and other ways to stretch your money including various strategies on how to shop the different types of stores are all quite informative. Her mother has also been looking at all the information available.
This book will help you find ways to trim your budget regardless of your family size, income level, or expertise in strategic shopping. Our family will be passing along this savings to help out with charities. We have many people who can benefit from any type of savings and know that the book price will more than pay for itself in one well planned shopping trip.