For years, Kris and I have used coupons as one tool to get lower prices when shopping for groceries. Some people are opposed to coupons, but we’ve found that they help us to save money. (Number one tip: don’t use a coupon to buy something you wouldn’t normally purchase.)
In the Get Rich Slowly forums, we’ve been discussing how much the average family spends on food. MITBeta wrote:
Our budget (two adults and a seven-month-old) has been $375 for the last four months or so. Three weeks ago my wife discovered The Grocery Game and it seems like we’re saving a lot of money on groceries this month. I’ll let you all know at the end of the month.
I’d never heard of The Grocery Game before, so I decided to take a look. Here’s how it works:
The Grocery Game is a fun, easy way to save hundreds of dollars on groceries each month. TERI’S LIST reveals the “rock bottom” prices on hundreds of products each week and matches them up with manufacturers’ coupons for the best possible savings at your local supermarket. The Grocery Game has exclusive databases that track manufacturers’ coupons along with weekly sales and specials, both advertised and UN-advertised.
With TERI’S LIST, the days of time consuming work required for effective coupon-ing are over. The Grocery Game does all the hard work and research, presented in a quick reference format on the internet each week, as TERI’S LIST. Members log in, spend a few minutes with a pair of scissors, and they’re off to win The Grocery Game!
Basically, the site is designed to maximize coupon savings through the use of an up-to-date price database. It’s not a free service, though. The Grocery Game costs $10 every eight weeks, but:
- The four-week trial period costs just $1.
- It’s probably easy to recoup the cost of the site through in-store savings.
I’m guessing that The Grocery Game works best when used in conjunction with a price book.
Have any of you tried The Grocery Game? What were your experiences? Is it worth the $5/month? Is there a free alternative?
Addendum: In the comments, Jennifer points to an article that she wrote about how The Grocery Game works some places but not in others.
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I have been doing the GG for almost 2 years.
We are a family of 6 with both myself and my husband working full time. I will say that we are much more organized about what we buy not just because of the Grocery Game but because we also do once a month cooking and freeze 30 days of dinners so that my older kids can start dinner before we even get home. This gives us much more time in the evening with the kids. The grocery game saves us a minimum of 50% per week. We are very aware of our limited time and I feel the GG saves considerable time. If you choose 1 store and stick to it you will find it fast and convenient. We did try 2 stores for a while and found it too much running around and hard to keep track of the coupons we had and hadn’t used.
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I tried the grocery game. It is advertised as a 4 week trial period (last time I looked at a calendar, 4 weeks is 28 days). I cancelled on the 28th day, but they still billed me for another 2 months, because you have to cancel BEFORE the last day of the trial period, not on the last day. They refused to refund the money. I found it to be totally useless. I cut out coupons and organized for a couple of months before joining, in order to make it work. I found nothing on their list that was not in the newspaper adds. With the cost of gas, it is definitely not worth going from store to store to save a couple of dollars at each store. And each store costs an additional $5.00. I am going to stick to my regular largest retail store in the nation shopping, use my coupons there (and they honor advertisement prices from other stores) and forget about the grocery game. For my family of 2, there is absolutely no benefit and no justification for the time it takes to make it work. I am one very unhappy consumer with this service.
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This is my second shot at the grocery game. First I did the trial period. Currently Im signed up for 2 stores & paying the membership fee – but not for long.
I shop for 2 adults & 2 small children (age 4 & 16 months)
While you do save money, you are purchasing a lot of items that you may not need or use just because its .10 – .20 cents.
I dont grocery shop to stockpile – I shop to restock my pantry. My finances dont allow me to stockpile even with a great coupon. I can afford what I need now until the next paycheck
The Grocery Game philosophy is (buy when its on sale & you dont need it so you can stockpile) While I understand the concept – it doesnt work for me.
I like to spend my money to purchase items I can use or need now. If I spend 20 bucks on a ton of cereal/poptarts/ibuprofen/prepackaged items – I couldve used that 20 bucks for items that we actually need NOW.
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I have been using the GG for 5 months now and at first it was difficult to stay within my budget, but after the first two months I had a huge stockpile and began to see my amount needed for grocery’s decrease. I went froma budgeted $500/month for a family of 4 to 250/month in 5 months.
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I tried the Grocery Game and I did enjoy it. but then I found a better site, its called A Full Cup
http://www.afullcup.com and let me say it has changed my world. There is so much information on there and its not only grocery stores, it teaches you how to save everywhere and it 100% free. I have been hooked for 4 months now. I have gotten my monthly groceries from $300 to about $80 and I don’t buy prepackaged stuff, and I buy mostly organic. check it out.
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Also, moneysavingmom.com is a great resource. She pairs the best sales/coupons, provides links to online coupons, and provides a forum for other bargain hunters to post their “deal scenarios.” It’s well written and well organized, and it’s free!
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I second A Full Cup! They have “Shopping Lists” there now which give you all the same info as the grocery game – and it’s all completely free! I have saved so much money now – and I have great stockpile built up so I only have to buy perishables each week!
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The grocery game is very good for learning how to saving money through couponing.
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I’ve tried it for three months and have trouble with one list in particular. Their customer service refused to acknowledge the problem, and when I posted on their thread to try to get some help, their moderators deleted the thread. You will NEVER read of any dissatisfaction on their message board, because their moderators delete posts that reference any problems.
I am actually furious about this, because I pay for that service. No longer. Hi, Full Cup!
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Oh, I’m so furious…. as a full paying member at GG… I caught them deleting a member’s new thread, just as I was reading it. Then I tried to reply to her post…they would not allow me to post. I’ve done nothing wrong, nor violated any terms of an agreement, however…they are censoring like crazy there at GG message boards. They only want a certain positive image to be spoken of. To censor one’s questions or comments is so personal. I thought our culture was so beyond censoring now, but I guess not. I understand if someone was being rude or cursing in the message boards…but this lady wasn’t. I’ve seen it time and time again…removal of someone’s post if they are having trouble with GG.
How do they sleep at night, knowing what they are doing? The moderators have to be paid to do that…or else how could you live with yourself knowing what you are doing to people’s feelings on a regular basis. I’m taking my business elsewhere. Couponmom.com is a great site and free! I’ve had more help with couponmom’s forums than GG. I’ve learned so much more at couponmom than GG. Even use hotcouponworld, they are nicer. It’s no wonder why Oprah choose to have Stephanie Nelson the coupommom to be on her show!
What a fool I was with GG… I was taken. I feel so stupid to fall for them.
Allison
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Allison, don’t sweat it. We all learn from experience. I found their lists to vary by region after we moved but I tried to shop at the same store. Very different experiences. When I complained I was told that it is according to the local listmaker (they have a different title, of course). I found them to be a great step in becoming more proficient (on my own and with other websites, like Hot Coupon World) without having to pay the fee. It was quicker when they put the lists together … but I am happier now. As long as you have gained from the experience, you were not taken and you are definantly not stupid. It seems you have found other sites that work for you. I would encourage you to start using them and put this GG experience behind you.
Stephanie
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i found it useful for items that were super cheap and had a coupon that i definately would have missed before. (i am to unorganized to figure all that stuff out on my own.) however the GG is almost all processed foods and i could see that we weren’t feeling as well, and i gained some weight
. a lot would expire too, which is obviously money just wasted.
personally i think that when i eat mostly fresh and all natural food and take more time to prepare it, its actually cheaper than using the GG. that includes buying good and more expensive laundry detergent! i was getting cheaper stuff on the GG (for fear i would miss a ‘good deal’) and would have to wash my clothes over and over to get them clean- not a money saver….. when i don’t GG, i don’t buy stuff i dont’t need and i would buy garbage less often. like on the GG u can get a pack or oreos or whatever for super cheap one week, and something else the next… but when not doing the GG i would purchase something we all really loved, it might cost more money, but since it was a much nicer product, we would eat less of it and enjoy it more. (thus saving money….) i also bake more when i dont do the GG, which cuts out processed junk (not even considered FOOD) and costs less. plus you can get everyone involved which can be fun. i also make my own cleaners now which is incredibly cheap and house is free of bad chemicals.
last week i just discovered that they are charging me on 2 different bank accounts (i moved) and they WONT STOP. 20 on one and 10 on the other. i only have one store, so i should be paying 10. they will not answer my emails demanding my money back for one of my accounts. they dont have a phone number so you can’t call and try to get someone to help. imho, when a company doesn’t have a phone number run the other way. they obviously hide their number for a reason. they have no prob taking your money and completely ignoring you.
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I completely agree with Bethany. Same here….we gained weight fast even trying to be selected..but wanted to get that good deal!
So we are back to natural foods and fruits and I make everything from scratch. Our quality dropped dramatically. We’ve gone back to fresh, unprocessed and organic foods. And making our own non-toxic cleaners. I am more selected and use fewer coupons. The days their list was out was so limiting for me.
I also tried contacting customer service and found them difficult to respond or offer answers to my questions. I wonder if Terri really knows what’s going on with the people who oversee the grocery game.
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I found the grocery game to be a waste of time and money.
1. I was able to find the same deals with the same time and planning.
2. I found better fresh produce and meat deals on my own.
3. The cost seemed to outway the savings.
4. Their unclear policies = ufair practices, costing me additional money. They say you can cancel at any time, but this is not the case. You are locked to their 8 week billing cycle. So you may schedule your cancelation but it will not actually take place until the end of their billing cycle. You are charged in full at the beginning of the cycle and there are NO refunds for cancelation mid cycle.
They do not post their policies on the site or make them available to customers. They only say that they have an 8 week billing cycle and that you can cancel at any time, which is NOT TRUE.
What a waste.
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I couldn’t have said it better, Jenni Mac! All so true..and has been my experience. Yet, the founder is a millionaire.
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Sounds fun and resourceful, I’ll have to check it out.
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I used it for a long time, but then I discovered the Super Walmart. The truth is, Walmart’s prices are so low that without spending hours (and it did take me HOURS each weekend) to organize my shopping trip, I’m spending less.
And I also noticed that we were putting on the weight, because the food wasn’t necessarily the healthy choices I might have otherwise made.
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The grocery game is a lot of work, and you can save the same amount by doing your own searching. They want you to not only clip coupons every week (ok in itself) also download coupons, go to websites for their coupons, etc. I tried it one week and a store list took me over 3 hours. Who has that kind of time? They are also very deceptive with their free trial offer and charged my credit card without my authorization.
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The grocery game is not a place to find healthy food. Most of the food is overly processed junk. It is rare to find anything organic or even remotely healthy. I tried it for 4 weeks and could only pick out one to two things. If you are looking to save money on food that has little to no nutritional value – great. You just saved 70% that bag of potato chips but what is it going to cost you in your health care bill in a few years due to your obesity!?
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Where are the websites where you can just compare fresh food prices at your local stores. I found one once and I’m desperate to find it again.
now for my own personal commentary that may strike a chord with couponers I’m sorry I don’t mean to offend.
I see people on the tlc shows buying loads of food for next to nothing and it looks really exciting but then I think they will end up paying 10x what they saved easily in health costs over their lives and that’s if they’re lucky. If you eat all that processed food you are shaving years off your life. Is it really worth it? Don’t be fooled by the enticement to save the almighty dollar it will surely cost in the long run. I would only coupon if it were the only way I could survive. If only the government subsidized fresh organic food the way it essentially subsidizes processed food by creating too much corn that gets pumped into almost everything processed. Feel free to write or call your congressman on that issue it could really help make it so socialized healthcare doesn’t end up bankrupting our country.
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