PYP Blog

The New Couponer: You're just beginning to explore couponing, perhaps encouraged by the rising grocery prices and tough economic developments. You may have a friend or neighbor who always seems to be saving a ton of money at the grocery store, and she or he referred you to PYP. You might be feeling a little overwhelmed (don't worry, we all did!), but you're excited at the prospect of slashing your grocery bill.

Why You Love PYP: You love the clearly formatted shopping lists, which help you make sense of the many different store promotions that you may not even have known existed, and which may still seem a little confusing. You love the PYP community, which is full of people who are willing and eager to answer your "newbie" questions. You may also like the video tutorials on this blog. Because you may not have been collecting coupons very long, you might enjoy the trading forum where you can trade coupons you do have for those you don't.

While you're learning to save on your groceries, you also enjoy the Screaming Deals Online forum, which will also help you to save on categories like gifts, clothes, toys, and books.

Last but not least, enjoy the PYP community! The action, support, and advice here is endless.

What You Bring to PYP: Because PYP is such an active community, we discuss almost everything, so chances are that whatever you're good at, someone on here would benefit from your experience. We also love your excitement. And of course, eveyone on PYP is always ready to make a new friend. Welcome!

The Organic/Raw Foods Couponer: Most of your family's diet is comprised of raw foods, and you shop differently from many other couponers. Because you don't buy a lot of canned or pre-packaged foods, it's hard for you to stockpile. Instead, you save money by being familiar with several different sources for raw foods, fresh produce, grains, and meats and keeping an eye out for deals wherever and whenever you can find them. You shop by combining several different resources, including local growers, your own garden, farmers' markets, co-ops, neighbors and family's gardens, and, particularly during the winter, supermarkets that carry organic or high-quality foods. Although you don't stockpile a lot of foods, you might still stockpile health and beauty aids and other toiletries.

Why You Love PYP: Because eating raw and organic foods may be more expensive than eating more heavily processed foods, you have to be extra vigilant about your price shopping. You appreciate the fact that PYP has separate price points for organic foods, and you keep an eye out for those bargains on the weekly shopping lists. Because you may be spending generously in the food department, you can really benefit from PYP's deals on non-consumable grocery items like toiletries and health and beauty aids. You also benefit from PYP's strong local community, which helps you become familiar with growers, co-ops, produce stands, and farmers' markets in your area. You enjoy sharing whole foods recipes with others on PYP, and you might frequent the gardening forum, where PYPers share their most time and cost effective tips for growing their own whole foods. Additionally, because your grocery budget may be higher than that of other households, you appreciate PYP's Screaming Deals Online forum, which allows you to save significantly in other areas of your household budget like clothing, gifts, books, and travel.

What You Bring to PYP: As you become more experienced in combining frugality with fresh foods, you're able to offer advice and tips to other frugalites who want to incorporate more raw foods in their diets. You know where, how, and when to buy certain fresh foods, and other PYPers appreciate the chance to learn from your experience. You may also be quite knowledgeable in the area of green and organic living, and other PYPers benefit from your ability and willingness to help them learn more about this important area.

The Busy Couponer: You're carefully trying to balance the value of your dollars with the value of your minutes, and you may not have time to get every single deal. You're looking for the greatest maximum return on your effort and money, and you're selective about which deals you'll pursue and which stores you'll shop at, based on how much time you're willing to invest. Maybe you're a working parent with three little kids, or a SAHP who's chauffeuring your prodigies to a variety of events, practices, and after-school activities. Either way, your time is worth at least as much as your money, and you need to get the maximum bang out of both.

Why You Love PYP: PYP's detailed shopping lists let you cherry-pick which one or two stores have the deals that will be most worth your time and effort each week. The star ratings let you know easily what sales are good deals. You also enjoy the PYP discussion forums so that you can find out how well a deal is working or how much stock the store has left before you use your valuable time driving out there. You may enjoy PYP's trading forums because they let you get the coupons you need with the least amount of effort, and you also like the convenience of the coupon subscriptions PYP has arranged.

Because you're looking for convenient savings in all areas of your life, you also love the Screaming Deals Online forum, which helps you buy clothing and presents cheaply and efficiently from your computer.

What You Bring to PYP: You typically have a clear couponing focus, and you've developed good techniques and methods that help you meet that focus. You often have ideas that help streamline the couponing process, and other couponers benefit from learning about them. You also tend to see the "larger couponing picture," and you're a good example of how couponing fits into a balanced life of efficiency and frugality.