The Grocery Game Vs. Coupon Mom: Which is Better?
Thankfully, there are now services available that help savvy coupon clippers get the most out of their coupon clipping. The two most popular are Coupon Mom (www.couponmom.com) and The Grocery Game (www.thegrocerygame.com). I've used both of those services, so I feel qualified to give you the low down on both of them. In the end, you'll have to decide which option is best for you, but hopefully this article will help you make an informed decision.
Cost
A Grocery Game subscription cost $1.25 per week to be able to access the weekly list. This amount is billed to your credit or debit card in the amount of $10 every eight weeks. The Coupon Mom list can be accessed free of charge. Although the Grocery Game cost money, you can earn free weeks through referring others. You can also earn free weeks other ways such as through writing up a story on how the Grocery Game has saved you money. Even so, it won't be completely free.
Completeness
One reason the Grocery Game cost money is that in addition to gathering information from sale papers, Grocery Game staff actually walk up and down the aisle of grocery stores, making note of everything that is on sale. There are many items that are on sale that are not in the sale paper, so the free Coupon Mom service misses some of the best sales.
Also, since the Coupon Mom staff don't actually enter stores to see what is on sale, they often match coupons to ads that are not compatible. I'm sure you've seen sale papers that say that the sale is good on "selected varieties" or something similar. Unfortunately, the Coupon Mom site doesn't know which varieties are selected and therefore the coupon clipped may be useless for the product that is on sale, if the coupon is for a particular flavor, which may not be on sale, for example. That can be a real disappointment!
Convenience
I like the layout of the Grocery Game list better. It is more compact, easier to read, and contains a bit more information which makes it easier for me to match items in the store with the items on the list.
The biggest problem with the Grocery Game in terms of convenience is that you have limited days to shop, in most places, Sunday through Tuesday. This is because after the items go on sale, the Grocery Game staff must go to the store, check all items on sale, enter them into the database, etc. The bottom line is that the Grocery Game does more work and thus spends more time to prepare, making their list available less time. Also, since the new coupons come out in the Sunday paper, the Grocery Game waits to take advantage of the new coupons, since many of the sales for the week fit with the coupons that come out in the Sunday paper that week.
With the Coupon Mom list, you can shop any day of the week, so if the Grocery Game schedule in your area doesn't work for you, or if you have a personal schedule that changes every week, you'll probably want to use the Coupon Mom list rather than the Grocery Game list.
Cash Savings
Because of the extra work the Grocery Game puts into the entire process, you'll actually save a lot more money using the Grocery Game - even after you factor in the $1.25 per week cost of the subscription. The list is more complete and more accurate, which makes the savings higher. Also, the Grocery Game list only includes the best deals, whereas the Coupon Mom list includes sales even as low as 20%. (I seldom see anything on the Grocery Game list that is a savings of less than 50%.)
Conclusion
I personally feel that the Grocery Game is a better system than the Coupon Mom system, but the fact that it does cost money to subscribe to, and has other less convenient factors makes the Coupon Mom worth considering. I personally find it most helpful to subscribe to the Grocery Game, and then check the Coupon Mom list on occasion. For instance, if I didn't make it to the grocery store between Sunday and Tuesday and thus missed the sales on the Grocery Game list, I'll check out the Coupon Mom list so I'll get in on at least some sale and coupon matches.
Whatever option you choose, the Grocery Game or the Coupon Mom, you are guaranteed to save money if you follow the lists.
Published by Rebecca Livermore - Featured Contributor in Travel and Lifestyle
Rebecca Livermore has been a freelance writer since 1993. Although she started off writing for print magazines, in recent years she has switched her focus to writing for the web. She writes on many subjects,... View profile
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17 Comments
Post a CommentDon't join the Grocery Game. I was told by their rep that the list only has to be 80% accurate to be posted. Why do I want to pay for 80%. Also, they don't walk through the stores for every list. It's not just $10 every 8 weeks...thats just for one store. If you get more stores, its more money. I got billed $45, much to my surprise, because they never tell you this. Also, their lists are always late and their site is always down. They don't give you credit for times when their site is down...which is frequent. I also logged in once and got someone elses account, so their security is a question too.
thank you, your article really helped me. I am trying to decide whether or not to join the grocery game, I didn't realize the time issues.
I'm one of those "men who shop" and I'm not offended. Give me a break - she a mom and she named it after herself. She's a "Coupon Mom." Deal with it and grow up.
Don't forget that Grocery Game doesn't actually match area coupons to your particular list, so you can be hunting for coupons and sales that don't even exist in your area. By the time you go through the list with the sales ad and Sunday coupons, you've wasted so much time that it's easier to just do it yourself.
A great free site is
hotcouponworld.com
it is #1 in my book.
The print coupon program hosted on this site as well as many others, and I haven't found any others that don't use it is a BAD program because it tracks were you go and what you do and reports your tracks back to its parent company. Use it at your own risk ! ! !
Great comparison! I think I'll stick with CouponMom for right now. :-)
great article, very good comparison. i'm going to have to check them out!
I love couponsense out here. I thought of writing about it.
very helpful. i'm going to have to try these out. i do have a problem with the name 'coupon mom' though. why are these things always geared towards happily married suburban moms? men grocery shop. unmarried women clip coupons. non parents shop together and try to save money. it drives me crazy that they would name it 'coupon mom'. it makes me feel like i'm not allowed to use it...or that i'm a freak for wanting to get a good deal at the young, unmarried age of 24. bah. i'm still going to investigate them, but maybe i'll send them a strongly worded letter!