Coupon Adventure

                                                 (freebies after sale and coupons)

Because I am busy with school, work and being a wife 24/7, I may not always have the time to study a grocery ad. So I rely on other moms, who offer free services of doing that for me. On Tuesday evening, southernsavers.com posts a detailed list of items that will be on sale along with coupons that match the sales item. Now, southernsavers mostly covers grocery stores in the South. But there are many blogs that cover grocery stores in other regions of the US. Next to the sales item, southernsavers matches a coupon that you can use to help you reduce your out of pocket expense. If you see a link, that means that you can print the coupon. If you see funny wording like SS, RP or PG and a date next to it that means that the coupon came from a Sunday paper. This is why it is important to write down the date on your cert if you are not planning to clip every single one of the coupons out.

SS – Smart Source
RP – Red Plum
PG – Proctor and Gamble (comes out about one a month)

So if you see SS 8/1 that means that the coupon can be found in Smart Source that came out in the newspaper on August 1st. Please note that coupons vary by region, so some coupons that she posts your coupon cert may not have received. Try to buy the largest published newspaper in your area, because it will have more coupons in it.

Let’s say, now we want to go grocery shopping at Bi-Lo this week. Familiarize yourself with store coupon policy (southernsavers posts at the beginning of the coupon matching list). Bi-Lo double coupons up to $0.60, which means that your $0.60 off coupon now becomes $1.20 off. Also, when Bi-Lo ad states B1G1 (buy one get one free), the item will be selling at half price, thus you do not have to buy two items in order to get a discount. For example, if apple juice is on sale for $5 B1G1, that means that you can buy one bottle of apple juice for $2.50. Now if you have a coupon for $1 off, your total out of pocket cost would be $1.50 and you will save $3.50. If you have a coupon that states B1G1 apple juice and you have a coupon for B1G1, you can acquire apple juice for free. You do however have to buy two items if you have B1G1 coupon. When you scan your loyalty card (the card that says you are a Bi-Lo customer and entitle to store savings), both of the bottle of apple juice will ring up as $2.50. So when you present B1G1 coupon, the cashier will only take off $2.50. Now if you want the cashier to take off $5 dollars (the manufacture will reimburse the store), you need to scan all your items first and only after you scanned all your items scan your loyalty card. The savings will then show at the bottom of the receipt, but the apple juice will now ring up as $5 dollars and not $2.50. So when the cashier goes to scan your B1G1 coupon, she will take off $5 (that will cover the cost of both bottle of apple juice) and not $2.50. I read about this trick on southernsavers and feel like it is a win-win situation for the store and a customer, since the store will be reimbursed full value. Now make sure you read the fine prints of the B1G1 coupon. Many times the manufacturer puts the value such as “do not exceed $3.50", which mean that the store can only take off $3.50.

Before I go shopping, I log on to southernsavers and create a list of all the items that I want to purchase. I then match my coupons and head on to the store. The whole process can take less than 30 minutes and the rewards are worth my time and effort.

Do you feel that the couponing is worth your time? Do you have a coupon trick?

Coupon Adventure

When I first started to shop with coupons, I had people stop me and ask me how I do it after the see my total drop to nothing. I recall one time I was shopping at Target and my buggy was full of yogurt, breakfast bars and juice. My total was less than a $1 dollar and I had a shopper behind me make a comment, “I am very impressed, but do you have children?” I responded politely, “No ma’am, it is just me and my husband”. She didn’t stop and went on to tell me, “Well, you probably won’t have time for coupons once you have a baby and that’s why I don’t use them”. I smiled and remained silent, because I am planning to use coupons when we have children. I guess my argument is that where there is a will there is a way. Yes, we don’t have children yet, but I am busy Monday through Sunday working, studying and being a wife.

As we all wear many hats, I know that couponing is not for everyone; however I truly believe that every single family can rip benefits from using them. And yes, it takes time to learn all the ropes of the coupon world, but the rewards are great. Do you remember the first time you learned to ride a bike? It did take time along with a few bumps and bruises before you felt the freedom of peddling without falling down. The same way with coupons, it takes time and determination and I promise if you stick with it, the reward of saving money for your family is just around the corner.

Today I want to take you step by step of shopping at a grocery store…without spending hours of hard work. Oh and if you want to learn how to shop at CVS, you can read a step by step guide, here. First, you want to have coupons on hand. You can read here on where you can acquire coupons. I would suggest to buy at least 2 Sunday newspapers each week with coupon certs. Some weeks I buy only one paper and there has been weeks that I didn’t buy any. I have two co-workers who bring me their coupon certs. And my absolute favorite way of acquiring coupons is by simply e-mail to the company’s directly.

After you have all your coupons on hand you want to choose the best method of storing them. I personally prefer a coupon bucket method. It takes no time for me to sort and pick out the coupon that I need. I know that some people love to use a coupon binder. After doing some research it seems like coupon binder is the most time consuming way to keep your coupons organized. Now you don’t have to pick any of these methods and can simply store your coupon cert by date and clip coupons as you need. Let me share with you how I keep my coupons organized. I do not have extra hours to clip coupons (however, my mama sure clipped quite a few coupons when she visited me), nor do I want to spend hours clipping and organizing coupons.

So when I buy a newspaper, I look through the coupon cert and clip only those coupons that I know right away that we will use. Once you coupon for a few month you will also learn which coupon will get you a free products. If you do not use the product, you can give it away to someone who does use it. Once I clip the coupons that I need, I organize them in my coupon box. I never throw away the rest of the coupons that I did not clip. Instead, I write down the date of when the Sunday paper came out on the front of the cert and book it in the grocery bag. This way when I know that if I need to clip a coupon that will give me an overage on a product, I don’t have to kick myself for throwing it away. I then keep all the coupon certs marked with dates in a big bag in my trunk. Every 3 months I recycle the oldest certs. Yes, by not clipping all of the coupons, I may miss out on a clearance item, but my time is more valuable and I am ok if I do not get every single free item.

Now are you ready me to take you grocery shopping with me? Come back tomorrow for a grocery shopping adventure with coupons.

But today I would love to hear how you manager your time with coupons! Do you think the pay off of using coupons is rewarding?

Coupons International

When my mom visited me during this summer, we spent some time discussing the world of couponing. She absolutely loves going grocery shopping in the US and buying items that are inexpensive after sales and coupons. However, my mom expressed to me that concept of coupons or sales is non existent in Belarus. Each grocery store in my town has the same price for milk each week and the same price for every item in the store. So her way of saving money is to buy items that she needs and not necessary that she wants.

As I was thinking about my mama’s comments I realized how blessed I am to be able to reduce our grocery budget by hundreds of dollars a year because of coupons. We used to live pay check to pay check until we discovered the world of frugality. Living below our means can be challenging at times, when the media feeds us that materialism is the way to go. But the reward of saving money by living frugal and paying off the debt is much more thrilling than buying another item that collects dust.

Living frugal is a way of life for many folks around the world. Recently I became friends with Dora from Hungary and have been fascinated to learn her money saving tips. Since stores in Hungary do not accept the same types of coupons as the stores in the US, she still gets rewarded by shopping at a local store, Drogerie Markt (DM). Dora writes, “I have a plastic card for DM and after every 200 HUF, I receive 1 point. Usually I spend 20,000 HUF a month at the store. And for every 50 and 150 points I can purchase a coupon booklet or redeem points for something else. At the end of last year I was able to get for 200 points my favorite cookbook. Since I had many points, I was able to buy a lot of books and give them out for Christmas”.

I was inspired by Dora’s comment and would love to hear how do you save money for your family?

I love freebies

My friends, I am about to share with you a topic that I am very passionate about. You want to take a guess? Fine, you are very close…it does have to do with coupons. Ok, let me just tell you. It has to do with acquiring free products and I am all about freebies. And yes, I have shared this topic before, but I am going to do it again…and again…and again until you will tell me that you are going to try it.

About a month ago I decided to conduct an experiment of using the principal of asking. My mom was coming from Belarus to see my family for 3 weeks. Well, I decided to e-mail all the restaurants in our areas asking for a coupon. The result??? Free food! I received the following coupons.

- 2 free whoppers from Burger King
- 2 free subs from Jersey Mikes
- $5 dollars gift card from Schlotzsky’s
- 4 coupons from Zaxby’s for a meal of my choice
- 2 Chick Fil A Sandwiches and 1 coupon for free chicken tenders (I actually asked managers of a restaurant for coupons)
- 2 free drinks of any choice and any size from Starbucks
- 2 free coupons from IHOP for free pancakes
- 2 free subs from Firehouse Subs

Next on the agenda was to wait on my mom’s arrival and e-mail some of the companies she liked. Of course, the avid coffee drinker that she is, we e-mailed coffee companies asking for coupons. The result??? We received two coupons for free bags of coffee and one company sent us a huge can of coffee for my mama to take back. Can you hear me singing “Oh Happy Day?”

We didn’t stop with coffee…we decided to e-mail Chef’s Requested. If you are not familiar with Chef’s Requested, the company sells steaks and oh very tasty steaks may I add. So one day we received a letter from the company with coupons. We opened the letter and almost fell out of our chairs. The company has sent us almost $100 worth of high value coupons. This translates in almost 20 packages of free steaks. Have I convinced you that e-mailing companies is worth your time? I sure hope so.

In a matter of a few minutes my mama and I took off to Ingles to buy a pack of steaks. The pack had 3 tender and juicy steaks. She cut the steaks lengthwise in half because they were thick enough. Then she beat them very good with meat tenderizer. After dipping the steaks in egg mixture and then flour, she fried them until golden crust formed. And let me just tell you, the steaks were wonderful!!! I ate two steaks right away and then two more a few hours later. No wonder I have gained at least 5 pounds during my mama’s stay.

My mama has always taught me to express my appreciation, so we decided to take a picture of my mama holding a pack of steaks and send the picture to the company. Since our letter had a business card of company’s VP, we also wrote a letter letting the gentleman know how much we appreciate his kindness.

I hope today you will take several minutes of your time to e-mail your favorite companies. If you need some help in starting, just read my older post here.

Please come back and let me know if you have any success with companies sending you coupons.

Start E-mailing Away

In my previous post I have shared with you about asking for coupons directly from companies that manufacture your favorite product. Today I would like to provide a list of companies that responded to me with coupons and freebies. I hope you will take time to e-mail those companies and enjoy some of the freebies too.

R.W. Knudsen
Eden – they sent lot of coupons and free sample of pasta and tea
Stonyfield
Santa Cruz
Peak Foods
Blue Marble
Tru Whip
Tumaro
Odwalla – they sent a coupon for a free smoothie drink
Ocean Spray – they sent a coupon for two free packs of dried fruit
Seeds of Change
Galaxy Nutritional Foods
Spectrum Products
Coleman Chicken
Bush’s Beans – lot of coupons for $0.55 cents off a can. By doubling this coupon, I can get very inexpensive beans…woot! Woot!
Silk Soymilk
Brown Cow
Vlasic Pickles
Muir Glen
Turkey Hill
Nivea – tons of samples and high dollar coupons
Good Earth Tea
Damp Rid
Eucerin – lot of samples and high dollar coupons
Bird’s Eye – they sent a coupon for a free pie feeling. I waited until pie filling were on B1G1 sales and was able to snatch two cans for free
Sunsweet
Dole
Nature’s Way
Van’s
Edwards/Mrs. Smith pies – They sent me a coupon for a free pie
Amy’s Kitchen – they sent me a booklet of coupons and a coupon for a free soup
Eggland’s Best
Land O Lake – they sent two coupons for free eggs up to $5.00 each
Pepperidge Farm
Mama Mary’s
Pop Chips – they sent 3 coupons for free bag of chips
Wholesome Sweetener – they sent two coupons for free products and several freebies
Evol Burritos
Lara Bar
Lundberg
Casban
Welch Juice
Friendship Cheese – they sent a coupon for a free product
Folgers
Blue Bunny
Del Monte
Ore Ida
Skinny Cow
Campbell Soup
Uncle Bens
Melitta
Horizon
Jose Ole
Pacific
Rice Select – they sent a coupon for a free product
Gen Soy – they sent 2 coupons for free products
Bionaturae
DeBoles
Arrowhead Mills
Earth Best – I do not recall e-mailing them, but they sent a coupon for a free jar of baby food
Born Free Eggs
Snyder – they sent a coupon for free pretzels
Cascade Fresh

Start e-mailing away, and share your success with me at tightwadintraining @ gmail . com (remove spacing)

Free Coupons, Free Products

photo credit: windblownpages

My absolute favorite way to diversify my coupon stash is to e-mail companies of the product that we like directly. I would spend an hour each weekend e-mailing companies letting them know that I either liked their product or would like to try it. Since November I have received over 60 responses from companies offering me not only high dollar coupons, but also coupons for free products. In fact, I have received over $100 worth of free products from companies by simply letting them know my opinion about their product. With some companies I went in great details for why I like their goods, like for example I shared that my sister and I during high school years would drive to Burger King to buy a Hershey pie. Now that Hershey pies are sold at the grocery stores, when I purchase one, the memories of spending time with my sister reminded me of good times that we had together. It took me a minute to write this e-mail and in return I received a coupon for a free Hershey pie value up to $8.00. To further sweeten the deal, I have received packages from companies too with trial size lotions (Nivea), full size deodorant (Tom’s Natural), tea and pasta just to name a few.

Receiving freebies from your favorite companies is always fun. During my coupon quest, I was surprised at the fact that a lot of companies that sell organic products responded. My favorite response came from Wholesome Sweetener. Not only they sent me several samples of their products, but I also received two coupons for full size free products. To save time most of my e-mails looked the same for exception of company’s name and product. Here is the example:

Hello,
I hope you are having a fabulous day! I have seen your product (name the product) at our local grocery store during my recent visit. My husband and I strive to live a healthy lifestyle incorporating natural foods in our diet. We would absolutely love to try XYZ’s organic peanut butter! We live on a tight budget and I was wondering if you would be so kind to send us a coupon.

My address:
1111 XYZ St.
LYPD, SC 12345

Thank you!

Oxana

I promise you, it only takes a few minutes to write an e-mail asking for a coupon, but the reward of opening your mail box just to find a stack of letters with coupons from your favorite companies is priceless.

Stop...Do Not Use This Coupon...Yet

When I first started my frugal journey, it made me feel so good to redeem a coupon thinking that I am saving money. Unfortunately, redeeming a coupon doesn’t always mean that you are saving money. Once companies release a high dollar coupon like $3 dollars off Snuggle dryer sheets, most likely dryer sheets won’t be on sale for several weeks. You have a choice of going to the store right away to buy dryer sheet at full price ($4.50) redeeming $3 dollar coupon and paying $1.50 or waiting until dryer sheets go on sale and get them for free. I really like getting my dryer sheet for free and I hope you are too. When you cut or print your coupons, hold on to them until item goes on sale and only then redeem your coupon. Your savings will go up and you will be hooked on using coupons, when you walk out of the store with free items.

My other favorite method of walking out of the store with free stuff is buying travel size items. When I cut a coupon, I always read fine prints. If a coupon specifies which size of an item I must purchase in order to redeem a coupon, I must buy only the specific size that coupon indicated. However, if the coupon does not indicate a specific size or states that I can use the coupon on any size, I go to Target or Wal-Mart and buy that item in travel size if available. For example, Procter and Gamble often puts out a coupon for $1 off any Tide detergent. This means that I can go to Wal-Mart and buy travel size packet of Tide for free, because the cost of the travel size is $0.97. Over a year I have accumulated over 70 packets of free travel size Tide detergent. I have also purchased with coupons travel size lotions, shampoos, razors, deodorant and wipes just to name a few. Most of the time a coupon will beep if you are buying traveling size items, because the amount of the coupon exceeds retail price of the item you are buying. This makes cashiers nervous and they will tell you that you can not use your coupon. In this case I explain to the cashier that coupon states that I can buy a product of any size and redeem this coupon. If cashier is still not allowing me to use my coupon, I then ask to speak to the manger who always tells cashiers that coupon is acceptable.

Next time you are cutting out your coupon, read the fine prints carefully. If you have enough coupons, you can buy 5 travel size items for free that would be equivalent of buying one full size item at full price. If the desired item is not available in a travel size, wait until the item goes on sale and only then redeem your coupon. I promise your patience will pay off and you will never go back to paying a full price for anything.

Coupon Categories

When I first started to coupon, I was overwhelmed with looking through accordion style wallet for a coupon that I needed. I then decided to organize my coupons in a box and create categories for items that I used the most. Today I would like to share with you categories that I created with hopes that it will help you to be more organized.

• Baking Supply
• Bi-Lo
• Breakfast Bars
• Boxed Dinners
• Candy
• Candles
• Cereal
• Cleaning Supplies
• Coffee and Tea
• CVS
• Dairy Products
• Deodorant
• Dishwasher Supplies
• Drinks
• Eye Care
• Fruit
• Health Foods
• Ingles
• Laundry Supply
• Lotion/Soap (body)
• Lotion/Soap (face)
• Make up
• Misc. Supplies
• Meat/Fish
• Oil and Butter
• Paper Products
• Pasta/Rice
• Pharmacy
• Peanut Butter and Jelly
• Razors/Shaving Cream
• Sauce
• Seasoning
• Shampoo
• Snacks
• Soup
• Store Policies
• Tooth Brush/Tooth Paste
• Toppings/Nuts
• Veggies
• Yogurt
• Walgreen

Feel free to add any category that you use that is not listed above. Happy coupon organizing!

If you have a trick or a tip on how you organize your coupons, please share with us.

Where is that coupon?

Coupon organization is very important if you would like to be an efficient coupon shopper. When I first started couponing, I bought a small accordion style coupon file and stored my coupons in sections. Before too long I outgrew my coupon file and started to look for other methods of coupon organization. I came across a picture of a plastic show box that perfectly stored clipped coupons. My mission began of finding that perfect shoe box.



I especially like the price of the clear plastic box that sat on the shelf of a Dollar Store starring right at me. While looking through Daniel’s bookbag I found some note cards and all I needed to finish my project was envelopes. And the masterpiece began. I wrote down every category that I could think of to better organize my coupons and one by one stuck the card vertically in the envelop, who’s top flap has been cut.



I loved this method of coupon organization simply because it is easy, time saving and efficient for me. My clear shoe box worked for me faithfully for a whole year and I then had to replace it. I wanted something a little bit sturdier and found my new box at Big Lots for several dollars. I then remembered that during my college years I acquired a lot of envelopes from organization that I interned for and who was going to throw away unused envelopes, so I took them home in hopes of one day finding a use for them. I them decided to laminated my note cards to prevent them from bending and getting dirty. And this system now works b-e-a-utifully for me.

Do you have a favorite method of organizing your coupons? Pleas share with us in the comment section, we would love to hear!

More Coupons, Please! (Part II)

In a previous post I have shared a few ways that you can obtain coupons. Today, I would like to offer a few more tips and trick on how increase your coupon stash.

• Clip from the magazines – many magazines now offer coupons. I have previously cut a coupon for a free box of dog treat from People magazine. My favorite magazine that is full of coupons and money saving tips is All You Magazine. You can only buy it at Wal-Mart, however subscribing to it will save you money. In their recent issue they had a coupon for free Rimmel mascara, which was a thrill for me.

• E-mail companies – I have had a lot of success requesting coupons from companies through e-mail. I always compliment their product if I have used and like it or let the company know how much I would like to try their product. In 3 months I have received coupons for over $100 worth free products (I will talk more on this subject another time). But don’t be afraid if you are rejected, some companies don’t participate in coupon mailers.

• Purchase from clipping services – I have never bought coupons myself but know of people who have purchased coupons from clipping services or on e-bay. Never buy printed coupons, because you are risking of buying fraudulent coupons. Legally you can not sell coupons, however if you read seller’s disclaimer you are paying not for coupons but for that person’s time of clipping coupons.

• Visit your local library – our local library subscribes to several Sunday newspapers. We have a small red box standing on a table with coupons inserts sticking out of it. People are fee to stop by and clip coupons that they want leaving the rest of others to clip. If you don’t have a coupon box, ask your librarian if you can start one.

• Ask friends – you will be surprised how many people throw away their coupon inserts. I have a co-worker who always brings me her coupons, for which I am forever grateful.

photo credit: www.flickr.com

Do you have a tip of places where we can find more coupons? Please share in the comment section for us all to learn.

More Coupons, Please! (Part I)

There are numerous sources for coupons and today I would like to share with you where you can find more money saving tokens.

• Buy a newspaper – do your research to find out which store on Sunday sales a newspaper for less than $1. For example, in our area the cheapest newspaper is at Walgreen for $0.88, however to avoid a long drive, I started to buy newspaper from our grocery store for $0.99. If I was to stop by any gas station coming down the mountain, I would have to fork out $1.50. Although it sounds like I am saving only $0.50 it adds up quickly. If I buy 4 Sunday newspapers a week, by going to the grocery store instead of a gas station I am saving $2.00. Since there are 54 weeks in a year, that would amount to $108! Before buying a newspaper I always look through to make sure that all the coupon inserts are in place. During my early coupons days, I would grab several newspapers just to find out when I got home that my coupon inserts were missing. Another reason for why I look through coupons before I buy a newspaper is because I want to see if our family would use a lot of coupons that manufacturers released that particular week. If it is a slow week, I would pick up one or two newspapers. If it is a great week, I buy 4-6 newspapers. One more tip, if your area offers more than one paper on Sunday, always buy the bigger newspaper, since they always print more coupons.


• Dive through the dumpster – it break my heart to see people throw away coupons. No, seriously, I begin to experience tightness in my chest and before you know that pain goes through my whole body. Jokes aside, when people throw coupons because they see coupons as just another piece of paper, I see it as people latterly throwing money away. There are many recycling bins that you can look through to find extra coupon inserts. I have before looked throw the bins of our trash dump and our local store. Sometimes I hit a jackpot and score high value coupons.

• Print online – because we do not have internet at home, I rarely print online coupons. However, I have previously gone to fast food restaurant that offered wireless with our laptop and our printer. That’s right, you hear me correctly, and I have carried a printer to a fast food restaurant to print coupons. I can only imagine what has gone through the minds of customers, when they saw me pull out a printer. But oh well, there are a lot of websites that allow you to print coupons. Please note, many website will only allow you to print 2 coupons per computer IP address. So if you have more than one computer you can print usually 4 coupons. Websites such as www.smartsource.com, www.coupons.com and www.redplum.com all have a great variety of coupons to offer. You can also visit a website for a specific brand, for example like Kraft, to see if a company offers coupons on their websites.

photo credit: www.motherguide.net

Do you have a tip of places where we can find more coupons? Please share in the comment section for us all to learn.