Siderailed

I spent an hour last night getting all my coupons organized.  See, with school ending last Saturday, I got derailed in my couponing.  Now, I'm looking at my stockpile, and realize that it's getting low.  Just opened my last deodorant this morning.  So today I am going to sit and search through the coupons I have, finish getting them in my binder and then figure out my Walgreens shopping trip.

There are some great deals I am going to pick up at Walgreens.

Walgreens

2	Glade plugins,scented oil revils or warmer, 4 pk scented oil candles, rexaxing moments spray, sense & spray, candle	$2.50	$5.00	1.00 rr  1.00/2	$3.00
4	Arm & Hammer Laundry Detergent	$6.99	$27.96	B1G1 free 2x 1.00/2	$10.00
2	Sunburnt gel	$3.99	$7.98	3.99 mail in rebate	Free
4	clean & Clear morning burst body wash	$5.99	$23.96	b1G1 free
4	gillette fusion proglide razor system	$9.89	$39.56	5.00 rr 4x3.00/1	$7.92
2	Pantene hair care	$3.50	$7.00	1.00 rr 1x 2.00/1	$5.00
1	wal-fex 30 ct	$11.99	$11.99	3.00 rr	$8.99
3	kleenex facial tissue	$0.89	$2.67	wags q	$2.67
2	nature valley granola bars	$2.00	$4.00	1x .75/2	$3.25

So, what I do is go through the ads, marking down what I am getting and how many in the first two columns.  The next is what each will cost.  Then my spreadsheet calculates what the final cost will be in the 4th column.  The 5th is where I put my coupons and information I will need to get the deals.  For the Glade, I am buying 2 at $2.50 each.  That equals $5.00.  Then when I buy two, I will get $1.00 Register Reward (RR) back for use on my next purchase, and I have a coupon that is $1.00 off of two items.  So in the end, the Glade plugins will cost me $3.00.  

You can also see that I have Mail in rebates in my list as well.  These I do have to pay for, but will have a check mailed back to me for the 7.98 I spend today, making them free.  

The Gillette razors will end up costing me 1.98 each, but they will have to be rung up separately, and I can not use the RR from the razor for the next razor, or the RR for the second one will not print up. 

So I will start with the 4 razors as 4 separate transactions.  I will pay 6.98 each out of pocket.  I will receive 5.00 back for each one.  Then, I will use that extra twenty in RR to pay for everything else I have on my list. Some of the RR's can be combined in the same transaction, such as the Wal-fex with one of the razors.  This is because the manufacturer is not the same.  

So to recap, to get your RR's, pay for those first.  Then, use those RR's to pay for the rest of your transactions.  Usually, it's best if you do this at the cosmetics counter.  They don't usually have a line of customers that will get angry with you when you're pulling out all your coupons.  

Have a great day, and let me know if any of this is helping.  Also, let me know if any one tries this, how it works for you, or anything else you want to share.  

Blessings 

Normally I would be couponing today

Normally, I would be spending today cutting the coupons I got on Sunday, or pulling them out of the filing cabinet I have been storing them in for the last two weeks.  Then, after separating each one into it's own separate pile, I staple them together so I can cut all 6 of each coupon out at a time.

Normally I would then look at all those coupons, open my binder and methodically begin pulling out expired coupons and replacing them with the one's I had just cut out.  I won't lie, with thirty some odd categories, I get tired after about an hour and pile the shaving/hair/lotion/pet/first aid/feminine products coupons all into one pile in an envelope and ignore them till I actually need them.

Normally, I would have my excel sheet filled out , waiting to find out which coupons I will be using, so that after dinner, I can sit down and pull them out to be ready for my shopping trip tomorrow.

However, today is not a normal day.  I am actually writing to you all, finished an online test for work, and am now going to be finishing the fifteen page paper that is due in my Lit class Saturday.  With all luck, I'll get that done today so I can get back to my couponing tomorrow :)

I forgot to get my coupons!

Sunday came and went, and I never left my house.  It was early this morning that I remembered...I didn't make my weekly trip to the Dollar Tree to pick up my papers.  That means I missed out on my coupons this week.  What am I going to do?

Thankfully, I can still go online and print out the coupons I am missing from Smartsource.com and Redplum.com.  Now, I'm not going to be able to get the exact coupons that were in the paper, and that kinda sucks, but I will be able to still use these coupons, so the mistake isn't that debilitating.  :)

I also didn't go shopping on Saturday, but when I looked at the paper, I just wasn't as excited about the things that were on sale this week as usual.  One nice thing about having a stockpile, small as mine is, is that I can go a week without shopping, and we don't run out of anything.  

PNS is back to their usual coupon policy, so I'm going to have to be a little more crafty about which coupons I will be doubling when I shop on Wednesday.  

This week, I noticed that if you buy 5 boxes of Post cereal at 2.00 per box, then I'll get a 5.00 coupon good on my next transaction.  Which is like getting 5 boxes for 1.00 each.  Now, if I have any coupons for Post (which is rare) then the price of each box will go down even more.  So I'm definitely getting some more cereal Wednesday.  

I also see that canned goods are on sale this week.  Many are at the 10 for $10.00.  Bring coupons, and when they double, they'll be almost free.  And, just because the sale says 10/$10.00, that doesn't mean you have to purchase all ten, unless the sale specifically states that you must.  You'll usually see that on cereal offers.  

One of the great things about coupons, is that I can buy name brand cheaper than the store brand on the majority of items I am getting for my family.  

Small Town Coupon Blues

My friend Chris mentioned that he didn't have a lot of stores around him to shop in.  That's ok.  You can still save money on your grocery bill.

The big thing is to get coupons.  I usually go every Sunday to the Dollar Tree and pick up one paper for each member of my family plus one.  That means I spend 5-6 bucks every Sunday.  When we get home, I pull out the coupons from the Red Plum insert, or the Smart Source insert, which are usually the two I find in my papers.  The rest of the papers go on the burn pile, or get recycled, and every once in a while I actually read them first.  :)

Your Sunday paper probably comes with at least one of these coupon inserts, as they are nationally distributed.  If not, go directly to the websites themselves and print the coupons out that you need.  RedPlum.com and SmartSource.com are two of my favorite  The links are on the right side of this page.  And the important thing is, these are legitimate web sites to print your coupons from.  (I will get into the no no's of couponing soon.)  Suffice to say, these two sites will ask you to install a coupon printing software on your computer.  Allow it.

 This software helps the manufacturer make sure that the coupons are being printed according to their policy, and that helps to keep printed coupons legal.  Which makes them okay to use.  Usually they will only allow you a print limit of 2 of the same coupon.  Please, don't try to just scan/copy the coupons.  This is illegal, and will eventually lead to stores not accepting internet printed coupons.  We don't want that to happen.  So do things the right way.

Next, give your store a call and ask them what their coupon policy is.  You can usually find it online too.  Print this policy up and cary it with you when you are heading out to the store.  You're going to want to make sure that you know what the store's policy is, even if the cashiers don't.  It isn't often that you'll find this to be an issue, but you're going to want to be prepared if it does happen.

The great thing about coupons is that the manufacturer is paying the store for the face value of the coupon plus a handling fee of around 8 cents.  So grocery stores like getting coupons.  Even the smallest store should accept them, you just have to ask.

Thursday 4-28-11: Coupon Prep.

I am sitting in my office, getting ready to start planning for my Saturday shopping trip.  My youngest is sitting on the floor finger painting, where her older sister left her about half an hour ago.  Where to start?

Before I set foot in a store, I sit at my computer for around thirty minutes.  I scan my local store circular.  This week it is Pick n Save.  I like to shop there because they have double coupons on Wed and Saturday.  Double coupon days is where the store will take whatever coupons you have and double the face value of the coupon up to so much.  So at PNS (PicknSave), the store will take anything up to $1.00 and double it.  But, they will only double the first five coupons in your stack, and you have to spend $25.00, then swipe your savers card in order to activate the savings.   Lately, they have been doubling the first 10 coupons in the stack, and that has been exciting.  I have to do less transactions that way. :)

Yes, I am the one in the line who will do several transactions to get the best prices.  Sorry if I take too long, but smile when they tell me how much I saved. :)

Every week, I pull out the circular, and pull up my excel spreadsheet to track what I am buying.  Anyone interested in a copy, let me know.  Then, I search out the things in the paper that I think my family will use,  items I think I can get a great price on, and anything else that looks good.  (Tip:  Don't do this when you are hungry.  No shopping hungry either.)

Now, I get to go through and type in every item I am purchasing, quantity,  and what the cost is from the paper per item.

This takes me around twenty five minutes, depending on how many distractions are thrown my way.

My next step is to open my coupon binder and looking through it, pull out any coupons I will be using, then marking them in my spreadsheet, along with the final price.  This lets me know how much I would have spend vs. how much I am actually going to be spending.  It's wonderful watching the prices drop at the computer before getting to the cash register.

Tomorrow, I'll tell you more about my coupons, where I get them (no, I do not dumpster dive), and answer any questions posted.

The Beginning

There's no money, there's no food in the fridge, what next?  What to do when sixteen hours of work can't bring in ten bags of groceries.

It wasn't more two months ago when I paid $230.00 for two weeks worth of groceries, only to come home, get everything unloaded, and have the family look at me wondering if there was anything in the house to eat.  Even so, I would have to go to the store every other day or so to pick up whatever ingredient I was missing from that day's menu item.  And the prices in the stores have not been getting cheaper.  A gallon of milk costs almost as much as a gallon of gas.  And we are a single income home.  There has to be a better way to shop.

Short of living off of Top Ramen soup for the rest of the month, I had no idea what to do next.  My friend asked me if I wanted to go shopping with her that Saturday evening.  A chance to get out!  No kids?  No husband?  Sure!  So we went.  And as we shopped, I watched as she pulled out three coupons from her purse.

Now, if you are anything like I was, shocked was the nicest way I could put my reaction.  Coupons were for little old ladies.  Not us.  Barely in our 30's, I was not ready to fall into "That Crowd."  But, in the end, she got what she was looking for, and spent less than I would have bargained for. (Tide just isn't cheap.)

The next morning, I was watching the Nate Berkas show, and who just happened to be his guest's for the day?  These two ladies that were on some TLC show soon to be coming up called Extreme Couponing.  Joanie Demer (Pick Another Checkout Lane, Honey: Save Big Money & Make the Grocery Aisle your Catwalk (Lakeland Fellranger))was one of the ladies, and she was younger than me.  She didn't look old and stuffy, but she could bring her $600.00 shopping bill down to around $8.00.  I was shocked.   Seriously?  Less than ten bucks?  HOW?  

Thus began my search for savings.  It's been a little over two months now, and I have managed to shave around %70 off of our grocery bill every week.  We are eating well, not just a bunch of junk, and no Top Ramen.  :)  

In the next few weeks, I'll tell you all about how I did it, and how you can do it too.  And no, Couponing does not have to take over your life.  You do not have to spend 40+ hours clipping coupons, or going without the things you like to eat.