1/31/12

Slurpee Rewards - [AWESOME!]

Same basic concept as My Coke Rewards, except with Slurpees.

The majority of the items they offer are Slurpee based such as logo t-shirts, frisbees, magnets, wallpapers, key chains, etc. However, (and this is a HUGE deal for me) they offer Hollywood Movie Money Certificates which are certificates that you can use to get a FREE admission to a movie at a participating movie theater! And they even let you check to maker sure you have a participating theater around you before you buy it!

Here are the point values for the different sizes:
Small - 1 PT
Medium - 2 PT
Large - 3 PT
X-Large - 4 PT
Promo Cups - 5 PT (I assume this means when a new movie comes out i.e, Thor and they have special cups)

So, basically this is a great way to get free t-shirts (if you don't mind the Slurpee logo) and free movie passes!

So sign up by clicking here and start drinking some Slurpees!

FREE Brew Over Ice Tumbler on Facebook

Brew Over Ice is offering up a FREE tumbler right now! I don't know how long it will last, so jump on this quick!

Here's the link. Just like them and fill out the form!

**UPDATE: THIS IS NOW EXPIRED!**

My Coke Rewards

If you buy bottled water or soda to consume at home and are tyring to find ways to cut your cost down on pricey beverages, you may want to really consider switching to Coke brand products and signing up for My Coke Rewards. They come with codes on caps or in boxes for you to enter online, collect points and redeem for a number of things such as Coke t-shirts, hats, coupons for free Coke (single bottles and 12 packs), gift cards to a number of stores, etc. For an all-inclusive list of rewards, click here.

ON THE OTHER HAND, if you don't drink a lot but this still appeals to you, ask family members for their Coke caps and boxes or while you're out on your morning walk, take a bag and collect bottles with caps from the side of the road. I do both (seeing as it only takes 10 bottle caps to earn a free bottle of
Coke, I get a lot of free Coke and the plus is that I'm not spending nearly as much when I collect the bottles no one else wants for free).

It's honestly a very easy way to get free soft drinks or free "fun money" if you choose to get gift cards instead.

1/29/12

Reward Cards Galore!

In order to be a successful couponer or smarter shopper, you have got to get your hands on as many rewards cards as possible! Now I just don't mean the basic couponers cards such as the ExtraCare card, Wellness card, MVP card, Kroger card, etc; I mean to have so many cards that you have to get someone to make you a custom wallet so you enough slots to hold them all.

Most stores have some sort of reward or loyalty card, you just have to ask. I have cards for Ace Hardware, Hot Topic, Aeropostale, Office Max (which is a point in itself, because the closest store is two hours away from me) and I even lug around a loyalty card for a local kettlecorn and pork rind stand. More and more stores are getting their hands into giving their customers rewards cards to keep them store loyal.

If you already have a lot of store cards, you probably already have picked up on the difference between clothing and grocery stores. In grocery stores you have to use the card to get sale prices and to double your coupons, but in clothing stores one of two things happens: 1) you get an additional percentage off the sale price or 2) you earn points to redeem for percentages off. And in addition at clothing stores, you usually get the heads up for hot sales and coupons no one else gets.

Although most reward cards are from grocery and department stores, there are a couple that would be a good idea to get your hands on; these are hardware stores, book stores, coffee shops and local stores that offer incentives. You heard me mention Ace Hardware, but Barnes and Noble, Starbucks, Subway, Dunkin Donuts and Sheetz offer reward cards. Most of these get you percentages off items, but some are like "stamp cards" where you buy 10 of some item and get one free. For example:

If you buy a $2 cup of coffee everyday and use the card that works like a buy 10, get one free, at the end of the year you would have gotten 33 free cups of coffee or saved $66 - a months' worth of coffee. At the end of 5 years time you would have saved $330. I know that seems small to some people, but if you were using rewards cards for everything simple like that think of the money you'd be saving yearly. Let's do another scenario:

Say you're a coffee-drinkin', cookie-eatin' bookworm. You buy a $2 cup of coffee everyday, eat two raspberry cheesecake Subway cookies (we're gonna put a $2 tag on this as well) a week and buy a book a month at Barnes and Noble (with a $25 shelf price). If you use that same card as mentioned above for coffee, fill out your Subway surveys on the receipt for a free cookie and use your Barnes and Noble card taking 40% off each bestseller you buy, in a years' time you will have saved $378. Does that hit home a little harder?

You know we all like treats. What's a $2 coffee everyday or a $2 cookie twice a week or a monthly book? I'm not saying forget it, I'm simply saying "get what you want for cheaper" and it's completely do-able as you just saw. I'm not asking you to reroute your life and hire a finacial advisor, I'm asking that you do the math on what you buy and see if you can find ways to reduce what you spend. Try it and you'll love me. Promise!

Shopkick and Swagbucks

Have a smartphone? Love free stuff? Then you need to get Shopkick right now! Shopkick is a free app that gives you "kicks" for simply walking into stores, scanning items, spending money in certain stores and sometimes just by clicking on the instant surprise! Once you have saved up your "kicks" you can turn them in for rewards by clicking on "Rewards" in the Shopkick app. They have things like movie tickets, gift cards, Facebook credits, sunglasses, etc.

Basically, anytime you're out in town, be that couponing or just chilling, open up Shopkick and check out what's going on around you. There are usually about 50 "kicks" per store with about 10 participating stores at a given time. Again all you have to do to get them is scan the specified items with your phone or walk into a certain store. Shopkick explains how to do everything and it's very easy to get those kicks fast! As of this very moment there are 415 kicks at Target and 310 kicks at Walmart!

Now wait a second. Is it going to take a ridiculously long time to save up for those gift cards and other rewards? NO! That's probably the best part the costs of giftcards start at 500 kicks! I don't always remember to use Shopkick when I'm out but it has only taken me about 2 weeks to get to 300 kicks!


And now you're wondering, what is Swagbucks? Swagbucks is a website dedicated to rewarding you for what you do every day on the internet! If you can search the web, take surveys, play games or watch videos, you can earn Swagbucks!

As for rewards, if you can imagine it, Swagbucks has it! I was just skimming through the rewards and they range from trading cards to tvs and shampoo to gift cards with just as varying price ranges. Now if you're like me and planning on getting bigger items like gift cards or tvs, it will take a while to save up to that amount. Your best bet is to always do the Daily Poll, NOSO offer, use the Swagbucks search engine instead of Google and take as many surveys as you can!

Since Swagbucks is such a big site with so much to do and much more to explain, I feel it's best if you just went ahead and checked it out for yourself. Play around and just explore the site, you'll get a better feel for it that way.

So go ahead and take advantage of those two things. As an added bonus tip: while you're downloading Shopkick for your smartphone, go ahead and look for the Free Stuff Times app as well, I promise you'll love it!

Couponing Tip: Don't Let Other People Tell You You Can't

We’ve all heard it; “Free stuff doesn’t exist” and “You can’t get those things for free”. I hear “you don’t do anything except coupon” and “that’s a waste of time” almost every week from someone.

 Let me tell you; it does, you can, I don’t and it’s not.

Free stuff does exist in every hidden corner of the mall and every place you can imagine, all you have to do is have the guts and willpower to find it or make it happen. Let me give you a little insight to my free world.

I get panties for free and bras at mega discounts from Victoria’s Secret and let me just say if you’ve been to Victoria’s Secret you know what those pretty little things cost you. To get them for free, sign up at Victoria’s Secret for their mailing list, chill out and wait for them to send you coupons. Most often I get coupons for a FREE pair of cotton panties, no purchase necessary (score!) AND there’s usually a second coupon for $10 off a purchase of $10 or more! So just find another pair of panties priced at $10 and (double score!) TWO pairs of FREE panties! Or if you are more in the market for fragrances or makeup, they have a nice selection of those that usually work out for super cheap or free!

The bras are a little harder to pull off, but let’s face it, if you can get your hands on a brand new bra from Victoria’s Secret with the added bonus of a pair of panties for $9.50 you can do anything! This one requires you to wait until Victoria’s Secret releases a coupon code for “$10 off a bra + FREE cotton panty” AND to have a $10 Secret Reward (for those of you who don’t know what that is I’ll cover it below). Here’s the scenario:
Purchase one bra $29.50
And pick up a cotton panty (usually priced around $9)
Use the coupon code and it will take off $19 ($10 for the bra, $9 for the free panty)
AND use your $10 Secret Reward
Final Price: $9.50 for a bra and panty!

Now, for those of you who don’t know what a Secret Reward is:
Victoria’s Secret regularly runs a promotion “Buy a $10 item, get a Secret Reward”. The Secret Reward is a little card that looks almost like a gift card and it has $10, $50, $100 or $500 on it. So in all honesty, if you spend $10 and get a $100 Secret Reward, you basically just made a FREE $90 to use at Victoria’s Secret. However you won’t know the value of your card until you checkout on your next visit to the store. (Of course I like to cheat a bit to know the value of my card, so if you head over to Victoria’s Secret and add a $15 (ish) item to your basket, go to checkout and apply the card number to the order, it will show how much it took off (if it took $10, it’s a $10 card, if it took more, you know you have a higher value card). Now if you don’t want the item in your basket just take the Secret Reward off the order and you can use it for something you really want.

Now, how do I get clothes for super cheap to cover up those free panties? This is a little harder, but well worth the effort when you start calculating.

Sometimes stores (Target is notorious for this) will release coupons specifically for clothes, such as “$3 off a sleepwear item” or “$5 off a pair of [insert brand name] jeans”. Before Christmas last year Target did release the first of those and I went straight for the clearance racks. If you wait long enough and keep your eye on that specific rack item prices will dwindle down to a couple dollars (usually up to 85% savings right there!), then use that $3 coupon to score a free sleep shirt!

As much as you may think differently, Goodwill and other various thrift shops have such cheap clothing and sometimes you can find never-worn clothing with department store tags still intact. There’s really nothing much to this tip, but if you’re hell-bent against thrifting give me a break and try just once to find something you can live with at a thrift store and who knows, you may love it and come back!

If you still can’t come to terms with thrift, try your hardest to shop in the clearance section of “real” stores. I know it’s inconvenient because they may not have certain colors, sizes or a slew of other things, but it really is worth it to shop here. Just last month I scooped up a Vera Wang shirt for $4.80 at Kohl’s, brand-new! Now if I had my hands on a $5 off $5 purchase coupon that you can regularly find on Ebay (the average bid for 10 $5 off $5 Kohl’s coupon is around $3), the shirt would have been FREE!

While on the subject of the $5 Kohl’s coupon, Kohl’s carries small items under $5 that you can get for FREE with that coupon including: candles, dish cloths, hand towels, small décor, pillows, bath kits, clearance jewelry, etc.

Drugstores are a different playing field with some of the same concepts, the items you get just differ. Here is a list of items that, with your extensive knowledge of drugstores and coupons, you can easily score for free: pantiliners, makeup, shampoo, deodorant, single serve candy bars, multitudes of cough drops, aspirin and vitamins, small snacks.

Grocery stores are even more different if you’re dealing with a store that doesn’t double. Here is my list of things that I regularly get for free at stores like Walmart: razors, floss, sodas, cat treats, pens, whiteout, and random cooking and baking items such as bread crumbs and sauce mix packets. Here is a Kroger-like (stores that double coupons) list: single serve bottled tea, juice and water, body wash, cereal, toothbrushes, toothpaste, candy and meal bar singles, yogurt, canned food and snack foods.

One of my favorites, though I’m not sure why is Staples. Especially during the back to school season, Staples has sooooooooooo many items that are free after rebate or Staples Rewards. I have scored packs of batteries, pens, paper, toilet paper, Sharpies, earbuds, jump drives for absolutely nothing here! You can sign-up for Staples Rewards in store.

There are more stores that I haven’t covered, but I think this is a lot to take in all at once and I have the rest of my life to get it all down, so we’ll take a break for now.

In conclusion, free stuff does exist everywhere, I have other hobbies such as watching anime, writing, hiking and spending time with my fiancé, couponing is not a waste of my time (I’ll let you be the judge of yours).  Let’s put it in perspective: Since January 1st of this year, I have saved over $350. Is it a waste of time to save that kind of money on things you HAVE to buy?

1/28/12

CVS Coupon Matchups Week of 1/29

I prefer to just list the best deals (freebies!) when you have 10 sale pages to go through. It's soooo much work and sometimes it's best to go through the sale ads and look up coupons yourself; it's nice to have someone else do it, but there have been times that I find better deals on my own. Here's a super cool link to a coupon database where you can type in what coupons you're looking for and it will spit out a nice list of available coupons, expiration dates, where to find them and their value!

Here's the CVS list!

Buy 3 American Greetings Cards @ $0.99 each
Pay $2.97, Receive $3.00 Extra Bucks
Final Price: FREE!

Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bunny, Cadbury Egg, Reese’s Single Egg, 1.2 oz, Cadbury Mini Eggs, 1.5 oz $0.87
Buy 1, Receive $0.87 Extra Bucks, Limit 1 *only valid Sun, Mon and Tues!*
Pay $0.87, Receive $0.87 Extra Bucks
Final Price: FREE!

Buy 6 Speed Stick or Lady Speed Stick Antiperspirant/ Deodorant, 2.3-3 oz $1.99
Use 3 B1G1 Free Speed Stick or Lady Speed Stick, Excludes Trial Size, from SS 1/29 (exp 2/15)
Pay $5.97, Receive $6.00 Extra Bucks
Final Price: FREE!

(Thanks, The Krazy Coupon Lady !)

Martin's Coupon Matchups Week of 1/29

My local Martin's doubles coupons up to $0.50 (one per item per day per customer) and rounds coupons from $0.51 to $0.99 up to $1; those rules are what my final prices are based on.

French's Yellow Mustard $1.25
Use $0.30/1 French's (1/22/12 SS *regional)
OR there is supposedly a $0.30/1 coupon on French's website, it just won't load for me yet.
Final Price: $0.45!

Heluva Good Dip $1.67
Use $0.50/1 printable found here
Final Price: $0.67!

New York Texas Toast Croutons $1.25
Use $0.40/1 Texas Toast Croutons (1/29/12 SS)
Final Price: $0.45!

Knorr Sides $1
Use $0.50/2 Knorr Sides (1/29/12 RP)
Final Price: $0.50 each!

Furmano's Tomatoes $1
Use $0.50/2 Furmano's Tomatoes (1/29/12 RP)
Final Price: $0.50 each!

Vlasic Pickles $2
Use $0.75/1 Vlasic Jars (1/29/12 SS *regional)
Final Price: $1!

Kroger Coupon Matchups Week of 1/29

For this matchup I will be using double coupons up to $0.50 as that is what my local Kroger does and all items listed will be part of the "Game Day Greats" promotion. Please see your local Kroger ad for details.

Hunt's Tomatoes or Paste $0.49
Use $0.45/3 Hunt's Tomatoes (1/22/12 SS *regional)
OR there are three more coupons here ( $0.40/2 , $1/3 , and $0.60/3 )
Final Price: As low as $0.09 per can!
 
Ragu Pasta Sauce $1.29
Use $0.50/1 Ragu coupon (1/29/12 RP)
Final Price: $0.29!
 
Birds Eye Steamfresh Vegetables $1.69
Use $0.50/1 Birds Eye Chef's Favorites (1/8/12 SS #2)
Final Price: $0.69!
 
I Can't Believe It's Not Butter $1.79
Use $0.50/1 I Can't Believe (1/29/12 RP)
Final Price: $0.79!
 
Mom's Best Naturals Cereal $0.99
Use $1/2 Mom's Best Printable found here
Final Price: $0.49 each!
 
Honest Tea Singles $0.75
Use $0.50/1 found on tearpad
Final Price: FREE!
 
Pepperidge Farm 3 Layer Cake $1.99
Use $.50/1 Pepperidge Farm 3 Layer Cake (11/20/11 SS)
Final Price: $0.99!
 
 
 
 

1/27/12

Couponing Tip: Trial Sized Treasures!

Ok, so you all know you can use coupons on regular sized items, but did you know you can use certain coupons on trial sized items as well? If not, you're missing out on one of the best tricks of the trade.

As long as the coupons do not say "excludes trial/travel size" you can shimmy on over to the travel section and load up on tiny (but free!) goodies! Even if the coupons state some to the effect of "1.2 oz or larger" make sure to check the ounces on the travel items; a couple of months ago P&G released a coupon for Old Spice (1.2 oz or larger) and come to find out the travel sizes were actually 1.2 ounces!

Think about it like this if a 16 ounce bottle of Old Spice runs at say $4.50 and I use one $1 coupon, I get the body wash for $3.50 OR I could buy 13 travel sized bottles using 13 $1 coupons and getting them all for free! So I could get the same amount of body wash for much, much cheaper even though now it's separated into 13 small bottles.

Now that I have 13 tiny bottles of body wash, what do I do with them? Take them on overnight trips to relatives houses or hotels, make them into care packages for soldiers or someone in need, slip them into guest bathrooms, donate them to a homeless shelter or keep them for yourself! For the last, if you prefer not to have millions of tiny bottles floating around your bathroom, just open them all and pour them into one large bottle (like the clear, plastic ones you find in the travel section!) and use like that.

Don't get me wrong, body wash is not the only travel sized goodie you can find for free with coupons; there are shampoos, first aid kits, band-aids, over the counter medicine, etc.

In addition to the beauty travel section, coupons regularly come out for cookies, condiments, sodas, etc that (with no size restrictions) you can use to score small packages or containers of these for super cheap or free! You just have to keep an eye out on blogs, newspapers and printable coupon sites for those lovely little pieces of paper!

Do me a favor and try to get your hands on many travel sized items as you can and let me know how it goes!

1/24/12

Couponing at CVS

Couponing at CVS is such a blessing to me; they have so many great deals on health and beauty products that this is usually where I get everything from toothbrushes to vitamins. I have more of a problem getting good deals on food as the CVS I shop at doesn’t have a very big or massively stocked grocery section. But I do get to store as early as possible the day the sale starts because (as I’ve learned the hard way) hot health and beauty deals get the shelves cleared very fast. I could always sleep in on Sundays and get rain checks, but I would just rather be the first in the store and walking out with my bags full of goodies!


The first step to successful couponing at CVS is to get yourself a CVS ExtraCare card. You can sign up in store or online by clicking here. If you do sign up online, they will give you your card number so you can start using it immediately until your permanent card arrives in the mail. Use this card EVERY time you go to CVS and you’ll start to see the savings immediately.



The card takes off a little bit of money on everything you buy and gives you the discounted prices if something is on sale. I’m also pretty sure that if something is on clearance, you can’t get the clearance price without the card. (I’m not 100% on that, but in my experience when they ring the item up before my card it rings up at full retail until after they swipe my card.) You also get 2% back in ExtraCare Bucks quarterly for whatever money you spend in store. In addition to all these goodies, when you swipe your CVS card at the kiosk in store it spits out store coupons for you which are sometimes very high value! Basically, if you’re going to shop at CVS you HAVE to have this card.



Another little addition to the greatness of CVS is the Green Bag Tag. You can find these at the register (they look like little leaves) and cost about $1 to get one. Attach this to any reusable bag (I have an actual CVS bag just so I can remember that at CVS I use the tag, instead of picking up a random bag and it not having the tag on it), bring the bag with you every time you shop at CVS and every time you use this bag instead of a plastic one, the green bag tag will be swiped. Every four swipes, you get $1 ExtraCare Buck! So basically CVS is paying you to be green! However, even if you make two trips to CVS in one day, you can only earn one point per day.

** A little tip: When you first get your permanent card swipe it at the kiosk and it usually spits out a coupon for money off a green bag tag!**



One more fun thing that earns you extra ExtraCare Bucks is the Beauty Club. In the makeup section of CVS you will find tearpads with the Beauty Club signup info on them; just tear one off and take it with you when you checkout. It doesn’t cost anything to you and you only have to scan it once and you’re in! Here’s how it works:

For every $50 you spend on beauty products, you get $5 back in ECBs! It works on items you are already getting ExtraBucks back for and clearance items as well! I just got a deal where I found four bottles of Pantene shampoo on clearance for $1.49 a bottle and I had two $3/2 Pantene coupons, so my OOP cost was $0, plus I got an unexpected $6 in ECBs back and $5.96 went on the register towards Beauty Club! This is also a must have goody at CVS!



When shopping at CVS you can use three types of coupons on one item: a manufacturer coupon, a store coupon and your ExtraCare Bucks from CVS. You can also EARN ExtraCare Bucks on items you use coupons, which is the perfect example of another way to make “money” at CVS. For example;

Centrum Pronutrients Bottles on sale for $9.99, buy two and get $7 ExtraCare Bucks

Buy 2 for $19.98

Use 2 $5/1 manufacturer coupons

Use 1 $5/1 CVS store coupon

Receive $7 ExtraCare Bucks

Final Price: FREE + $2.02 moneymaker!



CVS also has a great promotion they usually run which is the “Spend $30, Get $10 CVS Cash Card”. Still rolling with the Centrum product (since this was a very hot deal a couple weeks ago) here’s a second example of how to make money with a Cash Card promotion;



Centrum Pronutrients Bottles on sale for $9.99, participating Spend $30, Get $10

Buy 3 for $29.97 (being this close to $30, should trigger the $10 Cash Card coupon)

Use 3 $7/1 Centrum Pronutrients manufacturer coupon

Use 1 $5/1 Centrum Pronutrients CVS coupon

Pay $3.97 OOP

Final Price: FREE + $6.03 moneymaker!

**Another plus about these Cash Card deals; when you find one that’s a super hot deal like this, you can roll it five times before the Cash Card will reach its limit on your account!**



The final thing (well, not absolutely final, but the last thing I will mention in this post) about CVS is that you can use your earned ExtraBucks to cut down on your OOP costs. For example:



Skinny Cow Dreamy Cluster Boxed Candy, on sale for $4.00, receive $2 ECB

Use $1/1 Skinny Cow manufacturer coupon

Use $1/1 Skinny Cow CVS coupon

Use $2 ECB (earned in previous transaction)

Pay $0 OOP

Receive $2 ECB

Final Price: FREE!



As you coupon more and more, you’ll get a good grip on these concepts. I had one heck of a time understanding all this until I went hands-on. So try a couple deals and promise me you won’t beat yourself up if it didn’t go as well as planned; a lot of my first tries were duds. Moreover, once in awhile we all mess up, and that’s ok too!

1/22/12

When Cash Registers (or their operators) Don't Cooperate

This morning as I headed out to do my couponing before all the shelves were wiped I felt awesome about the day and the deals I would be getting. Sorry to say that as I made my way from store to store everything just kept going wrong and I got fed up by the time 1:30 rolled around. At CVS the shift supervisor more or less accused me of coupon fraud simply because my printables wouldn’t scan, at Wal-Mart nothing was stocked, at Rite Aid my +UP reward did not print when I purchased the qualifying products and finally at Family Dollar the cashier made a smart remark about not be able to help her co-worker because she “had a ‘spender’ in her line”. As a result, this post.



1.      If your coupons don’t scan, it doesn’t always mean they aren’t valid. Top reasons my coupons don’t scan are 1) the price and the coupon are the same amount 2) the price is lower than the amount of the coupon 3)the cashier did not ring my item up. A lot of cashiers at places I shop have to manually enter my coupons because their systems will not take off the coupon if the item price is equal to or lower than the value of the coupon. (This is especially true for dollar stores like Family Dollar and Dollar General.)

2.      If the cashier will not accept your coupon for various reasons such as “this coupon is more than the item, I can’t take it” or “it won’t scan, I can’t accept it” (the last being for newspaper coupons, not printables) and you know very well that it IS valid for that item, get another opinion! If this means having the cashier call the customer service manager or just checking out and going to customer service yourself. I have had to do the second one quite a bit at Wal-Mart when I don’t want to hold up the line for $1 coupon; I walk right over and say “I gave them this coupon [show coupon] for this product [show product and receipt] and was told they couldn’t accept it because [insert reason], is that correct” and usually they side with you and take your coupon and give you back your money.

3.      If the cashier argues the coupon policy with you and you know better, pull out your stores’ coupon policy or ask for the customer service manager. In my experience, a lot of cashiers don’t know their own coupon policy or misunderstand it.

4.      If you have a coupon uneducated customer service manager that wants to argue with you and you know you’re right, have them call corporate or email corporate yourself and have it sorted out. (I will most definitely be doing two of these today. Hate to, but respect is respect and I don’t appreciate being publicly humiliated and being called out for coupon fraud when that’s not at all what it is.)

5.      If a reward (such as an ExtraCare Buck or +UP reward) doesn’t print, point it out the cashier at CVS and they will print one for you or for Rite Aid, call the customer service on your receipt and they will fix it. For some reason Rite Aid can’t print them out when they don’t print anymore.

6.      If you think your before coupon total is wrong, have the cashier check the receipt. Before using coupons I would never question, now I realize that I have probably paid for things I haven’t even bought quite frequently. A lot of times a cashier will double scan something (I just had this happen at Rite Aid a month ago, a $5 toothbrush; $5 is $5!) or something will not ring up at its sale price such as holiday clearance items.



Just remember, if you’re thorough and pay attention to what’s going on while shopping you’ll catch a lot of these mishaps. And another thing, there’s always someone else to double check your questions. If it takes you a customer service manager, two phone calls and a train ride, you’ll find answers!

1/15/12

Which Stores Are Worth It?

So you’re a couponer now. Which stores are actually worth couponing in? That was one of my biggest questions when I was just starting out and I was a little shocked to hear the answer. ALL OF THEM! You’re going to want to shop at multiple stores to score the most deals you can. Think like this; each store will have different things on sale each week, each store offers different incentives (which I will go over below) and the more stores you shop at, the more free stuff you will come home with.

When I say “incentives” I mean things like, does the store double or triple coupons, does it offer reward coupons like +UP or ExtraCare Bucks or does it have a super hot Catalina deal going on? Let’s take a closer look.

If I HAVE to buy Theraflu Warming Caplets because my boyfriend is sick (and so making my life a living you-know-what with the whining, man-cold act) which store would it be more beneficial for me to buy it at? I have a $3/1 coupon and there are three stores that carry this brand, two having sales on it.

Walmart Scenario
Theraflu Caplets, $5.99, regular price
Use $3/1 Theraflu coupon
Final Price: $2.99


Rite Aid Scenario
Theraflu Caplets, $4.99, sale price (Buy one, get $3 +UP reward back)
Use $3/1 Theraflu coupon
Final Price: $1 MONEYMAKER!


Kroger Scenario
Theraflu Caplets, $4.99, sale price
Use $3/1 Theraflu coupon
Final Price: $1.99

Yes! It would be more beneficial to purchase it at Rite Aid because you are making $1.00. If you didn’t shop at multiple stores, you wouldn’t know that. But now you do shop at multiple stores, because now you know! =]

Each week expect to look through multiple stores’ ads and shop at them too. This way you’ll be able to get your hands on as much free product as you can (but still minding limitations and leaving some for others).

In my experience, the stores I find myself shopping more often than others are Rite Aid, Target, Walmart and Kroger. I will say that it seems like stores rotate who has the best and most sale item in a given week; some weeks I find myself stocking up at Kroger and CVS and others I feel like I’m getting everything at Rite Aid, Walmart and Target.

Each store I shop at has at least one reason why I love them. Here are a couple of those reasons.

Kroger – My Kroger doubles coupons and that always makes for super cheap deodorant, toothpaste and toothbrushes.

Target – Target always has those awesome “buy two of these items and get a $5 gift card” promotions going on and that’s how I’ve stocked up on Curel lotion and vitamins there. They also have amazing store coupons on their site. Before Christmas last year I got three sleep shirts for free by using the $3/1 sleepwear item and pairing it with the clearance merch (which Target also has a lot of at super prices).

Rite Aid – This store ALWAYS has cold medicine and cough drops for free and for someone who gets sick fairly often (which is very expensive by the way), it’s a way for me to stock up on my most loved cough syrup. 

Walmart – Let me lay it on you now; I LOVE OVERAGE AT WALMART! I cannot stress enough how important overage is to me! My fiancé is a health nut who needs protein shakes, kashi, and all kinds of vitamins. He is also lactose intolerant and happens to prefer the Walmart brand of the milk pills (seriously, when do you get coupons for that?!). So most of the time the overage goes towards that and when it doesn’t, it goes towards Coke and what my fiancé calls “Laura-food”, meaning easy to make, readily accessible tasty snacks for me!

You too will come to love these stores, their incentives and all the variety they have to offer. And you will DEFINITELY begin to love overage at Walmart too!

Store Coupon Policies

One essential tool in successful couponing is knowing (and printing and highlighting and taking that paper with you to the store!) the stores’ coupon policy. Below is a list of stores I shop at, most being big name stores that I’m sure you shop at too, and their respective coupon policy links.







CVS Coupon Policy


Remember to print these and keep them somewhere safe! What works best for me is keeping them in a binder with tabs so I can easily flip to and fro in my policies wonderland. I also highlight key points in each policy so if a problem arises in checkout I can resort right back to major information.

Couponing Tips

Like any art, as you coupon you will find what works for you and what doesn’t and you will compile your own bag of tricks, tips and hints that you’ll go on to share with others (or me maybe!). The following is a rundown of my own.

First off, I do NOT have a massive coupon binder that I lug back and forth from store to store with me. I don’t know about you, but the thought and the act of clipping every coupon I get and then sorting them into a binder that I have to keep cleaned out just seems like way too much of an effort. Instead, I have a bankers’ box of sorts. It’s plastic and has just enough room for me to keep all my in date coupons as whole inserts, filed by date into manila folders that are also filed into hanging file folders for ease of movement. To me, this is the easiest way because coupon databases and most blogs use the dates of the inserts (found along the spine of the inserts) as a way for you to identify the coupon they are talking about in your own coupons. For example:


Kraft Cheese Singles     $0.50/1      11/24/10 SS


That means there is a Kraft Cheese Single coupon in the value of $0.50 off one in the 11/24/10 SmartSource coupon insert.

Now, if you have your coupons in a binder, you have to rely on you to know where those coupons are.

Secondly, to keep my coupon policies, shopping list and rebate forms organized, I keep a small binder with tab dividers labeled accordingly with every page in a sheet protector. Trust me, this binder gets used A LOT and sheet protectors are a must. This binder does go with me while I shop, that way I don’t have to go empty-handed up against the cashier should a problem arise.

In addition to the binder, I also take my couponing envelopes with me to the stores I’m going to. Since I don’t lug around my coupon inserts, I clip the coupons I need at home and sort them into labeled envelopes for each store I plan on going to within my trip. So for each store I go into I only bring in my policy binder and the envelope of coupons for that store.

On the more radical side of couponing, I “dumpster dive” to get multiples of coupon inserts. Well, let me rephrase that. I recycling bin dive at my local recycling center. The up side is that no trash is mixed in with the newspapers and it’s a generally clean job. The down side, it’s still considered “dumpster diving”, I’m sure. However, it doesn’t bother me. It’s almost the only way I can get many multiples. I buy four newspapers every Saturday to make sure I’m supplied and I request coupons from my family members, but it’s hard for them to remember all the time. Recycling bin diving is how I get my fix.

If you happen to have a family member or friend who works in a grocery store such as Kroger or Food Lion where coupons practically print out every transaction, consider asking them to bring you home leftover printouts that people don’t want or forget. My sister does this for me and every week I look forward to the high values she brings home to me. (Last week I happened to get a $1.50 off one Mello Yello 12pk coupon!)

I’m not sure what tip we’re on, but I feel like I’m on a roll! Being young (or quite possibly just lazy), when I find a way to cut my work, I take up on the opportunity. Ebay  is a great way to find the multiples you actually want. Wait. Buy coupons? Didn’t you just say that was illegal. Well, yes, I did say selling and buying coupons was illegal. Now I’m not condoning any illegal activity because in every coupon listing I get my hands on clearly states something to the effect of “these coupons are free, you are paying for my time to clip, sort and ship them”. So legally, we’re all clear. However, if that’s something your uncomfortable with, just don’t do it.

One that I have never come across anywhere on a coupon site is that you CANNOT print coupons from the internet on scrap or used paper. They will not scan and most stores will not accept them if they don’t scan. I actually had someone at Walmart explain that the manufacturer does not accept them if they have print on the back of them because they think they’re copies. Now that doesn’t explain why they won’t scan, but they won’t.

Lastly, help your cashier! If they don’t understand their coupon policy, school them! Thank them! And last of all congratulate them on a job well done at dealing with your coupon craziness!

What are your best couponing tips? I’d love to hear! Post down in the comments to let everyone know!

Couponing No-No's

Couponing No-No’s

There are more and more restrictions being put on coupons every day, so we all have to make sure that 1) we are up to date with what is considered illegal and 2) what is considered inconsiderate. Now, illegal and inconsiderate are one in the same and, at the same time, completely opposite. We are going to go over them right now!



Illegal No-No’s

1.      Copying, reproducing, altering, decoding or selling coupons. (Decoding a coupon means “decoding” the barcode with the intention of using the coupon on an item the manufacturer did not intend you to.)

2.      Using a coupon you know is altered, copied or otherwise fake.

3.      Ignoring the fine print on coupons; heed the per transaction limits, size and quantity rules and the expiration date.

4.      Using more than one manufacturer coupon per item. i.e., you cannot use four $0.50 off coupons on one $2.00 jar of pasta sauce to make it free.

5.      Accepting a bigger discount than you should because the cashier or the computer messed up.





Inconsiderate No-No’s

1.      Clearing shelves! In my opinion, taking all of a “highly prized” couponing item, be it a sale item or a regular priced item, is inconsiderate to other couponers (and the “muggles” of couponing, everyday shoppers). How would you feel if, after all your research and clipping you got to the store to find it all gone? The exceptions to my rule are 1) if I get to the store and the majority of the item is wiped out and there are three or four left or 2) if the item is on clearance and no one else seems interested in it.

2.      Taking items from another shoppers’ cart or arms. (I mean, we are mature adults here.) And on a side note; Black Friday does NOT bend this rule.

3.      Pushing people out of your way to get to that highly prized item.

4.      Stealing coupons from your neighbors’ newspaper, or any other newspaper for that matter.

5.      Belittling your cashier because they don’t know their stores coupon policy. You wouldn’t either unless you couponed, so cut them some slack.



If anyone finds anything I have neglected to mention feel free to shoot me a message or post a comment!

1/14/12

How To Understand Coupon Lingo

Since this blog is just getting up and off the ground I only think it would be appropriate to start out with a series about couponing How Tos. In the next few days I am going to attempt to get all the beginners how to, lingo and store know how out here for everyone to take advantage of.

First off this post will be all about coupon lingo definitions.

OOP - probably the most used word in coupon lingo, besides coupons; means Out Of Pocket, referring to the total money you had to pay after all items and coupons were scanned

BOGO - another popular ; means Buy One Get One ; on my blog (and the majority of others) couponers will specify between a BOGO half off and BOGO free

SS - you will find these in coupon databases and on blogs when they are listing where to find the coupon; means SmartSource, as in one of the coupon inserts that come in the paper

RP - also to be found when listing coupon "homes" ; means Redplum and is also one of the names of coupon inserts

PG - same as the last two ; means Procter & Gamble and is a coupon insert

MFR - means Manufacturer and will be used to differentiate between manufacturer coupons and store coupons if both are being used for one item

Q - I don't actually use this one, but some couponers do ; means coupons or coupon

That's not the entire list, I'm positive, but I will come back to this post regularly when I find lingo that needs to be updated or added. However, those are the most used and will do wonders for you in your deal searching.

How To Make and Use Overage at Walmart

Want to know how to rack up overage dollars at Walmart to use on items that you don't have coupons for but still want to get for free? In fact, that's all I've been doing this past week and I'm willing to share!

1. Having an abundance of coupons is key to making sure you get the best overage deals Walmart has to offer. Clip from the newspaper, print from the internet, dumpster dive for extras, whatever you have to do to get your hands on those coupons! Just promise me you won't do anything unethical.

2. In addition to having access to an ocean of coupons, you absolutely must have access to good couponing blogs such as Hip2Save (my favorite), Fabulessly Frugal and The Krazy Coupon Lady. They post fabulous deals at Walmart weekly, including dollar or less deals and many, many overage deals. The more blogs you check, the more deals you are bound to come across. Let's face it, we can't all find all the deals by ourselves!

3. Clip those coupons and get it together! If you have multiples of a coupon, keep them all together so you know how many of a product you can buy. Remember, organization is key. Make a list of products, how many of that product you need, the coupon value and the total OOP (out of pocket) cost for those products. For example:

(4) Schick Disposable Razors, Value Pack, $1.97 each
Use (4) $2/1 Schick coupons (ss 12/4/11)
Final Price: FREE + $0.12 overage!

4. You guessed it! To make overage at Walmart, all you need is to find a product that sells for lower than your coupons value! However, racking up a decent amount of overage is a little more work and that is where your blogs come in. Sometimes it's a waiting game to see if anymore high value coupons will come out before your other "overage coupons" expire.

Here's a good example of making a lot of overage in one go (this is also my shopping list for next week!)
(2) Dulcolax Products 10ct., $1.98 each
Use (2) $3/1 Dulcolax coupon (NO LONGER AVAILABLE)
Final Price: FREE + $2.04 overage!

(4) Dulcolax Products 10ct., $1.98 each
Use (2) $5/2 Dulcolax coupon (NO LONGER AVAILABLE)
Final Price: FREE + $2.08 overage!

(4) Schick Disposable Razors, $1.97 each
Use (4) $2/1 Schick coupons  (SS 12/4/11)
Final Price: FREE + $0.12 overage!

(1) Kashi Go Lean Single Bar, $1.26
Use $2/1 Kashi coupon ( FOUND ON RECYCLEBANK)
Final Price: FREE + $0.74 overage

(1) Cortaid product, small bottle, $2.50
Use $3/1 Cortaid coupon (SS 1/8/12 #2)
Final Price: FREE + $0.50 overage

Total: $5.48 overage (plus all those products are FREE!)

That overage, according to Walmarts' coupon policy can either be paid out to you as cash or applied to the basket purchase. If you choose to use it towards your purchase that means you can pick up $5.48 worth of additional products that are difficult to get for free, such as meat or dairy products, that you'll only have to pay tax on.

On a side note, if you don't need 6 boxes of Dulcolax or any razors, donate it! There will always be a need at your local senior center, homeless shelter or a neighbor; just promise not to throw any coupons away!

Thanks for reading!
 

1/13/12

Welcome!

Hello!

As you may (or may not) have noticed, this is a couponing blog.  Coupons? Coupons. Extreme? Hell yeah!

Here at Commander Coupon, I have a one woman staff that takes care of the clipping, researching and dumpster diving for the most sought paper of our time: coupons!

Who am I? I'm a young woman with an amazing fiance (who really could care less about coupons) just trying to save some money so I can get my life together and on the right track finacially before I get married. With around an eight month investment in couponing I have built up quite the stockpile with everyday essentials such as floss, toothbrushes, tampons, shampoos, soaps, food and the not so essential things like candy bars, sodas and such. I am still learning, but then again who isn't?

I aim to post everyday with new couponing tips, links and free items. With so much going on I may skimp here or there until I can get a good schedule down.

Thanks for reading!