How I Shop Using Coupons

Here is my process for my weekly coupon shopping excursions:

1. Every week I clip coupons and sort on Sunday eve (unless the paper is late). 
   
2. I scan the weekly ads to see if there is anything that pops out at me. 
   
3. I look at the couponing websites for match-ups and copy and paste any deals I like into a Word document, sorted by store. Then print and cut out each section by store.
   
4. Next I gather the coupons I need out of my binder and/or print any coupons I need off of the web. I put them into store specific envelopes with the store lists I made in Word.
   
5. Before I go shopping, I make a list of all of my Ibotta coupons in Word and print it out. 
   
6. When it's time to go shopping, I carry only one store envelope into each store, use the list I made, and it's really easy shopping. 

• The only exception is Walmart. At Walmart, I bring in my store envelope, but I also bring in my whole binder and another handwritten general shopping list (for things I don't have coupon match ups for but I need to buy anyway). I go department by department, using both lists.  I am looking for special Roll Backs and sometimes getting lucky with matching coupons in my binder with those sales.  With my general shopping list, it might say that I need shampoo, but I didn't find any sale-to-coupon match-ups that fit my need on any of the couponing websites I visited earlier. But there is a 99.9% probability that I have coupons for shampoo in my binder. So I'll go to the shampoo aisle and try to find the best possible deal with using the coupons I have against the regular prices of shampoo (unless I'm lucky and find a rollback and have a matching coupon!).  This process in Walmart is repeated in various departments in Walmart, depending on my needs.

This post contains referral links.

Target Samples

I just found out about the Target samples webpage. I guess they rotate their samples. Right now, you can get a free Essie Apricot Cuticle Oil sample.

Go to http://samples.target.com/ to view the current sample(s).

Couponing My Way Out of Student Loans Wednesdays

It's Wednesday and that means I'm going to tell you all about my savings this past week.

Previous Balance = $174.19

Date	Notes	Saved
5/23/2013	Amazon Sale Savings	$58.00
5/25/2013	Shopping Savings	$148.29
5/25/2013	Claire's Clearance	$169.83
5/25/2013	Redbox Free Trial	$8.00
5/28/2013	Amazon Sale Savings- REFUND	-$58.00
	Total Savings This Week	$326.12
	Total Savings This Month	$500.31

So, about the Amazon Sale Savings- Refund: I ordered the chicken fryer for like 58% off. It was delivered today. The handle is broken. This is a heavy pot/skillet/whatever, so it needs a good handle. I have to return it. :(

See the entry for Claire's Clearance? I only spent $49.17 on $219 worth of merchandise. These items will go into my stash of future Christmas and Birthday gifts for my people.

I included the price of one month to the Redbox subscription even though it is a free trial. I did this to stay in line with my "found or unexpected savings or income" rule. We would probably be spending $8 renting movies from Amazon Instant Video in a month, anyway, but now we're saving that much by participating in this free Redbox trial. See how that works?

Saving is fun! 

Shopping with Coupons and Sales Weekly Update

Hello y'all! I went shopping on Friday and Saturday and here's what I saved!

Walgreens

Value	$9.98
Card Savings	$3.00
Coupon Savings	$6.40
Total Paid	$1.07
Taxes	-$0.49
Total $$ Savings	$9.40
Total %% Savings	94%

Safeway Value $88.92 Card Savings $37.09 Coupon Savings $6.50 Total Paid $45.82 Taxes -$0.49 Total $$ Savings $43.59 Total %% Savings 49%
Target

Value	$50.70	$13.97	$19.47
Card Savings	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Coupon/Sales Savings	$21.72	$8.00	$13.00
Total Paid	$30.38	$6.33	$7.41
Taxes	-$1.40	-$0.36	-$0.94
Total $$ Savings	$21.72	$8.00	$13.00
Total %% Savings	43%	57%	67%

Walmart

Value	$3.94
Card Savings	$0.00
Coupon/Sales Savings	$2.50
Total Paid	$1.60
Taxes	-$0.16
Total $$ Savings	$2.50
Total %% Savings	63%

King Soopers

Value	$117.42
Card Savings	$47.08
Coupon Savings	$3.00
Total Paid	$68.28
Taxes	-$0.94
Total $$ Savings	$50.08
Total %% Savings	43%

Overall

Value	$270.96
Card Savings	$87.17
Coupon Savings	$61.12
Total Paid	$160.89
Taxes	-$3.48
Total $$ Savings	$148.29
Total %% Savings	55%

"Hey, Cassi, you went to Target THREE times, you say?" you ask.

"Why, yes. Yes I did." I reply. "The first time I went, I forgot my Aveeno* coupons that I made such a big fuss** over. The second time I went, I went to a different Target than the first one which didn't have the same products on sale***, so I bought some other Aveeno items that were on sale at this Target and went back to the other Target to buy my other Aveeno items."

*Aveeno = My favorite goop ever! I have bad skin in general and Aveeno is the bomb. Love that oatmeal goodmess!

**Fuss = My printer was being a complete witch to me and all of my computers and I missed out on printing a couple of coupons because I hit my limit on hitting the "print" button on the coupon website. Hours. HOURS! That's how long I messed with that mess.

*** "didn't have the same products on sale" = The prices weren't marked according to the sale prices in the ad. I left the ad out in the car. I'm pretty sure, now, I could have found an ad in-store or gone out and gotten my ad in my car and showed them what the prices should be. But I didn't think of that. I just went back across town to the other Target. I'm still new at this couponing/sale thing.

Discounted: Fagor Michelle B. 4-Quart Chicken Fryer with Lid on sale $41.99, original price $99.99

(Image source: Amazon)

There are only 6 left in stock right now, but if you hurry you can get a red Fagor Michelle B. 4 quart chicken fryer with lid for 58% off it's regular price on Amazon. It's on sale for $41.99, regularly priced at $99.99.  Click here to buy it!

(This post contains referral links.)

Coupon: $1.50/1 Lever 2000 2pk bar soap = $0.24 per bar!

If you go to the Lever 2000 Facebook page, you can get a coupon for $1.50 off a 2 pack bar soap. They are currently $1.97 at Walmart, so you end up paying $0.24 per bar of soap.  Just go to their Facebook page, "like" their page, and then click again on the Hit Fresh tab to reveal the coupon.  

Coupon URL: 
https://www.facebook.com/lever2000/app_479811425417240

(Thanks to Hip2Save!)

Coupon: $2 off Crest Toothpaste, via mail

Right now, you can get a $2 off Crest toothpaste coupon if you go here and fill out the submission form (shipping info). They will send the coupon to you in the mail. Look at that! No printer ink required!  :)  This is a high value coupon and you might be able to get some free toothpaste with it!

Coupon URL: http://pgmovienight.com/crest

(Thanks to Hip2Save!)

How I Organize my Coupons

I got my Sunday paper two days late, unfortunately. So I'm behind on clipping and sorting. But this is a good opportunity to show you how I organize my coupons.

I took advice and free PDFs from The Krazy Coupon Lady and Hip2Save. I keep a categorical binder (as opposed to sorting by insert date). I chose a zipper binder because that's my preference, but I think a lot of people use 2-4" heavy duty non-zipper binders. I use sheet protectors for the cover pages and attached tabs for each easy access. I use baseball card protector sheets for the coupons.

I keep the following extra printouts in sheet protectors in my binder:

• Coupon policies for the stores at which I shop
• Price Point printout
• When to Buy printout
• Sales Cycle printout
• Checkout Checklist
• Ibotta coupon list that I compile once a week before I go shopping

In a pencil bag and in extra pockets in my zipper binder I have:

• Scissors 
• Safety letter opener razor thingy. I have no idea what it's called, but sometimes it's useful for clipping coupons.
• Pencils and Pens
• Calculator
• Pad of paper
• A few envelopes with store names written on them and a few blanks
• All of my gift cards and loyalty cards to various stores
• The weekly sales ads I want to keep stuffed in there somewhere
• An envelope for my receipts

You can add pretty much customize your binder however you want. It's all up to how it will work best for you. My way probably won't work for everyone, but it works for me.

Couponing My Way Out of Student Loans Wednesdays

It's Wednesday again and that means an update on my monthly coupon savings or found money to make an extra student loan payment.

First, I decided not to include the unexpected income as "found money". It's a gift card, so we can't really deposit it into any of our accounts. We decided to use it for our entertainment expenses, which will last us months.

Previous Balance from Last Week = $564.83

$564.83 - $500 gift card = $64.83 Adjusted Balance Last Week

New Items:

Date	Notes	Saved
5/17/2013	Coupon/Sales Savings	$99.36
5/14/2013	Plink Reward	$10.00
	This Week's Total	$109.36
	Monthly Total to Date	$174.19

Woohoo!  I hope that I can get it up to $200 by month's end.

Coupon Savings Roundup - 05/17/2013 - Saved a total of $99.36!

I went shopping last Friday...and here's what I saved...

Safeway- Saved 62% with sales alone
King Soopers – Saved 45% with sales and 1 coupon matchup
WalMart – Saved 17% with coupons alone 
Walgreens – Saved 58% with coupon matchups and sales
Target – Saved 30% with coupon matchups

Saved a total of $99.36!

Ways to Save & Earn a Wee Bit of Money

Here are all of the ways I'm saving or easily earning little bits of money:

SwagBucks  -- Earn points for doing a lot of various things. I have the toolbar installed for chrome and use the search engine which occasionally gives me points. I follow them on Twitter and Facebook where they post Swag Codes which will give you points. The way to earn the big SwagBucks is to do surveys and the "tasks" and completing offers. 

Ibotta  --  It's a smart phone app only. First you activate the discounts on your account, go to the store and buy them, and then scan your receipt using your phone and you'll earn points to redeem for gifts cards, donations to schools/charities, etc.

Plink  -- You have to link your debit card and earn points based on your active rewards. I've been using it for several weeks and already have enough points to cash in!

Surveys for Money-- Time consuming. These are supposed to be among the best survey sites according to some. 

• surveyspot.com
• mysurvey.com 

More info on surveys and earning a little bit of income at home: 

• http://moneysavingmom.com/2011/05/9-legitimate-survey-companies-to-sign-up-with.html
• http://moneysavingmom.com/downloads/income-earning-ideas
• http://moneysavingmethodssurveys.blogspot.com/2008/09/survey-instructions.html

Couponing Websites that were recommended to me:

• http://hip2save.com/new-here/
• http://www.passionforsavings.com/
• http://www.iheartthemart.com/
• http://thecouponproject.com/getting-started

Couponing Websites that I have found on my own:

• http://passionatepennypincher.com/
• http://www.keepingcents.com
• http://krazycouponlady.com

Money Saving Tips -- Pinterest.com has a lot of tips and tricks to saving money and making stuff at home and tons of other stuff. Use the Walgreens and CVS and RiteAid member discounts. They are free. Make your own stuff like laundry soap and lotions because it costs WAY less than buying that stuff.  Example: http://www.raisingcolorado.com/2013/04/homemade-beeswax-lotion.html

Couponing -- And of course the old fashioned couponing. I subscribe to my local sunday newspaper delivered to my door. I clip the coupons every Sunday evening and categorize them in my coupon binder. Then I do the match ups. That is matching up sales in the store ads with the newspaper coupons, internet coupons, and store coupons.  

So there you have it! 

Note: This specific post contains referral links.

Using "found" money to pay off debt

I got the idea from Couponing to Disney. It basically goes like this: any money that you come by that was unexpected or purposely saved (savings from couponing) goes into a fund. Over at Couponing to Disney, she uses her fund to pay for her family's annual Disney World trip. I'm using my fund to make extra payments towards my student loans.

I keep track of my fund in an Excel spreadsheet. Here is what my May fund looks like halfway through the month:

Date	Notes	Saved	Balance
5/6/2013	Coupon Savings	$34.83	$34.83
5/14/2013	SwagBucks	$25.00	$59.83
5/14/2013	Copay Refund	$5.00	$64.83
5/15/2013	Unexpected Income	$500.00	$564.83

This just happens to be a very lucky month for us because we normally do not receive an extra $500 in unexpected income. But, who knows? Maybe we come across more "found" money than we realize and keeping a record like this will highlight that. *crosses fingers*

Note: This specific post contains referral links.