WOW

I wasn't able to get everything I set out for at the Target I went to, so I decided to go to  a different one.  At Target #1 I did manage to save $7.73.  I felt like I was on the show "Extreme Couponing" show because the cashier told me how much I saved in that trip.  It felt good.

However, nothing compares to how I felt after my trip to Target #2.  I can't even put into words the excitement and rush I felt.  

To set the stage for you, this is what I bought at Target #2.   

3 Bags of Iams Cat Food

2 Oral B Floss

1 Pack of Bic Pens.

Total before coupons 12.03

Total after coupons .03

However, when reviewing my receipt I noticed that the dental floss rang up for 1.02 a piece instead of the .97 that is posted with the floss.  

I went to the customer service desk, really just looking for the .03 cents I paid for the 6 items listed above.  

Do you think she gave it to me or just laughed at me?  If you said laughed at me you would be wrong.  She gave me back.....drumroll please.....11 cents.  So I walked out of Target with them paying me eight cents.  I paid absolutely nothing.  What a rush...This was the highest total that I brought down to zero.  I am learning new things every day.  

Don't Wait Until the Last Minute

Here I am sitting trying to come up with my shopping strategy for today.  I am checking the shopping lists I put together to see what I need to buy today.  Why is it so important to go out today and not tomorrow for the items?  Some of the coupons expire today.  That's right, I am waiting until the day they expire to use them.  However, that is not such a wise thing to do. I run the risk of the store being out of stock and then I have to decide if I want to forget the item or head to another of that chain.  If possible don't wait until the day the coupon is expiring to use it.  

Organization

As I was thinking about today, what I was going to type and that I should really cut and file some coupons.  I realized that one important thing about couponing is organization.  If you know you have a coupon for a certain item, but can't seem to find it, the coupon is in a sense useless.  So how exactly do I organize my coupons?
I'm going to take you back to when I first started couponing I had a small white, index card holder box for my coupons.  My father had a larger black box to hold his coupons.  His plan was he would eventually have enough coupons for the box.  Well his couponing was short lived.  I grew out of my coupon box and into his.
Last year I started growing out of my box.  I happened to find some clear boxes with a lid on clearance at Staples.  This box worked for a bit, but I was getting frustrated that it was taking so long for me to find the coupons I was looking for.  I was digging my feet in the ground about spending money to help me save money.  However, soon after Christmas I caved, I bought some baseball card pages, tabbed dividers and used a binder I already had.  I was determined to get organized.  I set up my binder with what worked best for me.  Started bringing it most places I went and was amazed at how much easier a coupon binder was than a coupon box.  The only adjust I made to my binder was buying one that the pages were able to turn freely in.  With the ease of the binder, I don't think I will ever go back to a coupon box.
How do you organize your coupons?  

Lesson I Learned this Week

One of the stores I frequent and use coupons at is Target.  Sometimes I run in for a few things on my list and others I run in for just one item.  A few weeks ago I got Market Pantry Mac and Cheese free.  I had a $1.00 off coupon, but the item was .47, which meant the register adjusted the coupon down to .47.  However, yesterday I picked up Oral-B dental floss priced at .97.  I had a coupon for $1.00.  Since I was buying more items I wanted to see if the whole dollar would come off or just the .97.  Well what do you know, the whole $1.00 came off.  So, the overage from the coupon was then applied to other items I purchased.  I learned that if my coupon is more than the item and I'm planning on buying more things, to do it all in one transaction to get the coupon overage.  This is one happy couponer.

Don't Fall For the Trap

It is really easy to miss the fine print on coupons.  If said fine print is missed you might use a coupon on an item that the manufacturer did not intend it to be used.  The stores that you use coupons at gets reimbursed from the manufacturer or whomever issued the coupon.  If you use the coupon on an item that it was not intended for the store will not get reimbursed.  Read the coupon carefully before you use it to make sure what you are buying is included.

Walgreen's Register Rewards

I have $3.00 in register rewards expiring in a few days.  I have a decision to make.  Do I use it today with the ending sale?  Or do I hold onto it and use it next week?  I try my best to use my rewards smartly, but that does not always work out.  By smartly I mean use my rewards on an item that produces another reward.  This could be difficult since there are so many rules with the register rewards.  If I want it to produce another one, I can't use it on the same item that I got the RR from.  I would suggest going to Walgreens website and reading more about Register Rewards if you are not familiar with them.
Looking at the ad for tomorrow I know what I am going to use the RR on.  I will be using a coupon and my RR.  Because of Walgreen's couponing policy you cannot have more items than coupons.  You need to have either the equal amount of coupons and items or more items than coupons.  Plan your shopping trips wisely.

Total Rush

I was out and about today and decided to stop at CVS and get the one item I had a coupon with me for.  This week CVS has carefree and Kotex U liners on sale for .99....Well I just so happen to have a $1.00 off any Kotex U coupon with me.  This is the second CVS I have gone to this week for this, and thankfully it was in stock.  The cashier rang it up, took off my coupon (after he had to adjust it down to the sale price) handed me my receipt that said I owed $0 and handed me the merchandise.  With a smile on my face I happily walked out the door.  What a great feeling it is to see a zero amount due after coupons.  If you have never experienced it, I suggest trying it once.  The rush you feel is quite addicting and might have you wanting to coupon just a little more to get more free items.

Deals, Where do I find them

I talk about the deals that I have gotten in the past or my shopping list for this week, but where am I finding this deals?  How do I know they are out there?  I don't have time to go through all of the newspapers, compare the sales to my coupons and figure out the percentage of savings per each deal.  I also don't just blindly walk up and down each isle stopping at every item.  So what then do I do...Thanks to the wonderful technology age we live in, I check my e-mails.  There are three or four sites that I e-mail subscribe to which tells me what is on sale, where I can find the coupon for that item, and the final price.
Here is a list of the sites I use or receive e-mails from:

 couponmom.com
 Hip2save.com

http://thekrazycouponlady.com

TheFrugalGirls.com

Do I Buy Every Good Deal?

Just because something is free or less than a dollar do I buy it?  No, I will only buy something that either someone in my house or someone I know can use.  I don't want to get in the mindset/mind-frame that it's free therefore I need to get it.  A good example is my shopping list this week for CVS on it I have Robitussin To Go 2pks.  Nobody in my house takes Robitussin, so why would I buy it.  It's free.  No, on a more serious side I know know people who take it so I might buy it and give it to them.  
Just because an item is free doesn't always mean it's a great investment.  At least that's my take on it....

Items I No Longer Pay For

As I am getting into couponing more I am learning that there are items if paired with the right sale and coupon I will get for free.  I don't tend to prefer one brand over another so for me this works.  In the past six months I have not paid for toothpaste, toothbrushes, dental floss, lotion, pens, or panty liners.
The toothpaste with coupon might not equal free, but say you have a bag of bottles that need to be redeemed that just happens to equal the amount of you would need to pay out of pocket after sale and coupon deduction.  That bottle return receipt (if you remember to hand it to the cashier) will knock your total down to hopefully 0.
Toothbrushes I will admit I did pay some out of pocket, but ended up getting back the amount paid or more in register rewards from Walgreens.
There are times I get milk for free, but that is not a weekly occurrence.  Since we are big cereal eaters, I tend to take note when you buy "X" amount of a certain cereal in one transaction a free milk coupon will print.  I love going in the store grabbing the milk and being able to hand the cashier the coupon for my free milk.
Another occasional item I get for free is scotch tape.  Every so often they will come out with coupons for $1 off 1. Around that time Staples or Target normally has it on sale for $1, which makes the item free.
What things have you been able to get for free?

Coupons, Coupons, Coupons

Without the coupons I would not be getting items free or really cheap.  So, where do I get them all.  I get them from the Sunday paper coupon inserts and also legit sites online.  Now the amount of coupons I get each week changes.  I get about 4 or 5 inserts per week...Boy that's a whole lot of cutting and filing.  We have two subscriptions to the newspaper, a friend of the family saves them for me, my grandmother and sometimes my aunt.  There are sure times that I have looked at the stack of coupons before they were cut wondering what I   got myself into with couponing.  Recently, I thought about increasing the number of inserts I get per week, but I'm still thinking about it.  I don't want to waste the coupons and I don't want to take them from someone who might at some point decide to coupon.
Besides getting them in a Sunday paper, I do print them from various sites.  Since I frequent Target I go to Target.com and browse their coupons.  I print the coupons I think I might use.  Sometimes I will print multiple of select coupons since it's a really good coupon and I know I will be getting more than one.
Where else do I get coupons from...hmmm....manufacturer websites, samples, coupons.com and redplum.com.  It helps using rewards cards too.  I have $7 for Toys R Us I have to use before the end of this month.  Also a coupon for Build-a-bear that if I plan it right will result in building a bear for free.
I could truly spend hours a day print, cutting, filing coupons.  However, I don't have the hours to spare each day.  Even if you start with five minutes at a time, the savings will pay off.
Here's a quick tip I want to leave you with.  If you are online and see a coupon you might use print it when you see it.  Coupons have a limit as to how many can be printed.  Once that limit is reached the coupon will disappear.  Also it is illegal to copy coupons.  So if a site only allows you to print two and you need four of a coupon, use another computer to print more.  If you only have one computer ask a friend to print for you.
Happy Couponing!!

This past weekends shopping trips

Friday night I went shopping at three different stores.  Two of them I used coupons at and the third I was so shocked that I did not have a single coupon that corresponded with the items we were buying.

Target Store 1
I was on a mission at Target (one of the stores I frequent most) I set out to buy a 1 1/2 binder and a Kre-O Optimus Prime Toy.
Binder      .75
Kre-O    7.99
Total      8.74 (Before tax and coupons)

Subtract my $8.00 coupon off the Kre-O Optimus Prime Toy
New total for trip 1 is .79 cents.

Bath and Body Works Store 2
1 2oz Pink Chiffon Lotion 3.50

However I had a coupon for a FREE 2oz Pink Chiffon Lotion

Total for Bath and Body Works 0

To recap my total out of pocket for 1 binder, 1 toy and 1 lotion .79 cents.

Shop Rite Store  3
We took advantage of the can can sale and some other great sales that were going on last week at Shop Rite.  With three people shopping before any store savings we spent $282.59.  Wow that's quite a bit for any shopping trip.  Now scan my Shop Rite card and have all the savings come off (sadly, no coupons for this store trip) we spent a grand total of $159.39.
Within that total is 24 cans of Tomatoes which we use for sauce...The 24 cans should last us until around the time of the next can can sale during the summer.
It bothered me some that I didn't have any coupons for Shop Rite, but all items except 1 was on sale.
See I don't use coupons every time I shop, but I do try to take my coupon binder with me everywhere.

Couponing in real life vs. the extreme couponing TLC show

I have couponed on and off for a few years.  Sometime last year I really caught on to the whole concept.  Well what's very hard about couponing anyways.  You cut the coupons for the items you intend to purchase, go shopping and hand them to your cashier upon check out.  People have been doing that for years, so what has changed.  TLC has a show called "Extreme Couponing" which normally portrays people in the southern states getting their groceries for next to nothing just by using coupons.  I tried to duplicate what I saw on TV with my shopping, but haven't managed to get a couple hundred dollars worth of groceries for $25 or whatever my "set" goal is.  This discouraged me and made me want to quit couponing.  Then after taking a closer look at the show I realized that if you don't live in the south you might not be able to get a 95% savings every shopping trip.
Any savings I get I am happy with now (hmm...is this really true??  I like to save more than I spend, but am learning that at times that's not possible).  I try to make sure that what I am using the coupon on is on sale.  I also try to only buy things that are on sale.  However, that doesn't always hold true.  For example, I have yet to get OJ for free or even  be able to use a coupon on it.
Don't get discouraged if you are not saving 90% when you go shopping with coupons.  In my opinion any savings is a great savings.

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