Yipeeeee! I love it when this happens! Look through the following information and try to match any coupons you have with these upcoming deals- especially the ones with Register Rewards. Who DOESN'T love it when a store PAYS you to shop? Hmm?
So here's what you need to know.....as always, please either send me an email or leave a comment here on the blog if you find out any extra information in the way of coupon match-ups, etc- I'll be sure to pass the information along to everyone! On to the sales:
My hunch was right- SoftSoap and Irish Spring is on sale this week with a Register Reward (hereby known as RR)! Here are the specifics:
$4 RR when you buy 2
Sale price- $3.99
This will work for SoftSoap body wash- 15 ounce
and for Irish Spring body wash- 15 ounces or 8 pack bars.
I THINK there are coupons online for the SoftSoap for at least $1.00 off. Try here.
If I remember correctly when I printed this before, the system would only let me print one. If that's the case, ask your friends and neighbors if they'd mind grabbing one for you. The more you get your hands on, the more you'll be able to take advantage of the RR's- meaning more cheap/free products!
We'll have to do some checking around to see what we can find in the way of the Irish Spring coupons....I'll let you know if I find any.
Even without coupons, here's how it would break down with the math:
2 x $3.99- $7.98
get $4 RR- $3.98/2
WITH $1.00 coupons:
2 x $3.99- $7.98
use 2 $1 coupons- $5.98
get $4 RR- $1.98/2
Gillette Fusion Phenom Gift Set
*These are REALLY NICE sets including a Gillette Razor that sells by itself for over $9.00. The set also includes several full-size Gillette products for men like: body wash, deodorant, shave gel, and I think a shampoo. They're boxed and would make a nice add-on gift for Dad, Grandpa, etc.*
Sale price: $12.99
Use coupon from a couple of weeks back- $4.00 (if you have it)
New price- $8.99
Receive $3 RR
Total- $5.99
Sudafed/Sudacare- $5.00 RR when you buy 3 or more
Sale price: $3.99 ea.
Buy 3- $11.97
Use 3 printable coupons @ $1.50 ea.- $4.50 off (I'm hoping these are still avail.)
New price- $7.47/3
Receive $5 RR making it work out to $2.47/3 boxes
Kellogg's Cereal- $2 RR when you buy 4
Sale price- $2.50 (4/$10)
Use 4 $1 coupons- $7.50 (new total)
Earn $2 RR making it work out to $5.50 for 4 boxes of cereal.
Glade Room Freshening Spray- Free after sale & coupons PLUS it's a money maker!
(I have 2 different scenarios for you, depending on whether you have the coupons or not)
These are going to be on sale using a coupon from the Sunday circular (known as IVC- instant value coupon) It will have to be shown to the cashier and scanned to get the sale price of $1.79 ea.
Buy 2- $3.58
use $1 off 2 cans coupon found in 11/2 Sunday paper- $2.58 (new price)
scan IVC coupon deducting .80 cents each ($1.60)- .98 cents/2 cans
OR
Buy 2- $3.58
Use BOGOFree coupon from a few weeks ago deducting $1.79 for the free one
(BOGO coupon) - $1.79-- new price $1.79/2
Use $1.00 coupon from last Sunday- $.79/2
Scan IVC taking off $1.60-- new price of .81 cent overage!
Betty Crocker Brownies or Frosting
On sale for .99 cents (in ad coupon)
Have been told there's a printable out there making these .50 cents each, or less.
These are the highlights. I'll add more if I go over it again and it looks like I've missed something. I'll also put a pen to paper and see what I can come up with in the way of "ROLLING" the RR's from one product to the next to keep from spending very much money out of pocket. (Ex: use RR earned from SoftSoap to pay for Sudafed. Take RR earned from Sudafed, apply to razor gift set, pay .99 cents for this nice gift. Use RR from razor set to buy more SoftSoap, etc.... you can make it go on and on and on!) It looks promising for a few of these- I just have to set my brain to "thinking" mode, and I know that will have to come later! I promise to let you know what I come up with in the way of a plan. Meanwhile, dig around to see what coupons you can come up with!
I received an email from Walgreen's yesterday. If you haven't already, go to www.walgreens.com and sign up for an account so they'll send you emails of specials. Click here to see the email I received for a free 8x10 photo reprint. There are no strings attached, nothing else to buy- just submit your photo to them online and go to the store and pick it up for free! This is only available through tomorrow (Saturday). I'm sure you have a photo that you'd love to have a free reprint of! Take advantage of it today!
And last but not least, here's a heads up from Sarah, one of my readers that may be of interest to everyone! Here's part of an email she sent yesterday....
From coupon surfer.com i printed 3 cereal coupons: $1 off 2 CHEX brands, $.75 off Cookie Crisp, and $.55 off Reese's Puffs cereal. I also printed off a wheaties coupon from coupons.com for $.75 off. These are all General Mills cereals, which are listed at dillons for $1.50 each (when you buy 10) now thru next Tuesday, Nov. 11th. Now, I'm waiting to think it thru more and see if there's a better deal or more coupons, but so far, if WalMart ad matches and accepts the coupons, 10 boxes of cereal will be $1.20 each, again, Aldi prices......but I'm supposed to be getting 6 $1 coupons for Cheerios also, making it a better deal. Ever tried this? I think it all depends on my cashier and my sticking to my guns and knowing what I need.....we go thru the cereal, so this is a needed item. One more coupon I just found---they are included in the 10 for $15 items, viva large paper towels $.50 off 2 rolls. IF I GET MY CHEERIOS $1 coupons, I can get 10 items (8 cereal and 2 paper towels) for $8.90, $.89 each............8 coupons and dillons ad.
The big thing I want you to get out of this is that Dillon's in Joplin is having a fantastic sale. If you don't have a Dillon's, you probably have a Kroger- same company. The sale works like this...they call it the MegaSaver sale, and you purchase 10 items (can mix and match) and get $5 off your total. There are different price levels making things as cheap as .50 cents after your discount, but BEFORE coupons!
Example from the $1 price level:
Buy 10 for $10- get $5 off transaction
Swiss Miss Cocoa- $1
Carnation Evaporated Milk- $1
There are many other products, these are the two I'm focusing on because I have the right coupons to match...
I have .50 cents off Swiss Miss (doubled to $1.00)- these will be FREE
I have .50 cents off 2 carnation evap. milk (doubled to $1.00)- these will be .50 ea.
Example from the $1.50 price level:
Buy 10 for $15- get $5 off transaction
Hefty One Zip Bags- $1.50 (using coupons will bring these down to about .60 cents per box, after the $5 discount)
Duncan Hines Frosting- free after coupons
Example from the $2.50 price level
Buy 10 items for $20.00, get $5 off transaction
Advil Pain Reliever- $2.50 (I'll use $2 coupons, buy 10 items, get the $5 off- these will be free)
Anyway, it goes on and on from there.....it's a great way to save some money- lasts until next Tuesday night, and you could possibly match more coupons with the sales using THIS Sunday's inserts. Be sure to check it out!
One final thought- Sarah told me she is able to get our WalMart to ad-match the Dillon's ad. Genius! I've always been afraid to try, since we're in another town. I've always made the trip to Joplin to get the Dillon's sales. I'm thrilled to know I can take care of it all right here! Thanks a bunch, Sarah!
Friday, November 7, 2008
Update: Live Active Cereal/Malt-O-Meal
One of our group did some internet research on the Live Active cereal and Malt-O-Meal coupons that were supposedly available online to print in order to get a great deal at Wal-Mart. Sadly, I report these are not working as planned.
The Live Active is a dead deal. Strike it from your list.
The Malt-O-Meal coupon is only for .75 cents, so they must have changed the value of the coupon.
Just wanted to let everyone know!
Next blog coming up: "I've got next week's Walgreen's ad!!" and information about a GREAT sale currently going on at Dillon's in Joplin- or Kroger if you have that chain. Stay tuned!
The Live Active is a dead deal. Strike it from your list.
The Malt-O-Meal coupon is only for .75 cents, so they must have changed the value of the coupon.
Just wanted to let everyone know!
Next blog coming up: "I've got next week's Walgreen's ad!!" and information about a GREAT sale currently going on at Dillon's in Joplin- or Kroger if you have that chain. Stay tuned!
Goodie Goodie Gumdrops! Good News on Goody!
If you haven't printed out your Goody Ouchless coupons from a post or two back- do it! I just found out that at Walgreen's you can combine this coupon with a store coupon located in the November Easy Saver Catalog (displayed on a rack by the front door along with the current sale ads) on page 12! This will take off an extra $2.00 per item, making it far easier to get your total down to FREE or close to it- on a wider variety of products other than just pony tail holders!
Sweet!
This Easy Saver coupon (aka known as ESC) will be good through 11/22- but I'd go ahead and print off several of the online coupons from the link, because you never know when they'll decide to take the link down.
Sweet!
This Easy Saver coupon (aka known as ESC) will be good through 11/22- but I'd go ahead and print off several of the online coupons from the link, because you never know when they'll decide to take the link down.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
New stockpile possibilities- utilizing printable coupons!
For the most part, Walgreen's and Target shopping this week has been rather dull....that is, unless you've been stocking up on diapers! I think my count is at 40 packages, but I'm not positive- they've been flying out of the house as quickly as I bring them in! It's not too late to jump in on the action!
It has been reported that some of you have had trouble getting the pharmacy employees to let go of their precious coupons. If this has been the case for you, print this and follow the instructions below.
Print off the page and highlight the bullet which states, "$50 in coupons just for asking your pharmacist how much you can save!" And take it with you to the store. Poof! Like magic, they will instantly find this coupon booklet in a stack underneath the cash register. I don't know why they are giving people such grief over their own store's coupons!
FYI- the booklet looks like this:
Hope this helps everyone get their hands on this beloved little jewel! There's no reason why they shouldn't be passing these out, especially when you do your part and inquire about the prescription plan they offer. I actually bought into the plan last weekend so I could be reimbursed the extra .90 cents for every two packs of diapers I end up purchasing. This alone will add up to almost the price of the plan- and it's good for an entire year!
Here's a link I loved coming across! Anyone with long hair or little girls with long hair know what a great deal this is! You can print off a coupon (link below) from the Goody website for Goody's Ouchless ponytail holders, headbands, brushes, etc. The coupon is for $2.00 off any Goody Ouchless product.... I was at Wal-Mart today and found packs of these for $2.28- and picked up several. I used a $2.00 coupon for each pack I bought and paid .28 cents each! Yay! The good news about this coupon is it's in pdf format, and you can print it out as many times as you want! These are also great for stocking stuffers or little gift baskets. Buy lots! I can't seem to keep up with all of my ponytail holders- they disappear, so this was a good find for me!
Goody Ouchless coupon
Bookmark it for future reference!
Here's another:
go to: www.gladepromotion.com and fill out your information (I think you have to give them permission to send you things from time to time via email like coupons, special offers, etc.) and click to print out coupon(s) for BOGO free Glade Scented Oil Candle (retail up to $7.99). You should be able to print off 2 per registered computer. When you get the coupons, just save them. If I'm not mistaken, Walgreen's has an upcoming Glade deal including register rewards! Oh, I cannot WAIT to get you guys started on the register rewards!! That's where the real fun begins! BOGO free's are a wonderful thing, indeed! There's a way you can actually use a BOGO coupon and a regular "cents/dollars off" coupon from the manu. and take 2 items home for FREE!! Match this up with a sale, and you get paid to use the product!
Here's a random tidbit of information just to tuck away for future use! Just because you may come across coupons with a rather low face value, keep them anyway! I always love finding coupons that are over a dollar in value, but I've learned that .50 cent coupons are valuable in their own way. How? Don't forget that MOST grocery stores DOUBLE coupons with a face value of .50 cents and lower. Save these smaller value coupons for the grocery store and match them with a sale! You'll often find bathroom tissue (Lots and lots out there right now for Cottonelle) and Kleenex coupons for .50 cents. Doubled, they're worth $1.00 and that means a free 4 pack of T.P. in a lot of cases! I've brought home several this way- when Cottonelle was on sale for .99 for 4- they paid me .01 cents for every pack!
Live Active Cereal- $3 internet printable coupon which would make this FREE at Wal-Mart!
Malt-O-Meal- $1.50 internet printable coupon from www.malt-o-meal.com and again, this would be FREE at Wal-Mart if you picked up the small box!
Muir Glen diced tomatoes- $1.00 internet printable coupon which would make these .28 cents per can at Wal-Mart! Go to www.eatbetteramerica.com
If you have luck with finding these coupons online, please share! Just leave a comment or send me an email, and I'll post it for all to see!
It has been reported that some of you have had trouble getting the pharmacy employees to let go of their precious coupons. If this has been the case for you, print this and follow the instructions below.
Print off the page and highlight the bullet which states, "$50 in coupons just for asking your pharmacist how much you can save!" And take it with you to the store. Poof! Like magic, they will instantly find this coupon booklet in a stack underneath the cash register. I don't know why they are giving people such grief over their own store's coupons!
FYI- the booklet looks like this:
Hope this helps everyone get their hands on this beloved little jewel! There's no reason why they shouldn't be passing these out, especially when you do your part and inquire about the prescription plan they offer. I actually bought into the plan last weekend so I could be reimbursed the extra .90 cents for every two packs of diapers I end up purchasing. This alone will add up to almost the price of the plan- and it's good for an entire year!
~~~~~
Moving right along....Here's a link I loved coming across! Anyone with long hair or little girls with long hair know what a great deal this is! You can print off a coupon (link below) from the Goody website for Goody's Ouchless ponytail holders, headbands, brushes, etc. The coupon is for $2.00 off any Goody Ouchless product.... I was at Wal-Mart today and found packs of these for $2.28- and picked up several. I used a $2.00 coupon for each pack I bought and paid .28 cents each! Yay! The good news about this coupon is it's in pdf format, and you can print it out as many times as you want! These are also great for stocking stuffers or little gift baskets. Buy lots! I can't seem to keep up with all of my ponytail holders- they disappear, so this was a good find for me!
Goody Ouchless coupon
Bookmark it for future reference!
~~~~~
Here's another:
go to: www.gladepromotion.com and fill out your information (I think you have to give them permission to send you things from time to time via email like coupons, special offers, etc.) and click to print out coupon(s) for BOGO free Glade Scented Oil Candle (retail up to $7.99). You should be able to print off 2 per registered computer. When you get the coupons, just save them. If I'm not mistaken, Walgreen's has an upcoming Glade deal including register rewards! Oh, I cannot WAIT to get you guys started on the register rewards!! That's where the real fun begins! BOGO free's are a wonderful thing, indeed! There's a way you can actually use a BOGO coupon and a regular "cents/dollars off" coupon from the manu. and take 2 items home for FREE!! Match this up with a sale, and you get paid to use the product!
~~~~~
In case anyone DID get the coupons from last Sunday's paper (11-2-08), there's a nice sale you can take advantage of on Bic Soliel razors.... Our Walgreen's has them priced at $6.99/package. There was a coupon in the inserts for $3.00 off (disposables). Pick up a Walgreen's November Easy Saver booklet (located at the very front of the store on a rack with copies of the weekly ad) and turn to the page that shows $3.00 off Bic Soliel. When you pay, hand over your manufacturer's coupon and then hold the Easy Saver coupon out and ask the cashier to scan it for you. (This is another example where they don't have to keep your coupon- you can use it over and over again) In the end, the register will have taken $6.00 off of $6.99- leaving your total at .99 cents for some really good razors! Since you are allowed to use one manu. coupon per item (which you did) and ANY/ALL store coupons they have out at the time, you have some big savings! (Not trying to tease here, but just wait until you can find a deal like this that ALSO pays you register rewards! You'll be as hooked as me!) NOW do you see why it's good to have multiples of the Sunday coupons?? It's too good to just do once!~~~~~
I'm just guessing here, but I think there's something coming up really soon at Walgreen's involving a register reward when you buy Softsoap body wash or Irish Spring body wash or bar soap. Here's why- yesterday, at the end of a transaction, I received a catalina (Remember? A "catalina" is what the Catalina machine that sits next to the cash register sometimes "spits" out at the end of certain transaction- sometimes the reason for receiving one is shrouded in mystery!) that read, "Buy 2 18 oz. Softsoap or Irish Spring Body Wash or 8 pack of Irish Spring bars between 11-9-08 and 11-15-08 & save up to $4.00 with coupon on your next order." THIS tells me that during that above-mentioned timeframe, Walgreen's is probably going to be running these items on sale and offering a $4.00 Register Reward when you buy 2. When I come across something like this, I almost immediately go to my binder to see what kinds of coupons I can find to match with this potential sale. If I don't find any, I begin searching the company websites to see if they are offering any online printables. If I STILL don't find any, I've discovered that it sometimes works out really well to take a moment and dash a little email off to the company and tell them how much I enjoy using their product, and wonder if they have any links to any online coupons to make it a little easier on my budget to make a purchase in the near future. This has proven very lucrative! So, just a heads up- you may want to start seeing what you can find out there for Softsoap and Irish Spring! With only having to buy 2 and receiving a register reward at the end, I'm guessing these (with a decent coupon) will be either free or almost free!!
~~~~~
Here's a random tidbit of information just to tuck away for future use! Just because you may come across coupons with a rather low face value, keep them anyway! I always love finding coupons that are over a dollar in value, but I've learned that .50 cent coupons are valuable in their own way. How? Don't forget that MOST grocery stores DOUBLE coupons with a face value of .50 cents and lower. Save these smaller value coupons for the grocery store and match them with a sale! You'll often find bathroom tissue (Lots and lots out there right now for Cottonelle) and Kleenex coupons for .50 cents. Doubled, they're worth $1.00 and that means a free 4 pack of T.P. in a lot of cases! I've brought home several this way- when Cottonelle was on sale for .99 for 4- they paid me .01 cents for every pack!
~~~~~
And now, here's a little more homework for ya! A friend just sent me an email telling she'd found coupons online for the following 3 products. I have yet to check for myself because I wanted to hurry up and get this posted! It would be worth checking out to see what you can come up with!Live Active Cereal- $3 internet printable coupon which would make this FREE at Wal-Mart!
Malt-O-Meal- $1.50 internet printable coupon from www.malt-o-meal.com and again, this would be FREE at Wal-Mart if you picked up the small box!
Muir Glen diced tomatoes- $1.00 internet printable coupon which would make these .28 cents per can at Wal-Mart! Go to www.eatbetteramerica.com
If you have luck with finding these coupons online, please share! Just leave a comment or send me an email, and I'll post it for all to see!
Coupon "Harvesting"....Time to start!
Attention New Members!
If you haven't started yet, it's time to begin collecting coupons
NOW!
If you haven't started yet, it's time to begin collecting coupons
NOW!
In order to maximize your stockpiling efforts, it's important to have a nice supply of coupons ready when a sale begins. In this blog, I'll quickly share with you a few ideas that have helped me greatly in this new journey.
WHERE TO GET COUPONS
Clearly, we all know that most Sunday newspapers have at least 2 coupon inserts included inside each week. These are a must-have! Purchase as many newspapers each Sunday as you can justify spending the money on. Here in my area, my local city paper is actually quite lame in the way of coupon inserts- most of the time there is a flimsy little "few page" insert that usually contains more "Fingerhut-ish" type item ads than actual coupons. This is a waste of my time and I've learned not to buy them. We have the Joplin Globe (next largest town) which has more in the way of coupons- and they have the store circulars (Walgreen's & Target) that I need each week, so I purchase 1 (one) copy of the Globe. Better still is the Kansas City Star. This paper has more coupons, better coupons- and I've never purchased one that had missing inserts. They are more costly than my other options, but I MORE THAN make up the money in my weekly savings. I always buy 5 Kansas City papers which cost me $10.00. I bring them home, quickly retrieve the inserts, MAYBE glance at a section or two of the news (not local, so I don't spend much time on it) then stack the papers aside. These will be donated later to the humane society who is always needing newspapers for the kennels.
It's so important to have multiple sets of the weekly coupon inserts- that way, when a teriffic deal comes around, you'll have several coupons to use and can buy more than one of that item. If you're planning on starting a stockpile, this is just a FACT. Analyze your situation. Ask yourself how serious you are about buying in bulk. Decide how many newspapers you can afford to buy. Commit to it.
The next step is to get creative! I recently read an article that stated only 6% of all printed coupons from newspaper inserts are actually redeemed! Now that I've been doing this, I just can't imagine the percentage being so low! That means 94% of all of those lovely (and extremely valuable!) coupons are filling our landfills- and wasted. Now, this article was dated a few months ago, and I wouldn't be surprised to find the percentage of redeemed coupons is on the upswing- but still! There are SO MANY out there just begging to be rescued and used! What to do? Ask friends who don't use them if you can have theirs, ask neighbors, ask people from church! People are usually more than glad to pass them on to someone who will take the time to use them. If you have a recycling center nearby, the chances are excellent that you'd be able to grab quite a few. I was lucky enough to find a convenience store in my town (Casey's in Carthage- all you locals better back off!!! :) whose manager and I have struck up a friendly relationship. I go in on Monday afternoon and he allows me to have all of the inserts from the unsold Sunday papers. (In order for the store to get credit for the unsold issues, all he has to do is tear off the front page and turn them in to the newspaper carrier.) This week, I was given 45 inserts from the left-over KC and Joplin papers! I was positively giddy! Combined with the 5 papers I'd bought the day before, I now have 50 full sets of coupons. Plenty to share! With a little "digging", you can find your source, too.
WHICH COUPONS TO CLIP
Honestly- my recommendation is to save every coupon you can get your hands on! You never know when one of our "savings stores" is going to run something on special for a week that includes the register rewards. You may be like me and have tons of coupons for Robitussin cough syrup or Maalox, see an opportunity where utilizing your manufacturer's coupon along with store coupons and sales will result in a profit for you in the end! Even if it's not necessarily a product you or your family use or would regularly purchase, you could always donate the item(s) or save it back to have a big garage sale in the spring- all the while, pocketing the excess money the store GAVE you for taking the item off their hands!
Here's a little tip I've found out: the coupons you get from your newspaper most generally will not match up with a sale for about 3 or 4 weeks later. The psychology behind this (especially for brand-new products just released on the market) is that the manufacturer releases a coupon hoping to generate interest in their product to get the consumer to run out and buy it because it's: A. a new product you may have been noticing advertised on TV commercials, now you have a coupon and you're just DYING to try it; and B. it's seasonally-timed just right and it's a type of product you may be needing during that particular time of the year. Usually, about 3 or 4 weeks after the release of the coupon in which the manufacturer hopes you've already used, the item goes on sale. SINCE you've supposedly already bought it, tried it, loved it....they are hoping that now you see it's on sale, you'll buy it a second time. It's proven that once a consumer buys twice, they're more than likely to then be "hooked" on the product and will then be a loyal, repeat buyer. Moral of this story? Get your coupons, hold on to them for a few weeks to wait for a coordinating sale, THEN use the coupons! Any time you can match coupons with a sale, you're going to come out ahead of the game!
ORGANIZATION
This whole couponing experience can easily turn into a huge mess! You may wonder: what's the best way to keep organized, how do I keep it all straight, and how do I match coupons with weekly sales? Simple answer- GET ORGANIZED! The best way I've found is by using what others have referred to as the Binder Method. At first I was using a 1" 3-ring binder and after the first or second week, I realized it wasn't big enough. I've switched to a 3" 3-ring binder, and that's working out a lot better. I bought a package of the plastic pages used by baseball/trading card collectors that are 9 pockets per page. Then I bought some self-stick tabs to be able to easily flip to the page in my binder I'm looking for. This works out nicely, as I'm not having to flip through a small accordion-type organizer typically used for coupons, because it allows me to view 9 coupons at a time instead of only one, and keeps all "like" coupons together. Some coupons need to be folded to fit into the pockets, but I just fold it so that I either see the product name or a picture of the product while flipping through the book. This method of organization is also nice, because binders have pockets to keep my sale ads (circulars) or other items I may need while out shopping. My sister-in-law, Nicki, uses a zippered binder, and has reported how much she likes it. Some people keep a pencil case inside that attaches to the rings of the binder to keep pens, a small pair of scissors, a notepad and maybe a calculator.
I'm hoping this blog helps you discover the best way (that works for YOU!) to accumulate multiple sets of weekly coupons as well as provide assistance in helping you get organized! Please, if you have other ideas that could help someone else, please leave a comment we can all read!
Next blog: a "Diaper Update" and a few links to some free (or really cheap) goodies you can take advantage of NOW! I'll post again later this afternoon......
WHERE TO GET COUPONS
Clearly, we all know that most Sunday newspapers have at least 2 coupon inserts included inside each week. These are a must-have! Purchase as many newspapers each Sunday as you can justify spending the money on. Here in my area, my local city paper is actually quite lame in the way of coupon inserts- most of the time there is a flimsy little "few page" insert that usually contains more "Fingerhut-ish" type item ads than actual coupons. This is a waste of my time and I've learned not to buy them. We have the Joplin Globe (next largest town) which has more in the way of coupons- and they have the store circulars (Walgreen's & Target) that I need each week, so I purchase 1 (one) copy of the Globe. Better still is the Kansas City Star. This paper has more coupons, better coupons- and I've never purchased one that had missing inserts. They are more costly than my other options, but I MORE THAN make up the money in my weekly savings. I always buy 5 Kansas City papers which cost me $10.00. I bring them home, quickly retrieve the inserts, MAYBE glance at a section or two of the news (not local, so I don't spend much time on it) then stack the papers aside. These will be donated later to the humane society who is always needing newspapers for the kennels.
It's so important to have multiple sets of the weekly coupon inserts- that way, when a teriffic deal comes around, you'll have several coupons to use and can buy more than one of that item. If you're planning on starting a stockpile, this is just a FACT. Analyze your situation. Ask yourself how serious you are about buying in bulk. Decide how many newspapers you can afford to buy. Commit to it.
The next step is to get creative! I recently read an article that stated only 6% of all printed coupons from newspaper inserts are actually redeemed! Now that I've been doing this, I just can't imagine the percentage being so low! That means 94% of all of those lovely (and extremely valuable!) coupons are filling our landfills- and wasted. Now, this article was dated a few months ago, and I wouldn't be surprised to find the percentage of redeemed coupons is on the upswing- but still! There are SO MANY out there just begging to be rescued and used! What to do? Ask friends who don't use them if you can have theirs, ask neighbors, ask people from church! People are usually more than glad to pass them on to someone who will take the time to use them. If you have a recycling center nearby, the chances are excellent that you'd be able to grab quite a few. I was lucky enough to find a convenience store in my town (Casey's in Carthage- all you locals better back off!!! :) whose manager and I have struck up a friendly relationship. I go in on Monday afternoon and he allows me to have all of the inserts from the unsold Sunday papers. (In order for the store to get credit for the unsold issues, all he has to do is tear off the front page and turn them in to the newspaper carrier.) This week, I was given 45 inserts from the left-over KC and Joplin papers! I was positively giddy! Combined with the 5 papers I'd bought the day before, I now have 50 full sets of coupons. Plenty to share! With a little "digging", you can find your source, too.
WHICH COUPONS TO CLIP
Honestly- my recommendation is to save every coupon you can get your hands on! You never know when one of our "savings stores" is going to run something on special for a week that includes the register rewards. You may be like me and have tons of coupons for Robitussin cough syrup or Maalox, see an opportunity where utilizing your manufacturer's coupon along with store coupons and sales will result in a profit for you in the end! Even if it's not necessarily a product you or your family use or would regularly purchase, you could always donate the item(s) or save it back to have a big garage sale in the spring- all the while, pocketing the excess money the store GAVE you for taking the item off their hands!
Here's a little tip I've found out: the coupons you get from your newspaper most generally will not match up with a sale for about 3 or 4 weeks later. The psychology behind this (especially for brand-new products just released on the market) is that the manufacturer releases a coupon hoping to generate interest in their product to get the consumer to run out and buy it because it's: A. a new product you may have been noticing advertised on TV commercials, now you have a coupon and you're just DYING to try it; and B. it's seasonally-timed just right and it's a type of product you may be needing during that particular time of the year. Usually, about 3 or 4 weeks after the release of the coupon in which the manufacturer hopes you've already used, the item goes on sale. SINCE you've supposedly already bought it, tried it, loved it....they are hoping that now you see it's on sale, you'll buy it a second time. It's proven that once a consumer buys twice, they're more than likely to then be "hooked" on the product and will then be a loyal, repeat buyer. Moral of this story? Get your coupons, hold on to them for a few weeks to wait for a coordinating sale, THEN use the coupons! Any time you can match coupons with a sale, you're going to come out ahead of the game!
ORGANIZATION
This whole couponing experience can easily turn into a huge mess! You may wonder: what's the best way to keep organized, how do I keep it all straight, and how do I match coupons with weekly sales? Simple answer- GET ORGANIZED! The best way I've found is by using what others have referred to as the Binder Method. At first I was using a 1" 3-ring binder and after the first or second week, I realized it wasn't big enough. I've switched to a 3" 3-ring binder, and that's working out a lot better. I bought a package of the plastic pages used by baseball/trading card collectors that are 9 pockets per page. Then I bought some self-stick tabs to be able to easily flip to the page in my binder I'm looking for. This works out nicely, as I'm not having to flip through a small accordion-type organizer typically used for coupons, because it allows me to view 9 coupons at a time instead of only one, and keeps all "like" coupons together. Some coupons need to be folded to fit into the pockets, but I just fold it so that I either see the product name or a picture of the product while flipping through the book. This method of organization is also nice, because binders have pockets to keep my sale ads (circulars) or other items I may need while out shopping. My sister-in-law, Nicki, uses a zippered binder, and has reported how much she likes it. Some people keep a pencil case inside that attaches to the rings of the binder to keep pens, a small pair of scissors, a notepad and maybe a calculator.
I'm hoping this blog helps you discover the best way (that works for YOU!) to accumulate multiple sets of weekly coupons as well as provide assistance in helping you get organized! Please, if you have other ideas that could help someone else, please leave a comment we can all read!
Next blog: a "Diaper Update" and a few links to some free (or really cheap) goodies you can take advantage of NOW! I'll post again later this afternoon......
Monday, November 3, 2008
Diapers: What you need to know!
This weekend, I took advantage of the Walgreen's diaper sale on Saturday evening and a couple of times Sunday (yesterday). Just wanted to post a quick blog to let everyone know what to expect when you go in to get you own supply!
There was speculation as to exactly how this would all play out and whether or not an advertised discount would apply to this particular transaction. So, I've done some diaper shopping myself and have the following to report....
The most important thing to remember is YOU HAVE TO HAVE THE COUPON FROM THE PHARMACY!! This lowers your total amount due by $4.00, so be sure to get your hands on one of these! You should be able to keep the coupon to use repeatedly. They've never taken mine, so I've been working with the same coupon for ALL of the packages I've purchased. So, I cannot stress this point enough: get the coupon booklet from the pharmacy before anything else! And another thing: leave the coupon booklet intact. Don't remove the diaper coupon, just fold the booklet over to the page the coupon is on to show the cashier.
IF YOU HAVE TROUBLE GETTING THE BOOKLET, PLEASE CONTACT ME, AND I'LL HELP YOU! I DO HAVE SOME EXTRAS, AND IF YOU NEED ME TO, I'LL GET ONE TO YOU- EVEN IF YOU'RE IN ANOTHER AREA!
After you have that coupon in your hot little hands, go to the diaper aisle. Buy 4 packages. These are the Walgreen's brand of diapers- usually found around here in Missouri in red packages. Sometimes you'll find a white package and sometimes a light green package. ANY Walgreen's diapers will work. They ring up $7.99 for the first, $1.00 for the second. They are advertised as being on sale at $8.99- BOGO free.
After your cashier scans the 4 packages, show him/her your coupon from the pharmacy. They can either scan the coupon with their little scanner gun, or they can type in the last four digits of the coupon from the barcode. This is a Walgreen's STORE coupon, the register will deduct $2.00 off for EACH package you have- even the FREE ones. And since it's a store coupon, it doesn't need to be collected and put into the register like manufacturer's coupons. You should be able to keep it. If they insist, hand it over. Just go get another one from the pharmacy for your next transaction.
So, after the diapers have been rung up, your coupon has been scanned, the cashier will tell you your total. With tax, it's been $10.72 at my store. I've had register rewards to use, as well as a rebate card from last month, so I've used those to pay, and have spent nothing out of pocket thus far. After each trip, I come home and enter my receipts into the Walgreen's website for the "W" card (Prescription Savings plan) which gives 10% back for all Walgreen's HOUSE brand items. This is giving me .90 cents back for every 2 packages.
Bottom line: $20.45 (plus tax) will get you 10 packages of diapers!!!
There are 2 more points to consider....the first: as I mentioned in the previous post, there's a possibility there will be a $5.00 of $20.00 purchase coupon come out for this upcoming weekend. If it does, it will probably be on Thursday late afternoon. (I will immediately post this information as soon as I find out, if it happens!) If so, you will be able to purchase 10 packs of diapers for $15.45. This would be in effect for Friday and Saturday only. Sweet!
Second: If you don't have any of your family's prescriptions filled at Walgreen's, you could transfer a prescription and get diapers for free. Here's how: Walgreen's is offering (through January sometime) a $25.00 gift card for a transferred script. I've found they will do this once for every person in the household. We've done two. That was an easy $50 bucks- which I used toward diapers, of course!
So far, I've come home with 28 packages, and not a penny has come out of my wallet!
Get out there and buy some diapers! Even if they are currently out of the size you need...get whatever size you can and exchange them later for the correct size. You just can't go wrong with these prices!
Happy hunting!
There was speculation as to exactly how this would all play out and whether or not an advertised discount would apply to this particular transaction. So, I've done some diaper shopping myself and have the following to report....
The most important thing to remember is YOU HAVE TO HAVE THE COUPON FROM THE PHARMACY!! This lowers your total amount due by $4.00, so be sure to get your hands on one of these! You should be able to keep the coupon to use repeatedly. They've never taken mine, so I've been working with the same coupon for ALL of the packages I've purchased. So, I cannot stress this point enough: get the coupon booklet from the pharmacy before anything else! And another thing: leave the coupon booklet intact. Don't remove the diaper coupon, just fold the booklet over to the page the coupon is on to show the cashier.
IF YOU HAVE TROUBLE GETTING THE BOOKLET, PLEASE CONTACT ME, AND I'LL HELP YOU! I DO HAVE SOME EXTRAS, AND IF YOU NEED ME TO, I'LL GET ONE TO YOU- EVEN IF YOU'RE IN ANOTHER AREA!
After you have that coupon in your hot little hands, go to the diaper aisle. Buy 4 packages. These are the Walgreen's brand of diapers- usually found around here in Missouri in red packages. Sometimes you'll find a white package and sometimes a light green package. ANY Walgreen's diapers will work. They ring up $7.99 for the first, $1.00 for the second. They are advertised as being on sale at $8.99- BOGO free.
After your cashier scans the 4 packages, show him/her your coupon from the pharmacy. They can either scan the coupon with their little scanner gun, or they can type in the last four digits of the coupon from the barcode. This is a Walgreen's STORE coupon, the register will deduct $2.00 off for EACH package you have- even the FREE ones. And since it's a store coupon, it doesn't need to be collected and put into the register like manufacturer's coupons. You should be able to keep it. If they insist, hand it over. Just go get another one from the pharmacy for your next transaction.
So, after the diapers have been rung up, your coupon has been scanned, the cashier will tell you your total. With tax, it's been $10.72 at my store. I've had register rewards to use, as well as a rebate card from last month, so I've used those to pay, and have spent nothing out of pocket thus far. After each trip, I come home and enter my receipts into the Walgreen's website for the "W" card (Prescription Savings plan) which gives 10% back for all Walgreen's HOUSE brand items. This is giving me .90 cents back for every 2 packages.
Bottom line: $20.45 (plus tax) will get you 10 packages of diapers!!!
There are 2 more points to consider....the first: as I mentioned in the previous post, there's a possibility there will be a $5.00 of $20.00 purchase coupon come out for this upcoming weekend. If it does, it will probably be on Thursday late afternoon. (I will immediately post this information as soon as I find out, if it happens!) If so, you will be able to purchase 10 packs of diapers for $15.45. This would be in effect for Friday and Saturday only. Sweet!
Second: If you don't have any of your family's prescriptions filled at Walgreen's, you could transfer a prescription and get diapers for free. Here's how: Walgreen's is offering (through January sometime) a $25.00 gift card for a transferred script. I've found they will do this once for every person in the household. We've done two. That was an easy $50 bucks- which I used toward diapers, of course!
So far, I've come home with 28 packages, and not a penny has come out of my wallet!
Get out there and buy some diapers! Even if they are currently out of the size you need...get whatever size you can and exchange them later for the correct size. You just can't go wrong with these prices!
Happy hunting!
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