How To Save!!

Are you ready to learn some new exciting ways to save?  Let's eliminate those days when going to the fridge was a drag because you know there's hardly anything in there.  Or looking into your cabinets only to find a half jar of peanut butter with no jelly, or a box of pasta but no pasta sauce, or just a bunch of seasoning that you can't use because there's nothing in the fridge or freezer to season.  How frustrating and depressing.  I started to shop smarter and found that making one huge shopping trip a month was not working for me.  By the time the end of the month got here it was peanut butter with no jelly time.  When I started couponing I came to the realization that there are new deals every single week at my local grocery store and new coupons also, so why not go shopping every single week that way I get to snag all the deals.  The best way to save is to only shop for what's on sale that particular week and match those sales with manufacturer coupons AND even stack that with store coupons for more savings.  It's not about what coupon you have it's when and how you use it. You can't use two manufacturer coupons on one product but you can use one manufacturer and one store coupon together. That's a store sale, a manufacturer's coupon and a store coupon for the best savings. How great is that?!  I would suggest getting a store loyalty card because that alone is mega savings. Let's look at an example of coupon stacking.

Let's say Welch's grape juice was on sale for 2/$4 and you have a manufacturer's coupon for $1 off one and you also have a store coupon for $1 off one.  That's $2 off, making this $2 for 2 juices.  That's $1 a bottle and 50% savings!!  Make sense? Sometimes you can even catch a good sale and walk away with free items. For ex:  A can of Campbell's chicken noodle soup usually cost about $1.25 but the store has it on sale for $.50 and you have a coupon for $.50 off one can that makes it FREE!!  If you can get your hands on a lot of those coupons you can walk away with tons of free soup.

Another great coupon is what we call a moneymaker a.k.a  better than free.  My Fave!  A moneymaker does just that, makes you money.  Depending on your store coupon policy you can get money back if the value of the coupon exceeds the price of the product.  Some stores don't allow cash back for coupons they will just lower the coupon to match the price of the item..  Let's take a look at an example.

A 10pk of Schick disposable razors are on sale at Walmart for $1.25 and you have a coupon for $2 off 4pk or more of Schick disposable razors.  That is a $.75 moneymaker!  They will either give you back that money in cash or you can use it towards other things in you cart/basket.  If you can get your hands on let's say 5 of these same like coupons, that's $3.75 in your pocket. Unless there is a restriction on the coupon saying how many coupons you can use in a transaction, Walmart just paid you $3.75 to walk out of their store with 5 10pks of Schick disposable razors!!  WHAT!!  If that doesn't excite you then ppshh!!

That feeling you get while walking out of the store with all these free products and possibly extra money in your pocket is indescribable.  It'll definitely increases your heart rate for sure!  

Now, some stores even double coupons (If you want to know if your local store doubles you have to get a copy of their coupon policy.  You can obtain this by either emailing, calling, or looking it up on the internet to print or download).  Doubling means if you have a coupon value of $.50 the store will double it to $1.00.  Some stores only double coupons up to $.50 meaning if the normal value of the coupon is over $.50 then they won't double it.  With that said the most a cents off coupon can be worth is $1.00.  Some stores will only double one like coupon.  Let's say you have two of the same coupon each giving $.50 off they will only double one to $1.00.  The other coupon you will only get $.50 off.  Let's take a look at an example of how you can save with doubling.

A can of Del Monte diced tomatoes are priced at $1.15 and you have a manufacturer's coupon for $.50 that coupon doubles to $1.00 and the canned tomatoes are only $.15.  Depending on your store's policy you can rack up on this deal.

Some coupons like the one below say "DO NOT DOUBLE".  What it should say is "WILL NOT DOUBLE".  Just because a coupon says do not double doesn't mean the store can't double the coupon, it just means the manufacturer is not going to reimburse the store the doubled price only the face value of the coupon.  So don't worry if you come across one of these coupons.  It doesn't affect you.

Ok, let's talk about Rain Checks.  A Raincheck is basically a piece of paper given to you by the store when a sale item is no longer in stock.  When that particular item is restocked and the sale is over you can hand them this paper and say "Uh UUH, I'm getting this for the sale price"!  Well don't say that just hand them the paper and think it in your head..lol.. On this paper it will list the item, how much it was on sale for, the quantity of the item, and the date issued just to name a few.  There may be an expiration date and a limit of how many of that item you can get so just ask. See below for ex:

How To Read A Coupon

One thing that was a little confusing to me was how to read a coupon.  This was one of the topics I had some trouble finding where the information was clear and concise.  So I would like to help you better understand this coupon wording as I previously stated earlier about reading the fine print. Let's look at some of the wording besides the self explanatory ones.

On the coupon below we see at the top it states Manufacturer's coupon and then the expiration date next to it.  Since we already went over what a manufacturer's coupon is (refer to post titled "Different Types of Coupons") let's focus on the expiration date.  You can use this coupon before or on the expiration date but not after. ( Note that you can donate all your expired coupons to military families overseas.  For more info on this visit www.krazycouponlady.com [fantastic site for deals btw]).

Ok, now that we got that covered, look at how it says "Save $1.00 off any 2 Colgate Toothpaste".  Notice it says "any".  This means you don't have to buy the toothpaste that is pictured on the coupon.  There are plenty of different types of the toothpaste such as Colgate Total, Colgate Optic White, Colgate Sensitive so on and so forth.  So you can buy any combination just as long as it's Colgate and you have two of them.  Now I would like to direct your attention to the "FINE PRINT" underneath the word Toothpaste on this coupon.  It says "except trial sizes".  You can NOT use this coupon to get a trial sized.  Now if that fine print wasn't there than that means size doesn't matter.....  Some coupons will say 4.0oz or higher indicating just that.  You have to get the ones that are 4.0oz or higher or whatever size is being indicated at the time.

Now take a look below at a different coupon but look closely on wording that is on most manufacturer coupons.  Let's break this down shall we!

• Consumer- That's You!!
• Limit one coupon per purchase- A lot of people get this confused because well.. it's confusing.  What this means is, let's use toothpaste for ex, if you are buying one tube of toothpaste but you have 3 of the same coupon you cannot use all three coupons on that one tube of toothpaste.  You can use 1 coupon for 1 toothpaste.  If you want to use all three coupons, you will need to be buying 3 tubes of toothpaste.  Per purchase means per item, not per transaction.  Make sense? 
• Good only in USA bla bla- self explanatory..lol same for the void part.
• You pay sales tax- meaning you will only get discounted for what's on the coupon not on tax.  When you start getting the hang of using coupons you will find that you can get a lot of freebies.  So you get the item free from the manufacturer but you have to pay the government their portion..mmhhmm. 

 The Retailer part is really not important.  That just tells the store how much they will be reimbursed for you using the coupon.

The next coupon, in the fine print section, says in bold "Limit one coupon per transaction".  What that means is if you have two of these coupons you use one then get back in line and do another one with the other coupon.  You can also let the cashier know that you will be doing multiple transactions if you have more than one.  

Another example pictured below shows in red "Limit one coupon per purchase".  Then it goes on and says "Limit of 4 like coupons in same shopping trip".  What this means is you can only use up to 4 coupons in one day in that particular store.  You don't need to split them up into transactions because it doesn't say "Limit one per transaction".  So you can use all four together.

Different types of coupons

There are two different types of coupons.  There are manufacturer coupons and store coupons. Manufacturer coupons are the most popular since you can get them from several different sources.  There are many different types of manufacturer coupons as well.  Let's take a look!

Regular Manufacturer Coupon:  These are coupons issued through your local Sunday newspaper inserts as advertisements from the manufacturer (the company making the product). These inserts include SmartSource, RedPlum, and P&G (Procter & Gamble).  You will find either one or the other, or more than one different kind, or more than one of the same kind. These coupons are redeemable wherever manufacturer coupons are accepted.

Catalinas:  They are called Catalinas because they were named after the company Catalina Marketing who made the small box from where these coupons are printed.  Catalinas are the longer coupons that print with your receipt at the cash register upon checking out. They are triggered by what you purchase. Sometimes these coupons can be store coupons depending on the store's promotion. Let's use Giant as an example.  If the catalina says "Redeemable at Giant" then it is a manufacturer coupon and can be used anywhere else.  If the coupon says "Redeemable ONLY at Giant" then it is a store coupon that can only be used at Giant.

Blinkies:  You can find these coupons in the little box that hangs in front of the product on the shelf.

Peelies:  These are found directly on the product like a sticker. Make sure you peel them off right away because they can be used immediately. 

eCoupons:  These are digital coupons found online that can be downloaded directly to your store loyalty card.
Internet Printable Coupon:  These coupons print straight from the internet.  You can go to SmartSource.com, Coupons.com, and RedPlum.com just to name a few.  Some stores accept them and some don't, so make sure you have a copy of each store's coupon policy that you will be shopping at.

Store coupons are also a great way to save.  These coupons are issued by the store and are suppose to be used only at that specific store.  Now please note that some stores accept competitor's coupons in an attempt to snag customers to buy at their store.  You can find these coupons in the store ad or circular. See below for example:

Beginning Couponing

I started couponing around October 2013, so I'm fairly new to this as well.  When I first started I said to myself "Oh, this should be easy"! " Saving a dollar here and there can't be too complicated".  Boy was I wrong.  There are so many technicalities to this and at times very tedious and time consuming.  I thought I knew how to read a coupon.  You know, like when it expired and how much I was going to be saving on that particular item.  Simple right?  No, YOU HAVE TO READ THE FINE PRINT!

 After finding out that if I wanted to be serious about couponing I had to get a system down.  I needed a binder, baseball card holders, calculator, stapler, scissors, ugh the whole 9 yards.  So I went on you tube and watched a whole bunch of videos on people sharing their shopping trips and knowledge on how and when to use coupons.  It took me about a month to find and understand all the information in order to start putting it to use. So that's a lot of information.  So I wanted to start a blog which would basically be a one stop shop for info.  I do recommend though, that you watch some you tube videos on people going on shopping trips so you can get a general feeling and idea of what you'll be experiencing.

In this blog I will try my best to go over in detail all of the information that I have on the way I save.  I will post pictures of my hauls and go over what I did to save.  I will also disclose many websites I have access to to receive free stuff in the mail.  I've gotten free make up, make up brushes, vitamins, shampoo samples, photo albums and much more. My advice to you is don't stress yourself out.  Don't try to cram so much information at one time, because you will be confused.  Also, start off with a few coupons at first. My first time ever trying to use coupons was horrible.  I was sweating, nervous, my heart was pounding out of my chest and I was shaking.  I made the mistake of trying to "go big or go home" and was at the register confused and stressed.  I do not recommend that..lol.

One more thing I have to get off my chest.  Some people talk negatively about people who use coupons, which I don't understand.  I mean what is sooo baaad about wanting to save money.  You'd be crazy not to.  There is nothing to be ashamed about.  I bet you if that negative nancy and myself were in the same checkout line and I was first, and we bought a whole cart full of the same exact things but I used coupons, and paid for ex. $20 and then they went and paid almost $100, who would look like the dumb dumb?  Not me!!  So if your standing at the register with a bunch of coupons be proud of it, not ashamed.  You're the one walking out of the store like a boss!!

If you have any questions you can either comment below or email me at mz_judged1@yahoo.com.

HAPPY $AVING$!!!