Free for Me!

                                                        


I love a great deal and I have found a few lately!  Yesterday was a goldmine! Coupons for $7 off any Allegra...that equaled 11 free boxes!  Also, one of our local grocery stores seems to always have the 9 oz. Dawn dish soap on sale for $0.99.  This is also the store that doubles coupons up to $0.50.  I had coupons for $0.25 off regular Dawn and $0.50 off the Olay ones...which equaled FREE for the Olay!  Here's to better looking dish pan hands at no cost! LOL  


I have yet to find one of those great overages or totally cheap trip total, but I will forge on and enjoy the savings I am finding while still trying to make the big score.  I have gotten behind again on clipping my coupons, and the pile was starting to get out of control.  In fact, some of the coupons had expired by the time I finally got to them.  I would like to come up with a new way to organize them...maybe where I do not have to clip them.  This is where a tablet would come in handy.  I can just sort them all and enter the info into a program on a tablet.  It could save me tons of time!  I could have expiration dates and such all organized and then it would make it a lot easier than flipping through like I do now.  What I need to make that happen is a few good weeks of deals to save up some money!  lol  That's what my husband would say anyway, lol.

                                                 


I continue to stock up on items that I find great deals on, and I try to avoid things I would not normally purchase.  I also try to avoid junk food, candy and such...unless it is such a deal that I can't pass it up!  Oh!  We did get 2 other GREAT bargains!  We got toothpaste for $0.10 and tooth brushes for $0.30!  They were all on clearance at Walmart and I had COUPONS!  It was one of those weeks where I wish I had more papers!  But I was still happy...got 6 tubes of tooth paste and 12 toothbrushes.  Those are the bargains I love to find!  I have also been lucky on laundry soap a few times.  One of the grocery stores around here has a little clearance rack with all kinds of items.  Usually the times are about 50% off the regular price.  I have been lucky to have coupons when they had laundry soap.  And it usually when the bottle gets dented or something, lol.  I can still use it! 

                                                


That is about all of the savings I can ramble on about right now.  I will let you know about the next big deal as soon as it happens!  Until then, keep clipping and saving!

Size Matters

                                                  




OK, just when I think I am starting to get the hang of this coupon thing, I see someone at the store who is totally kicking ass at it!  I mean TOTALLY!  I actually had coupon envy.  She made my binder feel inadequate and ashamed of  her small size...it was a sad, sad day indeed! :(  They TONS of dog food products, dry packages, (the smaller ones) and canned.  There was other stuff, but it was already bagged.  And to top it off, she wasn't really all that nice.  She didn't like that we tried to speak to her about coupons.  I think she was looking down on my binder size, lol.  She had a lot of overage we decided.  What we don't know is where she gets that many coupons, because I will tell you what, that particular woman was not dumpster diving for them! lol


She had well over 100 bags of dog food and I am not sure of other amounts.  But there was a coupon for each one...On a good week I might, and I mean MIGHT be able to get 20 same coupons.  Hmmmm...at the most of Internet coupons I can get 12 on a good day.  I print 2 of each coupon off of all 5 of our computers and one set from work.  WTH?  I have got to figure this out and build up my resources.  

                                              


These TV shows make it seem like these couponers plan for months to make these big shopping trips happen.  Well, that to me seems impossible.  They can't plan that far in advance. Sale ads are a week to week thing and as far as I know, coupons previews are not listed any more than a week ahead of time.  Am I missing something here?  It seems to me that you have a few weeks at the most to get your coupons in order and hope the store put these items on sale.  Maybe I need to research this a little more.  I wanna save more!!!!


I got very behind on clipping my coupons, I was backed up for a month and even missed some good deals because of it.  I won't let that happen again.  It is a time consuming job, but it is paying off.  My little stock pile has gotten other's interested.  And it is no where near the amount as the ones on the TV show.  I can only dream of that someday!  I continue to use certain stores to get the most for our money.  One store I would never go to often I frequent often now because they double coupons and have improved their sales.  They offer several deals a week via text messages and those alone have saved me tons in the past few weeks!  And of course the good old Walmart price match...now if they would just double coupons, I would be saving a couple of trips!


I have been learning the ropes of stacking and it seems the best place around for that is Target.  You can get some items nearly free!  Its still a big game and I am still learning the rules.  I still plug away at that one time goal of the big score shopping trip!  Until next time...

                                                    




       

Where Are The Deals?

As much as I would love to say I saved soooo much money, it is just not the truth.  I tried, and did OK at one store.  My savings were 37%.  With Walmart, I think I saved more money with price matching.  I got some great deals though, so I am not totally disappointed.  My best bargain was the Herbal Essences shampoo and conditioner I got for $1 a bottle after price matching and coupons.   Sure did beat paying $2.84 a bottle!  We also got a bargain on Soft Soap...the 1st store had some in their clearance section that was marked down 25% to 50%, then I used the $0.40 off coupons which the store doubled!  I don't think I paid more $0.50 a bottle.


There were a few more little bargains, but I can't help but to think I am missing something.  How in the heck do these other couponers do it?  How do they get those bargains every single trip and pay little to nothing?  I realize the show really exaggerates and spotlights the best ones, but they still have a knack and I want to know what it is!


I have found only one store (Walmart) in my metro area that will pay overage and with the surge in couponing use, the trial size money making deals are becoming far and few between.  Not that I am picky, but I do not like to buy much of my fresh meat from Walmart.  I just have standards and it is tough to get a good deal.  But I am willing to pay for a good product, I would just love to get it cheap! lol  


So, I picked up my papers today for the Sunday coupons.  There were not a lot of great ones, but enough to make it worth the trip.  I will search the Internet far and wide, possibly search some recycling dumpsters...all in the name to ave the all mighty dollar!  Stay tuned!!!!!

So, this week was a bust for my couponing...don't get me wrong, I used coupons, but it wasn't much!  To make it worse, I went to a store closer to my house and I am not very familiar with the layout yet, that might have kept me from finding a better bargain.  This weeks goal was to make a list, stick to the list and keep it cheap.  With the holidays, we needed to keep costs down as much as possible with no extras.  And it would make sense that coupons would help with that.  But actually when I am saving money, I am also spending it.  Are you lost yet?   


Let me explain...I have found the "golden ticket" of coupons several times now.  That is when I find a coupon that will make an item free or nearly free.  Or just down right cheap for that item.  That is when you want to find multiple coupons like that and stock up.  A couple of weeks ago it was like that for canned goods and frozen veggies.  I paid no more than $0.25 a can for the canned veggies and about $0.50 a bag for the frozen ones.  Veggies are now off of my shopping list for a while.  I also stocked up on canned fruit at $0.50 a can during that time.  So, in the long run I will save money by getting it that cheap, but I have to pay for it all up front.  Hence the spending money to save money.


We have done that with several things and are starting to get the hang of it, but it is not as easy as they make it look on TV! lol  We are learning that these product coupons come out in cycles, sometimes they are great ones, other times you wonder why they bothered to spend more on the paper than the coupon was worth.  It is a lot of work, time and effort to make this work but I am determined!  I dream of having a stock pile like some of the people of the show Extreme Couponing.  I would love to be able to go to my pantry and know I have tons of needed items.  


I have also noticed that when you get those coupons, and use it to stock up, the next time they come around the price has been raised or the coupon value is dramatically lower.  It slightly irks me to see them do that.  Just because we have figured out a way to use the coupons to their full advantage and get a great deal is no reason to make it harder.  If you do not want all of those coupons used, then do not publish that many...gezzzz!


So, with the start of the new year, I vow to to rule this couponing game and save my family some money while getting great deals!  I know this blog is a slow work in progress, but please check back frequently and I will keep you informed of the great deals I come across! 

                                            

Game on...

Couponing is nothing more than a game. There are so many rules to follow, and at times your supply can be limited. In order to win at the game, you have to use those rules to your advantage and go above and beyond the typical couponer. I will admit, I got into couponing after seeing the show Extreme Couponing. While I would love to be able to do what those people do, in reality I know I cannot possibly do that every week, (but of course I am going to try!)

Games can become addictive, and couponing is no exception. Although I do have my moments where I am not as much of a go-getter with coupons, there are other times I am so determined, you will find us at the recycling bins savaging for those thrown away, (occasionally we have lucked out and found a paper delivery route dumped). I have a few people I get their insert coupons from them, but most of them come from buying multiple papers. The amount purchased depends on the coupons in the papers that week. We average 8-12 papers on Sundays.

I have good and bad weeks with Internet coupons, and having multiple computers in the house usually gets me passed that 2 coupon print limit. I just hit every computer in our house and can get 10 of each needed coupon, (as long as there are no printer issues). I am still new to all of this, but I have a decent start, learning the ropes as we go. My husband is a HUGE help! He is right beside me at the dumpsters, helping on Sundays with the paper collections and searching the Internet far and wide for bargains, coupons and deals. He is also at the stores with me when help. It takes 2 to watch at the register and make sure things ring through like they are suppose to.

When I work hard at it, on average I am saving about 40%, which may not sound "extreme", but savings is savings, right?! It is time consuming and sometimes works my nerves! With every store having different coupon policies, you have to know how they play the game before you even walk into the store. You have to research those ads and decide your route ahead of time to save some time! We often spend several hours shopping, it pays off in the long run.

This blog is my way of passing on what I have learned to others. I admit I have much more to learn, and I hope that this blog helps some of you! So bear with me and check back often and let's see if we can find some deals!

Alex's lemonade stand

Smile

Steve Laffer (@Slaffer27) has shared a Tweet with you: "Slaffer27: Make someone smile today." --http://twitter.com/Slaffer27/status/136473739012476928