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Coupons

How To Save Money With Coupons With These 4 Simple Steps

By //  by guest

[This is a guest post from Tim at Faith and Finance, about how to save money with coupons.  He and his wife are coupon ninjas and recently wrote an eBook called How To Coupon.]

“That’ll be $9.47,” the cashier said as he totaled all our items.  It’s always hard to hold back my excitement when I hear a cashier tell say that our total is less than ten bucks, especially when we have three full bags of items worth over $80!  Sometimes we’ll literally hear people behind us whisper in disbelief at how low the total is.  We try not to make a big deal of it, so when people ask, “how did you do that,” we smile and say, “we just used the right coupons.”

Ok, that’s not entirely true (well, the saving part is, but there’s a little more to the method).  You can’t just walk into a store and expect to save 80% on everyday items like deodorant, razors, and toothpaste because you’re holding a crisp coupon in your hand.  While couponing isn’t rocket science, it does take some planning and a little knowhow.

Trust me, when we first started, we had no clue how to coupon.  In fact, I made up all sorts of excuses about coupons and why it wasn’t worth our time.  Man was I wrong!

You’ve probably seen a few examples of Khaleef and Sherrian’s shopping trips on this blog.  They understand how to ‘stack’ coupons and use store rewards for their benefit, which is how they can get items at a steep discount, and sometimes even free!

How To Save Money With Coupons

If you’ve been telling yourself, “man, I should start couponing” there’s no better time than now.  It may seem like there’s a lot to learn, but don’t feel overwhelmed about it.  We’re going to outline the basics here, but if you want an even more thorough explanation of how our family (and Khaleef’s) saves thousands a year with coupons, take a look at our thorough eBook How to Coupon.

1.     Get Organized

This may seem like a no brainer, but it’s the key to saving the most money through couponing.  Create a coupon binder and use baseball card sleeves to organize your coupons by categories like frozen foods, drinks, shampoo, etc.  (The eBook has free dividers for you to print out).

As you find deals online, you can quickly reference your binder to see if you have any applicable coupons.  If not, you can ignore the deal and move on to the next one.

2.     Set Aside Time

The most time consuming part of couponing is cutting and sorting them.  We spend about 2-3 hours a week if we have a bunch of newspapers to pull coupons from.

The bright side is that once you have your coupons organized and your shopping list made up based on your coupons, you can easily get through the aisles of your favorite store very quickly.

3.     Follow the Deals Online

There are a few tricks to finding the best deals.  Coupon blogs will actually highlight the best deals for the coming weeks.  Subscribe to blogs like The Krazy Coupon Lady, I Heart Wags, and I Heart CVS to get a preview of the store deals as well as tips on how you can use your coupons to maximize your purchase.

[Khaleef’s note: Another way to save money with coupons is by using our free coupon database]

4.     Stock Up

A lot of people will quickly use the excuse: “I don’t need 12 bottles of ketchup, so couponing doesn’t make any sense to me.”  I agree.  Unless you’re opening a restaurant, there’s no good reason why you need to rush to the store to buy that much ketchup!

It does make sense, however, to stock up on nonperishable items that you go through often.  For example, when we find a deal on toothpaste that makes the total cost around $0.25, you bet we’ll stock up on 4-6 tubes.  We usually try to get enough to last about three months because that’s generally the sales cycle you’ll find for most deals.

Hopefully you’ve gathered a few helpful tips and found some inspiration to start your journey to save hundreds, if not thousands of dollars each year with coupons.

Do you try to use coupons when you go to the store?  If not, what are your reservations about using coupons?  Do you think it’s a waste of time?

photo by dmdonahoo

Filed Under: Coupons, shopping Tagged With: bills, business, community websites, coupon, coupon lady, coupon organizing, couponing, Coupons, groceries, grocery, how to save money, How To Save Money With Coupons, lower, lows, marketing, money, sales promotion, simple steps, stacks coupon, steps

Black Friday 2010 Deals: Rite-Aid

By //  by Sherrian Crumbley

photo by The Consumerist

Rite-Aid is also offering very satiating Black Friday deals starting on Thanksgiving Day!  Their store offers two ways to save:

  1. +Up Rewards (+Up) is their store-only cash (similar to CVS’ Extra Care Bucks) and…
  2. Single Check Rebates (SCR) which are rebate offers you can recover by entering your receipt information on their website and they’ll send a check out to you in the mail on select items.

Don’t forget to use our Coupon Database in order to turn these deals into free items or moneymakers!

Here are some of the upcoming Rite Aid Black Friday 2010 deals and the ad scan:

  • Hershey’s, Reese’s, M&M’s, Mars, and Nestle single serve Candy Bars, get $1 +UP when you buy 2 for $1 (limit 5)
  • Philips 3 Device Remote Control or Ear buds w/ Case for $4.99, get $4.99 SCR (limit 1)
  • Colgate Total Advanced toothpaste 4 oz or 360 manual toothbrush for $1.77, get $1 +UP (limit 2)
  • Got2b Stylers (any, excluding glue) for $4.99, get $4.99 SCR (limit 1)

Please click on each photo below to enlarge the image:

Rite Aid Black Friday Ad 2010 Page 01

Rite Aid Black Friday Ad 2010 Page 02

Rite Aid Black Friday Ad 2010 Page 03

Rite Aid Black Friday Ad 2010 Page 04

Rite Aid Black Friday Ad 2010 Page 05

Rite Aid Black Friday Ad 2010 Page 06

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Rite Aid Black Friday Ad 2010 Page 08

Rite Aid Black Friday Ad 2010 Page 09

Filed Under: Black Friday 2010, Coupons, Deals, shopping Tagged With: Black Friday, Coupons, Deals, shopping

Should You Really Pay for These Things?

By //  by Khaleef Crumbley

Recently, Yahoo! Finance highlighted an article that listed 15 things you shouldn’t be paying for.

Here is their list along with my take on these expenses:

Basic Computer Software

I hardly ever pay for software anymore. There are so many free versions of most popular software – open source, online versions, and extensions of free trials can greatly reduce your software expenses!

Also, if you are a student, the computer lab may have those programs installed, or available for free downloads for students.

If you must pay for software, be sure to check for student versions, or see if you can survive with reduced features (if there is more than one version, the cheaper one may be sufficient).

Your Credit Report

You do not always have to pay for a copy of your credit report! As I wrote when covering the Credit CARD Act of 2009:

“The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions (or FACT – isn’t our government clever?) Act of 2003 gives consumers the right to obtain a free copy of their credit report once every twelve months from each of the three nationwide consumer credit reporting companies (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion).”

So, you are allowed a free report once a year from each of the three main reporting agencies. This means that you can view your credit report 3 times a year without paying a dime!

Of course, if you want access to your score or monitoring services, you’ll probably have to pay.

Cell Phone

Yes, it’s true that many carriers will give you a free phone (even some smart phones) if you sign a 2-year contract; However, most people are more concerned with the expensive monthly bills. A little while ago we covered exactly how to cut your cell phone expenses.

Books

The library is a great place to rent books. They will have magazines, reference materials, textbooks and other scholarly works, and even bestsellers. Just about every book that has ever been sold has also sat on the shelf of a public library!

If your library doesn’t carry a particular book – or it isn’t available in their network, you can always find it for next to nothing at Amazon.com!

Water

Bottled water is one of the greatest ripoffs of the century! Plain old tap water has to go through much more regulation and testing then the bottled variety. If you need it to be portable, just pickup an environmentally-friendly, reusable bottle with a filter.

Credit Card

The article was mainly dealing with annual fees, which is definitely something that can easily be avoided. However, reducing your credit card expenses is something that everyone can do as well.

Debt Reduction Help

Before deciding to pay for debt management help, the article suggests “start[ing] with a visit to the National Foundation for Credit Counseling.” Also, if you just need a few tips to help dig yourself out from a mountain of debt, be sure to check out our Debt Management section, or contact us.

Basic Tax Preparation

The IRS maintains a list of services that offer free electronic filing of your federal tax return (there is usually a fee for adding your state taxes). However, if your tax situation is anything more than “basic”, visit our Tax Guide and contact us to schedule an appointment for Tax Preparation.

If you would like to prepare your own taxes with desktop software, here is a good list to choose from.

The News

Since just about everything you find in a newspaper is available for free online, there is no need to pay for it. Most towns/counties have websites where they announce everything from school closings to road construction and everything in between. However, if you use coupons, it is probably worth it to purchase at least the Sunday paper. Keep in mind that many coupons can be found online and you should check our Coupon Database before buying the paper, just to be sure you need it.

Budgeting Tools

There is a decent amount of budgeting and expense tracking software out there that you can get for free. In looking at tracking your expenses in order to create a budget, I highlighted several of them.

Pets

At my last job I met a number of animal lovers. It was there that I learned about the abundance of animal shelters that allow you to adopt pets for a minimal charge (usually to help cover the expenses of caring for the animals).

Shipping

Free shipping is one of the features that made Amazon.com the king of online retailers. Any order over $25 directly from Amazon ships for free. Also, if you are a member of Amazon Prime (free to students), you qualify for free 2-day shipping. Also, check out www.freeshipping.org for over 2400 sites that offer free shipping.

Checking Account

Although I don’t share the author’s disdain for banks being able to make a profit, I do hate paying for checking! There are physical banks and credit unions that still offer free checking, so don’t settle for an account that you have to pay for.

Also, many online banks offer free checking, and will also provide free access to your money via extensive ATM networks.

DVD Rentals

Most of us have seen those RedBox DVD rental kiosks around, however, the article also highlighted this fact, ” if you use one of the coupon codes from www.insideredbox.com you can avoid the $1 charge”! Also, don’t neglect your local library when it comes to free DVD (and CD) rentals!

Exercise

There are plenty of exercises that you can do around the house. Also, jogging or walking in a park (preferably before dark) is a great alternative to an expensive gym package. Oh, don’t forget about those free DVD rentals – pick up a workout video!


What are some things that you used to pay for that you now get for free?

photo credit: RambergMediaImages

Filed Under: Budgeting, Coupons, Deals, Debt Management, Personal Finance, shopping Tagged With: Deals, free, Personal Finance, shopping, spending

Can You Eat Well for $1 a Day?

By //  by Khaleef Crumbley

If someone asked me that question two weeks ago, I probably would have laughed in their face! However, after reading about Jeffery’s challenge on GroceryCouponGuide.com last week, I may have to rethink my response.

In order to prove the power of coupons to his sister, he challenged himself to live off of $1 per day for the month of May! Here is Jeffery’s account of their conversation:

“All you would eat is cereal and junk food,” she countered. That is not a healthy diet for a month.

“I think I could have a fairly healthy diet on $1 a day,” I replied. “At least a lot healthier than you think.”

“Including fruits and veggies?” she asked, the skepticism in her voice coming through again.

“Including fruits and veggies,” I said.

“You couldn’t last a month,” she said sure of herself.

I would recommend that everyone take some time to read his story – he gives an account of each day, along with pictures of each meal. He also takes pictures of his groceries and receipts. If you don’t have time to read each day’s account, make sure you read Day 1 to see what he purchased.

He was able to buy the following for $4.49:

2 boxes of Quaker Instant oatmeal
4 packs of Philadelphia Cream Cheese Minis
1 package of Knudsen Light sour cream
10 apples
2 lbs of carrots
4 boxes (small) of Wheat Thins
1 jar of Skippy All Natural peanut butter
2 cans of pork and beans
1 bag of long grain brown rice
2 packages of Mission 100% whole wheat tortillas (10 count each)

He even got a ton of items from Safeway, and they PAID HIM for shopping!!! This kind of shopping would be great for someone on a slow carb diet.

In total he purchased $597.96 worth of food and other stuff for $27.08 during the month of May!

After the 30 days were over, he created a list of 10 things that he learned while eating on $1 per day:

  1. Grocery Shopping Is A Game: It takes about a month to learn the rules of the game and how to play it to your advantage which makes it possible to get huge discounts on the food you buy.
  2. You Can Eat More Than Junk Food On $1 A Day: I actually was able to get fruit and vegetables into my diet on a daily basis. I only ate 100% whole wheat bread the entire month. While I could have made my diet healthier if I had more money, I believe that what I ate was better than what many people in the US eat without the strict financial limitations.
  3. Drug Stores Can Be A Great Place To Get Free Food: Most people don’t think of their local drug store as a place to get free food, but if you have any of the three big national chains near you (CVS, Walgreens or Rite Aid), they are a great place to get free food. These drug stores often have deals where you can purchase things for free and when combined with frequent offers of a certain dollar amount off when you buy a qualifying amount, it can mean free food.
  4. If You Don’t Know What A Catalina Coupon Is, You Don’t Know About The Most Powerful Discount Available To You: Catalina coupons are those coupons that you get with your receipt that give you money off your next shopping purchase. By utilizing these coupons in conjunction with sales and coupons, you go from getting good deals when shopping to being able to get food for free, or even make money.
  5. Generic / Store Brands Aren’t As Cheap As You Think: Most people I talked with believed that I was going to have to only buy generic/store brand food. I don’t think I bought any store brand products (except for Safeway apples) because they were much more expensive than the name brand product discounts I could find.
  6. You Don’t Know How To Shop: If you are like most people, you decide what you want to eat and then go to the grocery store and buy the ingredients you need to make that meal. If this is the way that you shop, you have already lost the game and will pay much more than you need to be paying. If you truly want to save money shopping, you need to learn how to create your meals from what you already have in your house and then buy the best deals each week to replenish what you have on hand. This allows you to purchase food at the best prices as opposed to what they happen to be when you go to get the ingredients for your menu. This simple change should instantly cut your grocery bill by 50% or more.
  7. It’s Possible To Donate A Lot of Food While Only Eating On $1 A Day: One of the things that I am most proud of in this challenge was that beyond not going hungry, I was actually able to donate quite a bit of food to my local food bank during the month. This included: {8 Deli Selections lunch packs, 8 packages hardwood smoked turkey franks, 3 sample packs of Maxwell House Vanilla Carmel Latte, 1 can of Pork & Beans, 32 boxes of cereal, 50 packs of Philadelphia Cream Cheese Minis, 4 boxes of Wheat Thins}
  8. It Doesn’t Take Near As Much Time As You Would Imagine: There is an initial learning curve when you really do need to devote a good amount of time learning how the system works, but once you become familiar with it, things shouldn’t take too much longer than they do for you now. While it is possible to spend a lot of time cutting, sorting and cataloging all the coupons you have, you don’t have to. I don’t.
  9. Being Able To Get Coupons Is Key: Your ability to get coupons will be the key to saving money and the more you can find, the better the chance you will have to get great deals. Although I was limited to using the coupons from 2 Sunday inserts, I still did well. Had I been able to use more, I could have done much better. I also utilized a lot of coupons found in the stores — something that most people don’t do nearly enough.
  10. Anyone Can Do It: I only started couponing in February of this year to help out local food banks and avoided shopping as much as I could before then. I didn’t have a clue about anything about couponing or grocery shopping when I began. If I was able to figure out how to do this, I assure you that anyone can. It will take about 10 hours of learning how the different store systems work and about a month of practice using what you learn to become comfortable with using coupons. From that point on, you can expect huge savings in your grocery shopping.

This is an amazing series and I would encourage everyone to read it. Each daily post is relatively short, and his writing style is very fluid and personable – he also includes plenty of pictures.

While I don’t encourage anyone to challenge themselves to eat on $1 a day, I do think we can learn a lot from Jeffery’s experience. Those of us who claim to be smart, savvy shoppers should look at this account as motivation to be better stewards of our money!

I think this story served as a wake-up call for me to reevaluate my spending to see what areas I can cut back on in order to reach my financial goals!

What about you? Have you ever challenged yourself to survive on less? Have you ever been forced to dramatically decrease your spending on a necessity? How did you handle it? Any advice for frugal living?

Please feel free to share your story, comments or questions below.

Filed Under: Budgeting, Coupons, Deals, Personal Finance Tagged With: Budgeting, Coupons, Deals, free, shopping

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