Coupon Tip Tuesday: What Price Do I Use?

Thank you Becky for this great question. After doing this for over a year, some times we forget that a lot of you don't know all the ins and outs!

Becky had some trouble getting her catalina to print after spending $25.00 PRE coupon. She wanted to clarify that she was doing it right.

One tool that we find extremely useful is the Grocery Smarts shopping list (by the way, we have a pictorial of how to use this tool).

Let's use todays catalina promo as an example (this sale ends 1/5 by the way). "Spend $25.00 on select items, get $10.00 in catalinas back". In order to earn that $10 catalina, you've got to have your PRE COUPON total come to $25 or more. The dollar amount you are going to use to get to that total is the sale or "preferred" price. See the picture below to help clarify...


So the bounce dryer bar is $3.99 sale price (or sometimes marked as preferred price, it really doesn't matter). If you factor in the discount of the catalina, the price comes to $2.39, THEN if you factor in the coupon, the price is $.89. Using the items in the above picture, I would purchase:

(2) Bounty Giant Roll Paper Towels $9.99 each (subtotal is now $19.98)
(1) Bounce Dryer Bar $3.99 (subtotal is now $23.97)
(1) Bounty Napkins $2.99 (subtotal is now $26.96 and the catalina should print after I pay!)

Of course, what I really pay out of pocket will be LESS, because I'll have coupons AND, I'd use my $10 catalina that I earned from a previous transaction. Sweet!

Questions?? Ask away!!

Coupon Tip Tuesday: Stock Up Prices

One of the reasons that we love to coupon is because we get things for FREE. We do not get everything for free all the time so...

First I will show you some of my freebies.
Second I will tell you which items you will be able to find free time and time again.
Third I will tell you my stock up prices for many of these items!

We are often asked....
 What is your stock up price? Or How much will you pay for certain things?

Below are all items that I have been able to get for FREE time and time again. I am always able to stock up enough to make it to the next sale!


Things I only get when they are Free:

Toothpaste
Toothbrush
Shampoo
Conditioner
Hair Spray
Razors
Deoderant
Lotion
Shaving Cream
Napkins
Paper Plates
Plastic Cups
Pain Meds
Cough Medicine
Body Wash
Tree Top Box Juices
Juicy Juice
Capri Suns
Popcorn
Salad Dressing
BBQ Sauce
Hot Dogs

We do not get everything for FREE, but we do pay rock bottom prices. So if you can not get it FREE, don't pay more than this.
You may have to wait, but the sale and coupon match up will come!

Items I would not pay more than .50 for:

Yo-Plus Yogurt* 4 pack
Peanut butter*
Crackers*
Coffee Creamer*
Candy*
Mac n' Cheese
Brownie Mix*
Juice* (big bottle)
Easy Mac*
Velveeta Cups*
Pasta Sides*
Instant Oatmeal 10 pk
Cake Mix*
Chex Mix
Frosting in a can
Cereal*
Frozen Veggies
Canned Fruit*
Pasta Sauce
Refried Beans
Soup Progresso*
Mayo
Ketchup
Mustard
Broth in the Box
Cleaning Suppies*
Room Freshners*
Cookies*
Margarine* .50/lb

I will not pay more than $1 for:
Bread*
Yoplait Delights*
Chocolate Chips
Fruit Snacks
Cookie Mix
Cereal* (only for a kind I REALLY want)
Chocolate Syrup
Pancake Syrup
Rhodes Bake and Serve Rolls (.69 w/ Albies Double)
Pillsbury cresents, biscuits*, c-rolls
Granola Bars
Butter ($1.25/lb)
Cookies* (only for a kind I REALLY want)

I will not pay more than $2 for:
Hamburger /lb
Chicken /lb
Cheese /lb (I usually pay $1.50/lb and gotten this FREE)
Detergent*

Diapers- $5-$7 jumbo pack

*Has been FREE


Hope this helps you get an idea of the prices you could/can be paying for your gorceries/personal care items.

What are your stock up prices?

Fabuless Coupon Tip Tuesday: Trouble Printing?

Before we can help with printing problems we want to be sure you know some lingo.........

Bricks: Partner with coupons.com that has coupons usually available after signing up for something. But not always.

A "bricks page" will look like the image to the left.

IE: Internet Explorer Browser

FF: FireFox Browser

The URL will look similar to this:

Bricks coupons have a link that is meant to be printed in a certain browser (i.e. Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Safari).

When you try to print a coupon in a different browser than was intended, you will get a message the says, "trying to download coupon printer."

You can cut and paste this link to another browser. If you have two browsers on your computer.

Or simply change two characters in the link.

Here is part of a Firefox link:

http://bricks.coupons.com/Start.asp?tqnm=ri3peuo59687503&bt=wg&o=53740&ci=1&c=GM&p=TyQrvJAY

Note the “wg” in the URL. That means it is a Firefox link.

To make the link an Internet Explorer link: change the “wg” to “wi” or “vi”. If one does not work try the other.

Here is part of an Internet Explorer link:
http://bricks.coupons.com/Start.asp?tqnm=qhldcyo15421561&bt=vi&o=55267&pt=&lang
Note the “vi” in the URL. That means it is an Internet Explorer link

To make link a Firefox link: change the “wi” or “vi” to “wg”. If one does not work try the other.

If you use Safari: replace the “wg”, “wi”, or “vi” to “xs”. And to get a Safari link to print in a different browser, change the “xs” to“wi” or “vi” for Internet Explorer or to “wg” for Firefox.

What are your tips for coupon printing?

Coupon Tip Tuesday: Printing Coupons

The best place to find coupons to print is coupons.com. They have 15-20 pages of coupons, up to 200 coupons available for printing.

If it is your first time using the website you will have to download a coupon printer. This is a totally safe download so don't be alarmed. You will just need to follow the simple instructions.

NOTE: Coupon printing is not supported by the browser Google Chrome. So you will not be able to print any coupons in that browser.

Coupons.com allows you to print each coupon twice. Once you have printed a coupon twice it will appear on the last page of the website and have a "PRINT LIMIT REACHED" notice on the coupon.

Sometimes we will let you know that a coupon has been "reset". This means that the limit has been removed and you will be able to print the coupon two more times.

You can print using our coupon bar by clicking on "see all coupon" at the top or click at the bottom where it says "by COUPONS.COM" to go to the website.

For a tutorial on printing the coupons using the bar or the website see Cathy's Fabuless Tutorial here.

New coupons will arrive at the beginning of each month. We will remind you when they do on our website. If you would like an email reminder just send us your address and we would be happy to send you one.

Expiration dates: Tend to vary by coupon and the date that you print.

At the end of the month: You will want to be sure to print any coupons you may still want because in a few days they will either be gone or you will be able to print them two more times. Giving you 4 coupons instead of 2.

Saving paper: Print your coupons on the back of scratch paper. Remember that you can print 3 coupon per page. So I usually print in groups of three in order to use the whole sheet of paper.
Next week: We will show you ways to trouble shoot printing problems.

Fabulous Coupon Tip Tuesday: Target Price Matching

Here is a great question from one of our readers:
 "I was just on Target's website looking at their price matching policy. I have a question about the policy, and was hoping that you could help out. Will they give you the price matched price AND let you use a coupon?"

Yes. you can use your coupon with a price match. Remember the store gets paid for the full value of your coupon plus .08. The following is some fabulous information I found about
Target Price matching on Making Life Sweet one deal at a time:

1. You must have the printed ad with you.

2. The item you want must match exactly. There are no size substitutions.

3. You cannot match prices that you get by using a savings card at another store. For example, if granola bars are $1.50 per box when you use your savings card at Albertsons, you cannot match that price at all.

4. They will not match percent-off savings.

5. They will not match additional saving promos (like the promos Walgreens have of buying 5, get an additional $2 back).

6. It must be a current, weekly price to qualify.

Fabulous Coupon Tip Tuesday: Walgreens 101

Walgreens 101

Stacking Coupons: You can use a Walgreens store coupon and a manufactures coupon on the same item.
Example:
Buy four cans of Campbell's Soup
Use one Walgreens in-ad coupon to make the soup 0.59 also
Use one .40 off 4 manufactures coupon.
Final Cost 0.49 each

Where do I get the Walgreen's Coupons?
Walgreens coupons can be found in the store ad. Find your store ad in the Sunday paper and at the store. The coupons are only good for 7 days, Sunday-Saturday to go along with the stores weekly sales.

What if they are out of my coupon item?
If the store is out of an item you can get a raincheck for the price on your in-store coupon. Just ask a manager. Keep the coupon with the raincheck in case there is confusion when you go to redeem it later.

What are Register Rewards (RR)?

Register Rewards are dollar value coupons (pictured above) received for buying certain promotional items at Walgreen's. They print out after you have paid for your purchase. They act as in store cash and can be redeemed like cash on future Walgreen's purchases.

Look for this wave symbol in the ad or in the store to find Register Reward items. We look for register reward items that have coupon match-ups in order to make the item cheap, free or even have overage.


Example:
Nivea Body Wash 16.9 oz $4.99
Use $1/1 Manufactures coupon (MC)
Receive $5RR
Final Cost $1 OVERAGE

Overage When the combination of an RR and MC exceed the value of the item purchased.
Sometimes the RR offer has no coupon match-ups and is not free after RR. Not all RR deals are good ones, but many are.

Golden Rules:

1. You will only get one RR per transaction in a certain promotion.

Example:

Nivea body wash has an RR promotion. If you buy 2 Nivea body washes you will only get one RR. If you buy Nivea and Rembrandt toothpaste you will get an RR for each product as long as they are part of different promotions.

Rolling RR's: This is how you get more than one bottle of Nivea during the promotion with out having to pay cash.

Buy the Nivea get a $5 RR
Buy the Rembrandt pay $1 cash and $5 RR get $6 RR
Buy Nivea and a $1 item to get your subtotal to $6, pay with $6 RR
Get another $5 RR and on and on til you have what you need!

Sometimes they will do a group a products together like several varieties of Tylenol seen here. If you buy the 2 Children's Tylenol and 2 Tylenol Allergy you will only get one RR. This is because they are in the same promotion!





2. You can not roll Register Rewards within the same promotion (usually)
Wait I just showed you how to roll RR's. You have to alternate promotions. If you tried to buy another Nivea with the $5 Nivea RR your next RR would not print!

3. You can not have more manufactures coupons than items
Register Rewards count as a manufactures coupon. (MC)
Example:
Buy
Nivea Use $1 off MC
and
Rembrandt Use $1 off MC
Let's say you want to use your $3 RR from Tylenol you will have to buy a pencil or small piece of candy (filler item) to match with the RR.
If you had store coupons to match with each product you could you those as well.

4. There is an order to give the coupons that seems to work best!
1. Register Reward
2. Manufacturer
3. Store

Fabulous Coupon Tip Tuesday: How to Avoid Leaving the Store Without the Deal

I have been uninspired for today's Coupon Tip Tuesday post until we got this email.........

I don’t live near an Albertsons, so I have to specifically go out of my way to get to one. (Sorry, but yes, this is a grouchy e-mail.) The one on Cherry and Meridian is the closest though I’m about to give up couponing. I was wondering if you could give a shout out to fellow couponers to SHARE! I just got home from Albertsons with NOTHING. I couldn't get the $20 of stuff we use because they were wiped out. I’m not usually so hot under the collar about such things, but they are always wiped out. Guess I’ll have to drive a little farther to a different Albertsons, but I work and don’t have to go Albie hopping. Anyway, it helps to vent after wasting 1 ½ hours of time not to mention gas to go across town to be disappointed yet again. Maybe you could give a friendly little reminder.

Thanks so much! Susan, a very frustrated couponer

Seven Ways to Avoid Leaving the Store Empty Handed

1. Make an order of the items you really want or need a lot of. You can do this with your manager or at customer service. It can be done on the phone or in person.

2. Get a rain check(s) for the item(s) out of stock. This can not be done for a catalina. It can be done only on the sale price.

3. Choose another store! Some stores are overloaded with shoppers and are always going to get cleaned out. Some stores are within a demographic that has many coupon shoppers. Shop in the area of town that is low for this. It is always worth a few extra miles for a hassle free shopping trip.

4. Don't wait until the last day of the sale to shop, your store is likely to be out of the items you need!

5. Find out your stores ordering schedule. Then shop on the days you know they will be stocked. Most stores receive shipments 3 times a week and it is always the same three days. Keep in mind the time of day the shipments come in too. So you don't show up a few hours before it arrives.

6. Don't be afraid to ask if they have items in the back. Many times the store has just not had time to re-stock.

7. Call right before you leave to see if your top 3 items are in stock. That will help you decide if it is worth a trip to the store. Try your three closest stores and choose the one that is stocked the best.

Feel free to add in the comments any tips you have to make the shopping trip worth while!

Thanks Susan for the inspiration. I hope everyone will remember to be considerate of other shoppers when making your coupon shopping trips! It is up to us (you and me) to give couponers a good name. For more on giving couponers a good name see this post!

Fabuless Coupon Tip Tuesday: What to Do With All That Newspaper?

We keep encouraging you to get a subscription to multiple papers so you can maximize your coupon savings.
What do you do with all of the extra newspaper?
We have a few ideas. If you have any feel free to share them in the comments!

1. Put it in the recycle bin!
2. Use the funnies section for fun family reading time.
3. Use the funnies section for wrapping paper.
4. Use it for packaging things you send in the mail.
5. Use it to wrap your dishes in when moving.
6. Store sweaters or wool in it to keep out moths.
7. Clean and polish your windows
8. Deodorize luggage and containers, stuff in a few sheets of crumpled newspaper and seal it closed for three or four days.

9. Remove oven residue, don't waste a roll of paper towels; clean it up with a few sheets of moistened, crumpled newspaper.

10. Pick up broken glass shards, after you remove the large pieces blot the area with wet newspapers. The tiny fragments will stick to the paper, which makes for easy disposal.

11. Slow-ripen tomatoes in late fall. If there is an early frost predicted and you still have a bunch of tomatoes on the vine? Relax. Pick your tomatoes and wrap each one in a couple of sheets of newspaper. Store them in airtight containers inside a dark cabinet or closet at room temperature. Check each one every three to four days; they will all eventually ripen to perfection.

12. Use as mulch or compost. Best to use your black and white section.

13. Get rid of earwigs. If your garden is under siege by earwigs -- those creepy-looking insects with the sharp pincers on their hindquarters -- get rid of them by making your own environmentally friendly traps. Tightly roll up a wet newspaper, and put a rubber band around it to keep it from unraveling. Place it in the area you've seen the insects, and leave it overnight. By morning, it will be standing room only for the bugs. Place the newspaper in a plastic grocery bag, tie a knot at the top of the bag, and toss it into the trash. Repeat until your traps are free of earwigs.

14. Protect windows when painting

15. Put traction under your wheels, it's always a good idea to keep a small stack of newspapers in the trunk of your car during the winter months to prevent getting stranded on a patch of ice or slush. Placing a dozen or two sheets of newspaper under each rear wheel will often provide just the traction you need to get your car back on the road.

16. Roll your own fireplace logs: Just lay out a bunch of sheets end to end, roll them up as tightly as you can, tie up the ends with twine or wire, and wet them in a solution of slightly soapy water. Although it will take a while, let them dry thoroughly, standing on end, before using. Note: Do not use newspaper logs in a wood stove unless the manufacturer specifies that it is okay.

17. Donate your paper to a friend or neighbor that would like to read it!

Thanks to ReadersDigest.com for some of those fab ideas!

When Printing Coupons........

1. Use scratch paper to print coupons and shopping lists!
You can use any color you want and have anything on the back.

2. When I print only one coupon on a page (from a product site, for example), I hit cancel after the coupon prints to avoid wasting ink on the ad, then I turn the paper over and re feed the bottom into the printer for the next single coupon to print on the opposite end of the paper.

3. When printing at coupons.com I always print in sets of three. Three coupons will fit per page so I maximize the page space.

Less waste, less money spent on paper. It seems logical that we who are striving to be frugal should be recycling too!

Thanks reader Carolee for this post idea!

Fabulous Coupon Tip Tuesday: Coupon Printing

For our FabuLESS Coupon Tip Tuesday I am re-posting this Fab pictorial that Cathy did to show you all the Fabulous way to print coupons!


During our Fabuless classes, we've learned that there are readers who don't know how to take advantage of our coupons.com bar and coupons.com! I've put together a simple visual tutorial for you!

So look over to the right and you'll see the blue coupons.com bar. You can't see it in the screen shot, but the words say "see all coupons". Click on that!

Why click on the last page? Because that is where you'll find all the coupons you've printed once already! No need to click on page after page looking for that coupon again!

This is a great way to quickly and easily print the coupons YOU want... and you don't even need to register!!

Happy clicking and clipping!

Coupon Tip Tuesday: Fabulous Coupon Database!

One of our favorite tools when we are doing coupon match-ups it the HCW database!

It. Is. Awesome.

I learned about it from a fellow couponer back in January. (Thanks Jessica!)

It is a little intimidating at first, so we thought we would do a tutorial to make it much easier for you to use.

I LOVE all the different (and FAB) options for searching!

You can search by.......

• Keyword: Kraft, Milk, Keebler
• Value: $1/1, .50, $1/2, ext....
• Type of Coupon: Printable, Blinkie, Tear Pad, Insert, ext....
• Store: Target, Albertsons, Walgreens, ext....
• Category: Breakfast, Baking, Cleaning, Dairy ext...

Let's say you are looking for some more coupons for frosting.

1. Type frosting into the description/keyword box. (Your results will begin generating as you type.)

2. The results will list all of the different options for frosting coupons.
(click on the image to see detail)


3. Let's say you want a printable coupon for frosting.

-Click the drop down menu under source

-Scroll down and select printable
and...

voilà! Now you'll ONLY see the printable frosting coupons!

Even sweeter, the results are DIRECT LINKS to the coupons, so you simply click on the description and you will then be able to print the coupon!

Keep in mind, this is a national database and some insert coupons vary by region.

I have mentioned this before, but when I want to be sure a coupon came in the inserts in my area, I go to PYP!

I cross reference in their coupon list for my state!

NOW THAT IS FAB!!

Fabuless Coupon Tip Tuesday: Decoding The Store Ad

Here are a few definitions to help this make sense:

OYNSO: Off Your Next Shopping Order these will print as catalina's or store coupons that come out next to the receipt machine that you can use on your next trip.
WYB: When You Buy
Instantly: Means the amount should be deducted on the receipt before you pay.
For more lingo go here.

Here are some examples:

These will require multiple transactions to get your best savings:

Get $3 OYNSO wyb 5 or more: Get $3 off your next shopping trip when you buy 5 or more.
When they use the term 5 or more that means you will want to only buy 5 to get your best savings. If you need 10 buy five more in a separate transaction. You will only get the $3 coupon once if you buy 10 in the same transaction. Buy in two transactions of 5, get two $3 coupons instead of one.
So when you see # or more just buy that # per transaction.

Save $10 instantly when you spend $25 or more on participating items:
You will want to divide your transactions into groups of $25, and separate your transactions. If you spend $50 in one transaction you will only get $10 off. If you spend $25 in one transaction and $25 in another you will get $10 off each transaction saving $20.

You will not have to mess with multiple transactions on these:

Get $1 OYNSO wyb three:
You can buy as many as many as you want and you should get a coupon for every set of three that you buy. Be sure to buy in multiple of 3 to get your best savings.
When you see this buy in multiple of the number specified to generate the coupon.

Save $2 instantly when you spend $10 on participating items:
You will save $2 every time you spend $10. If you spend $20 you save $4, spend $30 save $6 and so on.

Remember the when you are calculating your purchases to equal $10 or $25 it is the pre-coupon price that you are using.

Fabuless Coupon Tip Tuesday: Give Couponers a Good Name

Using coupons is awesome. Unfortunately it will be come more difficult and not so awesome if it is abused. It is up to each of us to do our best to give couponers a good name.

Stockpile Don't Hoard:
Stockpiling is evaluating your families needs, the shelf life of the product, and the number of coupons you have. Then you get the amount of product your family will need to last until the next good sale or expiration date of your product.
Hoarding is clearing the shelf just because the product is cheap and you have a lot of coupons.
You can easily get a large amount of product with out clearing the shelves. Just put in an order. Most managers are more than happy to do this for you.
Just a note on clearing the shelf: It is very frustrating for the next 50 people who come in after carefully planning their shopping just to find empty shelves. It is annoying for store staff who get complaints from those 50 or more shoppers. It leaves a frustrated manager who could have ordered enough for the large orders and the rest of the customers with a little pre-ordering! :) Please don't be like the crazy diaper lady. Couponing can be like a craze sometimes, but you can't let yourself get carried away. If you have not read my crazy diaper lady story before you should. We can all learn a lot from this story.

Coupons:

Take a few, don't take them all
You can find coupons in your stores. Look for blinkies in the aisle. Some stores are providing their extra newspaper insert coupons for their customers. Take a few if you think it is a coupon you will use before it expires. Do not take a handful or stack.
If you find peelies on products, do not remove them from the product unless you are going to buy the product on that trip.
If you need lots of coupons, order on Ebay!
Cathy has great tutorial for buying coupons on ebay. Check it out!

Share the ones you don't need! :)
A few weeks ago after teaching a class we were shopping in a Meridian store on the last night of double coupons. I found these two Baby Ray's coupons. Baby Ray's is my favorite. Ya I am a BBQ sauce snob! I only got one insert the previous time these were on sale and was only able to get two bottles. So I was
super excited to get a few more bottles. Thanks to the mystery person who left them here. We were each able to get a couple of FREE bottles!
I try to do this. When I have good coupons that are expiring soon or I don't need anymore of the product I leave coupons by the products so someone else can save some money too!
Of course don't leave them if they are expired. That is litter. There is no value in that.
You can also share with co-workers, friend and neighbors.
-In our break room at work we have an envelope for coupons we will not use for others to look through and take ones that they might like.
-I save my pet food coupons for my friends with pets.

Be honest in with your coupons:
Carefully read your coupons, and follow what they say. If it says $1 off 2 be sure to buy 2. If it says only on sensitive toothpaste, don't try to get regular toothpaste.

Check out:

Be Organized:
Be organized with coupons for each transaction before you get in line. If you are not organized it will slow things down or mess things up at check out. Help the cashier do their job in the most efficient way possible. They are not getting paid per customer, but they are grumpy if they have people mad at them for having a slow line and having to wait.

Be sweet to your cashier
Make them look forward to couponers coming through their line, not dread it. Sometimes the reason you get a grumpy cashier is because the couponer 20 minutes ago held up her line for 30 minutes and yelled at her for not doubling a $1.50 coupon. If we help each other out by being good couponers we will all look forward to more pleasant shopping trips.

Let other's go in front of you
Have you ever been shopping and not wanted to look back to see the daggers shooting at you from the person in line behind you?
If you are doing multiple transactions and there is someone in line behind you with only a few items offer to let them go ahead of you or between your transactions.

Give people in line a smile and a warning:
Obviously you can not let every person in line in front of you every time. So give them a sweet smile and let them know that you have a coupon for every item in your cart so it may take a few extra minutes. They are then prepared to wait a few or choose another line.
Many people don't realize that it is a matter of saving 50-95% not just a few pennies.

Never do more than 3 transactions in a row
Many stores do not allow you to more than 3 transactions in a row anymore. If you keep it to three or less it will be easier for you to keep your items and coupons separated properly, and keep you from holding up the line. Then you can go get more goodies and get back in line.
It is not fun to be the person in line behind someone that is majorly holding up the line, or the cashier who has to help that person.

If we each try to give couponers a good name then we will have more good experiences when shopping at the store. What goes around comes around. Let's try to set a high standard for couponing and not abuse it, so it will be around to enjoy and save us money for many more years to come.
What do you do to give couponers a good name?

Fabuless Coupon Tip Tuesday: Shopping From Your Pantry

My husband went on a camping trip last week and he needed some snacks for the drive and the camping. This is the very reason that I stockpile junk food. We do not eat most of this stuff on a daily basis at our house, but when we are on trips or up camping it is nice to have.
If he would have just gone to the store to buy this stuff it would have cost us around $30, (probably more b/c you know he would have picked up a few random extras).

We shopped my pantry for these items and all if it only cost me about $3. 90% Less!