Coupons

Definitions to understand this blog:

Extreme couponing- Extreme couponing is a show focused on shoppers who make extensive and focused use of coupons to save money while accumulating large quantities of goods.
Double coupon- If a coupon is for 99 cents off of an item or less, the grocery store will double this automatically once it is scanned. ie. a coupon for 75c off of a bag of chips can be double for $1.50 off of the bag of chips.

If you haven't been watching the channel TLC, then you may not have heard of the new craze "extreme couponing". Some of the couponers will gather a cart or 2 or 3 FULL of groceries. Each item is usually purchased in larger quantities because the couponer has pre-cut 10x each coupon and waited until the store has the items on sale as well as when they offer "double-couponing" and have extra savings with the store's shopper's card. This takes a lot of planning, organizing, collecting coupons in bulk and math.... lots of math. The contents of their card can be up to $3000 but once the savings are added up their bill comes very close to $0 or spot on OR sometimes they even get paid by the store for their purchases. The items purchased go towards "stock piles" with shelves full of soap, toothpaste, toiletpaper, vitamins etc.

I am not at the point of extreme couponing because it seems a little too complicated for me. Growing up, my mom would usually find some coupons and savings that made it so she would get the $8 razors for -10cents.... the store would pay her 10 cents for each razor she got and each of her daughters got sweet razors. Still, this is a bit complicated for me but I do know how to cut and save coupons. Each Sunday there are coupon fliers in the Sunday paper as well as weekly circulars for local grocery stores. I flip through the coupons and cut out ones that are for items I want, even if I don't need them at the exact moment (cereal, crackers, Perdue chicken, shampoo...). Each week I look at the different grocery store circulars and see if anything I have a coupon for is also on sale. Coupons usually don't expire for 1month-1year so I can wait until things are on sale AND I have a coupon for them. Certain stores have double-coupons every week while others offer double coupons once in a while and will advertise so on their circular.



Steps to save:
1) have a mini file folder ($1 at Target or Dollar Store) so you can separate frozen food, snacks, cleaning products, bath & body products
2) each Sunday, clip coupons for products you like or would like to try. If you do no subscribe to the paper, drop into a coffee shop. People purchase the paper to read with their coffee then often leave it in the magazine basket when they are finished and it may be a free paper for you :) (Or even ask the coffee shop if Monday morning you can have any Sunday papers that are going to be discarded/recycled.)
3) sort coupons in file folder
4) research grocery circulars (Most have them online if a paper is not accessible) and circle anything that is on sale and has a coupon.
5) make a grocery list with items you need to purchase, which store it is on sale and paperclip coupons you will use to save money.


P.S. If you learn how to extreme coupon, let me in on how so I can start a stock pile of my own. Thank you and ENJOY SAVING!

Saving early on

Groupon, LivingSocial and Eversave are wonderful new tools to help save money. The way these websites make money by keeping approximately half the money the customer pays for the coupon. So, for example, an $80 massage could be purchased by the consumer for $40 and then the coupon website and the retailer would split the $40. That is, the retailer gives a massage valued at $80 and gets approximately $20 from the coupon website for it. The consumer gets the massage, in this example for $40.

There are many reasons to purchase these 50%-90% discounted deals in your area as well as areas you visit or know people in. Each website will email you the main deal of the day but if you click on the email there are side deals on the side bar (usually deals that are from earlier in the week that did not sell out). Here are some reasons to subscribe to these daily coupon websites...

Gifts-
PROBLEM: It is Christmas and you wanna get that perfect gift for your sister that doesn't have room for one more thing in her apartment and has a very particular taste in clothing. Everything is wicked expensive or stores are just too crowded.
SOLUTION: Subscribe to one or all of these coupon websites NOW. Then when you see one that makes you think of your sister, purchase it. Check the expiration date and often it is a full year from when you purchase it.

PROBLEM: Your cousin lives in Dallas, TX and mailing him a gift gets costly.
SOLUTION: Subscribe to Groupon, LivingSocial or Eversave for Dallas and wait for a good coupon to come in then purchase. You can email this to them or mail it.

Out of Town Guests-
PROBLEM: You want to show of your area's finest attractions and restaurants but don't want to spend so much money that you can only order water and crackers.
SOLUTION: Wait for a coupon to come to your email that is for a nice restaurant or fun event and purchase it and keep it on hand for when guests do arrive

Date Nights-
PROBLEM: When you and your honey-bunny finally get time off of work together you have to figure out where you want to go and how to save money at the same time.
SOLUTION: Buy a coupon for something that will interest both of you and keep it handy.
ie. I saw a coupon for a $50 gift certificate for a Brazilian BBQ (where they shave the meat at your table and you eat unlimited amounts of food) for 50% off. I spent $25 and kept it in my glove box and one night when we both had off and were craving a nice sit-down dinner we used the coupon.

TIP: If you hate getting daily emails that clutter your mailbox, set up a separate email account just for the coupons (and other things that require your email )to be sent to.

Today's deals on Groupon, Eversave and LivingSocial in Boston:
$39 for two personal horseback riding lessons and a grooming tutorial ($139 value-68% off)
$39 for 1 hour deep-tissue or swedish (or combo of both). ($80 value-51% off)
$12 bikini wax ($25 value) or $27 for Brazilian wax ($55 value)
$10 for pizza, wings and soda at Anthony's hand-crafted pizza ($20 value-50% off)
$223 for 2-night weekday stay at a historical VT inn, 2 passes to Ben & Jerry's ice cream tour, 2 passes to Cabot visitor center and cheese factory, daily breakfast for 2, nightly appetizer at River House restaurant and a bottle of wine. ($446 value-50% off)

I know that not many people (if anyone) ever reads this because I don't really keep up with it. I want to have more a focus and I think I found my new passion. Being thrifty is a gift I got from my mom. I want to focus my blog on how to be a smart shopper and how to save wisely. If I can do it, anyone can. I currently have a little under $90,000 in debt from school loans that I have to pay back and two part time jobs that barely pay all of my bills. So let me share with you things I learn on what to do as well as what NOT to do. I'll try to have different topics such as groceries, planning events and gifts. Enjoy and if you have tips to share... I'm all ears.