Details on Coupon Night

We have enough interested to have our coupon Q&A night!  I'm thinking next Thursday, September 16th at 7:00pm.  That way the Daddies won't have to parent for too long before bedtime.  :O)  If that DOESN'T work for any of you, please let me know.  Plan on it taking at least an hour, if not 2 {just to be safe}.  Bring a notebook and pen, your Safeway card {if you would like to sign up for ecoupons that night}, your questions and an open mind.  We will be focusing on Safeway and Walgreens {which I obviously still need some help with!}.  As before promised, I will provide chocolate... and I think a pumpkin roll is also calling my name {and probably yours too!}.

Coupon night, anyone?

Hey girlies!  I've talked with my friend Megan {who got me addicted to couponing} and she's agreed to allow us to pick her brain!  Woot!  So here's the idea:

I will host this crazy gathering, and figure that 6-8 Savvy Savers should be about right {I think that any more than that and we'll have mass chaos instead of actually answering everyone's questions}.  If there are more than 8 who are interested, we can break it up into 2 different nights of Q&A.  The main goals of getting together {in my eyes} are:

1 - Help everyone who comes to better understand the process of using coupons, hopefully to the point that you will be ready to start if you haven't, or ready to really dive in if you've already gotten your feet wet.

2 - Answer any and all questions you have so that you are comfortable with the idea of couponing. 

3 - Get you set up with your e-coupons, and explain couponing websites.

Megan has started a Yahoo! group for couponers in our area, which is an awesome idea!  We can all sign up for it and post success {and trauma} stories, good deals in our local stores, have coupon swaps {like I, for example, do not need any feminine product coupons thanks to my hysterectomy... But I would love to swap them for diaper and wipes coupons, or any other coupons you may not need}, answer each other's questions and offer support for the other members of the group.

This is a great opportunity to change the way you view shopping.  Trust me, couponing will totally re-vamp your life, and it's GREAT!  I'd like to host the par-tay sometime this month {September}, and really anytime of day works for me.  My only request is that you leave your adorable little ones at home.  It will probably take about 2 hours {let's give everyone a chance to REALLY understand everything}, so give me some feedback on a date that works for everyone and a time.  Might be easier to just say a day of the week and a general time of day {like "Monday mornings work great for me!" or "Tuesday afternoons are best, but Friday late morning could work too"... you get the idea}, and by easier I mean easier for me to narrow it down and plan it.  Haha. 

I promise chocolate and valuable information.  Anyone?  Anyone?  Bueller?

I robbed Walgreens...

Not really, but it felt like it.

When it comes to Safeway, I'm totally confident in my couponing.  I know all the ins and outs of their coupon policy {ok, probably not.  But I know enough for my own shopping purposes.}.  Take me to Walgreens... yeeeeah.  I'm kinda lost.  I'm learning, I'm learning, but I bet they wish I would learn faster.  Some things I learned yesterday from my disastrous shopping trip:

Walgreens does NOT let you use more than one coupon per type of item, per transaction {unlike Safeway that allows you 3 per transaction}.  Meaning, you can't buy two bottles of body wash and use a coupon on each bottle.  They will only accept one coupon {gay}.

If there is a buy one get one 1/2 off, you HAVE to actually pay for the first one, you can't use a coupon to get it free, even if you HAVE one that states you can get it for free.  They will just give you the 1/2 off one for free.  That one is probably common sense, but I was bummed.  :O)

If you get a register reward for buying a certain item, you CAN turn around and use it on the same item in your next transaction.  BUT if you do that, the computer won't print out another register reward.  Even if you have multiple items in your transaction and "technically" use the register reward on something else, if that same item is in the second purchase it won't print it again {again, gay}. 

And lastly, if after going home and cooling off about how you got totally ripped off at Walgreens {and deciding that all stores that start with "Wal" must be evil}, you go back and decide to return everything and just get your money back - they won't give you back your coupons.  BUT, if you have Stephanie {for our Walgreens} help you, they will give you back the full retail value of the items you purchased since they can't give you the coupons back.  So for me that meant that I returned some items that I was shocked to realize I had paid $65 for, and got back $92.  Not too bad for a royal screw-up I thought. 

Ok.  What did I learn yesterday?  A:  I need to re-think my Walgreens shopping trips and put a little more planning into them so they don't hate me and ban me from the store.  B:  I love Safeway.  And C:  I don't need to use coupons just because they are going to expire THAT day. 

For kicks and giggles, here are my stats for month one of couponing.  I'm sitting at a total savings of  $455.26, giving me a 45% savings rate, and have spent an average of $122 a week which {sadly enough} is actually already a savings compared to normal {that includes food, household goods, and extras}.  I have about a 3 month supply of cereal and snacks and at least a 6 month supply of deodorant, toothpaste and soap.  I'm learning to avoid impulse buys, and to really ponder my views on shopping.  This has been a great learning experience so far, and I'm really excited to continue and make it a permanent part of my shopping routine.   

Couponing Explained

This is going to be my sad little attempt at explaining my couponing routine.  I'm a far cry from being an expert, or even a seasoned player, but I will share what I know and hope it makes sense...

First, the obvious key to couponing is coupons.  There are a LOT of places you can get them, not just from your Sunday paper.  Here are the sources I use and how I organize them:
   
     1:  The Sunday paper.  I have my own subscription, plus I get my Mom-in-law's coupons that she won't use AND her dad's.  So that's 3 sets {if I can remember to grab them!}.   I don't clip until right before I go shopping.  I have a container with hanging files, one file for each week.  When I get the coupons on Sunday I simply label a new folder and drop my coupons in.  You'll see why I don't even need to look through them later in the post.  I get 3 sets because our Safeway will only allow 3 manufacturer coupons per type of item {meaning I can only buy 3 boxes of granola bars per transaction, IF I want to use a coupon on each box.  Make sense?  No?  Great, read on.}, once I get more comfortable with the whole couponing thing I may pick up more sets of coupons each week.  But that's too scary to think about just yet!
    
     2:  Online Printables.  The websites I use have links to printable coupons.  There are 2 drawbacks to using these, the first being that you will print a LOT and therefore use more ink {which for me isn't a bad thing because until now, my ink usually dried up or got clogged with dust, so this is actually a good thing!}, and most websites will only let you print a certain number of each coupon.  But it's really nice because if you're like me and just getting started, you won't have a stockpile of coupons to use and so the printables are a life saver.  These coupons work JUST LIKE any other manufacturer coupon from the Sunday paper.

     3.  Store Ads.  I mainly shop Safeway and Walgreens, and both usually have great coupons in their weekly and bi-weekly ads.

     4.  Online e-coupons.  These are the coolest thing ever, and until recently, I had NO IDEA they even existed!  You can actually load e-coupons onto your Safeway card {no idea about other stores} and when you swipe it at check out, the ones that apply to your purchase automatically come off!  Sweeeeeeeet!  The main e-coupon sites are cellfire.com, shortcuts.com,  p&gesaver.com, and safeway.com.  Cellfire, Shortcuts and Safeway post new e-coupons weekly, and P&GeSaver posts new ones once a month {I think!}.

If, after I'm finished shopping, I have coupons left over that I didn't end up using, I have a small coupon organizer {you know what I mean, about the size of your wallet with an accordion divider inside} that I store them in according to category.  I also keep a printed coupon policy of the stores I shop at in there for reference if a clerk doesn't want to take my coupon and I KNOW they can... yeeeeah.

Here is the coolest thing about couponing.  Yes, you can only use one manufacturer coupon per item, HOWEVER you can use a store coupon, PLUS a manufacturer coupon {printed or from the paper}, PLUS an e-coupon - ALL ON THE SAME ITEM!  This is called Stacking.  AND our Safeway {check at yours} automatically makes each coupon worth at least a dollar, making it really easy to get free stuff, especially if you have the chance to stack your coupons.

Now that your head is spinnning, take a break.  Go get a glass of water, rest your eyes, let it all sink in for a minute.  Then, when you're feeling ready, read on.  :O)

The websites I use can seem pretty complicated at first.  I got my feet wet by reading The Krazy Coupon Lady's 10 Days to Become a KCL {click it to read it}.  She explains a lot of the lingo couponers use, which will help you understand pretty much all couponing websites.  Once you've read that, check out the rest of her website, thekrazycouponlady.com.  She posts all the deals for the week for a number of stores {Albersons, CVS, Rite-Aid, Safeway, Target, Walgreens and Wal-Mart}, and breaks them down for you {and I use wildforwags.com for Walgreens.  It's basically the same thing as Krazy Coupon Lady but ONLY for Walgreens}.  She lists everything on sale that week with it's sale price.  Then with each item she lists all the coupons you can use {and tells you where to get them}, then she says what your final price could be if you use the coupons.  You have to keep in mind when looking at her website what the coupon policy is for YOUR store.  Her Safeway doesn't double and triple coupons so that they are at least a dollar in value, but mine does so my deals are sometimes better than hers are.  And, she may have X-many coupons listed for a single item, but remember how many coupons your store will allow per type of item, per transaction.  It will do you no good to print off all the coupons she lists if you can't use them all.

For example, this week there is a deal at Safeway on Nature Valley granola bars and Fiber One bars.  They are on sale for $2.49 a box, and if you buy 4, you get an instant $4 off, making each box only $1.49 when it rings up.  Clear as mud?  Plus, there is a Catalina {Safeway store credit coupon} incentive: buy 3 of either or mix and match them and get a $1.50 Catalina, buy 4 and get a $2.50 Catalina, buy 5 and get a $3.50 Catalina.  The Krazy Coupon Lady has 7 coupons listed for the Nature Valley - 6 printables and 1 e-coupon you can load to your store card - and 8 coupons listed for the Fiber One - 6 printables and 2 e-coupons you can load to your store card.  Like I said before, my Safeway only allows me 3 manufacturer coupons {or printed coupons} per type of item, per transaction, meaning that if I were to buy 4 Nature Valley Granola Bars {to get the advertised $4 off at checkout} I could only use 3 coupons.  So, to get the BEST deal, I would mix and match {buy 2 of each or 3 of one and 1 of the other} so that I could use a coupon on EACH box.  My printable coupons for each type of bar are $0.50 off 1 box, but my e-coupons are $0.75 off 2 and $0.50 off 2.  That means that my best deal is to get 2 boxes of each type of box so that I can use my e-coupons too.  My checkout scenario would look like this: buy 2 boxes of Nature Valley Granola Bars and 2 boxes of Fiber One Bars for $2.49 each.  My total is $9.96.  I bought 4 boxes total so I automatically save $4, bringing my total down to $5.96.  My Safeway multiplies each manufacturer coupon to $1, so when I use a coupon on each box, even though it says $0.50 off one, I get $1 off!  I can use 4 coupons because there are only 2 of each type of item in this transaction, bringing my total down to $1.96.  Now my e-coupons kick in, giving me $0.75 off 2 boxes and $0.50 off the other 2, bringing my total down to $0.71!  That ends up being about $0.18 a box {on the Krazy Coupon Lady's website, she can only get them down to $0.62 each because her Safeway doesn't multiply coupons}. After taxes {which unfortunately get charged on the full price of the items} I'm still only paying less than $2 for 4 boxes of granola bars, PLUS I get a $3.50 Catalina because I bought 4 boxes {remember the Catalina deal I mentioned?}.  Soooooo, I pay around $1.67, get a $3.50 Catalina to use on my next purchase, so it's basically like Safeway is paying me $1.83 to take 4 boxes of granola bars! 

THAT is the beauty of couponing.  And you don't have to buy in such small transactions to get the great deals {I just did that to keep it as simple as possible in my explanation}, you just have to plan them so you can use the most coupons each time.  You may total have 3 transactions, but you can use the Catalinas earned on the first to pay toward to second and on and on...  It's SO addicting. 

A few more things to keep in mind... at my Safeway you can't use a Catalina earned in your first purchase to pay for the same items in a second purchase.  Like, I couldn't use the $3.50 Catalina earned by my granola bars to turn around and right then by more granola bars with it.  I could use it the next day to buy more granola bars, but not that same day.  Also, once you have used an e-coupon, it's gone.  And if you happen to find a coupon that gives you something free without having to make a purchase, be sure to check your store's coupon policy on that before you try to use it.  My Safeway won't take coupons like that, but my Walgreens does.

I know it's a lot to take in.  Take your time.  Get started as slowly or as quickly as you want to.  For me, I still shop Wally-World for my regular priced items that I don't have stockpiled yet, because I know I can get a better deal there than at Safeway or Walgreens.  I'm hoping to eventually break free of Wal-Mart by having what I need stockpiled enough that I don't ever NEED to buy things at full-price {or at least on a MUCH rarer occasion...}.  I love it enough to share what I've learned with you {and TRUST me when I say that this post took a LOT of thought and revision!!}.  I hope it helps, encourages, and gives you a reference place.  Ask questions, don't be afraid and GOOD LUCK!!!

Food, glorious food!

It's been a week and a half since I stated this whole couponing thing, and already my cupboards are bursting. Total I've saved $199.87 and my savings percentage is 60%.  Today was one of those shopping trips where you walk out of the store feeling like you robbed the place, and to be honest, I COULD have saved another $10.50 but live and learn {boohiss}.  :O)  So, here's my booty for today - and please excuse the picture, I tried and tried to arrange everything so that you could actually see what it was but my 50mm lens zoomed in too close, and there was a lot of crap to fit in the frame!

And, of course, Madi had to jump in for a picture, cute girl!  Love this kid!

So $18.42 bought:

     - 12 boxes of cereal

     - 5 boxes of granola bars

     - 4 boxes of Fruit Roll Ups
     - 3 bags of granola nut clusters

     - 2 boxes Cheez-Its

     - 1 package of Tide Stain Release

     - 1 18 pack of eggs

and I had a $3.50 Catalina left over.  Man alive, this is addicting...

14 cents bought WHAT?!

Ok, my first shopping trip with coupons this week was totally successful!  I still ended up at Wal-Mart to get the things I didn't have coupons for just because I KNOW they are cheaper there and it's pretty stupid {in my opinion} to spend more just for the convenience of staying at one store.

My trip started out at Wally-World returning some stuff to get about $25 store credit {which TECHNICALLY doesn't count as couponing, but it DID make it to where I spent less than $100 in that evil store!!}, and I had to get some towels, light bulbs, etc.  You know, the stuff that once in a while creeps up and bites your budget in the butt (_!_)  LOL  Then I headed over to Walgreens to cash in on some sweet deals there.  I bought contact solution for $7.44 {15% off from $8 with a Friends and Family Walgreens coupon} and got $8 in Register Rewards {basically a coupon for store credit}.  My next transaction had a bag of Doritos, 2 boxes of Raisin Bran Crunch, a box of crayons, and a Gilette Fusion Pro-Glide razor.  After using my $8 Register Rewards I had just earned, coupons on the cereal, razor and chips, I ended up only paying $1.58 out of pocket AND received another $8 in Register Rewards!!  Woohoo!!  I was feeling pretty spiffy and smart, you know, working the system as a newbie and all... then I went back out to my car and realized I had left it running.  AND I hadn't even left the AC on!  Haha, yeah, sooooo smart there Tiffany!!  :O) 

Then over the Safeway.  They had a deal where you bought $15 worth of cleaning supplies or trash bags {which I had coupons for most} and get a $5 Catalina {coupon for store credit}, which I used on my next purchase on top of my coupons and got some pretty nice deals too on cheese, Nature Valley granola bars, eggs and bean dip.  My total savings was $80.08, giving me a savings percentage of just over 60%.  I know I'm not the best, but I think that for my first time, I did pretty well for myself.

Today was a little better.  I didn't get any pictures, but I'll share anyway.  Transaction #1: 10 boxes of poptarts, on sale for $2 a box, after coupons and tax I spent $16.30, but got a $10 Catalina.  Transaction #2: 9 boxes of cereal on sale for $2 a box and 1 box Cheeze-Its for $2.49.  After coupons, Catalina and tax - $7.31 plus another $10 Catalina.  THIS NEXT ONE IS THE BESTEST EVER!!!!  Ready?  Transaction #3: 20 Yoplait yogurt cups, on sale for $0.50 each, 2 large tubs yogurt {Madi doesn't eat it if it has chunks in it}, and a package of Mission tortillas.  Minus coupons, and Catalina, plus tax... My total out of pocket was FOURTEEN CENTS!!  PLUS I got another $2 Catalina!  My total out of pocket today was $23.75, my savings was $59.90!  Bringing my total savings percentage so far up to 73%!!

I still spent a lot this week, too much.  I'm excited by the savings, and I'm ready to start seeing those numbers improve as I build my stockpile and therefore buy less on a monthly basis.  Let's hope this sticks, eh?

Savvy Saver... Lady

That's my new name.  That's what I keep telling myself.  That's what I keep telling Clint.  That's... what I want to live up to!

Everyone wants to save a buck or two, right?  Well, I'd like to save a few more than that.  My goal is to cut my grocery/hygiene/house stuff spending in half by Halloween.  Yeah, HALF.  That's 3 months to cut out a few hundred dollars of wasted spending, not just once in a while, but monthly - from then on. 

No, I'm not coaxing myself into this slowly.  That's not what the 3 month goal is about.  My plan of action is all about coupons, LOTS of coupons and stockpiling.  My friend Megan started back in April and has since saved a total of over 95% {that includes free stuff and massive discounts}!  She met her goal and cut her spending down by over 50% and has more food and house stuff than she could have ever imagined.  Talk about inspiration eh?  She came over this morning and got me all set up to jump right in {SO SCARED RIGHT NOW!!} and warned me to not expect a huge savings for about 2 - 3 months.  It takes a while to get your stockpile built up so that you don't need to buy so much in the future when it's more expensive.  Once you reach THAT point, you start seeing the savings.  And no, I'm NOT doing Coupon Sense.  The sights I'm going to use are in my sidebar under "Savvy Saver".

One idea I found is to make a list of your family's 20 {or 15 or 10} favorite meals, then list all the ingredients for them.  Keep that list of ingredients handy so that you know what you need to stock up on in order to always have the stuff on hand to make those meals.  Smart eh? 

If I can just get in the habit of planning ahead, and stick to couponing, then by Halloween I should not only have cut our spending in half {or close to it}, but have well over a month's supply of staple meal ingredients, and a year supply of most toiletries, canned goods, etc.  I'm super excited to get started, and even more excited to get to the point that Megan is - comfortable, confident and capable.  I'll keep you posted on how I do {last week I saved $70 with coupons, but still spent over that.  I'm hoping to do better now that I have Megan's help!}.  I usually shop at Wally-World since it's SO convenient and cheap {and we don't have a Target or Costco!}, but now I'm going to shift my focus to Safeway and Walgreens, which really scares me because I KNOW their regular prices are more than Wal-Mart.  I just have to keep telling myself that I'm shopping sales, I'm shopping sales,  I'm shopping sales... 

Baaaaaaaaaaahaaaaawaaaaahaaaaalaaaaalaaaaaanaaaaagaaaaaah!  {That's me being scared, nervous and excited about all this!}