So In the spirit of being a coupon diva, like I am, I have found this new website that I have to share with you. They have great "tactics" on getting sometimes free and seriously discounted items.
Here are my tips - so far, I am up to $923 in savings on my Giant Bonuscard for the year. Plus who knows how much in coupons. In the new year, since I will have a little more time on my hands, I would like to do each week a post on saving $ and time.
I started clipping coupons about 10 years ago. My husband and I were just married without anything and more going out than coming in. I always got a Sunday Paper for the grocery ads. I started clipping coupons and watching sales and stocking up on sale items. I actually found it quite addicting. I would see myself saving 20% , 40% and one time my all-time best 75% and I would feel great. All I did was take about a half hour to hour of my time on a Sunday morning to organize and then the shopping time and off Iwent. Now as a mom, I never buy a diaper or formula without one. If it isn't on sale or I have a coupon for it I usually don't buy it until I do unless it is a necessity:)
Here are my tips:
1. Get the bonus cards for all the stores you shop. They are a deal and usually free.
2. Get the Sunday Paper, pull out the drugstore and grocery ads and the COUPONS (usually P&G, Red Plum, etc)
3. Organize your coupons. I usually clip them all (never know when you can double them up and get something for free. Even if I don't really need it, if it is FREE I can either donate to a shelter or friend/family who would need it)
4. Look through the sale papers you pulled and match the already discounted sale items with the coupons.
For Example.... This week Nyquil and Dayquil are 2 for $10 at Walgreens (this is a true example) They are offering $5 coupon for next order if you buy two. I have 2 $1.50 off one (which means $3 off two) so essentially I am getting 2 bottles of Nyquil for $2. That is ridiculous and took me about a minute to figure out. Even if you aren't on a limited budget, just do it anyways. Keep track of what you saved and make a donation in that amount to your favorite charity.
5. Sign up with companies online - like Coke, General Mills, Kashi, Pampers, Similac.... they either have free trial offers or will send you coupons for products in the mail or sometimes the manufacturers, when they have a new product may send you a free trial offer. It doesn't hurt. You can try freefly.com they tell you what companies are offering trial offers.
6. Go onto websites like Coupons.com . Beware though, some sites make you take a bunch of surveys and really don't offer you anything great. Coupons.com is pretty good.
7. If you are pregnant or a new mom (even if you think you will be breast feeding, just do it. I thought I could and ended up that I couldn't), sign up at all the formulas Similac , Nestle Good Start, and Enfamil They usually send you samples and coupons monthly for $ off the formulas. Similac was very kind for me.
Also, http://www.dealseekingmom.com/ is your friend. It will tell you how to get the most out of coupons at certain stores - including Walmart, Target, CVS, Walgreens, etc. She also refers to other sites that helps her out, so you can bookmark them as well. Every week they go through the circulars at these stores at match up to their coupon stash and tell you where to get the freebies at. It is definately addicting:) Sign up for her daily email you won't be sorry....
TIP: Since all of these will probably be sending you emails, you may want to open a seperate email just for your coupon habit:) There are free ones at yahoo.com or hotmail.com . That way your family or work, or business email is not bogged down with a million emails. Then you can tackle coupons when you want. My time is on Sundays. My busy husband is usually not working that day and he likes to spend quality time with our son, so it is a perfect time for me to plan my trip... Sometimes I will go shopping right away or just save for my newly instated "mommy day" where my newly retired father in law comes to watch my son, grandmother, and aunt(who now both live with us due to illness) so I can get my errands done, get work done around the house and also schedule dr appts.
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