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Tip of the Day Tuesday: Where can I find coupons for the things I need?

July 7, 2009 by

One of the most common statements I hear from people who are new to couponing is something along the lines of “I would like to use coupons, but I can never seem to find coupons for the things I need” or “I always end up using them to buy things I don’t need.

I have been using coupons for about five years now and have been able to find coupons for almost everything that we buy. Here are some tips for finding coupons for the things you need.

Expand your horizons and look beyond the inserts

People often assume that the Sunday inserts are the only place to find coupons. Lately, the majority of my coupons that I use don’t come from the inserts. There are a number of other resources where you can find coupons.

*Manufacturer’s websites – check out manufacturer’s websites for your favorite products. They will often have links to print coupons. If they don’t have coupons available for print on their website, use the “contact us” link to send them an e-mail letting them know how much you like their product and asking them to add you to any mailing list they may have. More often than not, they will send you coupons in the mail.

*Printable coupons – The following websites offer great money-saving coupons and you can usually print two per computer:
Coupons.com

Smartsource.com

Coolsavings.com

SlickDeals also has a comprehensive A-Z list of coupons available to print here

*Reconsider your brand loyalties – If you want to save big on items, sometimes you have to sacrifice brand loyalty. I have found that coupons typically come out at some point for my favorite brands, but for some of my favorite brands, I have not been able to find good enough sales (or get my hands on enough coupons) to stockpile enough until the next big sale. In the meantime, on some things, I have been willing to reconsider brand loyalty and in the process I have found some new favorite products!

(My husband is still pretty brand loyal particularly when it comes to his razors and deodorant, so I just do my best to stock up on those items whenever they go on sale)

*Sign up for store loyalty cards – If your stores offer customer loyalty cards, sign up. You can take advantage of special promotions and sale prices, but they also will often send you special coupons in the mail for some of your favorite products. My grocery stores will also often include coupons for items such as produce and dairy products.

*Check out catalina offers – Look for catalina offers that provide coupons for a dollar amount off your next purchase. I like to use these for meat, produce, and dairy products because it is not as easy to find coupons for these items. If you are not familiar with catalinas, check out this post here.

If you use primarily organic products, try e-mailing the manufacturer’s and check out the Organic Grocery Deals website.

For more ideas about how to find coupons, check out these posts:

Where To Find Coupons, Part 1

Where To Find Coupons, Part 2

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Tip of the Day Tuesday: Lessons learned in hurricane preparedness

June 9, 2009 by

When we first moved to Texas four years ago, it was a few weeks before Hurricane Katrina hit in New Orleans followed by Rita which hit the Texas and Louisiana coast. Hurricane season was a whole new experience for my family and one that we were not at all prepared for. I remember going to the store to get a few “basics” like bread and diapers and I was surprised to find that the stores were completely wiped out. I decided at that point that I would be prepared for hurricane season in the future!

Every week for the next few weeks, I will be sharing some of my tips for hurricane preparedness including deals and tips for stocking up. Many of these will apply to emergency preparedness in general, so even if you don’t live in an area that is impacted by hurricanes, it can help you prepare for other events. You can do this by spending only $5-10 per week.

This week, my focus is on paper goods. I think that this is something that many people don’t think about when they are planning for emergencies, but when Hurricane Ike hit us last summer, many people were without power and water for days, and paper goods definitely come in handy in those circumstances.

This week, Target has a deal on Dixie and Solo paper products:

*Dixie/Solo Tableware – $2.49/each
.50/1 Dixie Or Dixie Ultra Paper Plates Or Bowls, Any – 05-10-09 RP
$1/1 Target IP here – $.99 when you combine the Target IP and the Dixie coupon!$1/1 Solo Heavy Duty Tableware Products, Any – 05-17-09 SS
.75/1 Solo Cups, Plates or Bowls, Any Package printable here

Another great every day resource for paper products is your local “dollar” store. I was surprised to find that my Dollar Tree store has a large variety of paper plates, cups, and even plastic cutlery and everything was priced at $1! If you are planning a shower or birthday party, it’s also worth checking out because they even have themed items.

If you know of any other deals on paper products this week, please feel free to share!

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Tip of the Day Tuesday: Where to donate glucose meters

May 12, 2009 by

Yesterday Cheryl posted this comment:

I love reading the scenarios and get lots of ideas, but I have to ask….what do you do with so many blood glucose monitors? My husband in diabetic, but we can’t use all of those!

Her timing was perfect since there are a lot of deals on glucose this week and I had already planned this topic for Tip of the Day Tuesday!

There are lots of great places where you can donate your blood glucose meters if you don’t have a use for them: (please note that your meters will need to be sealed in the original packaging if you plan to doante them)

*Free clinics – If you have a free clinic in your area, contact them to see if they will accept your meter donations

*OB/GYN offices – Donate to your local OB/GYN office for pregnant women who are diagnosed with gestational diabetes

*Senior citizen centers – Check with your local senior citizen center to see if they have a need for or will accept your donation

*Schools – school nurses keep these on hand for monitoring blood sugar levels in students

*Vet clinics – even pets can have diabetes!

*Freecycle – Click here to find a Freecycle group near you. Post a message offering to donate your meters, and they’ll be gone before you know it!

Here are a few other organizations which accept donations:
*American Diabetes Association

*Ashley’s Diabetes Information Center

*Hope Heals Healthcare Ministries

*IPump.org

*Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation

*medWish International

Sometimes the test strips are more valuable to people you know who may be diabetic than the monitors themselves are. The Bayer Breeze/Contour monitors (which are on sale at CVS/Walgreens this week) contain free test strips. If you know someone who is diabetic and uses these monitors, they would probably be grateful for the free strips as they are VERY expensive. Some people take the batteries out of the monitors to keep and use and then donate just the strips.

If you do make a donation, don’t forget to get a receipt so you can use your donation as a tax deduction!

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Tip of the day Tuesday: When bargain hunting trips don’t go as planned

April 29, 2009 by

When bargain hunting trips don’t work out, it can be frustrating and for a new couponer, enough to lead them to give up. From time to time, even experienced bargain hunters experience “glitches.”

Tonight I made what I thought would be a quick run to Randalls to do the Living Well promotion. Things took a little bit longer than expected when my $10 catalina didn’t print.

Here are some tips for dealing with bargain hunting “glitches”

Make sure you buy participating items

When grocery stores offer special promotions, there are typically special tags on participating items. Also read the fine print in the ad because sometimes only specific sizes, scents, flavors, etc. are part of the promotion. Buying one “wrong” item will throw everything off.

Don’t be afraid to visit customer service

If your deal doesn’t work out as planned, don’t be afraid to visit the customer service desk. Participating promotion items usually have a special marking on the receipt and they can usually easily figure out why your deal didn’t work out as planned. Sometimes it also might be something as simple as a catalina machine that is not working. If you bought an item that did not count toward a specific promotion, if you ask, they will usually let you return the item that did not work and exchange it for the appropriate item.

Stand your ground

Sometimes you will encounter customer service associates or even members of management who are not familiar with coupon policies and who are afraid of coupons. You may hear things like “Your coupon didn’t print because you paid with coupons” or “You have to pay X amount after coupons.” Be informed about store coupon policies and don’t be afraid to stand your ground. You can learn about that here.

Don’t let a bargain hunting trip gone wrong ruin your experience forever. Take a deep breath and move on!

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Tip of the Day Tuesday: Selling your Stockpile at a Garage Sale

April 21, 2009 by

I have been “in” to couponing for awhile, but it never would have occurred to me to sell my extra stockpiled items at a garage sale until I started reading about other people’s experiences with this on various message boards. I have since had four successful garage sales where we have sold off not only items that were just sitting around our house gathering dust but also items from my stockpile.

Here are a few tips that I have learned along the way:

Organize, Organize, Organize – It takes time, but it really helps to have your things organized. I try to store “like” items together in bins so that when garage sale time comes, it’s easy to put everything out. I usually group like items together on long tables and tape a card to the table in front of the items indicating the price. I also make a master list that includes the prices of all of the items.

Take advantage of free advertising – It is completely free to advertise on Craiglist! I usually put an advertisement about my sale a few days before the sale and include a list of the items I will have available along with pricing information. I post another ad the day before the sale.

Have plenty of cash on hand – You will need to make changes. It is good to have some $20 bills available in case someone wants to pay with a $100 bill (it does happen). I have found that $5 bills and $1 bills go the quickest. I usually try to have at least $50 of each on hand when I start my sale. It’s also helpful to have some small change (quarters). Make sure you keep track of how much money you were starting out with so that you can accurately calculate your final profit.

Provide bags – I save all of my plastic grocery bags for a month or so before I have a big garage sale so that I can provide plastic bags for people to carry their merchandise in (make sure you have someone keeping an eye on people as they leave so they are not looting on the way out).

Be prepared to answer questions – The two most common questions I get are “Do you own a store?” and “Do you come out ahead doing this?” The answers for both are pretty similar. I explain that I am an “extreme” couponer and that I definitely come out ahead because most of the items I am selling were free or close to free for me. To avoid any hassles, it’s probably a good idea to hang on to your receipts to “prove” that you actually bought the items. This has never been an issue for me, but several stores in my area have started tagging items with stickers that have their store name, so I want to be prepared if it ever does become an issue.

If you are planning a yard sale or garage sale for the first time and have questions, feel free to e-mail me!

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