Where do I shop???

Starting off couponing it can get overwhelming but don't worry, it's ok now I'm here,lol. Most people go to Walmart for their all you can get in one place shopping, which is fine but your missing out on so much.  Before I started couponing I never went to Walgreens or CVS or anywhere else like that, that's just for Medicine right? NOOOOOO!!!!!!  For a couponer Walgreens and CVS is heaven,lol.  People come in my home and ask all the time, where in the world do you get all that deodorant?? Hehe, I like to smell good.  The best place to start shopping for your hygenic needs is Walgreens or CVS, it just depends on what you have close to you.  My favorite is Walgreens and that's only because of the Register Rewards (RR).  What are RR?  Register Rewards are like a coupon you get back when you purchase something.  Example: This week there's a Blood glucose monitor for 10.00 and you get a 10.00 RR.  You pay the 10.00 and a coupon for 10.00 prints out, what can I do with this?  RR are like cash back from a store.  When you get it, you can use it on just about anything even when your using another coupon on your other items.  The only stipulation is at Walgreens you have to have the same number of coupons as you do items.  Say you've got 4 things of toilet paper and you've got 4 coupons for the toilet paper and 1 RR, what do I do?  Now's the time when you look around the store for the things we call "filler items", these will be items that your not using coupons for that are less than the RR your trying to use.  Example: I always try if I have a 1.00 RR to find something that's just .25 cents or cheaper.  So nows your chance to grab a cheap candy bar or clearance item.
CVS is another great place to shop and they have kind of the same thing with something that sometimes can be great and not so great.  CVS has an Extra care bucks card that allows you to scan your card as you walk into the store and will sometimes print out great coupons for you to use while your there.  Also the Extra Card also keeps up with what you buy if there have a deal going on and you need to buy so many to get the deal, they keep track of it on there.  Unfortunately along with these great incentives comes the not so good stuff.  With the Extra care card you are limited on how many sale items you can get each week.  Example: Gain dish washing liquid .99 limit 3.  This is not like Walgreens or other stores where you can buy 3 and then go out and then come back in and get 3 more.  To get the deal you've gotta have the card and they keep track of how much you have already purchased.  Still a great store, they also have extra bucks which again is like having store cash.  Again for the most part you can use this on just about anything.  CVS is a great store to shop at as well, I just prefer Walgreens.

Now, Why?  Well unlike regular stores Walgreens almost always has a way that you can get your items for free or very close to it.  Like the glucose monitor I mentioned earlier, it's like your getting it for free, you get the 10.00 back at the end of the transaction that you can use on other items.  Again there's another stipulation but all of this will come naturally to you once you get going.  Say you bought the monitor and you wanted to buy another one, Can I just use the RR to buy it? Nope.  Why not?  Walgreens came up with a great way to protect themselves from going bankrupt because of us couponers,lol.  If you were to buy the second monitor with the 10.00 RR another 10.00 RR would not print out.  This is how I roll my RR.
Buy the monitor for 10.00 and then use the 10.00RR on other items you may need, possibly buy more items that will also print out a RR. Example: I have my monitor and the 10.00 RR, I go back through the store and I pick up one razor 9.99 and I get a 5.00 RR after I purchase it, of course I have a coupon, who's gonna pay full price?  So I use my 4.00 coupon along with the razor bringing my total to 5.99, now I need another item to take up the rest of the ten, what do I do?  DO NOT buy anther razor, why?  If you purchase 2 of the same thing in the same transaction the register will print out a RR for only one item, another safety net for Walgreens.  So I'll pick up a pack of toilet paper, because who ever has enough toilet paper?  So I go to check out and lets say I don't have a coupon for the toilet paper (but in real life this would NEVER happen,lol) with the 2 items my total reaches 10.98, I give the cashier my RR and razor coupon then I pay the tax.  When I'm handed my receipt I'll get a 5.00 RR that I can use on another item, do not use it to buy the same thing back to back, the RR will not print out.  I learned this the hard way and when your just getting started I would for the sake of your wallet, take your items out of the store and then go back in and roll your RR.  When you get the hang of it you can grab all of your items and then just make different transactions.  But please be considerate of the people behind you.  I saw a T-shirt one time that I have yet to get and would love to have but it said, "If she's got a coupon binder don't get behind her".  We need to be respectful of the people behind us and not make people think that coupon people are aggravating.  Because we're not, crazy maybe, but not rude.  That's pretty much Walgreens in a nut shell and CVS is very similar.
If you have any questions, please place a comment here and I'll get back to you as soon as I can, thanks for reading :-)

Buying in bulk?

Buying in bulk Verses buying more of smaller size items.  My dad got us a big box store club card a few years ago and we would walk out having spent 100.00 bucks and like 5 things.  It was kind of depressing.  I like having my cart full and paying as little as possible, so how do I do that?  Here's a great example: Cascade 26 count roughly 6.97, in a newspaper a few weeks ago there was a coupon for 1.00 off any cascade item.  So I went to Walmart and the have the value packs of 3 for .97 with my 1.00 off coupon I got all 3 free.  So when I found this deal I went to ebay and paid 2.00 for 20, 1.00 off coupons, giving me 60 packets of Cascade for 2.00 plus the tax I paid on each one.  I got 3 times the packets for 3 times less the price. It seems like a pain to buy in such small amounts but the money you save will totally be worth it.
Shampoo is another great example, Big box stores give you 2 huge things of shampoo for 10 bucks, while instead you can coupon and get 4 things of shampoo for 2 dollars and get the same amount of shampoo.  Just this week my doubling store had Garnier Frutis on sale for 2.50, doubling my coupons I paid .50 for a name brand shampoo!  It's just something to ponder, again it's a little work, but when you get great at this it will come really easy.