Couponing lesson 2

After you've gotten all your coupons together pick a store, either a drug store or a grocery store and concentrate on that store. Get their coupon policy offline and take it with you. My favorite to start with is Walgreens, but whatever works for you.

Then pay attention to their ad's. Make sure that you can use your coupons and how to use your coupons. Once you get it down start shopping!! You need to know their coupon policy as well as their store sales, do they double coupon? Do you get Register rewards? The more you know the better your shopping trips will be.

I'm going to use Walgreens as an example cause I love them,lol. Walgreens gives what's called a Register Reward. When you purchase an item and yes you can use a coupon on that item, you get a register reward, it's like getting cash back for your next trip, it's kind of like getting free money! When you get this down you can really start the savings. When you make your first transaction and you get a register reward, we'll call it RR, you can then make another transaction and use the RR, but DO NOT buy the same thing back to back, it won't print the next RR. Example, Gillette Razor 9.99 and you get a 4 dollar RR, you pay for the razor and then you've picked up an Airwick I Motion for 7.99, you can then use the 4 dollar RR you get from the razor making your item only 3.99. You can do this as many times as the cashier and the people behind you will let you,lol. Be kind and get back in line, that's my saying. Sometimes I'll make 2 transactions and then get back in line and let others go and then do this again. It really depends on how much time you have and how many people are in the store. I know this seems like a lot of work but if I can walk away with a ton of stuff and only pay like 5 bucks it's worth the wait.

So take these tips and start shopping. If you have any questions leave me a comment or if you have an awesome shopping trip you wanna share e-mail me a picture and I'll post it here.

Starting to coupon lesson 1

I know this kind of sounds like a no brainer but the first thing you need to do when being to coupon is get you some coupons,lol.  I know but I had to say it.  Next figure out the best way for you store store them.  Is it in a binder?  Or Keeping all the inserts together and just clipping what you'll need from the store?

Personally I really like my binder, I got those baseball card holders and then don't laugh, I organized by section, there's a shampoo page, razor page, cereal page and on and on it goes.  Make sure though that you keep like all the health and beauty items together and the pantry items together and ect.  It makes it really easy to get what you need quickly at the store and you don't have to flip all the way through your binder to find the coupon your looking for.

Next step, don't get overwhelmed.  I know it can seem like a lot but once you get into the swing of things it will come like second nature to you.

Also don't forget to clean it out, normally Proctor and Gamble coupons only last a month, so make a note that when you get these you'll be cleaning out what you don't use at the end of the month.  Other coupons tend to end around the same time too but some have their own odd dates sometimes.

Here's another good way to get coupons, go to your cubbards and look at the items you already buy, note the companies you buy from.  Then go to your computer and look up the companies website and contact them, companies love nothing more than praise and in return they'll send you coupons or samples.  I don't know about you but when I was a kid I loved getting mail and as an adult it's not so much fun when the mail is bills,lol.  But now I look forward to my coupons and samples, just about every day I get something new!

So that's it for now, get started there, if you have any questions just post a comment below, good luck!

Repost: E-mail Companies???

E-mail companies?

I've said in my video's to e-mail companies but I've never showed you what you can get. Today I had a ton of coupons from different companies because I took a couple of days and e-mailed different companies and told them how much I love they're product and in return, they send me coupons!!! Most coupons companies send have a longer life than the coupons you get from the paper, it's totally worth it, take a few and think of stuff you buy and e-mail the company and tell them how much you love they're product and they send you coupons that sometimes don't have limits on size or price, I love those.

Another repost: Where do I shop?

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 :-)

Old post but a great refresher, how do I make my coupon binder?

How do I make a coupon Binder?

This is the couponers most valuable weapon,lol.  When you first start out couponing you may think all you need is a envelope or a plastic baggy,lol, let me help you on your couponing journey with this first thought, that ain't gonna cut it.  First of all it's not practical, thumbing through coupons and hoping to find what you need through the vast amount of coupons your starting to collect.
Now is the perfect time to start a binder, schools in session and binders are on sale!!!  I'd recommend getting getting a binder that has a zipper around the outside, the other will work but your more likely to drop coupons out of it.  Along with the coupon binder you get all kinds of great spaces to put your necessary items like, a pen, I always seem to need one to redo my math if I find another deal I wasn't expecting,lol, a calculator, I don't know about you guys but I didn't do very well in math and can not do it in my head so having a calculator of some type is needed your going to be doing a lot of it,lol.
Also handy for your binder is a divider system, it helps to have all of your food items and hygenic items separated so you can easily find them.  Again now's a great time to grab these, Walgreens had them for .40 cents this week, look for a deal like that and stock up.  How do I divide it up?  Welp, this can get really technical or really simple it just depends on how organized you would like to be.  I refrained from posting a picture of mine because I didn't wanna scare you into not making one,lol, as I have broken everything down into several categories.  To start I would get a general list of sections, Baby (if you need it) Dairy, Household(cleaners, Lysol,ect) Hygienic, Pet, Produce, Pantry and Store coupons (Coupons from Walgreens(RR), CVS,ect).  This would be good to start out with.

Now you wanna see mine? Hehe, you would be here all night reading, but I have it broken down like this in my hygenic section, Bodywash, Deodorant, Hair Care,ect.  Then in the Pantry section, Bread, Cereal, Chocolate,lol, ect.  I break it down like this because when I'm looking for my coupons I want to find them fast and know where they are, plus I'm a organizing freak,lol.  Figure out what works best for you and go from there.
Next topic, Can I take it into the store?  Of course you can!!!  I went to the store with my husband for the first time so he could see me in action,lol and as I was getting out of the car he said, "are you really gonna take that big thing in there?" A lot of people are afraid of embarrassed to take in their coupon binder, I've just gotten used to it, especially after not having and finding deals and not being able to get them, that's a pet peev of mine.  I make my list of what I'm going to buy but I always take my binder with me, chances are there's a deal that wasn't listed and if I have my coupon binder with me I'll snag it!  Always check the clearance isle, there's almost always something on sale that you can use a coupon with and get for cheap or free!!!

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