Anytime, Anywhere

Those of you that follow me here may know that at the inception of this blog I was living in the Boston area and enjoyed doubled coupons and amazing deals. I spent several months when I first started finding some great resources that really helped me to capitalize on my savings. There are myriads of blogs out there for all different regions of the country where people share the deals they find. I spent quite a lot of time compiling my own little file of blogs for my region. This work paid off and seriously diminished the amount of time and work that I had to expend in order to yield high savings. I don't know how many times I have heard that the savings I had been enjoying there (in Boston) were just non-existent in other parts of the country. Since then, I have moved to Utah and have realized that deals can be had here too. I have been absent from this blog for a bit because I have been trying to track down some resources that could help me to be more successful here in Utah-land. It is like a treasure hunt in some ways and I have been excited about my finds.

I have realized that I can still take advantage of Walgreens and Rite Aid for my non-grocery items. It has been disappointing to see that Walgreens has completely gotten rid of their rebate program and only offers their register reward program these days, however with a little planning the deals are there and can be capitalized upon.

I have also been thrilled to find that Staples has a rebate program similar to Rite Aid. Simply purchase a rebate item and enter your receipt on their website. You receive a rebate check and can frequently get items for free that way. What rock have I been living under? Their deals leading up to the beginning of school have been amazing and they have been offering free after rebate items almost every week for the last month. In my humble opinion, every parent that has children in the overtaxed school systems should take advantage of these free items and donate the items to schools if they don't need them. Our poor teachers often spend their own meager dollars to support their classrooms. Even if you don't have children, get the free items for your own home office. I hate having to pay full price for paper, pens, erasers etc. They even have a label maker this week for free that gets me almost giddy inside. If I didn't have one of these already, I could almost succumb. I LOVE labeling things. Ha--neurotic, I know.

The grocery stores here as a general rule are a lot cheaper than the ones in Boston. For example, I pay $2 for milk here instead of the regular $2.50. The prices here across the board are cheaper. In addition, my local Albertsons and Smiths have frequently had Catalina deals. I am still trying to figure out whether the catalina deal requirements are based on pre-sale or sale prices. My re-education is a work in progress. Most stores do not offer, as far as I can tell, standard doubling of coupons. That was a bit disappointing, but I believe the savings will still be big if I take advantage of the sales and catalina deals. Anywho. I recently discovered a website called Utah Deal Diva. She offers a ton of information for the Utah couponer.

I would love to know what sites you have found that are helpful to you! Feel free to share. Happy Shopping. TTFN!

Good Kellogg's Coupons

In the sidebar of my blog there is a window for printing coupons.  I just saw a ton of Kellogg's Cereal Coupons that you can print directly off of my page.  These are $1 off 1 box of various types of Kellogg's Cereals.  Be sure to print them off.  If you click at the top where it says "see all coupons" you can select the specific ones you want and save a little ink.  Too often the inserts have $1 off of 2 boxes or even 3 boxes.  Always grab the $1 off of 1 box.  They are golden.  Hurry because these go quickly and you may miss out!  I believe you should be able to print 2 of each coupon.  These should make the upcoming deal on cereal at CVS really great!  Happy printing!  HTH!!!

Oh Where, Oh Where Have My Coupons Gone!?!

This blog post is in response to a question that I get frequently while wandering the aisles of the stores browsing for deals.  People see me and see my binder filled with coupons and exclaim, "Where did you get ALL of those coupons!?!?"  The next two questions that naturally follow are, "How do you organize them all?"  and "How long does it take you?"  The latter questions are for another day and another post.  For today, I am going to tackle the first question. 

There are lots of resources out there to help you acquire coupons for your stash.  Once you start looking for them it seems like you will see them everywhere.  My biggest resource is the Sunday paper.  I only subscribe to the Sunday paper.  It costs me $1.75 a week and it more than pays for itself in savings.  In some cities, the Early Edition Saturday paper may have inserts as well at about half the cost.  It is something worth looking into.  I left a little note for my newspaper delivery man asking him to leave me any extra inserts he may get.  He leaves me 6 extra coupon inserts each week for free.  You might also have some luck talking to a convenience store manager about collecting left over Sunday inserts from unsold papers on Monday mornings.  Stores get reimbursed for unsold papers, but often they only have to turn in the front page.  Again, it is worth asking.  Personally, I am unwilling to dumpster dive at the local Recycling Center, but I know a few ladies that have no problem doing that if it saves them a buck.  Haha.  Get creative and don't be afraid to ask.  In the end, the more coupons that you have the easier it is to stockpile when things are offered at those rock bottom prices.  

There are other ways to get coupon inserts without buying the paper.  There are people out there that sell whole inserts and clipped coupons for a small fee.  It is against the law to sell coupons, so these people sell the time and energy it takes them to collect the inserts and in some cases to clip the coupons on your behalf.  Tricky right?  I like Coupons & Things by Dede.  She seems to do a good job at reasonable prices.  The Coupon Clippers, The Coupon Master and CentsOff.com offer clipping services for small fees.  You can also find clipping services on ebay and through coupon communities like A Full Cup and Hot Coupon World.  Be careful though, because not all of the coupons sold on ebay are legitimate.  

The internet is another resource for collecting coupons.  Coupons.com, SmartSource.com, Redplum, CoolSavings.com all offer legitimate printable coupons.  Stores and manufacturers may also offer printable coupons on their websites.   Target, CVS, and Rite Aid all offer Store Coupons on their website for you to print.  The downside to getting all of your coupons by printing off the internet is that you have to pay for all of that ink and you are limited to printing two copies per computer.  I have 3 computers so I am able to print 6 copies of each coupon, but it does serious damage to my ink cartridges.  When looking at your savings take that expense into account.  Personally, I only print coupons from online if I am definitely going to use them.

Coupons can also be found on packages (peelies), in dispensers at the store (blinkies), and attached to displays within the store (tearpads and in educational pamphlets).  I have two little kids (age 5 and 7) and one of their jobs when we go shopping is to collect coupons where they can find them.  It is like a treasure hunt for them and they get so excited when they find coupons.  It is also helpful for me because it keeps them out of my hair while I am adding numbers in my mind and planning each transaction.  ;)  Collecting these coupons is easy and completely free!  No printing costs, clipping fees, or newspapers to buy.  I never pass up an opportunity for free, so these little gems are my best friends.  

CVS has coupons that print at the end of your receipt in addition to the ECBs.  They also have price scanners in their store where you can scan your Extra Care Card and it prints out extra coupons for you.  Sometimes it even gives you the golden $4 off $20, $5 off $30, and $10 off $50 coupons.  Many grocery stores offer Catalinas that print out of the printer next to the register when checking out.  These help me to save a ton of money.  Walgreens offers Register Rewards and Catalinas as well that are printed when you check out.  

So, look for and acquire as many coupons as you can.  I clip and save coupons even for items that I don't usually buy because often there will be a sale where if I use a coupon I can make a bit of money.  I then use that money on items that I need.  You can always donate items that you won't use to food banks, homeless shelters, or church groups.  In addition, you can trade coupons with people in online coupon communities for coupons that you will use.  I don't have a need for diaper coupons, but there are a lot of people out there that need those, so I can trade for ones that I will use.  

Hope this post helps to answer some of your questions.  If you know of a creative resource for coupons or one that I have simply missed, please comment and share!  Happy Shopping!