Tip of the Day - Grab a couple of those in-store coupons

While shopping you will run across coupons posted throughout the store.  They may come from the dispensers that spit one coupon at a time out, from tear pads or they may even peel off of the front of a product itself.  You need to keep your eye out for these coupons.  If it is for a product you buy, stop and grab a couple.  Most people make the mistake of thinking these types of coupons must be used during your current shopping trip but this is not so.  Grab, tear or peel a couple off and organize them in your coupon book to save for a good sale.

Tip of the Day - Sometimes you have to spend money to save money

It sounds crazy but sometimes you do have to spend a little money in order to save a little.  Say there's a deal this week that Southern Savers is advertising where you can get free cereal with an available coupon that was not in your local coupon insert.  There are actually websites where you can buy these coupons.  Take a minute to look at My Coupon Hunter and The Coupon Clippers.  These sites have coupons that have actually been clipped from a coupon insert and you can buy them for a few cents each.  I prefer My Coupon Hunter over The Coupon Clippers just because it only cost the price of the stamp to receive the coupons from My Coupon Hunter.  The Coupon Clippers do charge what they call a service fee of $0.50 on top of the $0.44 shipping charge.  They also have a minimum balance that must be spent.  My Coupon Hunter is much easier to use and straight forward in my opinion.  However there may be times when The Coupon Clippers may have the coupon you are looking for and My Coupon Hunter may not so it's good to bookmark them both.

So back to the cereal....say you can get free cereal at Publix with a coupon that you only have one of or don't have at all.  Simply get on My Coupon Hunter and see if they have the coupon you are looking for.  It's such a good deal that you decide to stock up and get 10 boxes of cereal and therefore purchase 10 coupons.  So here's how it would work...

$1.00 - For a total of 10 coupons at a cost of $0.10 each
$0.44 - Cost of shipping
$1.44 - Total amount you will spend
$0.14 - Amount you will spend per box of cereal since it will be free after the coupon!

Now isn't that worth it!  This is also a good reason to get online and checkout the sales the first day they are posted or even the night before since Southern Savers is usually ahead of the game.  That way you will know if there is anything you might want to buy and possibly purchase coupons for.  I have had good luck with My Coupon Hunter getting the coupons to me within a couple of days so that I can make sure to use them before the sale ends.

Now don't you think it might be a good thing to spend a little money at times to save a little? :)

Tip of the Day - Coupon Policy

Every store has a coupon policy and it's important to know what that policy is in order to get the best use of your coupons.  Some stores double coupons up to $0.50 and many stores now accept competitor coupons.  For example, my Bi-Lo will double coupons up to $0.60 so I can get $1.20 off with a $0.60 coupon unless that coupon states it cannot be doubled.  They will also accept competitor's coupons (non-manufacturer store coupons) that can be stacked with manufacturer's coupons.  Examples of these would be Target printables, Family Dollar, Publix or any other coupon that does not state that it is a manufacturer's coupon.  The competitor coupons have to be from another local store.  They won't accept a Kroger coupon that you've printed from the internet if they don't have a competing Kroger store in the area.  On the Southern Savers website, once you click on a specific store you will see the coupon policy of that store at the top.  Be aware that these policies may be a little different from one store to the next so it's always good to check with your local branch.

Why is this so important?  If you have a coupon for a $0.50 off 1 item and a coupon for $1 off 2 of the same item you might be inclined to use the $1 off 2 if you're buying more than one.  If you store doubles coupons however you could actually get $1 off 1 item buy using the $0.50 coupon.  If the store accepts competitor coupons then you could stack a store coupon on top of that.  Again, these are all things that Southern Savers is good at making easy for you!

Tip of the Day - Rebates

REBATES, REBATES, REBATES!!!
One of the best ways to save money is through rebates.  There are hundreds of rebates out on all kinds of products.  Most the time the rebate is for cash back but other times the rebate will be for a larger dollar coupon booklet.  Southern Savers is good about listing corresponding rebates to products so keep an eye out for rebates there.  If you are using sales, coupons and rebates combined then you're likely to get items for free.  If there is a dollar value that must be spent, this value only has to be reached before coupons.  Here are some of the rebates I've participated in recently.

Spend $50 in P&G products and get a coupon book containing $100 in coupons.  P&G makes so many products that you can easily spend $50 without know it so check your recent receipts.  If you buy Pampers, Charmin, Crest, Bounty, Cover Girl, Oral-B, Scope, Febreeze, Olay and many others then you're buying P&G products.  If you use Olay, be sure to check out their samples and offers section of their website regularly for great rebates and offers.  Right now they have a $20 rebate on ProX, free body lotion, $15 cash back and many more!

Spend $10 in participating brands such as Rotel, Manwich, Peter Pan, Kid Cuisine, Crunch 'n' Munch, Orville Redenbacher's, Chef Boyardee, Hunt's Ketchup, Banquet, and Snack Pack and receive $25 in additional savings (meaning coupons)!

Get $5 back when you spend $20 on participating GP brands such as Brawy, Quilted Northern, Vanity Fair and Dixie.  This offer ends 4/18/10

Get $5 back when you purchase 3 SC Johnson products such as Ziploc, Glad, Windex, Scrubbing Bubble, Pledge, Shout, Fantasik, Drano, Raid, Off, Saran, Nature's Source.  I love this one because you can mail in 3 rebates per household.  This runs through 6/30/10.

Tip of the Day - Happy Wednesday!!!

Yeah, so it's Wednesday...so what?  Wednesday is that wonderful day when grocery stores start their new sales for the week.  So check out your paper for ads but better yet hit Southern Savers to see what the big deals are this week and what coupons you may have to match those deals.  Southern Savers actually allows you to click in the square next the item you want to add to your grocery list and then print that list.  This is an easy way to make your shopping list!  You can either print it to show the matching coupons of each sale item or just print the list itself.  This is a wonderful tool for beginners in the coupon world and even for old pros like me.

So what do I do today to prepare for the week of sales?  I visit Southern Savers and review the sales of the grocery stores that I shop.  I go ahead and create a shopping list and then pull out my binder of coupons to find any suggested matching coupons.  I put the coupons in an envelope and tuck the envelope and my list in the front pocket of my binder.  Now whenever I find the time to make it to those stores in the next week, I am ready to go.  I don't go anywhere without my binder!

Tip of the Day - Keep that coupon and donate!

You have a coupon for a brand of pasta that you know you won't buy so you're about to toss it.  WAIT...don't toss it yet!  There are probably a lot of things that you will find coupons for that you know your family won't use but somebody might.  That pasta might go BOGO next week and with that very coupon that you're about to toss out, you could get pasta for free or for just a few cents.  Then what do you do with it?  Donate it!  Find a food bank or charity in your area that needs packaged items or personal items such as deodorant or shampoo.  Purchase these items for little to no cost to you and donate them to those in need.  It's a great way to make your couponing go a long way and feel good about it!

If you coupon happens to expire before you use it, there's still a use for it somewhere.  Military families overseas can use coupons up to 6 months past the expiration date.  Just another way to help others through couponing.

Mail expired manufacturer's coupons to:
Kristi Seigrist, Family Services Coordinator
48 FSS/FSFR
Unit 5200, Box 105
APO, AE 09461
For more information, visit http://www.commissaries.com/

Thanks for the address Time 2 Save!

Tip of the Day - Printing Coupons

How many copies of one coupon can you print online?  Most of the time you will be able to print two copies of any one coupon.  You can do this by clicking the back button until it begins the printing process again or sometimes you can simply click with coupon link for a second time.  You are able to print two coupons per computer.  So if you have two computers in your house and there's an awesome coupon up for grabs then make sure to print two copies off of each computer!  Technically you can make copies of the coupons you print but please realize that this is illegal.

Coupon Queen Tip of the Day!

Did you know that you can stack a store coupon with a manufacturer's coupon? What does this mean you might ask? Say you want to buy Crest toothpaste for Kids for $1.50. Target has a coupon online for $1 and you found a manufacturer's coupon in you Sunday paper for $0.50. You can use both of these to purchase the same $1.50 tube of toothpaste meaning you get it for FREE! Store coupons will usually say "store coupon" or "Target Web Coupon" (in this example). Coupons from the manufacturer will say "Manufacturer's Coupon".