My Adventures in Couponing (Modoc Style) – Part 1 of 2
Who doesn’t love a good deal? Or love saving money? Or these days, NEED to save money? I know we all do, so I’ve really been trying to learn how to use those coupons and I couldn’t help but share my tips!
Now, I’m really no expert…I just really started trying my hand at this and I’m still learning. Because it really can take up a lot of time if you want it to. And you’ll make mistakes or learn by trial and error…at least I do. But hopefully I can give you some ideas about where to look for good deals, and where to look for some instructions on how to find those good deals! (Note: these tips are geared specifically for shopping in Alturas – there are tons of deals for other stores, but unfortunately we don’t have access to them here in Modoc! And if you know me, you know I don’t leave to shop so I’m trying to make it work here!). Seriously…I have a decent car gas-wise, and I even cringe at the thought of wasting the “difference” in gas. As well as wasting the time. I know some people enjoy going out of town, but we don’t. I find we rush through what we need to get done just so we can go home and then we forget things anyway. So I don’t go out of town to shop. It’s either here, online, or out of town when I’m out of town anyway and have the time. I don’t make special trips.
So, onto the tips! I decided to break it down a few different ways, so hopefully it’s all clear because I know I’m bouncing around a lot. Feel free to ask questions, or leave tips of your own in the comments!
First up: where to find coupons:
- Tip #1: Facebook. I just checked and I “like” 489 pages. Yes, 489. Included in that number is every franchise that I frequent, locally. In Alturas that includes Holiday Market, Rite Aid, True Value, Ace Hardware, Quizno’s, and Subway. A lot of them offer printable coupons straight from their Facebook page, and often times I check their page if I know I need to make a purchase at one of them. Ace, True Value and Quizno’s are the best examples of this. I used True Value’s $5 off a $25 purchase today. Ace also has one going right now. I knew about it because they posted it and I saw it in my news feed. It reminded me I wanted to get something I knew I could get from True Value. $5 is $5 – woot! Quizno’s posts coupons all the time. And FYI – our Quizno’s accepts expired coupons. I don’t go in without one! Now go and “like” all of their pages, then come back.
My Coupon for Ace that I printed from Facebook. There's an online code, too (feel free to use it!) - I buy stuff online then ship it to their store for FREE!
- Tip #2: E-mail. I subscribe to waaaayyyy too many e-mail lists, but I find them useful so I don’t have to scroll Facebook pages to find coupons and deals. My favorite reads are the Holiday Market newsletter, the Rite Aid newsletter, Red Plum, Coupons.com and The Krazy Coupon Lady newsletter. More on why later…
- Tip #3: Blogs. These bloggers are smart, and they do all the work for you. They’ve figured out how to get coupons that you would never find on your own, and they even put together shopping scenarios to help you get things for almost free or FREE! I “like” The Krazy Coupon Lady, Frugal Coupon Living, The Frugal Girls and Coupon Divas on Facebook, and check in with their blogs frequently (mainly through Facebook, or I’ll go over there if I’m taking some time to print my coupons or need a discount code and I’m looking for good links). I know there are a ton of good blogs for couponing out there, but these are the ones I look to the most, and a lot of them share the same information anyway.
- Tip #4: Coupon printing websites. This is where I get the majority of my coupons throughout the month. Coupons.com, RedPlum.com, and SmartSource.com are the ones I’ve used. You have to install their software and have your printer hooked up to your computer to do it. FYI: I had trouble installing the coupon printer for a while…it turned out to be my virus protection blocking it.
Smart Source Coupon I printed.
- Tip #5: Newspapers. The Herald & News adds a coupon insert on the first Sunday of the month. I go to the Likely Store and buy mine from their machine for $1.50 each copy. There’s also one outside of Holiday Market, among other places in town. Or you can subscribe to their paper for ‘Sundays only.’ This past Sunday (October 2nd – the first Sunday of the month) I bought two copies so I could get 2 pages of inserts. The Rite Aid insert is always included in the Modoc Record, or you can get it right at the doorway. (Note: did you see the Pepsi insert in this week’s Modoc Record?? Lots of goodies in there, and you can match it with some Rite Aid deals!)
Starbucks Frappuccino Match Up at Rite Aid
- Tip #6: Retailer’s websites. I print coupons straight from http://shophqf.com/ (Holiday Market) and http://riteaid.adperk.com/ (Rite Aid). With Holiday Market they always have a ’1 cent’ coupon, but you have to use 200 WOW points with it. This week it’s for a bag of salami. Last week it was for a bag of cereal. At AdPerk.com you create an account, watch little commercials, fill out a captcha to prove you’re paying attention, then you can print a coupon for the product you just watched the commercial on. (FYI: they have a ton of coupons for candy at riteaid.adperk.com – a great match up with their Halloween 2/$5 candy sales going on right now!)
Coupon from watching Rite Aid commercials at adperk.com
- Tip #7:This one is just random. For instance, I have a calendar from Holiday Market and there is one coupon each month for a good little freebie. I like the $10-off meat ones. It’s quite a thrill to get a free tri-tip or pork roast (or only having to pay a little for it)! I’m not sure how I got the calendar, but you know I’ll be looking for mine by the time January rolls around. Or another random coupon book I got is from Rite Aid for getting my flu shot there. My insurance paid for the shot, and I got a coupon book full of some good coupons – woot!!
Coupons from my coupon book I got for getting a flu shot at Rite Aid (a FREE flu shot!).
Tip #8: Get a buddy. I have a friend who is sooo knowledgeable in all things couponing, and she gladly answers my questions when I have them. So you also have her (hi, Sarah!) to thank for a lot of the info. in this post, and especially the next on about shopping at Rite Aid. You can also share coupons with a buddy…if you don’t have one you need, ask!
Okay…now that you know where to get your coupons, let’s talk about what to do with them. If you look at them, they all have expiration dates. The main thing to take from this is YOU DON’T HAVE TO USE THEM AT YOUR NEXT SHOPPING TRIP! I know, it’s tempting, but sales come and go in cycles, and if you wait long enough you can match up your coupon with a sale price for maximum savings. Each store (I’m mainly talking about Rite Aid and Holiday Market here) print sale flyers that are good for 1 week. Rite Aid’s are good for Sunday – Saturday, and Holiday’s are good for Wednesday – Tuesday. Now this is where you should do your homework…I’ll break it down by store after this next paragraph.
Rite Aid sale circular and Proctor & Gamble (P&G) coupon book for October.
So how do you keep your huge stack of coupons organized? It might seem nerdy, but it helps – make coupon binder! A what?? I have a giant binder that is divided by the type of item. I made it by downloading and printing the instructions from The Krazy Coupon Lady website. You’ll need a fairly thick binder, along with those plastic page protectors (full page protectors to hold your dividers and ones with smaller pockets for coupons). The ones that are meant for people who collect paper money are good for coupons (like these). I need more as mine have filled up fast! And you want to be able to see each coupon so you don’t forget what you have.
The Krazy Coupon Lady has a great “Beginners” section to help you learn the ropes. Here is a link to the PDF file to make a Krazy Coupon Lady binder (below is mine!):
Homework
Yes, couponing takes some time, but if you know where to look it can make it a lot easier. It also gets easier and faster with practice. Clipping and organizing the coupons is the easy part…I do it while watching TV. :) But if you make shopping lists anyway, this “homework” won’t be so bad. I go online (or look directly at their sale circulars) and see what is on sale that week. Here is a link to where to find Rite Aid’s online, and Holiday’s online. So…look at what’s on sale, then look through your coupons and match them up to get the lowest price possible! It’s a little more complicated with Rite Aid (+Up rewards, etc.), but that is basically what I do with Holiday Market. And I stock up if I can – use a coupon for each item that you buy if allowed! For instance, if you want to buy 4 cans of corn (on sale), then use 4 coupons to match! Note: read the fine print of your coupons carefully. Some are a discount off of 2 alike items, buy one get one free, etc. The note to the consumer is on there about how to use your coupon. This Krazy Coupon Lady post on ‘Understanding the Fine Print’ does some explaining about what the ‘Limit 1 Coupon’ text really means.
Grocery/Food Shopping Tips
So, did you see that little tip above, Holiday Market Shoppers? The best you can do (or that I’ve seen you can do) is match up the coupons you round up with their sales, and use WOW points. I wish I had more brilliant information for you, but the WOW points are pretty handy and I seem to rack up 1,000 every few months, so I save my 10% off with 1,000 points for my big shopping trips. And by big, I mean at least $200. But I have a family of 3.5, so a $200 shopping trips gets us a lot of food. So my best advice for shopping at Holiday is this: practice patience. Wait until the items you have good coupons for go on sale. Do not impulse buy. Stock up on good prices (but DO NOT clear the shelves. That sucks, and I don’t like you for that. Buy what you and your family will use in a reasonable amount of time.) Make lists and follow them strictly. Yes, I stray sometimes, but only if what I’m buying (that isn’t on my list) is on sale, or I see something not listed in the sale flyer, but I know I have a coupon for it. You’ll be very disappointed to see that you only saved a few bucks with your coupons and nothing with your reward points. Your savings print right on your receipt so you can see what you saved by buying things they had on sale (with a Holiday card) or with your coupons.
Another note: I do shop at Four Corners, too...although they unfortunately do not accept manufacturer’s coupons…and I am always pleasantly surprised at my total. For some reason I always expect it to be higher. Anyway, I check out their sales in the Record and browse around the store for good deals. Their generic brands (i.e. Western Family) are always priced very low, so if you need something, can’t bring yourself to pay the price at Holiday and/or don’t have a coupon, I’d keep an eye on what’s at Four Corners.
Another Holiday tip: take reusable bags to the store, and make sure they give you your 5 points for each bag you use at Holiday. They can add up quickly! I always make sure they give me my points.
Okay, back to grocery/food shopping: I have found I’m buying more and more food items at Rite Aid. You can use more coupon match-ups there, and they often have decent sales on name brand foods (i.e. so you can use your coupons). Cereal, soup, snacks, soda…those are the types of foods they carry, and I always have coupons for those in my binder.
AMAZON.COM! This has been a lifesaver for me. Yes, I buy lots of food on Amazon.com. Actually, I buy everything on Amazon.com. If you don’t know what being an Amazon Prime (or Amazon Mom) member means, then let me enlighten you. If you are a member, then you receive FREE 2-DAY SHIPPING on thousands upon thousands of items from Amazon. Single items – no purchase minimum required. And they carry everything. Amazon Mom membership is free, as long as you keep buying specific mom-baby-child-related items (it’s noted on the item’s page). When you spend a certain amount (not much) your free membership benefits are extended. Mine have been extended until the next year based on what I have bought. Amazon Prime is $79 per year, but I gladly paid it before they started the Amazon Mom program.
So how does this relate to food? Well, they have a Grocery/Gourmet Food section. And many of the food items they sell are ‘Prime’ items, or even better, they are ‘Subscribe & Save‘ items. For instance, say you’re like me and needed a semi-healthy breakfast food for your daughter to eat in the car on the 20 mile drive to preschool. :) I’m on Facebook one day, and a blog that I follow on there posts a tip about a product on Amazon that I can type in a code for to get even cheaper. (I believe it was this post on Frugal Coupon Living – they have a lot of online codes, especially for Amazon). So I click on over to the page for this GoGo SqueeZ Apple/Peach Applesauce on the Go. (Note: I didn’t buy this flavor, but this is the cheapest one in stock right now. ). It’s normally $27.94 for 48 pouches ($0.58 per pouch). With Subscribe & Save, you save 15% – you just sign up for it to be delivered now, and then again in a few months (whatever you choose – plus you can cancel it at any time). Now your total is $23.75 (or $0.49 per pouch). Then I punched in a code at checkout for an additional 25% off, bringing the total to $17.81 for 48 pouches ($0.37 per pouch). I just checked and the code ended in September (part of their back to school promotion), but you get the idea. And 2 days later, a big box of pouches of applesauce is dropped off at my doorstep by my favorite UPS man. Pretty handy if you ask me!
Here is a link to Amazon.com’s current Sales & Specials for their Grocery Section.
So Subscribe & Save is pretty nice for ordering in bulk: diapers, canned foods, snacks, wipes, and beverages are all things I’ve bought with the 15% off Subscribe & Save discount. Plus I take advantage of coupons I find for an additional percentage off. It’s like being near a Costco…but it’s delivered! With this deal, patience paid off and I was able to just run in to this deal. It found me. :) That’s why checking in with those blogs is a lifesaver!
Okay, so this post has become a lot longer than I initially thought, so I’m going to stop here for now…be on the lookout for my next post on how to score those BIG deals at Rite Aid – woot!! Because they are actually possible…you can learn how to shop without using much of your own money (a quote from my coupon guru, Sarah!), and it’s very exciting!
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About Me
I'm an interior designer and a draftsperson, but I live in the country. I like it that way. I'm also a firefighter's wife, mom to 2 cute kids, and a homeowner and I like that even better. But right after that is a pretty and affordable space...and I mean a REALLY affordable space. Because I believe good design can be for EVERYONE!
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