Freebies 101

I was determined to do it myself this week. And by that, I mean, look at the CVS flyer by myself and make up my own scenarios. Yes, I did study Southern Savers so I knew what was out there and where to find my coupons, but the rest I did by myself.

I started off with roughly $11 in CVS money. For those of you who don't know my husband, he drinks diet coke and diet pepsi like water. A 12 pack lasts him maybe 1 day. But that's a story for another time. Needless to say, we were out of our vast stock of Diet Coke's from our big Bi-Lo stock up purchase and it was time for some more. CVS had them 4/$12 with $3 ECB. That would make them 4/$9, being $2.25 for a 12 pack, a good price. But I couldn't just leave CVS with sodas. I had to at least try to use some bucks and get some back. There were a bunch of promos for buy $15 worth of product and get $5 back. But I didn't have the right coupons, blah, blah, blah. But, I made it work.

Here's the gist:

I bought:

4 Diet Pepsi 12 packs ($12)

1 Accu Aviva Glucose Meter (on sale for $10, retail $19.99)

I used:

$10 off Accu Aviva Glucose Meter (made it free)

$4 off $20 CVS coupon

$7.98 of my CVS bucks

Total w/ tax: $.78

Savings: $41.53

I got back in ECBS's: $3

So, you might be wondering, why by a glucose meter if you don't need it. Well, I might need it one day because diabetes runs in my family. I was going to give it to my dad, but he already has 2, and BECAUSE IT WAS FREE!! Plus, it got me to $20 so I could use $4 off coupon on the rest of my product. I actually made $4 by buying a free item.

Okay, I'll be the first to admit when I don't do something right in this couponing thing. I was attempting to buy $15 worth of Advil/Thermacare products to get $5 bucks back. Alex only likes Advil and I do like Thermacare, and I had coupons for both. However, my total came to $14.49 so I bought some pens for $1. But my ECB's didn't print on my receipt. Lo and behold, I didn't purchase $15 of participating products. I needed to buy $.51 more of an advil/chapstick/thermacare item. So, I look it over again today, just to make sure my purchases weren't in vain. And yes, I could buy some chapstick for $2.99 and get my $5 ECB's.

So, on the way to dropping my son off at preschool, I ran into CVS, found the chapstick and shelled out $3.21. No ECB's printed out but I was in an hurry and didn't want James to be late for day 1 of school. So, I realized that the NIVEA chapstick wasn't part of this particular savings, I needed the Chapstick brand. I was not going to let this overtake me!! I was going to get my $5 bucks back! So, I went back, returned the Nivea and spent $3.21 to get the real chapstick and get my $5 rewards. So, now I have $8 ECB's for my next trip.

My 2nd transaction:

I bought:

1 Accu Aviva Glucose meter ($10)

1 Advil Gelcaps ($7.5)

1 Thermacare neck ($6.99)

1 8 Ct pens ($.99)

I used:

$10 off glucose meter

$2.98 in ECB's

$4 off $20 CVS coupon

$3 off thermacare and advil coupon

I paid: $7.11

I saved: $32.96

Plus $3.21 chapstick

I earned another $5 ECB's

Total for CVS: $11.21

Savings for this trip: $74.49

ECB's: $8

The moral of this story, is use the free items to hit a higher price to use more coupons.

Restaurant.com

I just discovered this site but I have friends that have used it. Basically you go online and look around your area. You get $25 and $50 gift certificates for severely discounted prices. They were having an 80% off sale and I purchased 4 $25 gift certificates for $2 a piece. That's $8 for $100 worth of gift certificates. So, check it out!

For the Mommies

Here's a post, specifically for my mommies out there. I'm in the process of collecting children's clothes and other baby items for one of the consignment sales here in Charleston. It makes me a bit sad to know my big boys aren't little anymore and those cute little overalls will be adorning some other little boy. Yes, Olivia will have her overalls, but the ones with trucks on them just isn't appropriate for her. I'm collecting baby baths, socks, hats, pants and even Gdiapers. The only thing I wish I had done better, was keeping my stuff in better shape. And maybe spending less at Wal-Mart and being a few nicer items that hold up and are worth more. But either way, my boys were clothed all the time and I think I should be able to sell of my stuff. So, if you can, keep your stuff in good shape and get rid of the stuff the kids don't play with. I'm learning the hard way about junk in the house...

If you're in the Charleston area, check out these consignment sales:
Fort Johnson Baptist Church Consignment Sale: Fri and Sat, Sept 4th and 5th. Friday is from 8-6 and saturday is 8-12 and most items will be 50% off on saturday.

Charleston Repeats (www.charlestonrepeats.com): September 9-13, Omar Shrine Convention Center on Patriots Point. I think the last day, most items are 50% off also. This is the one that I'm going to consign at.

There's also a Mom to Mom sale in Mt pleasant at the Armory, but I'm not sure of the date this fall.

Happy Shopping!

Sonic

Sonic is one of my favorite places to go. It's not because I think they have incredible food, but it's convenient and they have good prices. I like their sweet tea, extra ice please. Sometimes when I don't get extra ice, the sweet tea is warm and that's just not very satisfying. They also have a Chicken Strip sandwich off their value menu that is really good.

From 2-4 every day, it's Happy Hour! This means my delicious Large Sweet Tea with extra ice is only $.91 or around that price. Great deal for 32 ounces of delicious sweet tea.

On a few of my recipts lately, it said to call this number and get a free Route 44 drink on my next trip. What's Route 44 I asked? It's 12 ounces more than the large, he said. Wow! But, a free drink is a free drink. So, I go home and call the number and it took me 3 minutes and I got a code for a free drink. I couldn't wait to see if I could drink a whole Route 44 sweet tea. And sure enough, I can!

My Favorite Purchases this Week

I figured I needed to share with you my favorite purchases this week and what and where I shopped. I do my shopping early in the week to make sure I get the product but also because CVS has special sales Sunday through Tuesdays.

Rite Aid: I spent $14.47 and will receive $6 back from Rite Aid. This isn't great, but I purchased a few items that I needed i.e. Pert Plus ($1.25), 2 packs of BIC mechanical pencils (free) and makeup remover pads for $2.31. I misunderstood the battery deal and therefore didn't purchase enough to get the rebate, but still got them on sale and used a coupon.

CVS: I used up my bucks back on my last trip so I had to start again. I did okay and I left CVS with $11 in Bucks back to use next week. Most of the items I purchased gave me bucks back and I bought some Band Aid / Neosporin products, which are always good to have on hand.
So, I spent $23 and got $12 back in bucks. Not that great, but my overall savings before bucks back was $34.

Freebates and Easy Rebates

So, how many of you REALLY send in your rebates??? I must admit, that I've let a few slip by. I bought a big ol' KitchenAid food processor on sale for $80 and then I could've sent in the receipt for another $20 off. But I didn't. This was before I knew I could be saving a lot just by sending in the receipt. But sometimes, the effort is a little much. We just had to get new phones and to get the rebate you have to clip UPC codes and fill out info and mail stuff in. But it's worth it if you get $100 sent back to you to use wherever. That's a week of groceries!!!

But recently, I did the Staples Easy Rebate and yes, it was easy. The deal was you had to buy 2 boxes of printer paper, each box had 5 'reams' in it. That's 5 chunks of paper, I was told. Each box would be $10 after the easy rebate. $20 for 2 boxes of printer paper. Can't beat that! So, with my receipts in hand I went home and entered the appropriate information online and voila! It was done. Now I just have to wait for my $20 to get sent to me. So, are rebates worth it? I think so. Two thumbs up!

It's the little things

It's the little things that get me excited. I had to go to the grocery store to get food for the week. I bought supplies for chicken salad, regular salad and meat for the week. Since I stocked up on snack foods last week at Harris Teeter, I just needed the big stuff.

I don't like the taste of our tap water, but I need to drink water. So, I buy bottled water. If I can find it for $3 or less for a case, I'll buy it. So, they had a 24 pack of bottled water for $3.99 and there was a coupon dispenser right next to the water for a $1 off coupon. So, I got 24 bottles of water for $2.99, making it $.12 a bottle. Not bad. That was savings from just utilizing what was in store.

The second item that got me excited was the Nature Valley nut clusters. They're a healthy snack that I can put in my diaper bag for those emergency snack situations. They were on sale for $3.49 and had a coupon stuck on the bag for $1 off and I had another coupon for $1. So, I paid $1.49 for that.

So, the moral of this story is "Look Around". You never know what coupons are available if you don't look. Pull the coupons out of the dispensers, even if they're not on sale because they might be next week.

The Coupon Rules

Also known as my family motto: NEVER PAY RETAIL. Keeping that in mind will help you down the road.

I will be adding to this list, as more is revealed to me in my endeavors, but I'll list a few things that I already know.

1. Never Pay Retail
2. Always buy the free items or items that you can make a profit on.
3. But as much as you can when an item hits its lowest price

These seem obvious, but the reality is sometimes hard. How do you know when an item is at its lowest. Well, Harris Teeter was tripling coupons this past week, so I safely assumed that all the prices I paid for Betty Crocker fruit snacks was the lowest it would ever go.

Know the Rules!

Each store has special rules for the use of coupons. I think you can go to the grocery store and buy only what's on sale and still do well. But now I know I can go better!! I am the Corporal of Coupons!

Buy 1 Get 1 Rules (B1G1):
No, this does not mean when you buy one item you get just that item, as my dad likes to say. You get 2 for the price of 1. Some stores give you the item half off if you buy just one. Some stores make you buy both to get the sales price. You just gotta know how your grocery store works.

Using coupons on B1G1 items will save you even more money. Here's how it works:
Oscar Mayer Hotdogs are B1G1 Free. A package of hotdogs costs $4, theoretically. So, each package of hot dogs would be $2 a piece. I have 2 coupons for $1.00 off a package of Oscar Mayer hot dogs, that $1 off with both coupons. So, I could buy 2 packages for $4 and use 2 coupons at $1 and spend $2 for 2 packages of hot dogs, $1 a piece. Not a bad price. Also, if you didn't want to buy 2, you could buy 1 package for $2 and use a $1 coupon and pay $1 for 1 package.

This scenario also works for any item priced 2 for $4 or 2 for $6.

Manufacturer Coupons:
Most stores will accept a store coupon and a manufacturer coupon for the same item. This worked for me today. Nature Valley Nut Clusters were on sale for $3.49. On the package, they had a save $1 now coupon that I could use. I also had a $1.00 off coupon, so it was $1.49 for the bag. Great!!

Most of the in-store coupons are on the product or in the weekly sales flyer. Some stores have another special coupon booklet that you have to ask customer service for. Publix apparently has special coupons booklets, but the one I go to has never had them. Not sure why. I ask them every time.

Internet Coupons:
There are many sites out there now for Internet Coupons. One of the best is coupons.com, but I'd be interested in checking out some others. Some coupons have a limit on how many times they can be printed, so when you see one you'll use, print it immediately. Also, some stores limit the amount of Internet Coupons they'll accept. For example, I had a few internet coupons to use on multiple Cheerios, Honey Nut cheerios, etc. But Harris Teeter would only accept 2 Internet Coupons for 2 box of any variety Cheerios. So, read the store's coupon policy!!! Otherwise, you'll leave frustrated, like I was.

Cashiers:
Some times, the cashiers don't know the rules. So, if you kindly and gently ask them to ask a manager or try ringing up the coupon anyways, they'll be a bit more cooperative. I've already become friends with my CVS cashiers.

Sign up for the free stuff!

I know, I know!! Whenever I hear that something is free or won't cost me anything, I give the salesperson a "Yea, right" look. It always costs something, doesn't it? However, there really are a few ways to get free and sale items.

UPromise: www.upromise.com
-This is a way to save money for your kids college. For certain products that you buy, a bit of change is put away in an account for you and your beneficiaries. It costs nothing to do. But if you accumulated $5,000 by the time your first child went to college?????? That would be enough money to cover all the textbooks for 4 years with money left over.
-You can link your credit cards to the site and every time you purchase a upromise item, it automatically detects it and puts the $ in your account.
-You can link your savings cards i.e. CVS ExtraCare, Harris Teeter VIC card, etc. Depending on the grocery stores in your area will determine what upromise uses.

CVS:
CVS has become my new favorite store. It's been a game to me. But you sign up for a CVS ExtraCare card and it entitles you to sale items in the store as well as receiving Bucks Back. These bucks back are like monopoly money. It's money you use on your next purchase at CVS. So, free money!! For example, Headphones were on sale this week for $6.99 and when you bought them you got $6.99 back to spend on your next trip. So, I could walk back down the aisle and buy $6.99 worth of stuff and use my bucks back and pay nothing. But if I purchased another item that gave me bucks back, I'd get more money to spend!!!

Rite Aid:
Okay, I'll admit. Rite Aid is not my first choice, but it can be worth your while. Rite Aid does the same thing as CVS, except you don't get back your money right away. You input your receipts online and get a check payable to you, to use wherever you want.

Grocery stores: Sign up for the savings card at your grocery store if you can. Some stores, like Publix, don't have one, but they have lower prices on grocery items. Why pay full price when you can get it for sale???

Other stores that have free savings cards:
Staples
Bi-Lo - Save on gas for ever $50 you spend
Any frequent buyer card that's free - Bigby Coffee

How I do it

This is how I do this couponing thing. The first step is to collect coupons. Obvious, right? You'd think so. Actually, let me back up. Why coupon? Why not just buy on sale or live on a budget? I have a friend who only buys items on sale and does just fine. She is also an incredible yard saler, so the money saved on yard sales probably makes up for not using coupons in the store. And, I'm not just talking about 10 - 20% off your total grocery. We're talking in the 50% range.

My goal:

(1) To save money, overall on groceries

(2) To be able to buy 'luxury' items at severely discounted prices

(3) To stock up on items at their lowest price

How I do it:

(1) I get the sunday paper and I buy another one at the store on sunday. If you have a neighbor that throws away their coupon inserts, go ask for theirs.

(2) I print coupons from the Internet. This works very well, except some sites have limits on the number of coupons printed and some stores only take a limited number of Internet coupons. I.E. Harris Teeter.

(3) I check Southernsavers.com to get the weekly sales items

(4) I spend an afternoon or evening making my list and organizing coupons

(5) Newspaper Inserts, Smartsource and Redplum and Proctor and Gamble, get placed in my big divider

(6) I cut out the other coupons and they go in a smaller divider book, organized by brand name

My next post will talk about easy and free ways to save.

Here we go!!

This will be my attempt at discussing my successes and failures at couponing. Although, is it even really a failure when I save money, little or big? Maybe not. The failure comes at me when I know I could've saved more. Failure comes again when I didn't buy enough at the low price to get me through till the next time. But, I hope my stories will help you save time and maybe even money.

I am a stay at home mom, with 3 children under the age of 4. So, even though my time is limited, I am finding satisfaction making deals and spending time figuring out ways of being a better steward for my family.

To be fair, most of my deals are found from daily visits to the website www.southernsavers.com. It would be unjust to not mention that I am consistently benefiting from the work done on that site.

Any comments on my posts would be greatly appreciated, especially if you find yourself in the same situation.

Here we go!