- Is couponing worth your time? Part 1
- Is couponing worth your time? Part 2
- Couponing basics.
- How to effectively save money with coupons. Part 1
- How to effectively save money with coupons. Part 2
Lingo:
SS= SmartSource
RP=Red Plum
PG= Procter and Gamble
In Tremonton, SS and PG come in your Sunday newspaper. RP comes for free with your mail on most Tuesdays.
When using my spreadsheets or GrocerySmarts.com, find your coupons by the date printed on the spine of the coupon packet. For example, SmartSource coupons from May 19th would be labeled SS 5/19. $1/3 means you get one dollar off three items.
GrocerySmarts Utah Passport: g84xms
Want to host a coupon class to learn more? Contact Marsha at 435-230-5268
Here is an email I wrote to my friends, explaining couponing:
GrocerySmarts Utah Passport: g84xms
Want to host a coupon class to learn more? Contact Marsha at 435-230-5268
Here is an email I wrote to my friends, explaining couponing:
Hey there! I just wanted to write you the email I promised about couponing. Let me see... where to begin. It is an hour long class and FULL of information, so I hope you are ready for a monster email! Don't get scared! It's not hard. You just need to be well informed to get the best deals.
Sunday Newspaper Subscriptions:
So, it is recommended that you get a subscription for the Sunday newspaper. Subscriptions are cheaper than buying the paper out of the bins that sit outside of the grocery stores or at gas stations. Also, you can sometimes find deals to get your subscriptions cheaper. For example, a typical Sunday-only subscription for the Salt Lake Tribune is about $50 a year. But, at my coupon class I can sell subscriptions for $20 a year. If you get the recommended 4 newspapers for a family of 4+, I will also give you a $10 gift card to Smith's or WalMart, making the final cost of the 4 subscriptions only $70 a year, which is much better than $50 for ONE!
Also, as far as subscribing verses picking up a paper at the store, if your main goal is to get the coupons out of the paper, it's better to have it delivered to your house because sometimes people steal the coupons out of the papers in the bins, and sometimes the newspapers don't get enough coupon packets for every paper they print, so the coupon packets go first in the papers that subscribers paid for, and the papers with no coupon packets get put in the bins.
I also recommended that you get one Sunday newspaper per person in your household, up to 4 subscriptions (because some coupons will say in the fine print that you can only use 4 like coupons per transaction anyway, so even if you had 20 of them, you could only use 4). If there are only two people in your household, you could probably get by with just one newspaper because there are also lots of online coupons, but you might wish you had two if you really get into couponing.
Coupon Cycles and Stocking Up
The idea is that almost all coupons cycle every 3-4 months and most major products cycle in sales every 3-4 months. You need enough coupons to buy enough multiples of a product to get you from one "rock bottom sale" to the next. So, if Dial body wash is your favorite and you use one bottle a month, you are going to need to buy four bottles at the rock bottom price to last you until the next time it is on sale for rock bottom (not only on sale, but the added savings of having a coupon too).
Alternatively, you can be willing to try multiple brands (not just Dial, for example) and get all different kinds of body wash at rock bottom prices until you have enough to last you until the next coupon comes out/sale. That way you only need one coupon to buy one bottle at a time, but you will need to buy 3 or 4 different kinds over the course of those 3-4 months until things cycle around again.
Coupons verses Sam's Club
If you are able to really get things at their cheapest prices with the combination of a sale price AND a coupon, you can almost always get things cheaper than buying in bulk at Sam's Club or Costco. It takes a little more work that just walking into Sam's and filling up your cart, but it is cheaper. So, instead of buying a Mega Super Pack of dish soap at Sam's for $10, you can buy the same amount of dish soap in 4 smaller bottles at $1.50 a bottle.
Thinking of it that way, you are still buying in bulk, it's just a different kind of buying in bulk. If couponing keeps your home supply up where you like it, then you get the added savings of NOT paying for a club membership every year too. This is one of my family's personal goals, because right now we have a Sam's Club membership, but not only that, but we have the ultra mega Sam's membership to get the added discounts on things we buy a lot of, which costs us about $100 a year. Add to that the fact that we live in Tremonton, so we have to drive 45 minutes to get to Logan or Ogden for our Sam's run (gas money), plus babysitting money, plus money to get a meal while we are gone and things really add up! If I can save us all that trouble by couponing, I will be pretty happy!
Coupon Packets
There are basically three coupon packets you need to look for (at least in our area). The first one is the coupon packet that comes for free every week in your mail box called Red Plum (no newspaper subscription needed!). Mine comes on Tuesdays.
Then, there is the Smart Source coupon packet that comes in your Sunday paper every week, except holiday weekends. (I have joked, "You know you are really into couponing when holiday weekends make you sad because there are no coupons.)
Lastly, about once a month there will be a second coupon packet that comes in your Sunday paper from Procter and Gamble (these are the ones that will typically say you can only use 4 coupons per transaction).
Filing and Storing Your Coupons
On the spine of the coupon packet you will see a date printed in TEENY TINY numbers. It is always a Sunday date (either for the day of the Sunday paper that the coupons are in, or in the case of the Red Plum that comes on Tuesday, it will be the date of the Sunday we just had). I recommend taking a pen or marker and writing this date larger on the front of the coupon packet so you can find the date a lot easier later.
Then, you take your coupon packets and you file them away by date. If you were only taking one Sunday paper, by the end of the month you should have about 10-12 packets filed away (approximately 4-5 Red Plums, 4-5 Smart Source, 1-2 Proctor and Gamble). You want to keep about four months worth of coupon packets around to get all of the good deals, but by the end of four months you can assume that almost all the coupons in the packets are expired and start tossing them to make room for the upcoming months.
As far as filing and storing your coupons, that is all there is to it. No clipping, no putting everything in a binder, no carrying that binder around with you wherever you go... just write the date on the packet, put it in your filing cabinet and walk away.
I also recommended, if you take multiple papers, to collate your multiple coupon packets so all the page 1's are together, all the page 2's are together, etc. Then, when you find a good deal and you need to clip a coupon, you can take all of your page 1's, stack them, and cut all the coupons out at once. So, since I currently take 4 papers, I would cut out four coupons at once. This step isn't mandatory, but it makes a lot of sense to me. Otherwise, if you have multiple identical coupon packets, you have to find the same coupon multiple times and cut it out multiple times.
Other Coupon Sources
There are also TONS of coupons available online for free. Sometimes they are on the manufacturer's websites (like yoplait.com or tide.com) and sometimes they are on couponing sites like coupons.com. The first time you try to round up coupons from the Internet you will probably find that you have to keep signing up for free accounts with all the major manufacturer's that you love. It's a little time consuming, but after a week or two of doing this for your weekly shopping list, you will find that you have signed up for most of what you need and things go a lot faster!
However, before you resign yourself to spending an entire afternoon thinking of and visiting the sites for the products you use, wait for my explanation of the Grocery Smart's website. (see below)
How do You Know When to Use a Coupon?
First of all, I stress over and over again in my classes that you don't look at your coupons first and then try to apply them to what you want to buy. If it's not a good sale, the coupon won't help you very much.
Instead, you need to flip flop that thinking and wait for the GREAT sales and then apply your coupons for the biggest bang for your coupon. Of course, if you are 100% sure you are going to be buying an item no matter what (sale or no sale) then, of course, clip a coupon and get that item a little cheaper. But if you can wait for a sale, even better!
So, how then do you know when to use a coupon? That is where the WONDERFUL website Grocery Smarts come in. http://grocerysmarts.com/
Then, they rate the deals with a 5 star rating system so you know if it's a good deal, a great deal, or a STOCK UP AND SAVE deal. I basically only use the site to find the Stock Up and Save items.
If you look closely at the site, it will tell you that to get all the deals you need to enter a passport. My passport is g84xms . A passport will give you access to the alphabetical coupon index and the ALL-In-One spreadsheet that list all the ads in the state in one place.
If you have a local store that is not listed but is an Associated Foods store, then you can just check the generic Associated Foods listing. For example, in Tremonton we have a Kent's grocery store and a Ridley's. Kent's is listed on Grocery Smarts all by itself, but Ridley's is not. So when I want to look at the Kent's deals for the week, I just click on Kent's and the spreadsheet pops up. If I want to look at the Ridley's deals, then I have to click on "Associated Foods" to find what I am looking for.
Disclaimer: All over the Grocery Smarts site it will say things like, "Please note: This list is created from the "such and such" ad (insert Walmart, or Smith's). It is not guaranteed to be accurate for every store. Each store ad is the final authority on sale pricing." So, our local Kent's might have some different sales than what Grocery Smart's lists on their Kent's spreadsheet. Usually that's not too much of a problem until you find a deal you really WANT and then you go to the store and your particular branch is not running that sale. Alternatively, sometimes your store is running a sale that is NOT listed in the ad and you can find some great things locally that other stores in the area aren't participating in.
To combat this problem, I have created my own spreadsheets for Kent's and Ridley's locally for Tremonton shoppers and I make this spreadsheet available each week on my blog: queenofthescreamingdeal.
Using the Grocery Smarts Site/Spreadsheet
When you go to the Grocery Smarts website and choose a store, the spreadsheet that comes up can be a bit confusing. I like to have a paper copy of my ad sitting next to me so I can verify things and get a little clarification if I need it.
If you want to see all the sales, just browse the spreadsheet and see what's there. The first column will be the star rating. This will tell you if, just because the item is on sale, if that sale is very good or not. I tell my classes, "If it's a three-star-rating, to me that means I can probably get the same item for the sale price not on sale at Walmart." It will also show in that column if with a coupon you can get that item for FREE! (Gotta love that!)
The second column is the description of the item on sale. The third column is the sale price listed in the ad for the item. The fourth column tells you if there are any available coupons that you can use to bring the price down even more and it tells you where to find them. The final column tells you what your rock bottom price will be if you use the coupons suggested.
Grocery Smarts will never link you to a coupon that is expired, so you don't have to worry about the expiration dates on your coupons!
If you are like me and you only care about the really GREAT deals, then this is the easiest way to see all the five star items (the instructions are at the stop of the page on the spreadsheet too):
1. At the top of the spreadsheet there is a start button. Press it. This will highlight every item in the spreadsheet (you will know you have done this correctly because the spreadsheet will go from white to grey). Every item you are interested in keeping on your final print-out click on, turning it back to white. Only the white items will be visible when you "shrink" your list for printing.
2. For just the EXTREME deals, click on the red star above the words, "Stock Up Scale" and only the major deals on the spreadsheet will turn white.
3. Next, click on the "Shrink" button and everything that is not selected will disappear, making your list of deals MUCH shorter.
4. To add or remove different deals from your list, just click on "shrink" and "unshrink" until you have your list the way you want it. You can start over as much as you need to.
5. Then, print off your list and take it with you to the store.
Personal Notes for Shopping
At the bottom of the list there is a space for you to write your own personal notes. You can use that space to type in all the other things you need to pick up at the store, and then when you print your Grocery Smarts list you also have your regular shopping list right there all ready to go. (The box is rather small, but you can click and drag to make it as big or little as you need.)
I also like to write out in the margins how many of a particular item I need to get, because sometimes to get the deal the coupon requires multiple items (like save $1 on TWO gallons of milk). I also like to write notes about special promotions that can be confusing. For example, I might remind myself that the promotion is to buy FIVE General Mills cereals or I don't get the deal (like Smith's Mix and Match 5 items to save $5).
How to Find the Coupons from the Grocery Smarts Spreadsheet
In the coupon column of the spreadsheet it will tell you what coupon is available for the deal. If the coupon is in the Red Plum coupon packet dated 3/23 then it will say, "RP 3/23" next to it. If it is from Procter and Gamble it will say PG and if it is from Smart Source it will say SS. If the coupon is online instead of printed, then it will have a link for you to click on to take you to the site were you can find the coupon (this is why you don't need to go spend the afternoon visiting all the manufacturer's sites ahead of time).
Again, if you are using the online links to coupons, the first few times you do it you will find yourself spending a lot of time creating free accounts with each site. But later, once all the accounts are made, the process is much faster and simpler.
Here is an example of that the spreadsheet might say in the coupon column:
Dannon Oikos Product, any 5.3 oz Single Serves $1/3 or (1) four pack or (1) quart ( Expires 03-26-14) SS-1/26
What that breaks down into is that the coupon is for Dannon Oikos Product. If you are getting the 5.3 oz. single serves, then the coupon is $1 off when you buy THREE of them ($1/3), or you can get $1 off one four pack or one quart container. It expires on 3-26-14 (which is in the middle of the store sale week, so if you go shopping on Sunday or Monday the store sale will still be going on but the coupon expires on Saturday) and you can find it in your Smart Source from January 26th.
Warnings about Online Coupons
Online coupons come and go at the manufacturer's whim, making them more unstable than printed coupons. Here one day, gone the next. So, if a link to a coupon takes you somewhere that you can't find the coupon, it might just simply be gone. In the online couponing world I see a lot of people saying things like, "Just found this new coupon. Print it now and save it for later because it could be gone fast!"
Also, not all stores will even let you use online coupons, so you need to check your store's coupon policy. Here in town, Ridley's takes online coupons but Kent's sometimes does and sometimes doesn't.
Lastly, almost all online coupons limit you to TWO identical coupons that can be printed. Somehow the sites know your computer's IP address or something and they will only allow you to print two coupons. Also, stores that accept online coupons will only accept two of the same coupon. Anything else is illegal. Here is why:
Every online coupon has two bar codes on it. The first bar code is the one the store will use at the register to give you the discount. This code is the same on all identical coupon deals. The second bar code is unique with a unique pin on it. This is the code that, when the store sends their coupons into the manufacturer for their rebate, when the manufacturer scan's tells them if any of the coupons were copies (meaning, someone took a coupon to a copy machine and printed of 100 copies to get illegal deals). If any of the coupons do not have a unique pin on them they will be rejected by the manufacturer and not send the store back their full rebate. So, basically, the store gave you a discount expecting to be reimbursed by the manufacturer only to find out in the end that you used an illegal coupon and now the store doesn't get their money back. That is why lots of stores don't accept online coupons.
Bottom Line: make sure your stores accept online coupons first. Then, only print the legal two coupons to use. (Also, to use two similar coupons, you need to be purchasing two items. So, if you have two coupons for $0.50 off Dial body wash then you need to buy TWO bottles of body wash to use TWO coupons.)
Using Multiple Coupons on One Item
Rarely can you use multiple coupons on a single item. The best you can do is get the item on sale and then apply a single coupon for additional savings. The only exception to this rule is when you get an in-store coupon. An in-store coupon is when you go to somewhere like Smith's and when you check out the cashier not only prints out your receipt but will sometimes also print out some in-store coupons to hand you. They are only good at Smith's and must be used on upcoming visits. These are often called Cantalina coupons. If you have both an in-store Cantalina coupon and a manufacturer's coupon, then you can use two coupons on a single item.
There are also in-store coupons printed in your local ad that can be combined with manufacturer's coupons. In-store coupons will say "Store Coupon" or "Vendor Coupon" on it. These are store discounts. Manufacturer's coupons are a form of payment.
Also, check for double coupon day. That is where you get double the discount on your coupons. This is practically a thing of the past and very few stores still offer this.
Using the Coupon Index
On Grocery Smarts, besides listing all the ads for the stores, they also have a coupon index that lists all the coupons from RP, SS and PG that are not yet expired from your packets. So, say you want to buy Yoplait yogurt this week even though it's not on sale. You can check the coupon index and see if there is a coupon somewhere you can use even though the item is not on sale. It doesn't list all available online coupons though. Those you just have to find yourself.
Ready, Set, Shop!!!
So, ideally, here is what you would do.
1. File your coupons.
2. Visiting Grocery Smarts to check out all the deals and compile your grocery list.
3. Print your list and use all the links and references to clip the coupons you need for this trip.
4. Put your list and your pile of coupons in your bag and go shopping!
That's it.
Supplies
This might seems silly, but I think it really helps. The coupon lady has this big clear zipper bag that she puts her list in when she prints it. She also slips her coupons inside the pouch and any shoppers cards that she needs (like her Smith's card). Then, everything is together and nothing gets dropped or lost at the store. It needed to be clear so she could read her list through the bag.
I was unable to find a similar bag, but I didn't have access to some of the bigger office supply stores where I am sure you can find that kind of thing easier. Instead, I went to Walmart and was able to find a clip board where the back of the clipboard is a hollow compartment. I am able to keep my coupons and cards in the back with my list on top under the clipboard clip. I also keep a pen, highlighter, small pair of scissors, paperclips and post-it notes inside, with some fast food coupons and other helpful information that I have gathered. I think it has been really handy. (The post-it notes are for price-matching at Walmart. Just write the sale price and store that you are matching on the post-it and stick it to the product for the cashier at checkout.)
Couponing Apps
You can also save some extra money by using free apps on your phone. The apps I have are:
Checkout 51
Grocery Smarts
Ibotta
Saving Star
Shopmium
Top Cash Back
RetailMeNot Coupons
Smith's
Shopkick
Gasbuddy
Cellfire
My favorites so far have been Ibotta (because I can link it to my Ridley's shopper's card and get rebates like $0.50 off my milk just by swiping my card at Ridley's when I buy milk), Checkout 51, and Savings Star (because it is linked to my Smith's card). Your Smith's card can also be activated online at the Smith's website to put "e-coupons" on. Just activate your card and then visit the Smith's website and browse their coupons. Add them to your card and when you go shopping and your card gets swiped at checkout the computer will automatically apply the coupons. Not clipping, no printing, and no forgetting! However, these ARE manufacturer's coupons and can NOT be combined with paper coupons.
Facebook Feeds and Websites
I highly recommend "liking" Utah Deal Diva on Facebook. Even though the deals can be for Utah from time to time, mostly the deals are universal (meaning it is a deal through Walmarts everywhere, or a deal that your order online so it doesn't matter where you live, etc.). A lot of the things they post I don't care about, but the occasional gem that gets posted makes it worth having in my feed. For example, the other day the Utah Deal Diva posted a list of places where kids can eat free for everyone who is getting ready to take their families traveling for spring break. We aren't going anywhere, but I printed the list off anyway (even though it included some places that we don't have around here) because it was a great reference for when we take the boys out to dinner. Now I know that the boys can eat for free on Tuesdays and Saturdays at Denny's. Or, if it is Wednesday, maybe they can eat at Carl's Jr. or something. It's handy.
They also posted about their favorite coupon apps, which is where I found a lot of the ones I like.
So, just in general, they have some great information on there. You can also go to their website for more information. http://www.
There might be something similar for Idaho somewhere, but I don't know what it would be.
Start Slow and Don't Get Discouraged
This might seem like strange advice. I mean, how can couponing be discouraging. But here are just some words of caution while you are starting out. Realize that if you don't already have 4 months of coupon packets stored up in your filing cabinet, and especially if your local stores do NOT accept online coupons, you are going to go check Grocery Smarts and discover that you can't really get any of the great deals right now.
Also, a lot of couponing for saving money in the long run is about food storage. It's about buying six bottles of shampoo so you can "shop" from your personal "home grocery store" over the next few months. Or having those 4 bottles of ketchup that you got for pennies in your basement so you don't have to buy full price ketchup when the bottle in your fridge runs out. So, if you don't have a great home storage supply already, this can take a little time to build up.
Also, it's easy to get all caught up in the excitement of couponing, running to the store and snagging some killer deals, and then running home to your hubby and saying, "Look at the great stuff I got for cheap" and he looks and sees razors, shampoo, chips, and ice cream and says, "Well, that looks great, but what's for dinner? I can't eat razors." So, until you really start "eating" out of your food storage, you are going to have to snag the great deals for the future and also buy your normal week's worth of groceries for the present. But, if you can stop paying full price for shampoo then you have more money to pay for the fresh produce that almost never has coupons.
You also have to make some changes like, "Sorry honey. I know you want steak this week, but pork is on sale instead." Or, splurge on the steaks, but get the pork and freeze it for later. I also talk about how stores will be strategic and do things like put pasta sauce on sale for really cheap, but then have the noodles full price. However, if you are patient and JUST buy the sauce, then next month the reverse happens and the pasta is on sale and the sauce is expensive. Pick up your pasta then and combine it with the sauce you got for cheap the month before and then you are really in business!
The End
So, that might seem like TONS of information, but the coupon class is an hour long and now you know why! :) If any of that doesn't make sense, maybe I can call you sometime and answer your questions, or feel free to email me back, but sometimes it's easier to explain stuff over the phone. If you try to use the Grocery Smarts page for the first time and just get completely lost, give me a call and I can walk you through it.
This last week I went to Smith's and was able to get over $70 worth of stuff (mostly storage items for our basement supply) for only $16.50 or so. It was incredible! Granted, it would have been awesome of that was ALL the money I had to spend this week, but my Smith's deals were shampoo, deodorant, cookies, pop, one jar of spaghetti sauce and toilet paper. Not much to make a meal with, huh? But when I get it all home and I throw in the pasta I got last month on sale and I pick up a fresh salad, it's not so bad either.
Hope that helps!
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