A friend of mine just posted this site GiftCardGranny! This is exciting because I was never sure where to go to buy gift cards at a discount, I've heard it was possible, but now there's a great place to do it! Have you ever used this site or one like it? Comment below with your experience!

My shopping trip 03/19/2011

This haul includes 
12 boxes of Cereal
2 bags of goldfish
3 Gallons of Milk
1 stick of deodorant
2 packs of English Muffins
2 Loaves of bread
2 packs of strawberry's
2 squares of cream cheese
2 bags of salad
2 boxes of crackers
2 dozen eggs
6 blocks of cheese
Retail price = 119.20
Paid: 64.62


This was all from Shaws. They have a deal this week that if you buy 4 boxes of certain cereals you will get a coupon for a free gallon of milk up to a value of 4.50. Separate your purchase so you can get the milk right away. If you buy the shoppers value brand milk, you will end up with extra room on the coupon they give you. Throw something else in that purchase to get something else for free! 


Remember that shaws will double manufacturers coupons (even if it says do not double) if the coupon is UNDER 1.00! I used 12 coupons for the cereal, all of which were doubled. In the end I paid about $1.00 per box of cereal. Therefore, I paid $12 and got 12 boxes of cereal, 3 gallons of milk and a box of crackers! 

Welcome!

I've been getting a lot of questions on how I am doing with my couponing. I have some friends joined up on a facebook group where we can share our findings, but I realize that I don't want strangers on my facebook, so... I've now started a blog! I'll post the same information there as I do here!

I recently sent a friend a message me wondering where I get all my coupons, so I typed up the process I went through to get started. Keep in mind, I am still learning! I don't have this all figured out, but I feel that I must share what knowledge I have! So here goes, hopefully you can benefit from this as much as I have already!
So here goes...

You definitely have to find the newspaper in your area that on Sundays gives you Redplumb and Smart Source. Also every few months there’s one called P&G.

If you can get people to give you their coupon that they won’t use you can save even more money. If not, just buy several papers so you get copies of the coupons.

Here are the steps that got me going. 

1.) I started with the Krazy Coupon Lady web site. Just Google her. She'd got a link for beginners, look through that.

2.) Start your own binder. A little coupon book is NOT enough. I use the Krazy Coupons Ladys (KCL) because it’s pretty extensive. You can just print it out from her website, or design your own, but she’ll give you some good ideas. You'll need to pick up some baseball card inserts so you can organize your coupons.

3.) Get daily emails from blogs, KCL has one, Iheartriteaid, IheartCVS, iheartwags, Dealseekingmom, athriftymom, $5dinners, venessasvalues, coupondivas,  - Keep in mind that there may be blogs geared for your region, just do a bit of research. I filter all their emails in to one folder in my email account to keep my inbox uncluttered. Spend ten minutes each day glancing through them. Write down deals you can use and ignore those you can't.

4.) Get the coupons sites. Coupons.com, couponnetwork.com, couponsurfer, redplum, smartsource I often use the ecoupon database from the Krazy Coupon Lady. She links to just about anything you might need. Other blogs have good databases as well, I’ve just yet to use them.

5.) You MUST get the rewards cards for the stores you use! Riteaid, CVS, Walgreens, Shaws, Hannaford… I don’t know what else you have down there but check it out. Use a keychain, or one of those goody metal hair tie rings and punch holes in the cards and keep them together. There are too many for a standard wallet, and you don’t want to make them look your number up every time! It’s easier to just scan the card.

6.) STOCKPILE! Couponing will save you a little money here and there for certain, but if you can clear some space where you live, or get a friend to let you stick a shelf in their garage or basement you can make a stock pile. So when you find something your family needs for a cheap price or even free, you can get ten or more of them, and that way you don’t have to buy them at full price when you’re in need! The stockpile is how you save the most money. I’m just starting mine.

Remember, some deals I get you can too, but some you won’t be able too, since some stores do them by region, and you may not be in my region.

As a side note, don’t throw away your expired coupons, militarily families stationed overseas can use them at commissaries for six months beyond the date. The KCL sends hers to a rep in the US who will send them all to Okinawa Japan, to the US Air Force base. I will be doing that, since I happen to like Okinawa… I was born there, on that base.

Here is the information for sending your coupons off. It’s much cheaper to send it to the US than to Japan, so this is great, and you get to bless others by giving them access to savings they otherwise can’t get.

KCL Overseas Coupon Program
c/o Andrea Ponder
30865 Shelton Rd.
Parma, ID 83660

If you have questions let me know! I’d be happy to help out!