Tag Archives: coupon binder

Feb 8 2011

Coupon Savings, Part II

I went to the store again on Friday only because there was an additional insert for the Super Bowl with some really good prices.  They were doing 12-packs of Coca Cola products at 4 for $9.00.  It was a “must buy 4″ and “limit 4″ sale.  So that came out to $2.25 per pack, which is about the lowest I have seen soda in a long time.  Too bad it was limited to four packs, I could have really stocked up at that price!  I also found fruit snacks on sale at $0.99 per box and had coupons for $1.00 off 2 boxes, so got those for $0.49 each.  My best score: I had a coupon for a free dozen eggs with the purchase of Kikkoman soy sauce.  I also had a coupon for $1.00 off any size Kikkoman soy sauce.  So I found a small bottle of soy sauce on sale for $1.69.  The result is a dozen eggs and a bottle of soy sauce for $0.69! 

The girl bagging my groceries questioned what the binder was and I showed her all my coupons.  I have a feeling they don’t get a lot of serious couponers at the store where I’m shopping -it’s in a well to do area.  She was amazed and was just as eager as I was to see what the final total would be.  She said that was the highest percent saved she had seen! 

Here is my register receipt from Friday’s shopping. 

Receipt from 2/4/2011; 47% SAVINGS!

See there, it’s a 47% off the regular retail price by buying club card sale items and using coupons.  I had $126.17 in savings ($20.65 of it was coupons!!).  So I got $273 in groceries for only $147.  I also had a rebate offer for a free pack of Pediasure, so once I send that in with my receipt ($11.99) I will actually be over 50% savings!  My next goal is to get to 60% savings on my next shopping trip.

We’re well stocked up now on non-perishables for the next month or two.  I should only need to buy meat and produce for the next few weeks. I’ll continue to clip my coupons and check the sales for any great deals.  I’m really excited about all the savings and how fun it is to beat the stores at their own game.  Too bad we don’t have double coupons in California, then I could really save a lot!

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Feb 7 2011

Coupon Savings Results! Part I

I went shopping twice last week – Monday (my regular shopping day) and Friday.  Safeway was having some good sales and I was excited to put my new coupon binder to work!

coupon binderSunday I finished clipping and organizing all of my coupons.  Then I went through the weekly ad and the store’s online specials to find which items were on sale.  I then matched up as many coupons as I could to the sale items.  Safeway is a store with a Club Card that can be “pre-loaded” with the store’s coupons that come in the weekly flier and additional manufacturer’s coupons.  I spent some time Sunday evening getting all of that ready.

Monday I headed into the store with my list, all the coupons I expected to use set aside, and my binder in case I came across something on sale.  I really enjoyed the feeling of being organized and getting a good price when I shopped.  I knew exactly what I was there to get and tryed to keep to my list as much as possible.  My best score: Skippy Natural peanut butter – on sale for $1.49, and I had a coupon for $0.75 off two, so I bought two and paid $1.15 for each!  I felt like I was beating the store at their own game! A woman shopping noticed me and said “Oh, I love your binder!”  She must be couponer because she knew exactly what it was!

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Jan 31 2011

Coupon Binder Project

Here are some photos of the coupon binder I made.  You can find pre-made coupon binders online, but I think it’s cheaper to make your own.  You can also customize it for the number of categories you want.

I had a 3-ring binder laying around so I didn’t need to buy that.  I purchased sets of 8-tab dividers from Target.  I tried to find the 9-per-page baseball card holders locally at Target, Michael’s and WalMart.  I couldn’t think of any other place to check –and I couldn’t drag the kids into another store anyway.  So when we got home I ordered them on Amazon.  I have an Amazon Prime account ($79 per year) so most things I order come with 2-day free shipping.  If you order from Amazon on a regular basis or even just during the holidays, you can save a lot.

I went to the Krazy Coupon Lady site to get her suggested 36 coupon categories.  I had 32 tabs (4 packs of 8-tab) so I changed/combined some of the categories to fit my needs.  Then I took the clipped coupons I had and arranged them in my binder.  And here is the finished product. 

My next step is to consistently get copies of the paper each weekend so I can take advantage of good prices when they come up.  I know this sounds like a lot of work, but since I’m home with the kids saving us money is my new job.  And believe me, we spend a lot on groceries right now, so it’s a great target to try to cut our spending.

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Jan 28 2011

Trying Coupons Again

I’m trying to get more organized to help me save money, time and space.  One of the things I’m going to work on this year is using coupons. I’ve always thought coupons were more of a hassle than a help, but after seeing Extreme Couponing on TLC, I can see it is possible to save a lot, IF you can learn the system.

The way to save the most with coupons is to combine them with a store sale and/or coupon.  The most interesting thing I’ve learned is that items go on sale in fairly predictiable cycles, typically every 3 months, or sometimes more often.  Stacking (adding a manufacturer’s coupon to a store coupon) in combination with store sales or store cash rewards is how serious couponers save so much. 

So here is the hard part – knowing what is really a good sale price and having the coupon to go with it at the right time.  Getting there takes some planning.  First, you have to buy the weekend paper to get the coupon inserts.  There are usually two – Red Plum and Smart Source.  There’s also the Proctor and Gamble add that comes out once a month.  From what I’ve gathered, serious couponers get at least 5 copies of the paper so they have multiple copies of the same coupons.   Then when a real deal comes up they buy in bulk. 

The other hard part: storing the stockpile.  In order to really be a super couponer you have to have some space to store the items that are bought in large quantities.  This is a problem for me right now because the house we’re renting has very little storage space.  I’m going to try to clean out a cabinet in the garage so I can start a small stockpile.  I can’t really do what the serious couponers do and have a 6-12 month supply in my garage.  I would need a chest freezer and a lot more shelves.  Maybe once we buy a house I’ll be able to store more.

This is my action plan:

  1. Create my coupon binder to keep coupons neat and organized (done)
  2. Buy two copies of the paper each week
  3. Ask friends and family to save the coupon inserts for me
  4. Learn more about finding the deals that make it all worth it.  Hopefully I can find free information, but if not I may try using a service like The Grocery Game again.

Wish me luck!  And please comment if you know good couponing resources!

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