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Back to Basics Series: I want free stuff! (Or do you?)

May 5, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

Couponing is becoming much more popular. Lots of reasons-crappy economy, a certain tv show…..people who have never done it are gawking at our stockpiles of free stuff and saying “I want free stuff!” I love love love free stuff. Just ask my husband. At least twice a month we have this conversation: Him-“we don’t need all that ‘insert name of free item.’ “Me-“But it was free!” Him-“Doesn’t matter, we don’t need it.” And then we either use it or donate it. Sometimes he’s right (all the granola bars & Cheezits I just gave away) and sometimes I’m right (the 30 jars of spaghetti sauce he said we’d never use, and we did, in much less than a year’s time!).

But as a result of the economy, the tv show, or whatever else brought you here, you’ve decided you want to save money. And possibly become one of those supercouponers. Or do you? I’ve received lots of requests for assistance lately and as I promised some of you, I’d do a “Back to Basics” series of posts. For beginning couponers, how to get started, what to do, where to begin. Because in the beginning, it can be overwhelming. So here it is, the first post in that series.

What I’m going to do, is present you with some questions to ask yourself, and tell you what you need to become a supercouponer. Really look at it, decide if this is something you want to pursue. It’s not all or nothing. You don’t have to be a supercouponer or not coupon at all. Even if you just get one newspaper a week or just use printable coupons, with smart spending you can save a significant % at the grocery store. There are often simple freebies to be had with one coupon or none at all. I don’t want to scare any one off, thinking they have to get multiple coupon inserts to gain from this blog.

First, the TLC show is a very unrealistic depiction of what it takes. At one end of the spectrum, they show someone spending 80 hours a week doing this. I don’t know anyone who does that, nor would I ever! At the other end of the spectrum, they show shoppers getting 5 or 6 carts full of stuff all in one transaction, as if it were that simple.

Know that building a stockpile of free stuff takes time. You find one product category one week, another the next. I never get it all at once. This week for me it was greeting cards, wipes & diapers. I have enough to last several months. Next week it will be snacks and soft drinks, and I’ll get enough to last several months. The week after that, who knows? You decide what your stockpile price is for a commodity, and when you can get it at that price, you stockpile. Stockpile prices are highly personal-it has to do with how much you need or want that item.

As far as time spent clipping & couponing, I probably spend 5-10 hours a week total. This includes checking out my favorite deal site, clipping coupons and doing matchups. I usually try to keep to two shopping trips per week. One trip is my regular weekly shopping trip for my household, during which I score whatever deals I can. Another trip is spent just getting free or supercheap stuff. Five to ten hours each week may sound like a lot, but I have figured that I am saving about $100-$150 on my weekly groceries, so $10-$20 per hour is ok with me. That’s my return, that’s what I’m getting for my time.

To be a supercouponer you need the following: about five hours of time each week and access to multiple coupon inserts. That’s it, really. From there, it’s just a matter of learning the deals in your area, at your stores, and stacking those deals. I never recommend that people buy multiple newspapers. I read of women buying ten or twenty papers, and that means you’re already $20-$40 in the hole each week, before you’ve clipped anything! I don’t want to have to make up that much ground. Ask family, friends, coworkers, neighbors. Put a bin out in your workplace breakroom, preschool, church, school with a sign that says “Please leave your Sunday coupons here if you don’t use them.” You’ll be surprised at what you get. Ask at your local newsstand, library, school, mini market–ask what they do with them on Mondays. Ask your local news carrier. I never recommend dumpster diving either, but some people do it. Whatever fits you.

Find a deal site or a blog or two that you like and follow them. Most will spell out all the deals for you. Non-couponers and supercouponers do the same deals, supercouponers just do them with stockpiling in mind. Stay tuned for the rest of the Back to Basics series–tell me, what would you like explained to you?

 

 

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Back to Basics series: I’m clipping, I’m dealing….but I don’t feel like I’m saving money.

March 30, 2011 by · 1 Comment

I hear this a lot from new folks trying to learn this. You’re faithfully going to CVS or Rite Aid every week, you’re adding free stuff to the stockpile, but it doesn’t feel like you’re saving any money. Don’t despair. Take a deep breath and read these tips.

First, do you even have a grocery budget? If not, sit down and do one. Realistically, what do you want to spend and what can you afford to spend every week on groceries. Got a number? Good. Now, take $10 or $15 off that number, and that is what you need to trim from it when you go to the store this week.

Trimming $10 or $15 off the average family’s weekly grocery trip is easy. No impulse purchases, none! No magazines at the register. Scan your refrigerator and cupboards before you go to eliminate duplicate purchasing-especially on perishable items like bread, lunch meat & produce. Be realistic about what your family will eat in a week. Eliminate chips & soda & junk food if you have to, something, anything but find a way to cut at least $10 from it. If in doubt, underbuy what you think you will need–it’s not the end of the world if you have to run in for milk & bananas.

Ok, now that $10 or $15. That is your bargaining/couponing/stockpiling money. That is your seed money to get your stockpile going. That is what you can use to go to CVS or Walgreen’s or whatever. That’s it. So for some of you, that may mean, you go to Acme, you do one cereal transaction at $11.70 and that’s it. That’s all the couponing/stockpiling you do this week.

And that’s ok. I understand and remember what it’s like to be new at this–you see all these freebies and fantastic deals and you just want to go out and get them all at once. Slow down. There will be other deals, I promise. I’ve been “extreme couponing” for 5+ years, and if the deals stop, it will be the first time in 5 years. Sure there are slow periods, but there are always deals.

If your grocery budget is $100 a week, and you’re spending that on your weekly trip and another $50 on couponing & building your stockpile, then that’s why it doesn’t feel like you’re saving. By all means, if you have the extra $50 to spend on cereal at Acme that will be $0.67 or $1.17 a box, then by all means, build that stockpile–as those are stockpile prices for me (when you factor in the milk, normally I won’t spend more than $0.50/box). But if money is tight right now and you don’t have it, don’t spend it.

It helps to take some of the pressure off, the feeling of “I need to go out & get all this cheap stuff!” No you don’t. A good stockpile takes 3-6 months to build up. Don’t worry, before you know it, you will wonder where to go with all the free stuff.

Also keep in mind, it’s like we’re trying to run on an ice-skating rink. Food prices are constantly rising. Every time I turn around, another news report or the WSJ is reporting about rising food prices. So it’s a constant game of catch-up. But keep plugging away. Also, sit down and make a list–what would you really like to have in your stockpile? Cereal? Shampoo? Diapers? What is most important to you–and focus on finding deals on those items.

You have some of the best extreme couponing minds working on this site, so stay tuned!

 

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Getting Started

August 2, 2010 by · 2 Comments

If you’re a new reader here (welcome!) it may seem overwhelming. I am what the media now likes to call a Supercouponer or Extreme Couponer. The Wall Street Journal did an article on it last winter. I can’t say I find the article very flattering. As usual, it portrays couponers as borderline hoarders who are weird and only feed their families highly processed foods.

So if you’re looking for tips on how be build a tower out of 1000 boxes of free jello, you’ve come to the wrong blog. For us, frugality is just a lifestyle. Every item we’re going to purchase, whether it be a loaf of bread, gallon of milk or roof for our house, we pause and ask ourselves “How can we pay less for this?” And after a while, when you realize you don’t have to pay full price, you don’t want to. And for day to day items, coupons are just the easiest and most accessible means to an end, for me.

 

Getting started doesn’t have to be overwhelming. First, subscribe to your local Sunday paper. Then, if you want to build up and getting multiple coupon inserts, consider asking neighbors, friends and family for their inserts. I would say four sets of inserts is a good start, if you want to do this. Many cereal deals are in multiples of four. And if you only want one or no inserts, that’s fine too.

 

The key to saving money at grocery stores and big box stores like Kmart & Target is just stacking deals. If you have coupons, it just enables you to add one more brick to the stack. You want to buy an item–try to find it on sale. See if the store is offering some type of catalina or gift card back when you purchase the product, build on that. Then, do you have corresponding coupons to go with these items? Will the store take both a store and a manufacturers’ coupon? Then, when you get home, is there a mail in rebate you can do to get more money back? Just stack the deals.

 

Find a drawer in your home office or some other room and pick a drawer to keep for this. Save all your receipts. You never know when you’re going to find a mail in rebate for something that you’ve already purchased. You can also keep your coupons in there. Don’t throw them out, even if you think there is nothing in there you want. You just never know. I never would have clipped the coupons for the Budweiser BBQ sauce. Then Giant decided they wanted to give me $2 for each bottle I purchased. How mad I would have been if I had thrown out those coupons!

And set up a junk email account. I use this account for registering when I want to print coupons online or register for something else.

That’s it, a few easy steps to getting started:
1. get the Sunday paper
2. try to get multiple inserts if you can
3. find a designated space to keep these items
4. set up a junk email account

5. Stay tuned to this blog as I point out all the stackable deals!

 

 

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Back to Basics: where can I get more coupons?

July 29, 2008 by · Leave a Comment

Someone posted a comment earlier today asking why I have so many coupons. No, I do not buy multiple papers, that would cut into my savings. Every once in a while, maybe once a year or so, the coupon inserts are so good it warrants buying several papers, but that doesn’t happen often. If you would like more than one set of inserts, here are some ideas:

Parents/family & Neighbors: I get my dad’s set and sometimes he gets me his neighbors’ sets too. Or if you have grown kids or other relatives near you, ask them to save them for you. In return I give them free goodies every once in a while.

Workplace/schools: Many times a workplace or school will get numerous newspaper subscriptions. Also, at my old job, I posted a sign in the breakroom that said, “hey, if you’re not going to use your Sunday coupons, please stick them in this box” and I provided a small box. I always got at least 5-6 inserts a week that way. Again, as free candy rolls your way, take it and put it in the break room for your coworkers to say thanks.

Newsstands/stores: Go to your local newsstand or market and see if you can have their leftover inserts on Mondays. Newsstands get a credit for every paper they return on Monday, but they can remove the coupon inserts first. You could offer to buy them at a reduced rate, or do as I do and take them goodies every once in a while. Hint-don’t bother asking at Avon News, theirs are already spoken for. But there is a newsstand at Lantana Square.

Trains & Trading: Once you get more involved in couponing, if you really like to do it, there are coupon trains you can join and you can always trade coupons. Hotcouponworld is a great place to do this. Trading is just what it says, you trade with other couponers; they have coupons you want, you have coupons they want. A train is a pile of coupons that gets mailed around to households and when it gets to your house, you take out what you want and put into it the ones you have that you’re not going to use.

Dumpsters/recycling bins: If you’re really brave and enjoy excitement, you can always go to recycling bins. See a whole discussion, including photos, here.

Internet: There are many online printing sites, see buttons below. Also, if you have a product or brand that you really like, just check the website or do a search. You’d be surprised how many manufacturers are posting coupons online.

Stores: Keep your eyes peeled as you shop for tearpads in stores.

And no, even though I usually get 5-15 inserts each week, I don’t clip every coupon. Like I’ve stated in other posts, the manufacturers and marketers are not original. It’s the same coupons all the time, just on a rotation. After a while, you’ll know which ones you’ll probably use and which ones you won’t. I just keep the leftover inserts in a drawer, so that if a freebie or moneymaker deal comes up, I can go back & clip them if I want. And I can clip multiples for my coupon train when it’s due to arrive. If I had had only 1 insert, it would only be 1 free bottle. But luckily I get multiple inserts, it pays off, especially at diaper deal times.

Lastly–not all inserts are created equal! From my various sources, I end up with inserts from the Philly Inquirer, Daily Local, Wilmington News Journal, Allentown Morning Call and the Lancaster paper. I don’t know what the marketers are thinking, but no two inserts are ever alike. The coupons will be different, or it will be for the same product, but the amounts will be different. Who knows. But if you get one paper yourself on a Sunday and get excited about a particular coupon you see, don’t be surprised if you get your inserts on Monday and it’s different.

 

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