Hey y'all!
Hope this post finds you well.
Today I wanted to share a second post with you about couponing and some calculations as to what you could actually be saving-even without paying for a newspaper subscription!
First, here are some pictures of my haul this week:
According to my calculations, this cost me a grand total of $10.64 (including tax)
All of this was free!
Here's a list of everything I bought on my couponing trips:
2x Travel Size Gold Bond Medicated Foot Powder 1 oz
2x Stride Shaun White Whitemint Gum 14 pack
1x Full Size Comet Stainless Steel Cleaner 17 oz
1x Lanacane First Aid Spreay 3.5 oz
1x Papermate 10-pack Ballpoint Pens (this is a different color of the same pens from my previous post)
1x Glade Expressions Fragrance Mist Starter Kit in Pineapple & Mangosteen
2x Glade Expressions Fragrance Mist Starter Kit in Cotton & Italian Mandarin
1x Glade Expressions Oil Diffuser Starter Kit in Pineapple & Mangosteen
2x Glade Expressions Oil Diffuser Starter Kit in Lavender & Juniper Berry
1x 30 count Up & Up Cotton Rounds
1x 60 count Arctic Naturals Daily Omega-3 Fish Oil
2x 7-count Neutrogena Make-Up Remover Cleansing Towelettes
1x Physician's Formula Youthful Wear Cosmeceutical Youth-Boosting Concealer (full size)
1x Physician's Formula Youthful Wear Cosmeceutical Youth-Boosting Foundation (full size with brush)
1x Up & Up Bathroom Cleaner Deodorizer and Disinfectant 22 oz
1x Method Tub-N-Tile Flushable Cleaning Wipes 28 count
1x Aquafresh Extreme Clean Fluoride Toothpaste Travel Size .8 oz
Not Pictured:
CVS brand 30 SPF sunscreen 2.0 oz
The total value of my purchases: Approximately $108.24 (including tax)
My savings? $97.60, or 90.17%!!
This week I had lots of high-value coupons for various items, as you can see above. I had $5 off of Glade Oil Diffusers, $3 off of Glade Fragrance Mists, and $2 off of Neutrogena Products, just to name a few.
I don't want to bore you with the details of every transaction, but a few strategies that I've used this week to save and get free items are:
1. Stacking Coupons- Stacking coupons is a pretty simple technique. It just means applying both a store coupon (one you will usually get from a newspaper ad or store website with the store logo on it) and a manufacturer's coupon (one directly from the company) to make an item either cheaper or free. A lot of stores like Target will allow you to use one of each type on a single item.
Example: Comet Stainless Steel Cleaner- $1.99. I used a $1 Target Coupon and a $1 Comet Brand coupon making the item free!
2. Rebating- You can frequently find items in stores with "Try Me Free" or similarly phrased tags or stickers on them. With these items, often all you have to do is save a UPC and your original receipt and mail them in to the company. However, always be sure to check for specific rebate instructions before making your purchase or you may end up stuck with the cost! Not all companies have the same policy! You can check for rebates when you're in the store, or search google for a list of current items that are free with rebate.
Example: I'm actually taking advantage of rebates for my three highest-value products this week. Both of the Physician's Formula Items have 'Try Me Free' rebate forms that you can print online, as well as a sticker that must be attached for rebate. The Arctic Naturals Fish Oil also is eligible for a rebate, but you have to pick up a Walgreens in order to redeem it.
3. Catalinas- Catalina is a term for a reward certificate that prints out with your receipt after you make a purchase. A lot of stores use these types of rewards. Rite Aid calls them +Up rewards, Walgreens are Register Rewards, and CVS uses ExtraBucks. You can use these to get "Free" items as well. Sometimes the rewards you receive for purchasing an item are equal to the cost of the item itself, and they're as good as cash if you have other items to purchase from the store.
Example: Lanacane Spray-$7.49. This spray was marked down to $6.00 and I received a $6.00 Register Reward. I then used the Register Reward to purchase another item that I needed, giving me the spray for free.
4. Multiple Purchases: It's important to read the fine print on your coupons. Some say "One coupon per customer" or, which means that you will need to come back to the store at another time, or visit another nearby location to redeem a second coupon. However, another phrase that you won't want to get confused with this first one is "One coupon per purchase". This simply means that you will have to use more than one transaction if you want to redeem multiple coupons and receive multiple discounts/free items. Some stores will allow you to complete this transactions consecutively (you will obviously have to indicate to the cashier the separation of the purchases). Others, however, may require you to get back in line and wait your turn to make each purchase. In my limited experience, this has yet to happen but I have heard stories of others being asked to move to the back of the line, and out of courtesy if a store is particularly busy and you have a lot of purchases, you may not want to hold up the line.
Example: The coupons that I used to make my Glade Expressions Fragrance Mists free were available on a few different sites, so I printed out four copies (I only redeemed three because the scent that I wanted wasn't available, so I'm planning to check again next week since the price is steady and the coupon is good until September) and was able to redeem all three that I used at Walmart in consecutive transactions for three free sprays!
5. Clearance Items- This may seem obvious, but how many times have you walked past clearance endcaps at Target or other stores without giving a glance to the items they contained? While you may not be in immediate need of the items they contain, these can be a great place to stock up on basics like cleaning supplies, hand soap, and other items that you don't want to pay top dollar for. Print store coupons online and see if any of them are compatible with clearance items for a killer deal!
Example: This bathroom cleaner spray, which I found on clearance at Target. Sorry for the blurry image, but the original price of the product was $1.97. The item was on clearance for $0.98, and I used a $0.75 coupon and paid $0.23 before tax. That's less than 12% of the original price for a product that I'll definitely be using once I'm living in and maintaining my apartment!
I hope that these techniques are helpful to you, and I'll do my best to provide you with more info as I myself continue to learn more about couponing. As you can probably tell, right now I'm building up a "stockpile" of items that I'll need to use once I'm out on my own. Once I'm doing more food shopping then I'll include info on saving on edibles. In the meantime, here are some links to sites that I use to help me with my savings:
I use the KCL site almost every day to check up on the newest deals. The ladies who run this site are great at keeping us updated, and they even have a blog section where guests can post when they find freebies and steals of their own.
This is another great site for finding freebies and deals! Make sure to read the fine print, however, or you may end up disappointed. On more than one occasion, I've been excited about a deal only to get to the store and realize that the deal relied on doubling coupons. Doubling is just what it sounds like- stores in some states allow buyers to double the value of certain coupons and score extra saving, however California is not one of those states so not all of the deals apply. Otherwise, this is a great site!
This is a nice, long list of a bunch of items you can buy and receive money back on. Not all of them are 100% of your money back, but even small amounts back are better than nothing! There are also "Satisfaction Guaranteed" rebates if you are interested in trying a new product but don't know whether you'll like it.
Have any of you scored big with coupons lately? Tell me all about your hauls!
God Bless!
-Madeline
Mark 12:31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
TwoTip: A lot of items that are free or close to it are only available at low costs for short amounts of time. If you are able to use your couponing savvy to score bargains, but know you won't use the items, start a second stockpile of items to donate to a local shelter or charity. I don't use the foot powder that I bought this week, so that will be the first item going in mine!
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