Saving With Coupons & Websites

Thirty-One Gifts Cinch-It-Up Thermal Tote Now Available!

January 8, 2012 By Ivette Muller 2 Comments

Just had to share!

Thirty-One posted this commercial video with our new Cinch-It-Up Thermal Tote and it’s adorable!

Regular price is $20 but is on sale for $15 until January 31, 2012. As always, every item in our catalog has 3 prices:

Regular Price
Half Price
FREE!

If you host an in home party or catalog party, you can enjoy our fabulous hostess incentives including getting FREE and half priced merchandise! Stop taking your lunch in a plain brown paper sack – get a Thermal Lunch Tote today!

Written and posted by Ivette Muller, Thirty-One Gifts Independent Consultant. Visit my Thirty-One website at www.MyThirtyOne.com/ivette

Filed Under: Saving with Coupons & Websites Tagged With: Thermal Cinch It Up, Thermal Tote, thirty one gifts, Thirty-One, thirtyone

Couponing and Saving Money Takes A Lot of Prep Work!

December 29, 2011 By Ivette Muller 1 Comment

Whew!

Couponing to save money takes a lot of time and effort. Now I see why those Extreme Couponers spend so much time getting ready for a shopping trip.

For a simple trip to one grocery store it takes me an average of 5 hours to get ready. This includes cutting the coupons, comparing them to the current ad and making a shopping list. Plus, there’s a “difference” in when the ads are posted. So I get the coupons on Sunday and I use last week’s ad that came out last Wednesday to get the deals. This means I really only have 2 days to get the deals from last week, and then a new ad comes out Wednesday and the process starts all over.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s worth it to save some money. But I have found that it really only pays for the stuff I already buy and not just “trying” something because I have a coupon. Getting a coupon organizer has really made a huge difference in staying organized and using coupons quickly. The binder can get big quickly though

Another “trick” I found is that it helps to have a group of friends that also coupon so you can share ideas, strategies, great deals and other coupons. For example, my kids don’t eat baby food anymore, but I have couponing friends with babies. So we “swap” coupons for something we’ll each use. Same thing for pet coupons – we don’t have pets but I still cut them out to trade.

One service I’ve just tried with a group of friends is Coupon Clippers - this is a service where they clip and send you only the coupons you need. This allows you to shop for the brands you already use and you can get multiple coupons of the same kind so you can “stock up”. While most of us can’t handle stock piles of inventory, it would be nice to have 2 or 3 large packages of toilet paper or paper towels on hand. :)

So, how is couponing going for you? Is it easy as you thought it would be or more difficult?

Filed Under: Saving with Coupons & Websites Tagged With: couponing, extreme couponing, make time to save money, saving money

Save 50% on Personalized Products from Pexagon Technology

November 15, 2011 By Ivette Muller Leave a Comment

One of the best ways to create awareness around your business and your brand is with personalized items. As a home based business owner, you can still get items personalized for a very reasonable cost and in low quantities.

This deal from Pexagon Technology is a no-brainer for work at home moms! Save 50% on items with this special offer – $50 worth of products for only $25! This would make a great deal to purchase gifts for clients and referral partners.

Get yours ASAP – they won’t last long!

Filed Under: Saving with Coupons & Websites Tagged With: pexagon technology

Save 60% on a Great Gift: Family Cookbook Project

November 15, 2011 By Ivette Muller Leave a Comment

‘Tis the season for gift giving!

Sometimes the best gifts are those that you make and create yourself. This is a great gift idea and a great deal! You can create and print your own family cookbook for only $39!

But hurry…this is a 60% savings off the $99 regular price and there’s only a few codes left.

What family recipes do you have to share?

Filed Under: Saving with Coupons & Websites Tagged With: family cookbook, holiday gift

Claritin Coupons

October 9, 2011 By Ivette Muller Leave a Comment

It’s no big secret that me and my family suffer from allergies. Really suffer…

Our allergies get so bad that we feel physically ill with scratch throats, runny noses, itchy eyes, etc.

One of the things that really helps my kids is taking a Claritin tablet every day as preventative medicine. But to be honest, having two kids with really bad allergies is expensive. Claritin has worked the best for them, but at about $1 a pill, we spend about $60 a month in preventative medicine for them.

Ouch…

Sometimes there are coupons in the boxes of Claritin that I buy and that has this mama doing a happy dance!

But, I actually found something better which “surfing” at ShopAtHome.com – printable Claritin coupons! Now I can print a coupon out whenever I go to the store! The savings per box really adds up quickly.

So I wanted to share this offer with all of you! Go get your Claritin Coupons NOW!

Filed Under: Saving with Coupons & Websites Tagged With: allergies, Claritin coupons, shop at home

Extreme Couponing Question: Are the Savings Really Real?

September 5, 2011 By Ivette Muller 4 Comments

Since I’ve started couponing, I’ve been doing a lot of research on blogs and watching the Extreme Couponing show on TLC again. The more I watch that show, the more questions I have!

For example, my current question is in regards to the savings the couponers report. In the episode I saw this weekend, the lady had only been couponing for 3 months and had already amassed a stock pile of more than $10,000 worth of merchandise. The show boasted that she had already saved over $8,000.

I’m skeptical…

Now don’t get me wrong, the $8,000 savings is nothing to sneeze at. That is quite an accomplishment!

BUT…are those savings really real? I mean in all reality, did she HAVE the $8,000 to spend on those groceries to begin with? Would she have purchased those items if she didn’t have the coupons?

I don’t think so!

One of the things that really sticks out for me is the fact that these couponers stock pile so much inventory that it takes over their house. But how much do they really need? If they didn’t have the coupons, they certainly wouldn’t have purchased that much. They would have only purchased what they needed.

So I go back to my question of whether or not the $8,000 is really a real savings? Or is it just a way to publicize how they got so much for so little?

I seriously doubt that my savings will be that much (one can only hope) because I’ll still only buy what I need and use the coupons for the items I already buy. I can’t wait to get my coupon organizer! It will make life so much easier. Now that I am really going through the ads and planning out my shopping trip I can see how critical organization is.

This is going to put my organizational skills to the test!

So what do you think about the savings stories? Are these really real?

Filed Under: Saving with Coupons & Websites Tagged With: couponing, extreme couponing, saving money

Day 2 of Couponing: My Self Education

August 30, 2011 By Ivette Muller Leave a Comment

Well my couponing saga continues…

I get the Sunday newspaper every week and I have a recycling area for them. I decided to clean it out and pull all the old coupon inserts. I had newspapers as far back as April 17!

After about 30 minutes of going through all the coupon inserts, I had only a handful of coupons to show for my work. The problem?

They had all expired!

Maybe I hadn’t ever really paid attention to expiration dates, but the coupons that are posted in the newspaper “generally” are only valid for one month. I can totally understand the reasoning behind it though, but I cringed when I saw all the good deals I missed!

I learned something else about the couponing experience – the coupons are basically the same from month to month. Since I had more than 4 months worth of coupons to look at, I really got to see them and compare them. To tell you the truth, the P & G and Red Plum coupon inserts were basically the same. This is good in the sense that I know I can get the same deal next month if I need more shampoo or laundry detergent.

But this mama wants some variety! :)

One other thing I noticed that was very prominent was the coupon restrictions. I think these are a direct result of the extreme couponing craze. Here’s some of the restrictions I noticed:

no doubling or tripling
limit of 4 of the same coupons to be used in one transaction
detailed description of what the coupon covered (and what it didn’t)

I completely understand why the companies and product manufacturers did this. To be honest, I haven’t seen a double coupon promotion locally in more than a year. I remember this vividly because Kmart advertised it and that’s when I stocked up on diapers, wipes and formula!

Do you know of any chain retailers that offer double or triple coupon promotions?

OK, I also promised to share online deals with you all, so here’s my latest one!

Deal Tip:

No More Rack has 8 daily deals delivered right to your mailbox. Shipping and handling is only $2 per item! What a great deal on products and shipping and handling! Sign up now!

Filed Under: Saving with Coupons & Websites

My First Day of Couponing Was Frustrating

August 29, 2011 By Ivette Muller 3 Comments

Well, Sunday was my first “official” day at couponing. I clipped all my coupons and planned my shopping trip for Walgreens.

The really cool thing about the Walgreens ad is that it actually had a little post when there are coupons in the newspaper to save even more. So this shopping trip was a no brainer – or so I thought.

I clipped my coupons and made my shopping list. I was only going to go to Walgreens because I had a delivery close by and I just needed a few things. So I put all my coupons in my purse.

Despite the fact I only needed a few items, I ran into several problems:

Problem #1 – not having a filing system for the coupons. Seriously all the loose coupons were a nightmare. I had to keep going through them to find the item I was looking for. That way I could match up the coupon exactly to the item I was buying. I dropped the coupons twice. I can’t WAIT to get my coupon binder!

Problem #2 - Walgreens was out of stock on a lot of things. Tons of empty shelves, items in several places, items not priced or tagged the way they were supposed to be. Again, major nightmare.

Problem #3 – I really should have done my homework on competitor pricing before I went. Even though I had coupons, a lot of the P & G items were sold at a higher price at Walgreens as compared to Target or Wal-Mart. So I think competitive shopping is key to getting the best deal too.

All in all though, I still saved about $15. Not to bad for a few minutes of coupon clipping! But wow, was it frustrating! I hope my next shopping trip is easier when I get my coupon binder and can organize all my coupons and shopping list!

Quick question though: for those of you who coupon regularly, do you have a filing system or something to keep track of all the coupons? I tried an accordion file and that didn’t work either. But it was certainly better than the mess I had yesterday!! I’m just trying to see if there’s anything else I can use until I get my binder. Somehow, I have a feeling that’s going to be the best solution to managing a bunch of coupons.

Filed Under: Saving with Coupons & Websites Tagged With: couponing, saving money

Watch Out! A New Couponer on the Loose!

August 28, 2011 By Ivette Muller 5 Comments

Watch out everyone, there’s a new couponer on the web…ME!

Now, before you start to roll your eyes, let me explain. :)

I’m not going to be that annoying couponer at the grocery store that takes an hour to check out and has two carts of stuff. No thanks, that kind of extreme couponing is NOT for me. I don’t have the time to wait in line that long and I certainly don’t have the storage space.

I used to clip coupons all the time when I was younger, still living at home and going to college. Every Sunday I would pull out all the coupons I needed and planned my shopping trip. Somehow the more money I made after I graduated college, the less I couponed. Now I hardly ever use coupons at all, when I really should. The only ones I ever really used were for diapers and formula. But both my kids have been on plain milk for more than a year and I only have one in diapers now.

So for the last few weeks, I’ve been going through the newspapers clipping coupons. I only clip coupons for the brands and items I already buy. I’ve been trying to organize them in a plastic folder with tabs, but it hasn’t worked out so well. So I took a big leap and purchased a coupon organizer. It should have already been here, but I haven’t received it yet. The waiting is killing me!

But anyway, I will be sharing the resources and great deals I find. I shop a lot online too so I have some great websites to share.

Some of you might be wondering why I’ve started couponing again. I wish I could tell you it was to lower our grocery bill or save money for a new car or to send the girls to ballet classes.

But I can’t…

The real truth I’m starting couponing again is…I WANT AN iPAD!!!! Well truth be told I haven’t decided on the iPad or another tablet but nonetheless, that’s what I want to save my money for.

So, there it is. My story as a new couponer.

Oh, and my first “deal” I’ll share with you is an online website to save you lots of money.

One of my current favorites is 1SaleADay.com. They have amazing daily specials and every once in a while they have a 24 hour sell off where they post a new deal every 30 minutes. I got about 5 Christmas gifts last week when they had one of these sales. You can save big money, up to 90% off on all sorts of things. They take Paypal too which is great since I use that like a savings account!

Can’t wait to share some of my other shopping (and saving) secrets with you! If you have your own, please post them below. I LOVE to hear about new deals!!!