Money Saving and Making Ideas - Holiday Shopping Edition

I'm back! I took an unannounced hiatus over the last week to spend time getting things back on track. Sometimes I just take on too much!

I've tried to dedicate Mondays to offering you a way to save money or a way to make money. In honor of the holiday shopping season which officially kicked off this weekend, here are a few ways to save and even earn when shopping:

• Couponing is the number one way I have found to save while shopping. You can often get so many products incredibly cheap or even free by using coupons. Sites like Money Saving Mom and Mommy Snacks offer some of the best advice for saving money on groceries.

• Check out CVS' ExtraCare Rewards Program. Here are some details on the basics. CVS offers "Extra Bucks" on certain products every week in the form of a printed coupon on the bottom of your reciept. It's basically like cash back (to be spent at their store only) with a few stipulations. With the right combination of coupons and using Extra Bucks you can easily take a home a cart full of household items and dig for change in your purse to pay the tab. I haven't paid for toothpaste, shampoo, razors or makeup since I discovered this program!

• For those of you hitting up the Cyber Monday deals, sign up with a company like Ebates or Big Crumbs to save even more. Shopping through these sites can help you earn discounts or rewards. When you find a deal online, log into your account and find the store through the site to purchase and get more bang for your buck.

• MyPoints is another site where you can earn points by doing your online buying through their site. When you sign up with them you'll get regular emails alerting you to different sites and companies that match your interests and ways to earn points. Sometimes it's as simple as registering on their site, which you can use a separate email account for. Even if you never sign up for anything, often just clicking on the website will earn you 5 points. Those can really add up. You redeem the points for gift cards from more than 70 merchants. If you start now, you have plenty of time to score a few gift cards by next Christmas!

• Take advantage of pharmacy gift card offers. Stores like Target, CVS, Walgreens, Kmart and others often have coupons to get a gift card when you fill a new prescription at their pharmacy. If you have one to fill anyway, you might as well get a free gift card for it! Pay attention to ads or look on websites. Most CVS stores will even honor competitors' coupons.

• Finally, as I discuss in this post, reviewers are still being accepted for the Webby Awards. This is not necessarily shopping-related, but it is timely and it's a great opportunity, so I really want everyone to know about it! The first session just ended and there are two more. This is a great way to earn actual cash by reviewing websites in your spare time. Although it is temporary, it offers a nice payday when checks go out early next spring!

Start Couponing Today - part 3

Let's talk about places to get really good coupons. The easiest way to get coupons is to buy multiple copies of your local newspaper on Sunday which typically has a few inserts in it. The first week of the month is typically the best because it also includes the P&G insert. You can get a preview of the coming week's coupons here. I usually get 2-4 papers a week unless it's a really good week. Some weeks I will even get 10 if the coupons are really, really great.

This is my coupon binder:

Other places to get coupons:

• Ebay. You can purchase coupons on Ebay, although you're technically not purchasing the actual coupons. You're paying for a person's time and effort to cut, sort and send you the coupons. If there's a really great coupon out there for an item you want to stockpile, check ebay. You can often get 10 to 20 coupons for less than $2. If you're looking for coupons for the current week's sales, use the Buy It Now feature to be sure you get them in time!


• Online Coupon Sites. Some of the best coupons are found online. You can use the coupons.com widget to the right or you can check out Smartsource.com.


• Company Websites. Check out the websites of your favorite foods or products for printable coupons or sign up for their newsletters. If you e-mail companies about their products, they will often send you coupons in the mail. Check out RedPlum, Right at Home, Pillsbury and P&G Everyday Solutions.


• Vocalpoint. Today in the mail from Vocalpoint I got a Venus razor and five $4 off coupons. That's pretty fantastic! I get nice little packages from them on a weekly basis and they usually include a product or sample or high value coupons - or both! Sign up for this and participate in the surveys or discussions.


• Shopper Card Coupons. You can load coupons directly onto your shopper cards that will come off on top of your manufacturers coupons. Click on the UPromise link on the right and visit Shortcuts and P&G eSaver.

Since I've become a couponer, I'm on the lookout everywhere for coupons. I pull them from the blinkies at Kroger, I check in fliers at the pharmacy and the meat counters and I pay close attention to packaging. Often when the coupon matchups are done for weekly deals, any printables are included there. If I don't have a coupon in hand for a product I have to buy, I Google it. It's hard for me to buy things without a coupon anymore!

Erin from Coupon Cravings on NPR

Did you catch the story on Morning Edition (NPR) about couponing? If you didn't, click here to read or listen to it. It was only a matter of time before it hit the national news, given the times we're in. People are always looking for ways to cut back in their budget and since everyone needs groceries, coupons are a great place to start!

The subject from the story was Erin of Coupon Cravings. It's a great couponing site - be sure to check it out!

Start Couponing Today - part 2

I started to talk the other day about couponing and why you should do it, which you can read here. With grocery prices constantly getting higher, I would have a lot of trouble buying what we need and sticking to a budget shopping the way I used to. It's definitely become a necessity in our house and I'm sure it's getting that way for more and more people.

So I told you to get all these coupons. Now what are you supposed to do with them? Start using them to your advantage. A .50 coupon is good. But when you use it at a store where it doubles and it's worth $1.00 it's, well, twice as good. Combine that with a good sale and you've got the beginnings of a stockpile!

You want to buy items when they are the lowest possible price and then buy lots. I have about a year's worth of Electrasol tabs under my kitchen sink and I paid .75 cents for each box. I probably spent $15 on dishwashing detergent at once, but I won't spend another dime for at least a year. The alternative is that I buy one box on sale (maybe $2.99) and then when it runs out I have to buy another box. And if it's not on sale I'm probably paying $3.69 for the same box that I got for .75 cents combining the sale and the coupon.

Obviously you need to acquire multiple coupons in order to get more than one of each item. You can do this a number of ways. You can buy multiple newspapers or you can purchase individual coupons or entire inserts from sites like eBay or The Coupon Clippers.

So how do I find these deals? Once you've been couponing for a while, you'll have no problem spotting these deals yourself. In the meantime, you can start where I did with the Grocery Game. This is a service you pay for, but you can try it out for four weeks for only $1. You can choose the stores where you normally shop and it will combine all the good deals at that store with the coupon you should use. They will tell you when to buy items to get the best deal.

But here's a secret: you can get the same thing here on Violet's College Fund, on Mommy Snacks, on Money Saving Mom and other places free! Many places go through the deals and do coupon match-ups for you. All you need to do is take a look at the stores where you shop, make a list based on what you need and what the stock up deals for the week are, put your coupons in a little envelope and head to the store!

So your second task is to start learning how to spot the deals and where to find them in the meantime. You can also sit down with your stores' ads for the week, if you're familiar with the coupons that are out there, and easily do this yourself.

I should mention that task 2A is that you must learn your local stores' coupon policies. Find out if they double them, how many they will double and about their policy for BOGO items. For example, if an item is BOGO and you have a BOGO coupon, are both free? Also, if you have a coupon for an item that is BOGO, are you allowed to use the coupon on both items, even if one is technically free? The more you understand how your store handles coupons, the more equipped you are to get the best deals!

Start Couponing Today - part 1

I've always used coupons, sort of. I would clip them and sometimes file them (or leave them in a stack somewhere) and then when I went to the store with my list, I would sometimes buy sale items and if I had a coupon for what I wanted to buy, then I would use it. Yeah, that's not really the right way to do it! ;)

When you're couponing the right way, it's slightly more time consuming. It requires planning. But boy does it pay off. So this post is to help those of you who do what I used to do learn how do make it worth your while.

The first thing you need to do is get some coupons. The easiest way to aquire them is by buying your local Sunday paper. If you buy more than one copy, then you can get double the coupons. I often do this and recycle the paper, of course. Our local paper is always .99 at some chain and it changes monthly. I always get it when I only have to pay .99 instead of the usual $1.50. Our dollar store sells it too, so if nothing else maybe you have that in your area as well.

Another place to acquire (some of the best) coupons is online. To the right of my page is a Coupons.com widget where you can get some really great coupons by printing them out. Check your favorite company's websites for printable coupons. When I post deals, I'll give you a link to find the coupon online if it's available. Sign up on Hot Coupon World to find some good coupons and take advantage of their coupon database, which will tell you where to find any coupon in circulation.

Meijer Mealbox is Meijer's offering of store coupons online, which you can use in combination with manufacturer coupons. Check there before heading to Meijer because they often include Meijer brand products, national brands and coupons for items you usually don't find coupons for, like produce and meat. (Click on the "Specials" tab on the widget to see available coupons.) One caveat with these is that you can only use one of each coupon per transaction.

Did you know that you can load coupons right to your Kroger Plus card that you can use in addition to your manufacturer coupons? P&G makes their coupons available periodically, as does Shortcuts and Upromise. Check my link to the left to sign up for Upromise and you can even link up your CVS card to not only get coupons, but start earning rewards.

If you haven't registered your shopper cards online, you should definitely do so! Set up an e-mail that you use exclusively for coupons so you can have them sent straight to your inbox. Companies will often mail their most valuable coupons to loyal customers, so if they don't have your address, you're missing out.

So your first task is to acquire some coupons. And you don't even have to worry about cutting them right now. Just keep the Sunday inserts intact. We'll get to the whole organization thing later. But for now start paying attention. I have coupon radar. Look for the blinky machines in the grocery store or any flyers or tear pads when you're out. There are some valuable coupons to be had just lying around out there!

Are most people couponers?

Andrea, from Mommy Snacks - one of my favorites! - participated in a guest post today from Keeping the Kingdom First, which is another great blog. They're talking about couponing statistics.

What do you think? I know when I go to the grocery store, it's rare that I see other people using coupons at the checkout. Sometimes if someone in line with me has an item I have a coupon for, I'll share one with them. During the "electricity extravaganza" last week (or fiasco, as my mom would probably say), I gave a man at Biggs' $6 worth of Energizer battery coupons. He didn't have any and that's typically what I see in the store.

Taylortown Preview

The Taylortown Preview is up for the week. This is a site that shows the coupon inserts that are going to be in the upcoming paper each week. We don't always get all of them, but it's usually pretty accurate.

The key to couponing is to actually have coupons, so aside from internet printables and other sources, the Sunday paper is a great place to start. You can check out Coupons.com on the right of my page for lots of great printables.

I use this preview to determine how many newspapers to buy. I'm not seeing anything too exciting this week, so I will probably just buy one or two papers. If there's just a coupon or two in a given week that really looks good, I can always buy them on ebay.

Buying coupons outright is not a legal practice, per the wording on the coupons, but many sellers put their coupons on ebay and what you're actually paying for is the time and effort for them to get the coupons and send them to you. It can often be worth it. The most recent coupons I bought were 20 .50/1 Cottonnelle coupons for $1.49. Since Kroger has 4-packs at .99 for their everyday price, I got 20 free 4-packs for the $1.49 I paid for the coupons! I'd say that's a good deal!

Why I Became a Couponer

I never thought my husband would brag to people about how much money I save, but I guess I can't complain about the compliments! I have learned the art of a good deal. I used to despise going to the grocery store. It took so long, I spent so much money and I never felt like I had what I needed once I got home. Occasionally I would use coupons, but here's how I would do it - I would go to the grocery store, locate an item on my list and see if I had a coupon for it. Saving .50 cents here and there didn't seem like much - especially for the time and hassle of clipping coupons!

Then I discovered how real couponers use coupons. It's not about what's on your list. It's about what's on sale. If I take that same .50 cent coupon and take it to a store that doubles coupons (Meijer and Kroger in my area) then that .50 cent coupon is now a $1 coupon. If I wait for a sale, then the deal is even sweeter. Often stores have 10/$10 sales. If I have a .50 coupon (doubled to $1) then those items are free! That's a pretty sweet deal, right?

The key is stockpiling. I might not need the item right now, but I will need it. So why not buy 6 months' worth now for pennies instead of paying full price if I wait until I run out? Recently there was a really good Electrasol coupon for $2.25 off. Stores have been running the Electrasol tabs on sale for $3. That's .75 cents for an item that is normally close to $4.00! I bought about 20. So now the next time I empty a box of dishwashing detergent I don't have to go to the store and spend $4.00 on another box. For the next year, I will use my stockpile of detergent that I bought for less than a quarter of that price per box!

Do I have your interest? Everyone can use some grocery savings, right? It's not hard. And I'll make it even easier with more information to follow.