Couponing 101

I've had so many people ask about my couponing so I thought I would post a few things that I have learned since I started. To get the best discounts you have to combine a coupon with a sale. This requires planning and training (on the husband). I've had to train us both to write on our grocery list when something becomes low, not out. For ex., when Toby opens up the last coffee container it goes on the list. It will keep rolling over each week to a new grocery list if I don't find a good sale. I have a notepad with a magnet on it on the fridge so we can write it down asap when we think of it.

When you find a really good deal and it is something you use, stock up! Harris Teeter triples coupons up to $.99 about every three to four months. You can only use 20 coupons a day and it usually runs 3-4 days. This last time I had coupons for chicken broth. I use it on a weekly basis when I cook meals. The chicken broth was on sale, bogo (buy one get one free) for 1.19. I had a coupon that tripled so I got $1.20 off of 3 ($.40 coupon/3 tripled). At grocery stores if a sale is 2 for $5 you don't have to buy 2. You can buy one for $2.50. Given that, the broth was basically $.60 a can x 3 = $1.80 for 3 cans minus my coupon $1.20 = $.60 for 3 cans of chicken broth. I bought 27 cans that weekend! I made three trips to Harris Teeter that weekend but it was well worth it. That is the only time I shop there. That is also the most planning I ever do for a sale.

I usually shop Kroger and cvs. I only shop HT during triple coupons and then elsewhere just depends on if there is a sale and I see it. I buy the sunday paper the following week. It is $1.75 on sunday but if I wait til Monday it is only $1. I usually buy 2 then. I also look through the coupons quickly before I buy them. That way if there is a really good coupon or set of coupons I can buy more. If it is a bad week then I only buy 1. After awhile you learn what coupons are valuable to you and what are not. That is one thing I can't tell you. It depends on your lifestyle.

Organizing my coupons took awhile to get down. Now I have a binder filled with page dividers and baseball card sleeves. I have them categorized by frozen/refrigerated foods, dry/boxed foods, canned/jar foods, pet stuff, beauty, etc. I also have a spot just for cvs and kroger coupons. When I buy 2 papers I take the like inserts and put each page of the insert together to cut them out. That way I am cutting two coupons at a time. They go into the binder and they are done. It makes it so much easier and faster when you get to the grocery store b/c thumbing through a bunch of coupons is annoying. Plus I found that I would find a good deal when I was at the store but the coupon would be home. This way I have every coupon with me.

We have a Kroger credit card. We budget $420 a month for gas and groc. I put a sticky note with the dates of our budget (ex. Nov. 19-Dec. 16) and the amount ($420) at the top. Each time we make a purchase I subtract it from the total. That way we don't go over our budget. This way we also get $.15 off a gallon of gas from Kroger and we get Kroger coupons in the mail. These are usually coupons for items that you use (they keep track by your card). We also get checks in the mail every few months made out to Kroger. I got mine the other day and we got 4 $5 checks and one $10 check. I will use one of those for the next few visits to knock off a few more dollars. Pay off the credit card each month and you have beat their system!

Cvs has a system called extra care bucks (ECB's). These print at the end of your transaction and are like instant rebates. For example, last weekend for black Friday they had sooo many like a bottle of lotion was $5.69 with $5.69 in ecb. Buy that and then you have $5.69 in ecb. The savings really come when you can combine it with a sale. I bought bic soleil razors. They were on sale for $6 with $6 in ecb. I had a coupon for $3 off. So I spent $6 out of pocket on two (they usually have a limit-this one had 2) and got $12 in ecb back to use towards future purchases. I ended up this weekend with two tubes of toothpaste, a bottle of lotion, 2 bic soleil razors, foundation makeup and powder and paid $6 out of pocket and now I have almost $20 in ecb. It takes awhile to get this system down as well.

Hotcouponworld.com is a great site. It is a forum that people post their best finds,sale ads, etc. It is categorized so if you are looking at a specific store you can find it quick. I get on their cvs part b/c they will post the ads for usually 3-4 weeks out. Oh yeah..cvs also has a monthly ecb booklet. It is monthly deals instead of weekly that all involve ecb. There are usually a few free items each month after ecb. Hotcouponworld doesn't really help me with Kroger. I use it mainly for cvs and Harris Teeter triples. There is a coupon database on there. Sometimes if you need a coupon but don't have one you can look on there and it will give you a list of where people have found coupons for that item. Sometimes they are internet ones you can print out.

Well, that is what I can think of now that will get you started. It takes time in the beginning. I was lucky that I started when I didn't have a job. Now that I have it down it only takes a little bit more time each week.

Good Luck!!

15 things that change when you have a baby

I got this in an email the other day and really liked some of them so I thought I would share it with other parents.

These are 15 things that change when you have a baby

1. You finally stop to smell the roses, because your baby is in your arms.

2. Where you once believed you were fearless, you now find yourself afraid.

3. The sacrifices you thought you made to have a child no longer seem like sacrifices.

4. You respect your body ... finally.

5. You respect your parents and love them in a new way.

6. You find that your baby's pain feels much worse than your own.

7. You believe once again in the things you believed in as a child.

8. You lose touch with the people in your life whom you should have banished years ago.

9. Your heart breaks much more easily.

10. You think of someone else 234,836,178,976 times a day.

11. Every day is a surprise.

12. Bodily functions are no longer repulsive. In fact, they please you. (Hooray for poop!)

13. You look at your baby in the mirror instead of yourself.

14. You become a morning person.

15. Your love becomes limitless, a superhuman power.