NBR: coupons and money saving tips

Read247 · March 2014

Alright couponers. Have you ever walked into a store with a wallet full of coupons and walked out with a cart full of groceries? Have any good tip for people just starting out? Websites you like or places that have the best deals? How do you save money? Share your tips here!!

I use couponmom.com. it basically does all the work for you. It tells you where to find the coupons, what the sale prices are at your favorite stores and what percentage you save.

Ashes92813 · March 2014

Oh me too! Especially for diapers, wipes, baby stuff, etc. There was a money saving thread a few weeks ago but I really didn't it find it all that helpful.

colllydon · March 2014

I have nothing to add but I am looking forward to the answers!

Unknown · March 2014

This content has been removed.

Read247 · March 2014

shiggybop said:

I'm a lazy couponer. I love cartwheel for target combined with my red card. Also something that a lot of my friends didnt know is that many grocery stores have apps where you can put electronic coupons on your loyalty card so you don't have to clip them.

Yes! I forgot about that!! Kroger is the cheapest grocery store in my area. You can load coupons directly on to your card AND they send you an email every Friday for a free item. Also, on weekends you earn double fuel points when you shop. I got $0.20 cents off per gallon last time I fueled up.

kbellizio3 · March 2014

Check out coupons.com too if you don't get a paper all the time, i feel like there's always pampers coupons. Last night I went to Big Lots and got a 160 pack of Pampers Swaddlers for 20 bucks. Its a hit or miss store so I'd recommend to check often because I was at the mercy of what sizes they had.

Shineoncrazy · March 2014

Another lazy couponer here. I get it from my Mom, a CPA who loves to track expenses down to the dollar. I keep the retailmenot app on my phone and cross reference when I'm clothes shopping, etc.

I also cut coupons most weeks, and I love the coupons Target has on their website. There are usually at least 5-8 coupons for things we use regularly like cat litter; some of them are actually target coupons so you can "stack" them with manufacturers coupons. I could usually save between 20-30% off my normal grocery budget, especially when I reviewed my coupons in advance and adjusted our meal plan to include stuff we could save on.

I hold back diaper, etc. coupons until they go on sale. Target seems to put it's Pampers Swaddlers on sale periodically; right now two boxes are $24.99 each + $10 Target gift card promo - $2 coupon found online makes them $18.99 each.

This has been incredibly hard to maintain now that I'm eating almost full organic, so I'm still looking for ways to save, if anyone has them.

PinkKEL9 · March 2014

I'm not an extreme couponer by any means, but I am a pretty avid couponer. I get my coupons from the newspaper and coupons.com. I like to follow freestufffinder.com. She is always posting deals.

I like to coupon at drugstores like Walgreens and CVS because they have great deals that you can stack coupons on and save more than you would at Walmart or Target on normal everyday things. CVS especially has their own coupons called Extra Care Bucks. When you buy certain items (marked in the sales ad) they will print out "bucks" on your receipt that you can use as "free money" on your next purchase.

For instance, this week at CVS they have Crest Sensi-Reflief toothpaste for $4.99. If you buy it, you receive $3 ECB's back on your next purchase. There is also a $1 coupon in todays paper for that toothpaste. So you buy the toothpaste and pay $3.99 when you use the $1 coupon and get $3 back. Essentially you have just paid 99 cents for the toothpaste. I always try to "roll" my bucks on my next purchase and get more bucks back so I am never paying much out of my pocket. (Hopefully this makes sense.)

I have a small stockpile of shampoo, deodorant, razors, toothpaste, etc that I buy when I find a good deal. I never pay more than a dollar or two for all of these items. Sometimes they are completely free.

It takes some time to plan it out but a lot of couponing websites will plan it all out for you and tell you what to buy and what coupon to use to get the best deal. To me, its worth it. I LOVE saving money, especially on stuff I am going to have to buy anyways.

chickpea912 · March 2014

I agree with PPs about some of the great blogs out there - I don't even remember which ones I follow, but I have 3 or 4 through which I cover most of my good deals.

I am also a huge proponent of sites like Swagbucks and ebates and others to get free gift cards and earn back on purchases I'm making anyway. For example, Swagbucks lets you print out coupons dot com coupons and you earn swagbucks for them, which turns into free Amazon gift card. So far, I've earned over $740 in FREE Amazon gift cards by doing searches through Swagbucks, used coupons, etc. I've earned $400 back from ebates for purchases I would have made online anyway. If anyone wants more info on those, let me know and I can post more (otherwise I don't want to be all AWy)

In addition to apps like Target's cartwheel app (and make sure you check your weekly newspaper coupon inserts or online coupon sites b/c you can use a manufacturer's coupon with a Target specific coupon from the Target website - and then use Cartwheel discounts on TOP of that), I like Ibotta (get $$ back on purchases at certain stores and restaurants), Checkout 51 (same idea), Sidekick (you earn points for walking into stores plus scanning some items plus purchases), and Saving Star (earn money back on certain products).

Again, let me know if anyone wants to know more. I love free money and gift cards.

Read247 · March 2014

@chickpea912 - yes! Please tell me more

chickpea912 · March 2014

@read247 Anything in particular? Or should I just ramble incessantly?

chickpea912 · March 2014

Okay, kidding aside - I'll devote this post to Swagbucks and ebates - I think they were the only ones that require explanation. Disclaimer - I'm including my referral links in here - feel free to use them, or not, just figured I'd add them.

Swagbucks - https://www.swagbucks.com/refer/chickpea912

Swagbucks is a pretty comprehensive site, and I think their basic deal is they sell information to companies about what people do online, and they give the people who use the site a kickback. But that's just my guess.

So, the point of Swagbucks dot come is to earn... swagbucks. If you earn enough Swagbucks you can redeem them for a number of things - my favorite are gift cards - Amazon to be specific, as it is the best return on your SB (swagbuck) - but you can enter raffles, contests, get products, etc.

You earn SBs a number of ways - you can use their search engine and occasionally you earn SBs for doing searches - so for me, anytime I go to Yahoo mail, my work website, whatever - even if I know the website address - I "search" for it, just in case I"ll earn SBs.

I also print out coupons from them - the coupons you can print are coupons dot com coupons, and you earn 20SBs for each coupon you redeem... so on top of the value of the coupon you get, you get SBs for it too

You can also earn Swabucks from doing surveys or shopping online.

So far I've gotten more than $740 in free Amazon gift cards from Swagbucks.

----------------------

Speaking of shopping online..... Ebates -
https://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=4GmtQnq0hrjA7GIHVInTqA==

Some sites out there get referral $$ for getting you to go to a website, so if you go to Gap, Gap gives a kickback to the website that directed you there. So ebates (and SBs) gives a portion of their kickback back to you. So, if I'm going to do online shopping (which I do a good amount of - even for my work), I always go to Ebates (or SBs, who now gives SBs for shopping) to see if they participate with that website and what percentage of my purchase I will get back. Since Swagbucks started doing it, I just go to whomever gives me the most money back - I'm going to shop online anyway, so why not get some of my dough back as well?

Ebates pays out on a quarterly basis, so it isn't an immediate payback, and sometimes they aren't huge amounts, but it all adds up. I recently had a $100+ kickback for shit I was already buying online, and I've earned over $400 back so far.

--------

Feel free to ask any questions - I actually just remembered that I have enough SBs to go "order" two free $5 Amazon gift cards... off I go

Read247 · March 2014

chickpea912 said:

@read247 Anything in particular? Or should I just ramble incessantly?

Feel free to ramble

I love amazon. I buy all my books there. I would like to know more about getting free GCs from there, unless that's all there is to it.

ETA: we must have been posting at the same time.

chickpea912 · March 2014

Alright, my order for free gift cards is submitted. I"m back for further questions

Read247 · March 2014

Looks like March14 has a thread like this if anyone wants to peek at their savings:

https://forums.thebump.com/discussion/12276643/coupon-divas-check-in

Ekg688 · March 2014

We have a buybuybaby and they send out coupons via email, text, and mailers. Also they're owned by bed bath and beyond so you can use their coupons there as well. They also accept competitors coupons and deals. So I use babies r us coupons there all the time. Also check out diapers.com. They have really good sales and super fast shipping!

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