8 Ways To Save Money On Your Thanksgiving Meal!

What comes to your mind when you think of Thanksgiving?
Pumpkin pie, sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce, dressing/stuffing, gravy, and of course, turkey!

For me, my kids come to mind. They are grown and on their own, but, they each have very definite favorite foods they want me to prepare. It’s funny that each likes a different pie, too! We have 4 kids, 1 girl and 3 boys. Our oldest is our daughter and she likes Pecan pie, the next 2 sons like Chocolate pie – my Mom’s recipe, and the youngest son likes Lemon Pie – Hubby’s Mom’s recipe!

In our house lunch is served pretty close to noon so that, by 2 we are done eating and can watch the Cowboy game and at halftime we eat pie! Hubby and I eat Keto so we make sugar-free pies and our daughter makes sugar-filled pies for the boys and her

Planning a Thanksgiving dinner takes time and coordination. It’s a time when families come together from near and far and enjoy each other. It’s a day to eat all your family’s favorites, but, it comes with a price, especially if you host Thanksgiving dinner at your house.

But, did you know that you can spend less than you think for your Thanksgiving dinner?

If you are hosting this year’s Thanksgiving dinner, you don’t need to agonize over the cost! To help keep you from having a panic attack before the turkey’s in the oven, here are 8 ways to save money when hosting a Thanksgiving dinner.

Serve What Your Family Likes

You don’t need to serve an entire King’s table feast, with every thing you can imagine on it. There are certain foods on the table that many people may skip over or eat just to be polite.

I remember one year my daughter wanted to make fish… the boys almost revolted! lol She was disappointed, but, they did let her make a few new things. But, we know what everyone at the table enjoys and that’s what we make. I don’t try new things because they look forward to the old favorites each year.

If no one likes your new creamed artichokes recipe (I just made that up…), why spend money and time away from the family preparing it?

If the green bean salad was nearly untouched last year, it might be the perfect time to remove it from the menu.

Always remember: Thanksgiving is all about giving thanks, spending time with our families, and good, simple home cooked comfort food. You don’t need try out new gourmet recipes to please your family and guests. If they love store-bought gravy, why bother making a fancier version, which is not only expensive, it takes a lot of time away from spending time with your family and them getting to spend time with you?

Serve Seasonal Food

Serving food made from ingredients that are in season is cheaper and fresher.

Who wouldn’t enjoy their turkey with fresh mashed potatoes or butternut squash? Yum!

Plus, if you like to garden, you can save even more by growing the ingredients in your own backyard!

Check Out This Article: How To Grow An Herb Garden! Growing Fresh Herbs For Your Family Is Simple & Healthy!

Plan Ahead For Left Overs

Don’t let the leftovers go to waste either. Re-purpose them in the next few days.

Create a plan ahead of time. Think about what recipes you can create that you and your family can enjoy for the whole week. Such as:

Ask For Help

Just because you’re the host it doesn’t mean you have to do it all.

Mix it up! Have your guests bring a dish to contribute. You might find a new favorite recipe when your guests bring a side dish, an appetizer, a dessert, or a drink.

Coordinate with everyone to make sure you don’t have 12 desserts and a turkey 🙂

Make The Most Of Apps And Coupons

When you go shopping for the ingredients, always use money saving apps such as Ibotta.

Always make sure you have your store’s rewards card when grocery shopping. Also choose to shop at places that give you the best deals and offer extra savings. The Target RED Card gives up to 5% savings on all purchases!

Don’t forget to stay alert for deals and FREEbies from us before you head out to shop!

Check Out This Article: 16 Best Ways To Save Money On Groceries!

Create Inexpensive Sides

To have your frugal Thanksgiving dinner, serving vegetables and casseroles is a must.

These sides are not only inexpensive, but they are also filling, too!

When you buy your ingredients, always check the frozen aisle for the cost per unit before you leave the store. Frozen goods like corn, green beans, mixed vegetables, and fruits are less expensive compared with the fresh ones.

Use Smaller Plates And Bowls

On Thanksgiving, the turkey is not the only thing that gets stuffed: People do too!

Most of the time people’s eyes are much bigger than their stomach (remember when your Mom told you that?). What happens is you end up with uneaten food because people couldn’t eat as much as they thought (or wanted to).

This can lead to a lot of wasted food.

To avoid this, choose small dinner plates and bowls. These can help in curbing your guest’s tendency to overindulge.

Lighten Up On The Beverages

Stop playing bartender! You don’t need to open up a whole bar and stock up with expensive drinks.

You only need a few bottles of wine and one or two signature drinks that the guests can choose from.

Make your signature drinks (like sangria or punch) in bulk. Guests can serve themselves from the pitcher. A mixed drink or fancy cocktail can make your guests feel more special.

A Thanksgiving dinner does not need to be expensive. Don’t force yourself to serve an expensive or traditional dish if no one really likes it.

Instead, serve food that you are 101% sure that your family and friends will like. To celebrate the season of giving, ask everyone to bring their favorite dish!

Enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner!

What tips do you have a to make a more frugal yet festive holiday?

Pantry Perks: Earn Cash Back On Shopping And More!

by Dian Leave a Comment

Pantry Perks: Earn Cash Back On Shopping And More!

I told you last week we’re were going to start looking at all of the new and not so new apps and savings programs that are out there in our Grocery Savings Made Easy series.

Today I want to start with Pantry Perks. They contacted me last month and asked if I would try their service. They sent me a gift card to give them a try and I was happy with their service. They had special deals, they had products that I buy, they deliver straight to my door – which is always nice, and the whole process was seamless. They offer cash back and a referral bonus for sharing with your family and friends!

Here’s what they’d like you to know:

PantryPerks is a site that just launched and sells all of the grocery, wellness and household essentials you can find in high-end natural / organic stores. But, here’s the exciting part. When you shop on PantryPerks, you get 7% cash-back each time you purchase more than $60 worth of goods (before shipping and taxes.)

But wait! There’s more!

Every time one of your friends shops on PantryPerks you get 6% back, and when their friends shop you get 5% back.

And that’s still not all! Because PantryPerks believes in spreading goodness, each time there is a transaction on their site, they also give away 1% to the charity of your choice.

So, to recap. PantryPerks sells great products. Shoppers earn cash. Friends of shoppers earn cash. Shoppers earn more cash. And the goodness spreads. Basically, it’s the new way to shop that makes you feel good about being eco-conscious all while staying wallet-smart.

Start by registering here <— for FREE!

Then, enjoy shopping! You’ll find a wide range of the same grocery, wellness and household essentials you can find in high-end natural / organic stores. Many items are sold in bulk; click on each item to see how many would be included in your order.

When you view your shopping cart page, you’ll be prompted to select a charity to which you wish to donate the 1% of your purchase amount.

Once you’ve checked out, pop over to your myperks-dashboard to find your personal referral link. Use that to invite your friends and family members to come shop at PantryPerks. When you purchase $60 or more in a calendar month, you are eligible to earn cashbacks of 7% on your purchases, 6% on purchases made by people you refer, and 5% on friends of friends, for that month and every month you spend $60 on PantryPerks.

Remember, every time someone signs up for PantryPerks and shops using your referral code, you’ll receive a $5 bonus. The more you share your referral link, the more money you stand to make!

There you have it in their own words – sounds great, huh? It’s a great way to earn cash back on your own shopping and earn even more by inviting your friends and family!

Right now you can get

Mrs. Meyer’s Foaming Hand Soap, 10oz – pack of 6 for just $18.99!

At Amazon the same is $23.18!

There is a $4.99 flat shipping rate for your entire order.

Grocery Savings Made Easy!

by Dian Leave a Comment

Grocery Savings Made Easy! How To Coupon Shop & Save Easier Than Ever Before!

When I first started couponing what was mostly available were newspaper coupons, grocery coupons in magazines, free coupons for groceries in the mail, that kind of thing for us to save on groceries.

But, as things progressed, as they normally do, we started getting into printable coupons. However, printable coupons posed a problem in that everyone then needed a printer and not everybody had one. Not everyone could afford enough ink to be printing that many coupons, they often didn’t work well, sometimes you went to print and it just glitched and actually said that you’d already printed. Also, in the beginning MANY stores refused printable coupons, so you’d waste ink and paper and leave without your deal and be frustrated.

There were all these issues with printable coupons, plus, for me, I didn’t care for them. I could get 10 newspapers for a dollar each and have 10 coupons and be able to use them all and stock up, so, I liked that much better than only being able to print two coupons per device. So, printable coupons have never been a favorite of mine.

In the last few years we’ve seen a growth in apps which are much easier. Most everyone had access to a smartphone and they’re just easier to use. All you have to do is just scan the receipt once you’re done shopping and it does the rest and gives you your money back, so, you didn’t have to print a coupon, you didn’t have to buy newspapers, you didn’t have to sort coupons from the newspaper and all that jazz. Apps are making it much easier to shop and save at the grocery store. With sales and coupons, plus apps you can still Grocery Shop For FREE!

What I want to do in the coming weeks is help us get organized and make the most out of our money. I want to dive into all of the different ways that don’t require a printer and don’t require you buy a newspaper, but, will still allow you to get deep discounts when you do your grocery shopping.

Stacking is going to be a big deal, that’s where you use rebates (from apps) on top of sales and digital, newspaper, or printable coupons all together to get the best deal possible. A lot of the stores have digital coupons that you can download onto your phone, again for me they’re not as good as newspaper coupons because with digital coupons you can usually only use them one time, you can’t even get two like you can when you print them. But, that’s just my personal preference. A lot of people would prefer using printable coupons over newspaper coupons, so, it’s just up to you and what you prefer to use.

We’re going to learn all about how to use all the apps and the programs that are out there now to save as much money as we can every time we go to the store.

When I first started the big deal was making sure you found a sale and then you applied a coupon(s) to that sale and got as many as you could get to get you through the next time that item went on sale. That still holds true even if you use rebates, printable online coupons, digital coupons. newspaper coupons it still holds true no matter what you use, you still want to find a sale and add a rebate, printable grocery coupons, a digital coupon, a newspaper coupon, whatever you can to it and then get as many as it takes you to get to the next sale so that you’re never paying full price for the things that you use on a regular basis in your home. We call that stockpiling.

Stockpiling has definitely gotten a bad name over the years. When I say stockpiling I am not talking about taking up your kid’s closets, or an entire shower (both of which I have seen on that extreme couponing show). What I mean when I say stockpiling is knowing what the best price is for a specific product (your buy price), knowing how often that item hits that price in it’s sales cycle – say 6-8 weeks, buying enough of that item at the best price with coupons and apps to last you until it goes on sale again. If that’s 8 cans of tune or 24 cans of tuna, then buy that many – you don’t need 411 – surely… so just what you need to get you through. The point is to never buy at the higher price, to not run out and have to go to the store and buy something at a higher price than you know you should because you ran out. In stockpiling you’re always just replenishing your supplies, not HAVING to purchase because you’re out.

We’ll talk about how to know your “buy price” for things and we’ll talk about sales cycles and knowing when to stock up on seasonal items. We do have some resources available for you to purchase that can help you get going here <—.

Let’s start here, are there any store policies, apps, or extras that confuse you or you’d like to learn more about? Let me know in the comments and I’ll be sure to cover them in the weeks ahead. Here are some we’ve already covered and will be expanding on:

Walmart Savings Catcher

Target Cartwheel

Target Red Card

Mobile Apps

Apps That Make You Money!

by Dian 3 Comments

Apps That Make You Money!

Did you know your phone can do more than text and take pictures? It can actually make you money! It is super easy to make money with your cell phone or mobile device?

There are SO many apps that make you money and that are designed to save you money, too. All you have to do is download and use them.

These are the best money saving apps I have used. I have several I use weekly, you can download them and have them making you money in no time!

Let’s look at some of the ones I would suggest getting started with now, and before you know it you’ll be on your way to making money with your phone.

To try any of the apps I explain below, just click on the app name and it will take you to where you can get it on your mobile device.

Make sure you read each app’s FAQ’s carefully, you’ll want to make sure you understand how to use them correctly so you don’t lose out on any money.

Many of them help you make money back on your shopping. Just shop as you normally would and when you are putting your items away at home you’ll scan your receipt and maybe a barcode or two, wait for your purchases to be verified, and watch the money start rolling in. Some of the apps pay immediately and some require you to accumulate $5 or $10 before they pay.

You can also use many of the apps on the same purchases and the same receipt so if two or three of the apps have an offer on the same item you can usually redeem all of them and make even more money.

Don’t go shopping again before you check out these apps that make you money:

Save & Earn Money

Ibotta

I LOVE this one for saving & earning money! You can get money back on purchases at tons of grocery stores! You just download ibotta on your mobile device and choose the saving offers you want and then after you purchase them, just take a picture of your receipt and they deposit the money in your ibotta account! You can cash out once you get $20 in your account. You can get your money in Paypal or donate to any school in the U.S. or to the United Way!

Checkout 51
Checkout 51 can be used with Ibotta and Shopmium, too! I love that they can all be used together and sometimes you can double or triple your savings that way! With this one you get cash back from products you purchase at grocery or drug stores! Just download it on your mobile device, choose the offers you want and once you purchase them, you take a picture and upload it to get your money deposited in your account, once your account balance reaches $20, you can cash out and they will mail you a check!

Receipt Pal

I love this one, all you have to do is scan your receipts and it gives you points toward gift cards. It will allow any receipt for anything. You can even connect it to your email and it will give you credit for any receipts you receive in your email. There is a waiting list for this one.

Savings Catcher

This one does all of the ad matching so you don’t have to at Walmart. It matches your receipt to all of your local stores and then gives you back the difference if they find it for less somewhere else! You can transfer your money to an egift card to be used in store or online at Walmart!

SavingStar

You can purchase products they have offers for and you get the coupon amount given back to you in your account. This is another one you can use to save up your earnings for anytime of year!

Receipt Hog
Just take pictures of your grocery receipts, and Receipt Hog will pay you. It’s that simple. And if you submit receipts regularly, you can earn spins at the “Hog Slots” slot machine, where you can win more money or even have your entire shopping trip paid for! It’s fun, easy, and FREE

Plus, if you use this referral code, we’ll both get extra spins at the Hog Slots when you submit your first receipt: fript141

Berry Cart
This one is for all your healthy food! It is a cash-back mobile rebate app that gives you money back when you buy healthy foods that are organic, gluten-free, non-GMO, etc.

Shooger

This one I use all the time – it has coupons for me wherever I go! I can look at it before we choose a restaurant and find a great coupon or for entertainment or even discounts at retail stores! I love it!

Valpak Local Coupons

This one you all know – you get those blue packets of coupons and local offers in the mail. Well, now you can get and search for those local offers and more with this app!

Favado

This one is great for making your lists! You can check out your local stores matchups and make your list on your mobile device and then email it to yourself to print the coupons! You can also search for the best price on any items at your local stores. I love that feature, so when i need something like Milk – I can search for the best deal on milk and then ad match that price at Walmart! How easy is that?!

Gas Buddy

We NEVER travel without using Gas Buddy to plan our trip. We have driven to NYC, Florida, San Diego, Colorado, and many other places and we use Gas Buddy every time. All you do is tell Gas Buddy where you’re going, what kind of vehicle you’ll be driving and it will estimate how much gas money you need to set aside to make the trip! PLUS, it will plot your course and tell you where and when to get gas to save the most on your trip. It might even have you stop and get 5 gallons of gas just to get to the next best place to buy more. It’s really one of the best apps for travel I have ever seen.

Earn Money

Qriket

You can earn money with your phone by playing a spinning game! That’s it, just spin the wheel and earn anywhere from $0.05 per spin all the way to $10! You get FREE spins to us, but, if you run out all you have to do is watch ads to gain more spins. They let you cash out to Paypal once you reach $25. They also hold live events where you can earn cash and prizes, too, Follow them on social media to get FREE spins every day, too. You can also earn cash when your friends and family sign up withy our referral code. You can use my referral code to get started: EQ5J1A

Rewardable

This one pays you for online tasks or tasks in brick and mortar stores. They might ask you to go to a specific local store and take pictures of a specific display so they can make sure it looks right and is stocked well. They pay you for doing these tasks and you can add your Paypal account to receive your payouts. Right now when you use promo code: MAY1117 you’ll get a $0.50 bonus on your first task.

Gigwalk

This one is like Rewardable except all of the tasks are offline. They will ask you to go to a store and take pictures of a display or check something for them. The directions and clear and laid out very well. The pay is higher for tasks with this one, too. Again you cash out with your Paypal account.

Make a few bucks for that movie opening this weekend, or make an extra paycheck: it’s up to you. Gigwalk is changing the future of work by enabling people to find jobs in their area whenever and wherever it is most convenient to them. To become a Gigwalker, simply download the app! Gigwalkers can immediately begin accepting Gigs from leading organizations and get paid for the jobs they complete.

Google Opinions Rewards

I love using this one, the surveys take seconds and they pay you with Google Play credits to take them.

Answer quick surveys and earn Google Play credit with Google Opinion Rewards, an app created by the Google Surveys team.

Getting started is easy. Download the app and answer basic questions about yourself. We’ll then send you surveys around once a week, although it may be more or less frequent. You’ll get a notification on your phone when a short and relevant survey is ready for you, and can receive up to $1.00 in Play credit for completing it. Questions can range from, “Which logo is best?” and “Which promotion is most compelling?” to “When do you plan on traveling next?”

Helpful Apps

Cardstar

This one allows you to put all of your store rewards cards in it and you can just pull up the barcode for your cards on your phone and the cashier can scan it.
It also works for library cards, your gym, even places like Famous Footwear. It has most of the popular stores already listed and you just scan your cards with a barcode scanner (see below)!

Whether you’re at the grocery store, making your travel plans online, or visiting your local gym, don’t get caught without your membership cards again.

Lighten your load and get rid of all that plastic baggage — scan your cards from your smartphone device with CardStar!

Barcode Scanner

This is handy! First of all you can use it to scan in all your cards for the app above. You can scan products in the store and get more info on them and even pricing at other stores! A lot of places now have QR codes which are black and white squares with a lot of small boxes in them that a barcode scanner can read and automatically take you to a specific websites embedded in the QR code!

If you’re looking for ways to save money or earn a little extra cash along the way, these apps are definitely must have!

What are your favorite apps?

Is The Store Policy Really Up To The Manager’s Discretion?

by Dian 6 Comments

I hear people say all the time – well, the manager can do what they want at my store because the policy says it’s up to the manager’s discretion.

I hear this a lot about Walmart.

The policy is the policy – it’s not a guideline for the manager to make their own policy. It’s there for them to follow, where the discretion part comes in is if there is a decision that needs to be made on a particular transaction that is not included in the policy – the final say on that belongs to the manager. The entire policy is there for you and the manager to follow – not for the manager to change for their store or on a whim. So, when I hear a cashier or manager say “Our store does….” and it doesn’t line up with the policy, I show them the policy. I cannot remember a time when I have done that the cashier or manager hasn’t ended up saying :Well, I’ll do it THIS time.” Ok, in my head NOT OUT LOUD, I say “You’ll do it every time, cause it’s the policy…”

Is The Store Policy Really Up To The Manager’s Discretion?

By the way – none of the 3 Walmart policies (coupon policy, ad match guarantee, or online price match policy) says that decisions are up to the manager’s discretion. One of them may have said that at one time, but, none of them say that right now.

I want to say this again it’s very important that you know your store’s policy. Read it, print it out, bookmark it on your mobile device. They can and will change and they won’t email you, or call you, or notify you in any way. One day you’ll be standing at the register ready to checkout and you will find out thaey have made a change to the policy that will wreck your whole trip. Be smart, check to see if there are any changes before heading out, always, always, always have a current copy for you to refer to and even show store employees, if necessary.

For instance, Kroger went many years without a printed corporate coupon policy, but, now their policy is online and states right at the beginning what store management can do:

Store Management has the right to accept, decline or limit the use of ANY coupon(s). Store Management has the right to limit the quantity of coupons and/or items purchased in a single transaction, by a single Customer, or in a single day.
Kroger Coupon Policy

The policy does not state anything about the rest of the policy being left up to the store’s discretion, it plainly states what they can do.

So, next time you hear that phrase, check your store policy (which by the way you should have in your hand either printed or bookmarked on your mobile device EVERY TIME you go into a store) and see if there is any part of the policy that is up to the discretion of store management.

BOGO Chart: How To Use BOGO Coupons With BOGO Sales!

by Dian 3 Comments

BOGO Chart: How To Use BOGO Coupons With BOGO Sales!

I am often asked about a BOGO Chart. This chart will help you determine when you find a sale and a coupon that are Buy One Get One FREE or more how to use them together to get the best deal.

To use the chart all you need to do is find the coupon you have in the left column and the sale you have in the top row and follow them to where they meet. For example: If you have a Buy 1 Get 2 coupon and there’s a Buy 2 Get 2 Sale you want to use it on, go to the Buy 1 Get 2 coupon in the left column and and find the Buy 2 Get 2 Sale on the top row and find where they meet on the chart – which is Buy 12 use 4 coupons an get all FREE

I want to caution you that ALL of this is based on your store’s policy. I have always told you, you have to know your store’s coupon policy so that you know you are right when you hit that cash register. You don’t want to get up there and be wrong and confuse the cashier and yourself. So, be sure you understand your store’s policy and carry it with you.

You can either print your policy and carry it with you in a binder or you can bookmark them on your phone. It is very important that you also have quick access to the current policy in case the cashier or you might be mistaken and you can refer back to it.

You can download and print the BOGO Chart <— here

Start Couponing In 4 Easy Steps!

by Dian 16 Comments

I want to share with you how you could Start Couponing In 4 Easy Steps! Several times a week someone will tell me they really want to coupon but don’t know how to get started. Well, I definitely know that feeling I went years wanting to learn but never figuring it out on my own. So, let’s get started!

Find Your Coupons:

The coupons come mostly in the Sunday paper. There are anywhere from 1-6 booklets of flyers or inserts in the Sunday papers. Usually there’s always a Smart Source and a Red Plum, and sometimes there are more than one Smart Source or Red Plum, and then sometimes a General Mills, or a Proctor & Gamble.

The store sales ads are usually (in our area) in the mail on Tuesday or Wednesday, or they might be in the paper. In our area the stores sell the early Sunday edition of the newspaper on Saturday in a two pack. So, we can buy 2 newspapers and get two sets of coupons at a time. also our Dollar Tree stores sell them for just $1.

Start Couponing In 4 Easy Steps!

You can also ask your neighbors, friends, and family to keep coupons from the Sunday paper for you, too. Many times I have been in a restaurant and noticed that someone had left the paper behind and I just grab the coupons out of it.

Once you have the coupons what now? I usually get 10 newspapers each week. No, you don’t need that many, but, when I first started my friends and I found a way to get them FREE, so why not? There was a group of local restaurants that got the Sunday paper to give out to their customers and they kindly gave us the leftovers! So, check around, ask around and see what you can find, there might be a way for you to get some extra papers, too.

Organize Your Coupons:

Now, this is where you have to find your own way of doing things. Once you have gathered them you’ll need to find a way to keep your coupons organized and easy to find. I will tell you a few ways that I have tried in the past that have worked for me:

A. You can take your coupon flyers and write the date on the front and put them in a file or basket, and then when you need a certain coupon you can find it easier.

B. If you have acquired more than one paper, then you have more than 1 set of flyers. So, you can take a particular flyer, (say you have acquired 2 papers and have 2 sets of flyers) get two of the same flyer and put the identical pages from each flyer together. So, if your flyers were 10 pages, and you had 2 identical flyers, you should have 10 stacks of 2 identical pages together. Now, paper clip each set of coupons together. So, if you have 3 coupons on the front of one stack and 2 on the other side of one stack, you would need 5 paper clips, paper clip the identical coupons together. Try to put your paperclips over the UPC Code so that you don’t accidentally cut the code off. Now, you can do this two ways. You can file them as they are now and when you need some of them you can pull them out and cut them, or you can cut them all now. If you choose to cut them later, just put them together and file them by name of the flyer and by date (i.e. Smart Source 2/13/11). Again, so that you can find them when you need them. If you want to cut them you need a place to put them where they are easy to find when you need them. You can buy a large notebook and buy either baseball card holders or photo pages to put them in. Either way it’s up to you and what makes it easier for you. I tried the photo pages and then changed to the baseball card pages, now I use a combo of baseball card pages and files. If you choose to cut them all and put them in a notebook, you can take your notebook with you to the store every time and then when you see an unadvertised sale you will have all of your coupons and you can use them for the sale!

C. Now, personally, I paperclip and file mine in a filing cabinet with the date and name of the flyer on the tab of the file folder. I put any coupons that I cut to use at the store and then didn’t use in my notebook.

Use Your Coupons To Get FREE Stuff:

Ok, if your store doubles or triples coupons, you are in a great place to start!
So let’s look at what that means: If I have a $0.25 off coupon for butter and butter is $1 and my store triples coupons up to $0.39, then my coupon is good for $0.75, not just $0.25! So, that makes my butter $0.25, now when was the last time you bought butter for a quarter?! So, even better, what if you have 2 coupons for butter or 4? You would have enough butter until the next time it goes on sale!
So, let’s look at doubling: if your store doubles up to $0.50, then your $0.25 butter coupon would be good for $0.50, not $0.25, so then your butter would be: $0.50! Still pretty good!

Now, you need to know the rules at your store, because there are rules. First of all, print all of your stores coupon policies and carry them with you. Some stores will only double or triple one like coupon (1 butter coupon, not 2) per order and then treat all other like coupons at face value. In these cases the district manager has told us that as long as we aren’t holding up a line we can check-out more than once. Now my being able to get butter for a $0.25 makes me not mind standing in line and checking out a few times. Try to go when the store isn’t really busy.

But, we haven’t talked about FREE! That’s right there is always FREE! I love FREE! If there is a 10 for $10. sale on butter at my store, I know that means I can buy 10 butters for $10., but, does it mean I HAVE to buy 10 butters in order to get the sale price? NO! Absolutely not! You can buy 1 or 3 or however many you want and they will all ring up for the $1 price. It’s kind of simple when you think about it, but, I didn’t pay much attention, I always thought, “I don’t need ten of those!” Never thinking I didn’t have to buy ten!

So, now I am buying hand soap and I have a $0.35 coupon for it, and they are on sale 10 for $10. and my store triples up to $0.39, so my hand soap is FREE!

What if my store doesn’t double or triple coupon?

Even if your store doesn’t double or triple coupons, you can still get great deals and FREE deals. There are money saving apps that help you get cash back making items FREE often. Let’s say that butter is on sale for $1 at your store and you have a $0.75 off coupon for it and you pay $0.25 for it and then you see that one of the apps has a $0.50 off offer for the same butter, then you will get $0.50 back from the app making the butter FREE, PLUS you made $0.25 on the deal!

Keep in mind that Walmart will also let you ad match and you can match sales ads of your local stores and do all of your shopping in one place AND Walmart will give you cash back on a product if your coupon is more than the cost of the product. Say that butter we keep talking about is $1.50 at Walmart and at a local store it’s on sale for $1 and you happen to have a $1.50 off coupon for that same butter. You can go to Walmart and get them to match the price of your store and then give them the coupon and they will hand you the butter and $0.50 to carry that butter out of the store! FREE PLUS paying you to take their food? Sounds great to me! There are deals like that EVERY week!.

So, that’s about it! I know there is a lot of information here and some of it can become confusing so, if you have any questions or need clarification for anything you have read here, please feel free to contact me!

I LOVE couponing and LOVE to teach and help people do it! I hope this helps you, let me know how much you are saving!
Happy Shopping!

11 Frequently Asked Couponing Questions!

by Dian 1 Comment

11 Frequently Asked Couponing Questions! I am often asked many of the same questions by people learning to coupon, so I thought it would be nice if I compiled those and all the answers together!

I remember I had a gazillion questions when I first started and luckily I had a woman who took me under her wing and taught me everything! I remember the days of standing in a store trying to decide what coupons I could use on what items and how many I could use on each item and all sorts of things. But, she was a phone call away!

I remember one evening she called me and asked if I wanted to meet her at the store she was picking up some deals. Yes, PLEASE! I was so excited to watch and learn as she shopped! It was quite a sight, too! She had a buggy JUST for her coupons! She had them in file boxes and took them every time she shopped.

Hopefully you’ll find all the answers you need to help you be successful in your coupon shopping!

11 Frequently Asked Couponing Questions

Just click on the links below to get the answers to 11 Frequently Asked Couponing Questions!

Where Can I Find Coupons?

What If The Store Refuses My Printable Coupons?

Does Walmart Take Competitor Coupons?

What Is A Price Book And Why Do I Need One?

One Per Purchase Or One Per Transaction?

How Many Do I Have To Buy?

What Is Coupon Stacking?

Is Shelf Clearing Ok?

How Do You Read A Coupon Matchup?

How Do I Get Started?

If you have any more question, I am also always around to help!

Feel free to email me and ask me anything:
[email protected]

How To Read Coupon Matchups!

by Dian 4 Comments

How To Read Coupon Matchups! There are a multitude of places you can find matchups online. Matchups are where people like me match a coupon, app offer, or other deal offers (or many at once that we call “Coupon Stacking“) to a sale or price that makes it an even better deal! That’s what we call a matchup.

As many places as there are to see matchups online there are just as many different ways to write them. Many of them are written with abbreviations we use to help us write them up faster. On average I would say a person like me might write up as many as 30 a day, and that’s not counting the lists of matchups we do for one store.

The abbreviations help us get the information out there faster. So, for you, the reader, it can be confusing if you don’t know the abbreviations or “Coupon Lingo” and don’t know how we think when we are writing the deals up.

Pretty much every day I am asked a question about a coupon matchup. So, I thought I would take some time and share with you How To Read Coupon Matchups.

How To Read Coupon Matchups!

Now, I have been couponing and writing deals for years, so I think nothing of something that might say:

Hunt’s Ketchup 8oz – $1 w/in-ad coupon (Limit 3) wyb 3
-$0.50/1 Hunt’s Ketchup exc. trial/travel 3/23 SS (exp 4/16/14) – use three
FP ala 2/$1.50 or .50 each YMMV

Crest Complete, 3D White or Pro-Health Toothpaste $2.99
– $2 ECB, limit 2
– $1 Crest BE toothpaste
– $1 Crest Sensi-Relief toothpaste
– .50, – $1/2, – $2/3 (PG 6/1)
– $3 off $15 mouth care CVS coupon machine
– .50 Coupons.com
FP ala FREE

But, to a new couponer or one that hasn’t been doing it very long – they often will ask me “Where’s the coupon?”

We forget sometimes that some people are learning and don’t know all of the Coupon Lingo, yet.

Let’s get started. On the first deal:

Hunt’s Ketchup 8oz – $1 w/in-ad Q (Limit 3) wyb 3
-$0.50/1 Hunt’s Ketchup exc. trial/travel 3/23 SS (exp 4/16/14) – use three
FP ala 2/$1.50 or .50 each YMMV

Let’s break it down.

8 ounce bottles of Hunt’s Ketchup are on sale for $1 each but, only with the coupon that is in the store ad (w/in-ad Q)
you can only buy 3 at the discounted price (Limit 3)
and the discounted price is only $1 when you buy 3 (wyb 3)

That’s the first line. On the the second:

Use the $0.50/1 coupon found in the Sunday newspaper Smart Source (SS) Coupon Booklet from the week March 23 (3/23) and expires 4/16/14 (exp 4/16/14)
and make sure to use 2 of them for this deal to work

Third line:

The final price (FP) once you follow all of the above directions will be as low as (ala) 2 for $1.04 or $0.52 each. However Your Mileage May Vary (YMMV) because your store may not have it in their ad.

There are a lot of different abbreviations we use to make a deal shorter and as time goes on you’ll get the hang of it!

You can always refer to the Coupon Lingo page I have set up with the abbreviations. That will help you “interpret” the deal until you get used to it.

So, let’s try the second one, because everyone writes their deals differently:

So, this one is for CVS.

There are 3 products that are all on sale for $2.99
When you purchase one of them you’ll get $2 back (at checkout) in Extra Care Bucks, you can only do the deal 2 times and get the $2 Extra Care Bucks twice.

The coupons that have underlines mean they are printable and if you click on them you can print them out.

So, for this deal there are several coupons that will work – BUT NOT all together.

You choose which one you have and want to use. The first 2 are $1 off 1 printable coupons for the products listed on those lines.

The next one is saying there is a coupon in the Proctor and Gamble Sunday Newspaper Coupon Booklet from the week of June 1st that you can use – but, it can be a $.50 off one or a $1 off 2, or a $2 off 3 – depending what came in your newspaper (coupons are regional and have differing amounts often).

The next coupon is one that you might have gotten already or may still be available at your CVS when you scan your CVS card at the Red Coupon Center at your store that prints out coupons.

The next one says that you can click and print a $.50 coupon that is on Coupons.com.

Finally, the final price is as low as FREE depending on which coupon you had and used.

One last deal – this is how I write mine, so you know for this site how they are done:

Hunt’s Ketchup, 8oz – $1 w/in-ad Q When You Buy 3 Limit 3
use $0.50/1 Hunt’s Ketchup 3/23 SS (exp 4/16/14) (excludes trial/travel sizes) – use three
Final: $0.50

You should be able to read that one easily

I hope that I was able to help you understand better and that I didn’t confuse you more. I know though, that it will most definitely get easier as time goes on to read these matchups.

If you have more questions about couponing be sure to read my Grocery Shop For FREE info and get started!

FAQ About Coupons: Is Shelf Clearing Ok?

by Dian 27 Comments

Many times I have been asked the question “Is Shelf Clearing Ok?“.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the term “Shelf Clearing” – it means when there is a good deal on an item and someone goes to the store and takes all of the item and leaves none for anyone else.

Now, is a shelf clearer someone who takes the last three on the shelf? Opinions vary, I suppose. I don’t think taking the last three is shelf clearing. Taking forty and leaving none or four may be.

Have I done it? Probably, in the past. Do I do it now? No, I don’t need as many as I used to with three of my four kids no longer living at home.

But, is it wrong? If there are no limits set by the store or on the coupon… no. Plain and simple.

Is it nice? Considerate? Selfish? You be the judge, watch this self proclaimed “Shelf Clearer” below in action:

FAQ About Coupons: Is Shelf Clearing Ok?

So, the answer to the question, in my opinion, is yes it’s ok, if no limits have been set … but is it considerate or selfish?

Have you had any run-ins or issues with shelf clearers? Or are you a proud shelf clearer?

What exactly do you consider “shelf clearing”?

FAQ ABOUT COUPONS: WHERE CAN I FIND COUPONS?
FAQ ABOUT COUPONS: WHAT IF THE STORE REFUSES MY PRINTABLE COUPONS?
FAQ About Coupons: Does Walmart Take Competitor’s Coupons?

GSFF

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