Couponing chic; getting started.

Thou shall not pay retail. That is what you should think while in the check out line, anywhere. Restaurants, home improvement stores, clothing stores, and especially grocery stores! If you could cut your grocery bill in half, why wouldn't you coupon? The typical excuses are these; I work, I have kids, I have no time, I am just not that committed. Ok, those are just bull. You make time. My sister has 3 kids and is doing it. She doesn't do it as an extreme couponer but as a practical shopper. She is also a working mom, so MAKE TIME. No PC?  Then go to the library. Don't get newspaper? Start. You will be greatful. And check out some great coupon sites. I have some great coupons pages here and here. 

The basics are to know your circulars for stores. Get to know the deals and then think about how to save. Here are some examples.

Example one.

Okay, so your store has a buy one get one free deal on say, cereal. You have 2 manufacturer coupons for say $.75 off one. Well, since you are buy two(one is free) you can combine he coupons. That is a $1.50 off the one box! So, if the box was $3.99 for something like Kelloggs Special K cereal, it would be $2.49 for both boxes or $1.25 per box,rounded up. That is a great deal!

Now, if the store allows competitor coupons you can use that as well! For instance Publix will allow competitor coupons. And say Target had a coupon for the Special K cereal for $1.00 off 2. You could use it! So then after that coupon, it would be $1.49 for both boxes!!! Why wouldn't you do it? Why wouldn't you do that? This is when knowing the store policy is helpful.

Example 2:

The store has soy milk 2for 5. This instance is different than above. You can use the 2 manufacturer coupons still. Now, say you only have a coupon for $1.50 off two. And you have a store coupon for $.75 off one. You can combine them! 2 store coupons and the one manufacturer coupons, super savings there. So $3 off $5, that is $2 for 2 soy milks. One dollar each! Makes it worth it! 

Know the policy.

This important people. The coupon policy can be the register death of many couponers. Even the seasoned couponer can fall prey to a sudden coupon change. I experienced it, and blogged about it here. I didn't realize that Publix will only allow 1 Target coupon for a like item in one transaction. If I had known I would have split my transactions up.You really need to keep up with store policies on coupons as well as price matching. My suggestion would be to keep a print out of the policy. As well as price matching policies if they offer it, like Walmart does. As well as coupon doubling, it all should be there. Keep it with you, as you may need it. This is when having a binder for coupons makes that possible and easy. You don't have to spend a lot on one, and inserts are easy to get in bulk from Amazon.

Where to get coupons?

That is easy at the same time hard. You can print out coupons from my coupon databases as well as going to the manufacturer. I will later on tell you other ways to get them. This is the basic. Some sites allow 2 coupons to be printed per PC . But, you can print 2 off every PC in the house.  You can get the paper from stores. And some stores have digital coupons as well a apps. Target, for instance has the cartwheel app, this fabulous for extra savings. 

This is a good place for me to leave off, for now. Comment down below if there is anything you want to add or ask. 

Today's deal.was it worthy?

The boy and I went to some stores with my mom and got some great deals. Why don't I feel good about some. Well here is some of what I did.
Publix
At this store, we had an issue with digital coupons not working.  So, we had to go in with the receipts and show what happened. We got refunded the money. From there I went to get FREE mitchum deodorant.  Yes, the $2 off in the paper, take it to Publix and stock up. Do me and yourself a favor. Save money! I also go paper towels by Bounty and some Jenny-o bacon bogo. With coupons it was pretty cheap.  Total I paid 10.70.  And I felt good. For more publix coupons click here.
The trio that we were went to Walmart. There were deals on Tena where you earn $2.16 of each small bag of panty liners. Great to donate and the overage helps the rest of the order. Ok. So they were out. Darn! Then the Goldbond was not the right kind. And of course they were out of the Schick razors I needed. $20 down the pooper. I go get my son's formula and get the rest of my shopping. Free birdseye veg and Del Monte veggies cheap. I love the deals and for what I got $50 isn't bad. But I know I could have done better. Oh well.

Yeah,lol. Bounty was upside down. Oh well. #momenthad

Major savings and deals! Target fun! Hold the litter!

Today I got that car of ours in my hot little hands and had quite the adventure with my little man. We went to the stores today and had a blast. I couponed at Target first. Their policy is one I am still getting used too. And although they accepted all my coupons I was limited to 4 of like items. I didn't save like I wanted to. I should have broken up my transaction. I thought about that after the fact. Coupon 101 that is. Ugh. Before that they didn't scan any coupons even though I said "I have coupons too". The manager had to re-ring everything and she still gave me the extra 5% off for using the Red card debit. I got 3 of the Arm and Hammer Clump and seal litter. I posted about that deal http://mamaslogue.blogspot.com/2014/01/new-toyand-deal.html. So, after that and a baby gift for a friend, Huggies Snugglers for $8.99 -$3 off coupon. And no matter what diapers make THE best gifts! I will include coupons too, every help, helps. I got toothbrushes for .49 cents each and FYI couponmom.com was off on the toothbrushes by .20 cents. But that it ok, I think they base it off web prices. Still that website was a big help.  I got checked out and thought I spent more than I wanted. I forgot I bough diaper genie refills for my baby boy's diaper genie. And light socket guards, the booger keeps trying to electrocute himself. 

My haul. And got more coupons! Weeeeeeee! Go savings!! 

Omg I am addicted to a deal!

So Publix here in Florida has a bogo on Rozoni pasta. I took serious advantage of this. For every box I bough I made a penny. Yes Publix paid me to buy the pasta. How? It is simple, really. Coupons.
I went to the website for Rozoni and printed out four $.75 coupons. You can double up cause it is a bogo. So it will be $1.50 off of one of the boxes. Each set of 2, remember it is a bogo, will be free and you get a penny to use towards your order. Now it coupons for the Rozoni 150, but they are actually good pastas. And Orlando Sentinel and Daytona News Journal have $1.00 off two boxes. Making the rest only $.49 cents. That is per set.  Not bad savings. Rozoni will only allow 2 coupons per PC or MAC. 
Ok so IAMS cat and dog food is $5. After a $2 off manufacturer coupon found here on the grocery coupons section and Publix $2 off. The publix coupon is a purchase coupon from a dollar donation. You get a tear pad of coupons worth quite a bit. The food is normally $9.99 a bag and the coupons take $4.00 off.  Still good for this premium food.

Today I became a shelf clearer....almost.

Today I finished up my cvs shopping. I got Tide for around $1.75 a bottle. That is for the 32 load bottles that were on sale. For 5 of those, a regular Dawn, and a Panteen Shampoo; I only paid $ 17. Thanks to my Pampers shopping. By the way I did a cruisers instead of easy ups. I almost cleared the Dawn shelf. Yeah....I did. I left 1 bottle of hand renew. Along with a coupon for .25 cents off regular Dawn. So after I got my reward dollars I used them towards my Tide Purchase. I think for more savings I may sign hubby up for CVS. Why not? I want to save money and now I won't need Tide Detergents gor MONTHS!
The savings are there,  you have to be vigilant.
What I did was use 2 $3 off two Tides.  Then a $1 off one Tide. Then I used the .25 cents off mu blue Dawn soap. And a coupon for $1 off Panteen. At checkout I combined those coupons with the $10 off. Sweet stuff, am I right? #financialfreedom #couponprincess
Look!

Sunday lazy day? Nah.

Happy Sunday! There is only 17 days left until Christmas! Can you believe how fast it's going by? I can't, on one hand I wish I could skip Christmas this year. On the other hand I don't. Today was a day full of clipping coupons. Then realizing I have too many for my binder. Ugh. But, saving money with coupons is worth it. I am starting to get more of a hang of the whole coupon thing.  Which is why I love my coupon page here on my blog. I have actually saved a ton on diapers,formula, spices, and other things. It is no wonder why people go nuts over coupons. I can totally get it. I understand why they do it to the extreme. It was a lot of work today clipping coupons, putting them in pairs. Store coupons with manufacturers coupons and putting it all together. I know it is worth it.
Today we also had a non-napping baby boy. Here in the kingdom of babydom, we skipped naps and didn't want to eat dinner. And after a big evening of fitting we may have a molar or two. Of course this may mean no sleep, again. He didn't eat his dinner but had 8 oz of formula. However, that does not mean he wont wake up at 3 Am hungry. Teething, it is so hard being a little man, isn't it baby bear? 
#babylife

It's Sunday clip those coupons!

It is Sunday and you all know what that means?! COUPONS! Yes, the coupons are here today. I love getting that paper and seeing the coupons inside. Why? Because that is money in my pocket. Saving money on groceries means that I can use it elsewhere. Like in savings or something else.Now, I am just starting my couponers journey. I have saved money but it has only been 50 dollars here and 17 dollars there. I am sure I will get the hang of it.

I have found printing coupons online helps a great deal. You can use them combined with store and other coupons. That is if your printer works and isn't out of ink.This link takes you to my coupon  clipper, click here!

It takes patience and some organization, hopefully I can continue to grow and get better at this!
So far, I have yet to pay full price for diapers!

Couponing, a learning curve indeed.

Everyone loves saving money. Especially on groceries, food costs have gone up and coupons are a way to save. But, many people do not use coupons. Many view couponers as crazy and have nothing better to do on a Sunday. Well, I am going to be one of those people. I am an up and coming couponer. I am that crazy person. However, I used to not be. I was a non coupon using food shopper.

Couponing is work, a lot of work. From scouring the newspaper to stalking online coupon sites. Like here.  My sister got me into coupons, ever since I heard how much she saves. She is one savy extreme couponer. Who, need storage for stuff, just like Honey BooBoo's mom has extra storage for items. She has them all organized in a folder according to type. She goes through the coupons all the time and is very devoted to her craft. I, on the other hand, am figuring this coupon thing out. Trying to be organized is hard so I ordered coupon pages on Amazon. I am also trying to figure out what coupons go where. I am also trying to figure out how many coupons I can use at once. It is definitely a learning curve and so far I have yet to pay full price on diapers and formula. Huggies or Pampers I make sure I always have a coupon. Last trip I saved $50 and before that $92Usd. Like I said learning curve, and while Target takes coupons they may not take competitors coupons. Publix Supermarket does take competitors, like Walmart and Target coupons.
I will post my quest to save! Stay tuned!