January 01, 2014

Old Navy Uniform Sale - Polo's $5 + More!

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Old Navy is having a School Uniforms Sale with Lowest Prices of the Season!

That makes Polos As Low As $5 (Retail $9.94) or Khakis only $10 (Retail $16.94).

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Over 80 New Printable Coupons January 1st

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$1.00 off 2 PLANTERS Nut Products or Peanut Butter

We're starting off the new year with a ton of hot new coupons! Hurry over to grab your favorites before they reach their print limits!

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Jillian Michaels – 30 Day Shred $6.99

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Right now you can get Jillian Michaels – 30 Day Shred for just $6.99 (Retail $14.99)!

The workout is about 25 minutes long from start to finish, so it's great for those of us who are short on time!

Shipping is free with Amazon Prime or your $35 purchase.

**Prices can change at anytime.
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Kindle eBook Deals January 1st

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Looking for a good book to download? I love checking these out and downloading these and reading on my iPad or Kindle! You can snag some really great deals:

Here’s a look at what you’ll find today January 1st:

-Inspiring Reads $2.99 or less
-Deep Kiss of Winter by Gena Showalter $1.99
-Snuff by Terry Pratchett $1.99
-Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson $1.99

**Don’t forget: You can read more than 360,000 Kindle books on your PC with this free application – no Kindle required. Download it here (for Windows 7, Vista, and XP).**
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Couponing 101: Building Your Stockpile!

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Now that you know some of our price points for stocking up on items, it's time to start thinking about picking up more than one item at the store when you have additional coupons to use.

Here's a few things you should know before you start:

1) A Store Sale + A Coupon = Rock Bottom Prices And BIG SAVINGS

The reason that we match up the weekly advertisements to coupons is because that is the time that you want to buy your item. It's also important to know that the closer a coupon gets to it's expiration date the more likely you are going to see a reduction in that items price.

2) Sales tend to come around every 3 months.

I don't encourage anyone to clear a shelf at any store to start their stockpile but I do encourage you to buy the amount of a product that you will need to last you 3 months since sales and coupons re-appear every 3-4 months giving you savings throughout the entire year.

For example in 3 months I will go through approximately 2-3 jars of peanut butter and after that 3 months I will be able to find another great deal to last us an additional 3 months and I won't find it necessary to make a purchase without a coupon or a sale on that item.

If you stock up when their are rock bottom then you have eliminated the NEED to make a purchase later.

3) Choose One Store to start your couponing and stockpiling in.

It's important if you are just starting out to choose 1 store. Don't compare yourselves to others and don't fall into the temptation of trying everything at once. When you master your first store then move on to a second.

4) Follow along with STL Mommy and use our coupon match ups for drug and grocery stores as well as our Extreme Couponing posts for the hidden sales and new coupons that we find during the week.

Here are the match ups completed weekly:

-Walgreens
-Target
-CVS
-Walmart
-Dollar General
-Family Dollar
-Kmart
-Kroger
-Whole Foods
-Aldi
-Rite Aid

Let us do the homework for you we are here to help.

Did you miss the beginning of our Couponing 101 Series if so check out these articles:

-Couponing 101: What Are Coupons & Where Do I Find Them?
-Couponing 101: Coupon Lingo What Does It Mean?
-Couponing 101 – How To Organize Your Coupons
-Couponing 101: Coupon Techniques & Etiquette
-Couponing 101: Stock Up Prices

Want to keep up with ways to save money? Follow along with all of the Coupons, Freebies and Deals by following along on Facebook!
Links provided may be from affiliate programs which help support this blog. Thanks for clicking!
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Couponing 101: Stock Up Prices!

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I’ve been asked a lot lately what I think are good “stock” up prices. While there is no “price” rule I do have some guidelines for myself that I use to know a good “stock up” price!

Here are some examples:

-Toothbrush: Free
-Floss: Free
-Mouthwash: $0.50
-Deodorant: Free
-Body Wash: $0.50
-Soap: $0.25
-Lotion: $0.50
-Shampoo/Conditioner: $0.50
-Feminine Hygine Products: Free – $50 tops + there are a ton… of samples for these
-Shaving Cream: $0.50
-Disposable Razors: Free
-Razors, (ex. Gillette Fusion or Venus): $1
-Detergent: $1.50
-Dish Washer Tabs or Liquid: $0.50
-Toilet Paper: $0.25 per roll
-Cleaning Supplies: $0.50 or less
-Baby Wipes: $1.00 or less per box
-Diapers: $0.14 or less per diaper
-Candles: $1.00 or less (high quality)
-Aluminum Foil: $0.50
-Fruit: $1.00/lb
-Meat: $2/lb, $4/lb Steaks (high quality)
-Potatoes: $3/10 lb bag
-Soda: $2.50/12 pk
-Cereal: $$0.50 per box
-Canned veggies: $0.35
-Frozen veggies: Free
-Pasta: $0.25
-Pasta Sauce: $.50

My rule of thumb is if I am saving 90% or more off of the retail price I have most likely found a rock bottom priced deal and it’s time to stock up.

So what are your stock up prices?

Want to keep up with ways to save money? Follow along with all of the Coupons, Freebies and Deals by following along on Facebook!
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Couponing 101: Coupon Techniques and Etiquette!

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Now that we have talked about "How to Find Coupons," "Coupon Lingo" and "How to Organize our Coupons" it's time to talk about mazimizing our savings with coupons.

Coupon Techniques

*Stack store coupons with manufacturer’s coupons and when available $ off of $ amount - for instance at Walgreens, Target, Dollar General, Family Dollar and CVS you can stack your store coupons along with manufacturers coupons for additional savings. At Dollar General many times you can also combine your products and coupons along with a $5 off of $25 offer which greatly reduces the amount you are spending on the products.

*Price Match at Walmart and Target - both stores allow you to price match advertisers sale prices. You need the other stores weekly advertisment/flyer and the product you are matching must be the exact same product that is listed in the weekly advertisment.

*Take advantage of stores that double (i.e. Schnucks & Dierbergs) and triple coupons

*Buy only when an item is on sale - this is the easiest way to maximize your savings.

*Use a Coupon Database so you aren't always clipping coupons- find your coupons when you’re ready to shop and then clip

*Take advantage of store loyalty programs, register promotions, and rewards.

Coupons to the Extreme

Now that have a general knowledge of coupon techniques, here are some additional techniques to save you even more money when you buy.

*Look for products that are free and will give you Overage- Overage happens when the value of a coupon exceeds the price of the item. Many stores will allow you to apply the exceeding value to the rest of your shopping order. Walmart will even give you money back when you shop if your coupons exceed the value of the products. By doing this you greatly reducing the price of your entire purchase.

*B1G1 Coupons- Buy 1 Get 1 Free coupons (also known as BOGO coupons or B1G1 coupons) allow you to purchase one item and get a second item of equal or lesser value for free! You’ll want to pay special attention to the fine print on the coupon as there is usually a maximum value stated on the coupon (this maximum value is the most that the manufacturer is willing to reimburse the store for the “free” item). With a B1G1 store sale, you are purchasing 2 like items and then automatically getting one item for free when you checkout. Since you are still essentially purchasing 2 items, you can use a B1G1 coupon in conjunction with the B1G1 store sale to get the both items for free (one is free after the store sale and one is free after the coupon). *Important Note: Read your store’s coupon policy very carefully as some stores (Target & Walmart ) may prohibit the use of a B1G1 coupon in conjunction with a B1G1 store sale. *We will go through each of the stores couponing policies and rewards during the Couponing 101 series.

*Rebates- Mail-in-rebates are an added way to save and often honored based on the price of an item or an amount you will spend

*Rain Checks- When there are good sales, often stores will run out of items. Don’t forget the power of a rain check where a store will honor the sale price of an item at a future time.

*Rolling Deals – means that you can purchase a product for a coupon or a rebate and then use that on the purchase of the same item over and over. This seldom happens at stores but when it does you want to hurry off to the store because you will store an Extreme Deal.

Coupon Etiquette

Even through we are maximizing our savings by being Savvy Shoppers it's important to know what is too extreme and to be courteous to our fellow coupon shoppers.

*Don't photocopy coupons- it's illegal and hurts the retailers and all using coupons

*Use only one manufacturer coupon and store coupon per item

*Don't try to use a coupon for which it is not intended for- it's unethical

*All coupons must have expiration dates or stores will not accept them

*Don't clean the shelf off on a good deal- share the wealth

Did you miss the beginning of our Couponing 101 Series if so check out these articles:

-Couponing 101: What Are Coupons & Where Do I Find Them?
-Couponing 101: Coupon Lingo What Does It Mean?
-Couponing 101 – How To Organize Your Coupons

Want to keep up with ways to save money? Follow along with all of the Coupons, Freebies and Deals by following along on Facebook!
Links provided may be from affiliate programs which help support this blog. Thanks for clicking!
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Couponing 101: How to Organize Your Coupons!

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There are many ways to organize coupons, but the important thing is to have them organized. Planning out shopping trips is a much quicker process when you know exactly where your coupons are and can easily find the ones you want.

There’s no right or wrong way to organize, but here are my top picks:

1) Three-Ring Binder:This method is what we use to develop the My City Mommy Coupon Binder.

The My City Mommy Coupon Binder Includes:

Getting Started Guide:
-How To Set Up Your Binder
-How To Use The Shopping Organizer pages
-How To Use The Menu Planner and Price Tracker Sheets
-Coupon Lingo & Abbreviations Explained
Binder Contents
-5 double-sided Shopping Organizer pages. Use these to plan out your shopping trips with every detail you could need.
-5 double-sided Menu Planner pages. Use these to plan your menus for each week.
-2 double-sided Price Tracker sheets. Use these to determine what are good, great and stock up prices for the items that your family uses according to your location and specific stores.
-A sheet of adhesive labels. Use these for your pocket dividers and coupon category pages with over 40 preprinted labels and more blank ones for you to customize for a total of 80.
-5 sturdy poly material double pocket, tabbed store dividers. Use one for each of your favorite stores to keep your store ads, coupon booklets and more all together. Each has (1) 3 slot coupon organizer page behind it to keep that store’s coupons
-15 more pages to organize your clipped coupons. You have the choice of 3 slot pages, 9 slot pages or a combination of both. All are clear, highest quality, top loading BCW pages
-1 sturdy plastic 3 ring pocket. It velcros closed to keep unfiled or unclipped coupons secure.

2) Accordion Folder: A large accordion folder is a good choice for those who clip all of their coupons in advance. You can use the various pockets to divide coupons up by category and keep them sorted by expiration date.

A small accordion folder is nice to use to actually bring into the store. It can also double as a great place to store ExtraCare Bucks and Register Rewards earned from CVS and Walgreens, as well as receipts.

Tip: look for accordion folders in the dollar section at Target toward the end of the summer.

3) The Couponizer: This is a fantastic organizer especially for the beginning couponer. The Couponizer is a complete set of tools designed to make saving money easy. It is made up of 18 category pockets for grocery coupons and other coupon and discount category pockets. The Couponizer includes a section for store loyalty cards, a shopping list, a CoupTracker (to keep track of your fabulous coupon savings!), and a pair of scissors. It also comes with a CoupStacker to store coupons that don’t fit into the Couponizer.

There are many options on how to keep your coupons separate and organized. I suggest that you do what feels and works best for you. Be sure to leave a comment below letting us know what you are currently using.

Did you miss the beginning of our Couponing 101 Series if so check out these articles:

-Couponing 101: What Are Coupons & Where Do I Find Them?
-Couponing 101: Coupon Lingo What Does It Mean?

Want to keep up with ways to save money? Follow along with all of the Coupons, Freebies and Deals by following along on Facebook!
Links provided may be from affiliate programs which help support this blog. Thanks for clicking!
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Couponing 101: Coupon Lingo!

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Before you can get your coupons organized, follow the coupon match ups and hurry off to the store you need to know what all of the crazy abbreviations, accronyms, and coupon lingo means!

Here's an example of a scenerio that you may see in a Weekly Coupon Match Up for Walgreens.

(2) Gillette Custom Plus 3 Disposable Razors 4pk @ $6.99 = $13.98
(2) Gillette Fusion Shaving Cream @ $4.49 = $8.98

=$22.96
-B1G1 Custom Plus 3 Disposable Razors 6/19 RP insert, use one
-$1/1 Gillette ProGlide or Fusion Shave Prep 6/5 P&G insert, use two
Earn $5 RR when you spend $20 on Gillette Products
Final price: all four for $8.97

Here is what this means without the lingo:

Buy 2 Gillette Custom Plus 3 Disposable Razors 4pk at $6.99 each. Also purchase 2 Gillette Fusion Shaving Cream at $4.49 each. The coupons you are going to hand to the cashier when you check out are a Buy 1 Get 1 Free Custom Plus 3 Disposable Razor Coupon from your June 19th Red Plum newspaper insert. *You will find the date on the side of your newspaper inserts just as you do a magazine. You will also hand the cashier 2 $1.00 off of 1 Gillette ProGlide or Fusion Shave Prep coupons from the June 5th Proctor and Gamble newpaper insert. When you check out a Walgreens Register Reward will print out giving you $5 off of your next Walgreens purchase because the total price of your products before coupons was $20. Your final price for all 4 items is $8.97.

Aren't you glad we use lingo...

Now here is the language you need to know so you can become Coupon Savvy:

General Lingo:

-BOGOF or B1G1 - is a Buy 1 Get 1 Free Sale or Buy 1 Get 1 Free Coupon

-Peelie - these are coupons or rebates that peel off of a package.

-WYB - means when you buy. You will often see scenarios that state wyb a certain amount of products you will get a reward via coupon or rebate.

-OOP - is your cash out of pocket.

-MIR - is a mail in rebate that you mail in to receive a specific amount of cash back on an item that you purchased.

-$1/2 - $1 off of 2 items, keep in mind that the first number is always the amount that you get off of the product the second number is the amount you have to purchase to receive the discount.

-SC - is a store coupon. These coupons can come in mailers directly to your mailbox, in weekly advertisements within the store or in the newspaper or directly into your email inbox. Store coupons can often be stacked (or used together) with a manufacturers coupon.

-MFC or MQ- is the manufacturers coupon. These can be found in all of the various ways that we find coupons as listed in our "How to Find Coupons, Couponing 101 article."

-GC - is a gift card. These are cards much like a credit card that give you money off of your purchase at select retailers.

-MM - is a money maker. These are often indicated at the end of our coupon scenarios and are one of an Extreme Couponers best friends.

-DND - means do not double because the manufacturer does not want the store to double the coupon even if it is in the stores coupon policy to do so. These coupons will not exceed the value printed on the coupon at any time.

-Ea. - means each, this is often reflected at the end of a coupon scenario when you are purchasing more than 1 item because we want you to know the bottom line price that you are paying for each product.

-YMMV - means your mileage may vary. This is often used for stores that may not have the same items on clearance or for a store that does not have the same prices on their products nationwide.

-IP- is an Internet printable coupon. These can come from various resources as mentioned in our "How to Find Coupons, Couponing 101 article."

-Blinkie - coupons you get from the little machines in the aisle in the store, typically they blink or have a light on them which is how they got the name Blinkie.

-WSL - means while supplies last

-UPC - is the Universal Product Code. This is a Twelve-digit barcode printed or affixed on virtually everything sold in supermarkets or retail stores, including books, magazines, candy, etc., for automatic checking-out at the cashier counter. These are most often mentioned if there is a specific item within the store that is ringing up for a discounted price while other items of the same type and manufacturer are priced at a higher amount.

-Catalina or CAT-is a coupon for an amount off your next purchase or for a free item on your next purchase-these print out of a small box located next to the register owned by the Catalina company.

-FAR - means Free After Rebate. If there is an item that is $2 and you get a $2 Rebate with the purchase your item is FREE.

-OYNO - means a dollar amount off of your next order. This could be specified in the weekly match ups along with CVS Extra Care Bucks, Walgreen's Register Rewards or Catalina's at your local stores.

-PSA - means prices starting at. We often put this into our deal scenarios if the price isn't listed in the advertisement but we can find a price online for the product at the same store.

-Overage - is another one of the Couponers favorite words because this means you get money back for purchasing an item. One of our favorite stores for this is Walmart because they will now hand you the overage or cash-back if your coupon exceeds the value of the product.

-Stacking - is when you use a manufacturers coupon along with a store coupon or rebate to increase your savings on a product you are purchasing.

-Rain Check - is a piece of paper that the manager or an employee with give you if they are out of a product that is on sale so you can come back when the item is back in stock and pick up the item at the sale price.

-Rolling - means that you can purchase a product for a coupon or a rebate and then use that on the purchase of the same item over and over. This seldom happens at stores but when it does you want to hurry off to the store because you will store an Extreme Deal.

-Tear Pad - is a pad of coupons that you often see on the shelves at the store or even at gas stations. These are manufacturers coupons that can be used in any store.

-One coupon per purchase - This means that you can use 1 coupon per item with the item being considered your purchase. For example if you had 5 identical cans of green beans and 5 coupons for that product you could use all 5 of your coupons on your order because that equals 5 purchases.

-One coupon per order - This means that you can only use that specific coupon once per visit.

-One coupon per household - means only 1 person in your household is allowed to use this coupon. This typically is listed on high value or free coupons only.

Specific Store Coupons

-ECB or EB - these are CVS Pharmacy's Extra Care Bucks. These print out at the bottom of your receipt and are good on your next purchase at CVS. Never fear if you loose your Extra Care Bucks because you can now log into your CVS Extracare account online and retrieve and print your CVS Extra Care Bucks if you misplace them.

-Wags - is short for Walgreens

-RR - is Walgreens Register Rewards. These are dollar off coupons that print from a box much like the Catalina boxes beside the register. They are good on your next purchase.

IVC - is an Instant Value Coupon. These are the coupons in the Walgreens Monthly Coupon Books and also found in the weekly advertisements.

Newspaper Inserts

-PG - Proctor & Gamble
-SS - Smartsource
-RP - Red Plum
-GM - General Mills
-K - Kelloggs
-UN - Unilever

Be sure to read - where to find coupons if you haven't already.

Want to keep up with ways to save money? Follow along with all of the Coupons, Freebies and Deals by following along on Facebook!
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