I shared with you earlier on How to Organize Coupons and the most common Coupon Organizing Methods. In this posting, I’ll be sharing how I arrange my own coupon organizer and what I bring with me to the store to help make things go a little smoother.

I have to start by saying that over time, I’ve tried each of the Coupon Organizing Methods. I started off with the Coupon Binder and quickly became frustrated with trying to fit my coupons into those baseball card sleeves. At the time, I was only able to find the 9 slot sleeves and I found it hard to fit a lot of the coupons in them. I was also getting more into finding printable coupons online and I didn’t like having to fold them over. You can now find various sized sleeves but in the meantime, I’ve downsized how many coupons I use. I also tried the Coupon Insert Method but found myself spending so much time searching for coupons and then my coupons got knocked over and that was the end of that method for me. LOL.

After couponing for a long period of time, you will start to notice which coupons that you clip that you end up using. At the end of each month, I started to take notice which expired coupons I was pulling out of my organizer that I hadn’t used–and also paying attention to which ones I found myself using a lot at the stores. I learned how long it took me through go through food and household items so I knew if I’d need a certain coupon that month, or if I could wait. I also switched my family over to more locally grown foods (or foods from our Organic Garden) and those sold by Organic Companies. Since Organic Coupons are still fairly rare, my coupons have become far less than what I used to keep.

I also started paying attention to items that I could get deals where I could get the items free or cheap after coupons. The stores typically have the same deals around the same time each year and over time, you’ll start to see the trends. I was beginning to see that just when my sensible stockpile would begin to deplete, a new hot sale and coupon would pop-up. This is your ultimate goal–to learn what you need to have on hand up to the next hot sale. It will keep your house from being taken over by an unnecessary stockpile but still keep your budget where it should be.

You see, when it comes to Couponing, the phrase you need to keep reminding yourself is Time (and Space) is Money. Each second you spend clipping a coupon, following blogs, dealing with a crazy stockpile or shopping adds up to lost money and time you could be spending with your families. You want to balance savings with smiles–the smiles that you get to see on your families’ faces when you are with them! While Couponing can be very fun, addicting and a money-saver, you have to be careful that it doesn’t consume or frustrate you.

So over time while I’ve tried all the Coupon Organizing Methods, I always come back to the Coupon Organizer. I like that it’s small, that I can fit it in my purse and that I limit myself of how many coupons I have. Sure, I miss out on some deals but in the end, I save money because I’m not buying unnecessary items that I won’t use. I’ve been asked by several of you on how many papers I get each week and the answer to that is two. We receive our local paper and the Chicago Tribune. I sometimes receive extra coupons from friends/family and on the rare occasion when there are four inserts and a lot of coupons I use in them, I’ll pick up an additional paper. I use a lot of printable coupons; in part because I print a lot to test links before I post things and also because there are a lot of high-value printable coupons these days.

When I go to the store, this is what I bring with me:

~My Coupon Organizer
~Big Chil Bag from Blue Avocado w/ other Reusable Bags and CVS Bag Tags attached
~Dave Ramsey Designer Envelope System-that fits into whatever purse I’m using
~Small Two-Sided Organizer for Pulled Coupons and Shopping List
~Purse

I’ve tried several Coupon Organizers but I always go back to and have finally stayed with those made by GlowGirl. She sends you the dividers and pre-made labels with them. She has also created the organizer so you can button it over the shopping seat. I have my kids with me most of the time, so I don’t use it that way. She recently added a Mega Large Coupon Organizer that holds a lot more and has a handle for carrying it.

These are the categories that I use in my organizer:
Produce/Deli Area
Baking Products
Beverages
Breakfast
Bread
Canned Foods
Condiments/Peanut Butter & Jelly
Cookies/Crackers/Snacks
Meat/Fish
Dairy
Frozen
Bags/Paper Goods
Household/Cleaning Products
Shampoos/Lotions/Body Wash/Soap
Personal Care/Razors/Deodorant
Oral Hygiene
Medicine
Misc.
Pet Foods
Baby Products
Other Retailers
Expiring Soon/Free Products
Using Today

I’ve pretty much figured out how to get everything to fit into those categories. Most of these are included in GlowGirl’s pre-made labels. I used to keep them alphabetized but now I have them arranged by store layout – Produce, Store’s Middle Aisles, Meat, Dairy, Frozen and Non-Food Items. So far, it’s working out well.

I keep my shopping list and coupons for what’s on my list in a little two-sided thing, which is actually Dave Ramsey’s Starter Envelope System with the envelopes pulled out. I keep coupons I plan on using on one side and then pull them out and put them on the other side when I find it in the store. Any coupons left get put back into the coupon organizer after my trip. I typically have the coupons paper-clipped by store if I am making several stops. I highly recommend that you keep your shopping list arranged by store aisles to save time in the stores. This little thing is all I have in my hands when I shop. If I see a clearance item or item that wasn’t on my list that’s on a great deal, I pull out my coupon organizer to find that coupon I need.

I keep any ECBs, RRs or Store Catalinas in the zippered area of my Dave Ramsey Deluxe Envelope System. I also throw any coupons that I find while I shop in the wallet so I can organize them later and they won’t get mixed up in my little two-sided divider. I also keep my receipts in the back compartment until I am done shopping for the day.

Lastly, I carry a Blue Avocado Big Chil Bag that I also stuff a few reusable bags into. I’ve tried so many bags and this one is by far my favorite. I keep my purse and coupon organizer in there until I’m at the checkout when they need it to put in my dairy/frozen items. It has slots all around the outside for holding water bottles, etc. I usually put coupons I find while shopping in one area until I can transfer them into my wallet, and then organizer.

I try to take a minute in between stores on multiple-stop trips so I can put away my receipts, coupons, ECBs/RRs, Catalinas, etc. It’s so easy to lose one of these if you don’t take a minute to safely put them away.

This is just a peek at my coupon organizer, how I keep it organized and what I bring with me to the stores to stay organized. I’d love to hear what you have found that works for you!

Coming Later This Week: A peek into my “Sensible Stockpile” and how to start your own!

I know several of you are fairly new to couponing and have been wondering how to organize the new coupons that you are starting to collect. Here are a few of the common coupon organizing methods. Each of them has their own advantages and disadvantages. I’ve tried all of them and I’ll share with you in another posting some pictures of the method that I currently use and how I keep it organized. I’m hoping that you’ll find one that best suits your couponing needs.

Photo Courtesy of Super Jenn

1) Coupon Binder – This is a common method used among couponers that have a LOT of coupons. This is typically a zippered binder that is organized with something similar to Baseball Card Sleeves. Coupons are “clipped” and slid into each of the slots in the sleeves.

Advantages – You are able to carry a lot of coupons with you when you shop. You can easily flip through the pages to find the coupons that you may need. You can also easily pull out expired coupons.

Disadvantages – It takes time and patience to clip and slide the coupons into the sleeves. A lot of binders can end up weighing several pounds and are real bulky for carrying into the stores. The size of these makes it hard to carry with you wherever you may go. Most couponers that use this method will leave these in their vehicles so they can have them with them when they go out. Couponers that have a lot of coupons tend to have more than one binder, often split between food and non-food items.

If you use this method, I cannot stress enough to buy a zippered binder. You’ll know why the first time you drop it! You can typically find the baseball card sleeves at Walmart, in hobby stores or online.

2) Coupon Organizer/Box – This method can be any organizer system that uses dividers for the coupon categories. They can be as simple and inexpensive as an accordion style one that you can typically find in dollar bins to as elaborate as a specially made one that you’ll often find sold online such as Etsy. Some also use a plastic box with a lid for their coupons with dividers they’ve custom made from a thicker material, like card stock.

Advantages – These tend to be small and can usually be slid into a purse/bag and transported anywhere. There are so many varieties that you can often find one to fit your style/fashion tastes. These are typically used by couponers that know their coupon patterns and have a smaller amount of coupons or who pull coupons according to their shopping lists ahead of time. These are especially nice if you make unexpected trips or frequent clearance areas as you’ll have all your coupons with you.

Disadvantages – You’ll need to clip all of your coupons. Some of these aren’t very secure and if dropped, you’ll have a mess. You need to go through tab by tab to find any expired coupons–or coupons that you didn’t pull out when creating your shopping lists. They only hold a small amount of coupons.

3) Coupon Insert Method – This method is where you don’t clip your coupons but file them by date and only clip the coupons when you need them. You label the front cover by date and insert, such as 8/21/11 SS for this last week’s Smart Source Insert. Couponers will use Coupon Databases to see what insert has the coupon needed and then pull them out and clip just what they need.

Advantages – There is minimal coupon clipping involved and you’ll always have coupons for deals you may not have normally clipped the coupons for.

Disadvantages – Drop your filing method and you’ll see one of the biggest disadvantages! Once they are out of order and messed up, it’s next to impossible to reorganize them. They can sometimes take up a lot of storage room. You will never have them on hand when you shop. While this may help prevent impulse buys, it may also make you miss out on some great deals.

If you use this method, I recommend that you take an extra minute and flip through the insert and find the oldest expiration date and write it on the outside of the insert. This will help make it easier to know when you can remove that insert.

Don’t feel that if you start off with one couponing method that you are locked in. I’ve switched back and forth between them all depending on what is going on in my life at the time. Times when I was super busy, I used the Coupon Insert Method. When I was keeping mass amounts of coupons, I used the Coupon Binder Method. And when I learned more about couponing, switched to more Organic and locally bought foods and learned more about what coupons made for great deals, I switched to the Coupon Organizer Method. This is the one I have been using for some time. While the clipping can take some time, I love having it with me wherever I go. I keep it organized and fairly small so it will fit in my purse.

I’m hoping this has helped some of you learn more about How to Organize Coupons! I’d love to hear about what method you are currently using–along with some thoughts on other methods you’ve tried that didn’t work out.

Coming Next: My Coupon/Shopping Organizing System –a detailed look at my coupon organizer and what I bring to the store. Stay tuned!

I have a hard time eating out at restaurants because I’m not a fan of spending so much money on one meal. In my mind, I keep thinking, “Wow, that’s like a whole week’s worth of groceries.” We do treat ourselves to nice meals on special occasions, random outings and a pizza delivery every now and then. Here are a few ways I’ve learned to save:

~SwagBucks recently added a Chili’s Family of Restaurants Gift Card to their selection. Our local branch offers Kids Eat Free with an Adult Entree Night on Tuesdays. Great way to maximize that gift card!  (SwagBucks also currently has gift cards for Charley’s, as well. More might be added soon.)

~You can take surveys on sites and use the money from them to treat yourself to a night out. (Some let you turn in your points for restaurant gift cards.) Some to consider: Toluna, Surveyhead, My Survey and My Points. Put the money you earn towards a “date night.” You can even swap babysitting time with friends to save on that–and you’ll both get a nice night out!

~I always keep my eye on daily deal sites, such as Groupon, for local restaurant deals. Now these may not be on the “big chain” restaurants but you may find out what I have and that you can discover a new local favorite–and you’ve saved yourself 50-70% Off your meal.

~Anytime you go out, be sure that you do a Google Search on the restaurant you are going to and see if there’s a current coupon for that place. I try to post some restaurant coupons as I find them. So be sure to look under the Restaurant Coupons category under my Coupons header at the top.

~Check with your local restaurant to see if they offer any coupons. We’ve discovered that one of our local pizza place sells a coupon booklet every year for around $25 and you get a lot of Buy One Get One Free Pizzas, Appetizers and even a coupon for just a free pizza, no purchase necessary! We buy one every year and keep it on hand for when we have people over. We have also even called our neighbors and seen if they want to split the price of pizza delivery some nights!

~Take a look on Restaurant.com and see if there are any discounts for places in your area. They often offer a promo code where you can get a $25 gift certificate for around $2.

~Pick up an Entertainment Book for your local area. They often offer lots of deep discounts or even BOGO meal coupons.

~Check your phone book. There are sometimes restaurant coupons in there for your local places.

~Some schools sell fund-raiser cards that offer discounts on your local restaurants and services. Call over when school is in session to see if they have any or will be offering any later in the year.

~Sign-up for birthday clubs. You can often get freebies or discounts during the month of your birthday.

~Instead of gifts during the holidays or on your birthday, ask your family if they’ll get you a gift card to your favorite restaurant. What a great gift—a night out and no dishes to do!

~Sign-up for the newsletters of your favorite local places. A lot of ours will send out coupons during special times for extra savings.

~Keep your eyes open for gift card deals at local grocery stores. I’ve seen a few pop up at least once a year for money off your next grocery trip when you buy X amount in gift cards. If you already shop there, it’s like extra savings at your favorite places.

~Check your restaurants for special discounts on certain nights. Some places offer Kids Eat Free nights that help you have a fairly inexpensive outing together.

There are so many ways to save money on restaurants that you should rarely have to pay full price. While it can seem like a costly experience, it is nice to treat yourself to night away from cooking and dishes every now and then!

How do you save money when you go out to eat?

I’m slowly making my way through listing out survey sites that you might all consider joining.

Another one that I’ve heard some good things about is Pinecone Research. You can sign-up to see if you qualify, as they are taking new applicants right now. They open up the applications every so often, and each time they are looking for a new demographic. So if you don’t get approved this time, you can try again another time they are open.

You’ll get paid $3 for each qualifying survey that you complete. They sometimes have products to test, as well.

Keep watching my Survey Sites link to see what other survey companies I’ve listed to try. Several of my readers take the surveys and then save up their money to pay for their extra holiday expenses or a family vacation. If you plan on taking surveys, I highly recommend that you have a separate email address devoted just to that.

Over the new few weeks, I’ll be sharing some Survey sites that are out there that you can consider signing up for to earn a little extra money or some rewards. Several people use survey sites as ways to bank month for vacations, gifts, restaurant outings and of course, to pay off debt. Before I started this website, I used surveys as a way to help pay off our debt. I would spend just a little bit of time each day taking surveys from various sites.

Toluna is a survey site that pays you points worth $1 to $5 for surveys that you qualify for and complete. You can also earn by taking polls and sharing your opinions. Each time that you complete a survey, you’ll be entered into their monthly $4,500 prize draw. Some surveys earn you money, while others earn you entries into sweepstakes.

I haven’t personally tried Toluna but I have seen decent reviews from other readers and bloggers.

Some of you might have noticed that Facebook has made an update not only to the personal pages but now to fan pages. You may not be seeing all of the people and pages that you “Like” or are friends with. Here’s how to fix that:

1) Go to Most Recent, which will be on your Home Page towards the top of the page.

2) Click on Edit Options.

3) You can decide here if you just want friends/pages you interact with most or to see all friends/pages.

Thanks to Rose Knows Coupons for this info and pictures!

Also, I just wanted to give you all a “heads up” that they have modified the look of Fan Pages. I haven’t switched mine over just yet. But it sounds like the new look will go into place for all pages on 3/10/11. The tabs will become links on the left side, the overall look will be different and they also give the owners of fan pages a few more options of interacting with their readers and on other pages.

So you’ll be seeing that change soon. I just didn’t want to spring it on you without warning.

I also wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of you that are Facebook users that have “Liked” the Coupon Geek Fan Page. I am a big fan of Facebook as it helps keep me in the loop with my family and friends and it’s also a great way to chat with all of my CG Reader Friends. So thank you for joining me there. Also, thank you for taking the time to “Like” certain deals/coupons/freebies as I share them as it helps me keep track of what I need to look for more of when I search for things to post each day. It’s been fun chatting with you there and I’ll continue to do my best to stay active on the page.

I’ve mentioned these before and you all seem to like the reminders so here’s the latest one: Saturday, June 26th is another Full Moon and just the right time for a “Full Moon Walk.” We have done two of these with our kids so far and they love them!

The idea comes from the book, ” Walk When the Moon Is Full. This is a very old book and actually very hard to find in most libraries. It’s written by a Mother who shares the adventures her and family had each time the moon was full when they’d go on their “Full Moon Walks.”

I’m hoping the weather will be nice enough for all of you to enjoy some family time outside exploring. More than likely, the moon will be just as full Friday night, too, if that night works out better.

Some items to consider for your walk:

*Flashlights – Even though you’ll be in well-lit areas, the kids think these are fun and you never know when you might need one. (My kids have the Handy Manny “Flicker the Flashlight” and they love bringing that with us.)

*Mosquito Repellent – You may want to use some on children that are old enough to wear it.

*Small snacks and water

*Small Blanket and/or spare jackets – You never know when a chill might creep up in the weather. Also, you might find a nice spot to just sit and stare at the moon and stars with the kids.

*Bag(s) for carrying found treasures

*Camera – Take lots of pictures for a memory book of each walk

Disclaimer: Use your best judgment and all safety requirements when walking outside. Only walk in safe neighborhoods, wear clothing that can be visible to others and even though you’ll be exploring, try to stay in well-lit areas.

Any time you are at Target, you may want to take an extra minute and check out their clearance area by their food/groceries section. Several times now, I’ve found items on clearance that I’ve had a coupon to match up with. My latest find? Betty Crocker Warm Delights Minis.

These were marked down to just $.98. Well, I had a couple $.50 Off Warm Delights Coupons from Target’s site (still available) and some $.75 Off ones from when they were on Coupons.com just this last week. (not available now)

So if you printed those, you may want to see if your Target has any clearanced, too. I was able to get four boxes for $1.42 total. (About $.36 each.) So we have little cakes ready to add some ice cream to for some quick ice cream ala mode! The kids just love these!

I typically use the whole insert couponing method, but I’m starting to clip more items that I think I’ll use before I file them.

Matching coupons with clearance sales is a great way to stretch your money even farther. Were you able to find anything great at any store’s clearance section? I love hearing about your finds, so feel free to leave a comment with your stories.

When I was chatting with some readers, a lot of them didn’t know about these ways to earn some extra SwagBucks, so I thought I’d share them for everyone.

Ways to Earn Extra SwagBucks

1) Download the SwagBucks toolbar. Each morning when you login, you’ll receive Free SwagBucks. It’s typically just one, but that adds up to 30-31 free SwagBucks a month for doing basically nothing.

2) Once you download the SwagBucks toolbar, keep your eye on the “From TSG” envelope on it. I always keep mine at (0) now so I can tell when a new one pops-up. From time to time, they’ll add a free code in there worth various points. These only last a few hours so you have to be quick.

3) Take the Daily Polls. Under “Ways to Earn” select Daily Polls. There’s a question there that takes all of 10 seconds to answer and you’ll receive a SwagBuck for voting.

4) View No Obligation Offers. Under “Ways to Earn” select “Special Offers.” When that screen pops up, click on “Go Now” under “View Our No Obligation Offers and Win SwagBucks” off to the right. They’ll show you some offers, but you can simply skip past them, if they don’t interest you. After viewing a few, they’ll give you another free SwagBuck.

5) Check the “Swidget” for a Special Code. You’ll find this under “Promote” and Widget, if you want to add it to Facebook, Twitter, etc. But you can find it, for right now, on my blog on my right sidebar. Click on the “SC” button to see if there’s a Special Code at that time. They are randomly there and I’ll post about when I see there’s a code there.

6) Follow SwagBucks on Twitter, Facebook and their blog. They’ll often mention when they’ve hidden a code somewhere for Free SwagBucks.

7) Make sure you do your online searches with them, especially on Fridays. Fridays are “Mega SwagBucks Days” and your chances of winning higher amounts are increased.

These are the extra ways to earn SwagBucks that should earn you at least 100 extra SwagBucks a month. Remember, it only takes 450 SwagBucks to get a $5 Amazon Gift Card.

Not signed up for SwagBucks yet? You can sign-up and get 30 Free SwagBucks just for joining when you go through this link. You’ll earn SwagBucks for doing your online searches through them, along with finding free codes and the ways I mentioned above. It’s a great way to earn gift cards or other prizes throughout the year. They are my favorite free online program.

UPDATE: Several of my readers have added comments that they have had really good luck earning extra SwagBucks for doing the surveys. Thanks for sharing!

Also, don’t forget to add your birthdate to your account as they’ll give you 50 Free SwagBucks for your birthday!

I’ve gotten quite a few new readers lately and I wanted to share some of   the places that you can register at for free and get some freebies and/or coupons and also share a few ways to earn a little money or rewards:

P&G Everyday Solutions – Join to Get Free Samples and Coupons on P&G Products You Know and Love

Baby Center – Get BabyCenter’s free email newsletters that allow you to track your baby’s development week by week and includes articles on important health and safety topics handpicked for your particular stage of pregnancy. You’ll also receive valuable coupons, sale notices, and free offers from BabyCenter and their partners.

Dollar General Savings Zone – Get member only perks, specials, and more!

Home Depot Garden Club – Sign-up to get several coupons, specials and savings throughout the year on gardening things and savings at Home Depot.

Home Made Simple – Sign up for Home Made Simple newsletter and be among the first to know about special offers, samples, coupons, and sweepstakes offers from brands like Cascade, Dawn, Febreze, Mr. Clean, and Swiffer.

Vocal Point – This is one of my favorite freebie sites and I’ve gotten several free samples and high-value coupons from them.

Some of the other free programs that I often share free codes for are Pampers Gift to Grow, Huggies Enjoy the Rides and Juicy Rewards from Tropicana. You’ll often get freebies just from finding free codes online.

Great Coupon Sites to Check Daily: Coupons.com,  RedPlum and Smart Source. Also, Target has several coupons on their own site. Note: Some of Target’s are store coupons, while others are manufacturer coupons. You can also sign-up for coupons to be added to your store loyalty cards (of select stores) through Cellfire. UPromise is another place you can load your shopping loyalty cards to but with this one, you’ll earn money for college just from the purchases that you make.

Shop Online Much? Then you’ll want to sign-up for eBates and ShopAtHome. You’ll get $5 added to your account when you sign-up through those links. Search for the stores you shop at most to get Cash Back added to your accounts on your purchases.

Need to earn money? Two of the survey sites I recommend the most to  my readers for surveys are MySurvey and MyPoints. Others some of my readers have mentioned are: Ipso I-say, and Toluna. They’ve also earned money through the National Consume Panel Homescan by Nielsen. (If you get into taking a lot of surveys, you may want to download something like Roboform that populates information for you quickly to speed up the process.) (Read more about surveys on this link.)

And my favorite free online place to join is SwagBucks. Use code SUMMEROFSWAG through June 11, 2010 to get 50 SwagBucks added to your account. You’ll earn SwagBucks for doing online searches through them, finding free codes and more. Turn these in for prizes or gift cards for places like Amazon or even Southwest Air.

Don’t forget to check out my Couponing Basics and Coupon Class Materials for more info on couponing and how some store deals work. Also, I did an entire series in May of 2009 on 31 Ways to Save on Your Grocery Budget that might help you save money. Lastly, several of my readers have found some of my postings on Freezer Cooking to be money-savers, as well.

I hope that you’ll find more ways to save some money, earn coupons and even maybe earn some prizes or money with some of these programs or resources!

Photo Credit: Coupon Geek

Tonight’s a Full Moon. That means you can get in a “Full Moon Walk” with your family. We did this last year and had a lot of fun.

I read about the idea on Money Saving Maine-ac. Teresa started this tradition with her family after reading Walk When the Moon Is Full by Francis Hamerstrom. It’s an older book and some libraries don’t carry it. When I looked at pricing, I couldn’t find it under $30 last year. (luckily my library was able to get me a copy) Surprising, there are some sellers on Amazon that have it for $10 or so shipped right now. I picked up a copy to put with the photo album I’m making for the kids in hopes that they’ll also carry on the tradition with their families.

My kids get a kick out of seeing how the world looks through the light of the moon. And my son loves playing with the flashlights and exploring.

If you do venture out, make sure that you always use your best judgment to keep yourself and your family safe. I’m hoping you’ll make some fun memories, too. I’ll share some pictures of ours later this week. I’m so excited that the weather is finally warm enough to do this again!

In case you missed it, I posted on How to Roll ECBs at CVS. Well, after that transaction, I had $4 in ECBs that I could use on a future order. Here’s how I used those ECBs to roll into another order.

The first thing you should always do is stop at the CVS Scanner Machine located inside most stores.

Photo Credit: Coupon Geek

Now, I had luck on my side as when I scanned my CVS card, I received a coupon for $2 off any $10 baby purchase. Well, I was there to grab the deal they had on Huggies. How about that for timing?

So I picked up two packs of Huggies Pull-ups, which were on sale for $8.99 each. If you bought 2, you earned $5 in ECBs. I also had two $3 off Huggies Diapers Coupons. I was out of black olives and picked up 4 cans of the Lindsay olives that were on sale for $.88 a can. (The cheapest I’ve seen anywhere in awhile!) Here’s what my order looked like:

Here’s how my receipt looked:

Photo Credit: Coupon Geek

I ended up paying $10.70 out-of-pocket after taxes were added. That’s a good deal considering the Pull-ups are usually $11.99 each when not on sale. I also earned one of these:

Photo Credit: Coupon Geek

So I now have $5 to use on another purchase. I just wanted to show you this illustration because you don’t always need to have your out-of-pocket expenses end up real small, as long as you still got a great deal. While I could have split my order in two, paying for the olives and some filler items with my $5 in ECBs, I might have just been adding items to my cart that I didn’t truly need.  Also, I would have had nothing to use on good deals in the upcoming weeks. After awhile, those filler items, while they may be somewhat “useful” filler items, can end up eating into your savings. So always use your best judgment on when to roll another time and use them all up in one day’s shopping trip or when to pay a little extra and hold onto them for another day.

If there are times where you can’t find a good deal on a “filler item,” then just pay a little more out-of-pocket and save those ECBs for your next purchase.

I shared with you the other day on how to roll ECBs at CVS. Well, I am so excited that my friend, Christy, was able to do an excellent example on how to roll Catalinas at a grocery store.

If you are wondering what a catalina is, it’s just a coupon that prints out after you check-out at a store that can be used on your next purchase. See her picture on her posting for an example.

In her posting, she spends $5 for 15 boxes of fruit snacks, but still has $3.50 in catalinas to use on another order–$.10 a box! Talk about a great way to stockpile.

So if you want to see a little insight into rolling catalinas and stockpiling, check out Coupon Gal’s posting.

Great write-up, Christy!

Several of you have asked me in the past on How to Roll ECBs at CVS and I promised you a step-by-step walk through. Well, I finally made it to CVS on one of the weeks where there was a good “rolling scenario” to show you how to do this. If you have the right coupons and stock in the store, you can do this same transaction through Saturday, March 13th, 2010.

First of all, if you haven’t already, make sure that you sign-up for a CVS card. It’s your key to savings. You can sign-up online but I usually recommend that people do it in store as you get your cards instantly. The thing to know about CVS is the term “ECB” which stands for “Extra Care Bucks.” These are what I like to call “paper cash” that you can use in your store on your next purchase after you earn them. So while some things may say “Free after ECBs,” you must remember that the initial money will come out of your pocket. Eventually you’ll have some ECBs to “roll” and that out-of-pocket expense will become less if you keep rolling them.

Now the first thing you are going to do is check out your newspaper to see what you have that’s a good deal that week. The big thing to look for is FREE after ECBs in the ad. Those are the ones that not only can you get for FREE but are potential “money-makers” if you happen to have a coupon that you can use on it.

I see right away in my ad this week that the Oral B Cross Action Toothbrushes are on sale for $4 with $4 ECBs. At this point, I can search my coupons to see if I have one, if I clip them or I can also check a blog, such as Common Sense with Money, that types up the weekly deals. When I do check Mercedes’ site, I find out that there’s one for $.75 off in the 2/21PG.

OK, now you are saying, what is a 2/21PG? Well this is how you read those: In the February 21st newspaper, there was a Procter and Gamble insert. That’s where you’ll find it. Now if you haven’t grabbed that paper in the past for those inserts, you are either out of luck or you’ll have to find somewhere that has the coupon, such as eBay or Collectable Coupons where you can pay for their coupon clipping service. I took a picture of the insert and the coupon for you to see:

Now comes a little planning and a little luck that they’ll be in stock at the store! If you are just going to pick up the toothbrush, there’s no planning there aside from clipping your coupon. But if you want to “roll” your ECBs while you are there, here’s where you need to think for a minute.

The first transaction is easy. I’m going to just buy the toothbrush which is $4. It will take off $.75 for the coupon, costing me just $3.25 plus tax. My total ends up being $3.53 for my area. This is what my receipt looked like:

At the very bottom of that receipt were my ECBs for $4. I quickly ripped those off and did a second transaction to “roll them.” I got lucky and the store was empty so I just checked out twice in a row.

Here where the “rolling” gets tricky. I can’t just go and buy another toothbrush because my coupon will take off the $.75 leaving my total below $4 and the ECBs are for $4. So I must find a “filler item.” This just has to be something small. I recommend picking something you actually need–or have been wanting. I saw earlier in the morning that I still had a $1 Off Starbucks Frappuccino Printable Coupon. When I checked in the store, they were $1.99, making them only $.99 after coupon. This was exactly what I need as a filler. This is what my receipt looked like:

The toothbrush was $4, minus another $.75 off coupon. The Starbucks was $1.99, minus my $1 off Starbucks Frappuccino printable coupon. Both items came to $4.24 plus tax making it $4.55. Now don’t forget, I earned $4 ECBs from my first purchase that I used. So my end total? $.55 out-of-pocket. And I earned these:

Yes, another $4 in ECBs. Now this particular deal has a limit of 2 per card, so I can’t do this same transaction again. But I do have $4 in ECBs to spend on another trip, which I’ll save for next week.

So, let’s review what my expenses looked like. In my first transaction, I paid $3.53 and in my second transaction, I paid $.55. This makes my total out-of-pocket expenses as $4.08. But I also have $4 in ECBs for another purchase. Isn’t that amazing? This is when you’ll hear bloggers say “It’s like spending $.08 for two toothbrushes and a StarBucks Frappuccino!”

This is the key to really keeping to your budget and getting the household items that you need. Anyone who has been a “CVSer” for any time at all will give you this advice—never pay cash for a toothbrush! And from the transactions above, you can see why! There are several deals throughout the year where they are either free or $.99 after ECBs. And there is almost always a coupon available that will either turn it into a “money-maker” or help you get it for free. (So definitely save those toothbrush coupons!)

Now since I already have a plethora of toothbrushes, I am going to donate these—and then treat myself to a Starbucks Frappuccino for my good deed. Sound like a good deal for $.08 doesn’t it?

I hope this has helped illustrate to some of you how to “roll” ECBs. Happy Shopping!

Disclaimer: These transaction pictures and posting are copyrighted and cannot be shared without written permission from Coupon Geek.

I know that when you first start off shopping at CVS and Walgreens, learning how to “roll” Extra Care Bucks (ECBs) and Register Rewards (RRs) can get kind of confusing.

My sister-in-law sent me this great little video clip from a local Chicago station here where a reporter did a small “rolling” shopping trip series. I thought it might help you see a little on how it all works.

I’m hoping to get in a series here soon explaining it all and showing you a few trips I’ll make on how to start out. I’ve been waiting for the weather to warm up some because let me tell you, it’s not fun to shop when it’s 12 degrees and it’s almost considered a “heat wave.” But I promise I’ll get one going here soon. So stay tuned and check out the video for a little help in the meantime.

Also, I wrote up a posting on Register Rewards, Extra Care Bucks and Stacking Coupons. I’m hoping that will offer a little more help, as well.

Thanks for sharing the video, Jodi!

And a little info now for my readers on how to make a little extra holiday cash:

Before I started blogging last year, I’d spend at least 30 minutes at nighttime to take a few surveys. I loved being able to bring in a little extra money while still being able to stay home with my Son.

I’ve been wanting to get together a list of “legit” Survey companies for you all, in case you are interested in that same path.

Before you start taking surveys, here are a few important things to remember:

1) You’ll definitely want to set up a separate email account just for surveys. A lot of the companies offer you $ for simply just reading emails, which can accumulate to 3-6 per day per company. This will also prevent your personal account from becoming bombarded.

2) You won’t “get rich fast” with any of them. They take time to reach the designated payouts that some companies require. You’ll need to definitely practice a little patience, but it’s so worth it when the checks show up!

3) Different companies offer different rewards. Some only payout with gift cards. Others you’ll have to reach a designated threshold before you get your money. Others pay out in freebies. And you might get lucky enough to find some that payout in a little of everything!

4) Always make sure a company is “legit.” Ask around or look for those posted as recommendations from bloggers you trust. But always follow the rule of “Use Your Best Judgment” or “If It Sounds Too Good To Be True…It Probably Is!” Never, ever pay a fee to join one!

5) You can use a program such as Roboform HERE that will automatically fill in data for you, saving you time! There’s a FREE version that you can download.

6) It may not seem like your surveys are adding up to much so consider putting them in a separate high-interest account, such as one from ING, to watch them grow (and earn interest!) Think of it as your Vacation/Christmas Club!

Here are a few I’ve tried: (NOTE: Click on their name to get to their site.)

My Survey – This is my all-time favorite one. After I reached my payout amount, I had my check in one week! They also sent me freebies to try and review that weren’t even on the Market yet. And whether or not you qualify for a survey, you still got whatever points they promised. They give you 10 points for joining and up to 1500 points per survey. They also have a referral program giving you 150 points for referring a friend

Inbox Dollars – This one was slow to reach payout. But I mostly focused on clicking on emails to read. Once I reached the payout, they did make me wait a set time before they processed the check and in the meantime, I had to keep my account active.

My Points – I didn’t get to work with them much because I started blogging right after signing up. But I know of others that like them and earn gift cards through them.

These are other recommended by other bloggers/readers, but I haven’t tried:

Ipsos- iSay- You’ll get 2-5 survey opportunities a week that earns you points. You can turn those in for gift cards to places such as Applebees, Chilis, Olive Garden, Amazon and Kohls. Each survey you complete also earns you an entry into a $5,000 drawing.

Surveyhead – You can get paid through Paypal. They send out frequent survey opportunities and you’ll get a $5 bonus just for signing up.

Opinion Outpost -This one lets you cash out at 50 points ($5) and most surveys are worth 20-30 points.

Survey Spot – Earn up to $5 per survey and you can request payout when you have earned $5.

Dollar Surveys – You get $1 per survey and you get paid out after completely them, rather than waiting to reach a specific threshold.

LightSpeed Research – They offer a lot of surveys. And you can even take the option of being paid in gift cards.

Other Income/Prize Earners:

SwagBucks – Have you heard me gush about them enough? If not, I have to say that I love them! You earn points just for doing your normal searches. Every so often, a box will pop up and you’ll have earned a “SwagBuck.” There are also Free codes put out every so often or other ways to earn Bucks.

Tryology – You get to try out FREE products in exchange for doing a video review on them.

Nielsen Home Scanner – You scan your purchases, upload them via software they give you and then you cash in points for prizes.

These are just a few out there. There are several more that are a little slower in earning. While these are “legit” companies, you may each have a different experience with them. Some are happy with slowly earning $, while others want to earn faster and find a company is not right for them. The only advice I can give is to sign-up for them and try them out. If they don’t work, you can close your account and try another one.

Feel free to share you experiences with these companies, but please…word them nicely, such as listing both pros/cons for them. Thanks!

I’ll save this in my left sidebar under “Resources” for future reference and update as I find any more that bloggers/readers enjoy.

Whenever I get a question a few times from readers, I try to put up a posting on it. As they say, when one asks, there are several that don’t.

The one I’ve been getting lately is “I don’t have time/knowledge to run my own blog but I’d like to make a little extra money for my family. Do you have any ideas or recommendations?”

Obviously, the first thing Coupon Geek would HAVE to tell you is…coupon and follow blogs to find great deals. This won’t make you money but you’ll save loads. (But sometimes, you’ll get lucky and actually find money-making deals!) Then…

Before I had my own blog, one of the things I did was to participate in surveys. My favorite was My Survey. I actually put up a posting about it awhile back HERE.

Another thing to do is to join SwagBucks and to do your online searches there. You can turn in your SwagBucks for giftcards. I turn all of mine in for $5 Amazon gift cards, which only takes 45. Save up your $5 ones so you can get that FREE shipping at $25 threshold that most items qualify for. Especially make sure you do this on Fridays, as they are “Mega SwagBucks Days” and you can win more. $5 may not seem like much but it adds up and it doesn’t take up any extra time. This won’t technically “make” you money, but it will free up your cash you’d spend on those items for other things.

If you really want to know about some great money-makers, Moms By Heart has a well-written posting HERE with lots of ideas.

I hope this helps!

NOTE: If you have a question, please, by all means, feel free to email me at coupongeek at live dot com. I do my best to answer my readers. BUT please remember, some weeks get crazy and it may take me a bit to get back to you. But if it’s been a week, forward your email again. It either means I’ve spaced out or I’m disorganized that week. I honestly do not always have it together. You know how it is—going six directions at once sometimes.

Here is the information that I promised you all on how to do your own coupon class. Now keep in mind, I’ve only done the one myself. I’m definitely not an expert by any means. But at least this will give you a starting point. Yes, please feel free to use the materials. But if you do, I ask that you credit them at some point in your packets/presentation as having come from Coupon Geek. I only ask that as it took me soo many hours to put these together.

Here is the order of how I set up my couponing packet:

1) Cover Sheet – Just a nice little welcome and an explanation of who you are, ex. listing your name/website, for future reference. I put a picture of my blog button so they might be familiar with my blog when they went there.

2) Coupon Lingo – I wrote up an extensive list HERE and shared it with them. I did not go over it in the class but did explain it was in there in case they needed to refer to it while I was talking. I made sure to explain what a catalina, Register Reward and ECB was right away, though.

3) Where To Find Coupons – This is so important for new couponers. They usually have no idea where to start. This will give them a few ideas of where to look for coupons. I have a list HERE you can use.

4) How To Organize Coupons – Now they’ve found their coupons, help them organize them. I wrote the top 3 ways HERE. Visual aids are so useful in this part. You can use an inexpensive shoe box w/ lid from say Target for $1.99 for the coupon box. I happened to have a zippered binder from when I tried that method so I could show them. And the coupon insert method is just an expanding file you can get for $3-5. I got a cute designer one at Target for $5. And the little ones are around $3 at Target. I actually bought an extra for a giveaway. If you wanted to have fun, you could fill an organizer with inserts for a giveaway!

5) Walgreens 101, CVS 101 & Stacking Coupons – Now that their coupons are all organized, teach them how to use them with deals and sales to make the most of those coupons. I wrote this info up HERE. I also did a quick walk-through on Jewel, since that’s where most of our area shops. I talked about how you can use coupons with the “Spend 25, Get $10″ to make great deals and how sometimes the $25 you need to spend is pre-sale prices and not on the sale prices. This segment is by far the most important one to have visual aids for. In my write-up I gave examples of toothpaste, soap, etc. and I actually brought some with to hold up with a coupon while I explained the steps. I’d highly recommend bringing a Register Reward, CVS Extra Care Buck, Catalinas and Store Coupons to show examples of. Find an example of a Store and Manufacturer’s coupon that they could stack. It really does make it easier. If you really want to help, bring the latest sales ad and show them a few deals they could get that week.

6) 31 Ways To Save On Your Grocery Budget (without coupons!) – I put this in my packet in case they decided that couponing just wasn’t for them. That way, they can still work on reducing their grocery budgets. I have these written up at this link. (Note: I only gave the header of each and referred them to my site for the details of each one. It would have taken up way too much paper to write it all out. Also, please note, these are my own work and not something I simply found online and copied into a posting.)

7) Resources – This was the last page in my packet. It listed several websites/blogs that I recommended in helping them find deals & coupons. This is a personal preference of your own favorites.

Overall, the best advice I can give you is to just be yourself. While speaking in public can be a very nervous experience, you will find partway through just how easy it is to speak about couponing, if it’s already something you are pretty good at now. I had so much fun at mine that I completely forgot I was talking in front of people. When mine was over, I handed out a bunch of freebies I collected. These were just things I picked up for free or cheap with my coupons.

In the end, your class shouldn’t break your wallet. So if you wanted to do one for FREE, keep that in mind. I was lucky enough that since I did mine for free, the library made the photocopies for me. They also picked up cookies, water and $1 coupon organizers for everyone from Michael’s. (You could make your own cookies and watch for a good deal on water/coffee.) I picked up pens for FREE at Staples. I already had my visual aids. I did do two giveaways, along with the freebies. Overall, I really didn’t spend a lot. I just gave of my time and knowledge. My class ran about 1.5 hours and then we chatted for awhile afterwards, so I’d figure about two hours.

Good luck to all of you! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email me at coupongeek at live dot com. I should have some free time tomorrow to answer them and I am also going to email the Word Document I used to those of you that requested it. Thanks for being so patient with me while I put this posting together! I had to get a few postings up for the references.

UPDATE: Yes, by all means, if any of you just reading this would like the Word Document I used, I would be more than glad to email it to you, too! Just leave a comment on this posting and I’ll send it to you.

First, there is no right or wrong way to organize coupons. The only right way, is the one that works for you. There are several methods for organizing coupons, but here are the Top 3 that I’ve seen:

(Photo from Super Jenn)

1) Coupon Binder – This is some form of zippered/closed binder that they put “baseball card sleeves” in to hold the coupons. The coupons are “clipped” and folded into the slots of the sleeves so that you can just flip through your coupons page by page. To see how to organize one, Super Jenn has a posting HERE.

(Photo from Money Saving Mom)

2) Coupon Box – This is some form of box where the “clipped” coupons are usually kept in some type of labeled envelope system. If you go with this method, I’d highly advise a box with a secure lid! Usually, when they shop, the box is put in the child seat of the cart for easy access.

3) Coupon Insert Method – This is where the coupon inserts from the Sunday paper are kept intact, and either not clipped or partially clipped, and filed by week. Usually an expandable file folder that has tabs for labeling is used.

I currently use the Coupon Insert Method. Now you may ask, if you don’t clip all the coupons, how can you possible use them? Good question! It’s important to know what coupons are out, so each Sunday, I’ll flip through all my inserts to see what I think I might need. I clip those right away. I then label each insert with that week’s date, so this Sunday’s inserts would be 7/12/09 SS, 7/12/09 RP and/or 7/12/09 P&G, if there was one. I’ll then file them under July. It looks something like this:

(Photo from Coupon Geek)

The coupons that I clip, I put into a mini-expandable file coupon holder that fits nicely in my purse so I always have the ones I think I’ll need with me. It looks something like this:

(Photo from Coupon Geek)

Typically blogs will list where you can find the coupon needed for a deal. They say something like, “Use the $1/1 from the 7/12 Smart Source.” I’ll then go to the 7/12Smart Source insert, find the coupon and clip it. It saves me from having to clip out all those coupons, but I still have them handy in case I can get a good deal on something.

The disadvantage to this method is that you don’t have all your coupons with you when you shop. But I look at it this way, while I may miss out on a clearanced item or two; it also prevents me from “impulse shopping” and buying something that’s not on my list. I can always jot down the deal and take a chance at picking it up later in the week if I’m out again.

Now, if you make up your shopping list and you are buying, say Skippy Peanut Butter and Hunt’s Ketchup, you can go to one of the coupon databases out there and see if a coupon exists for those products. My favorite one to use is Coupon Mom. You’ll need to register, but it’s free and easy to use. Just sign-in, choose grocery coupon database and then your state. I always sort it alphabetically. For these items, I’d look for Skippy and Hunt’s. If they are listed, you’ll need to see what insert they are in. For example, the Skippy Peanut Butter says 6/14SS, I’d then go hunt down my Smart Source insert from 6/14 and clip it.

Like I said, there’s no one right way to organize coupons. You may even switch over time. I’ve tried all of them! Personally, I hate cutting out coupons and I have little spare time, so that’s why I stick with the coupon insert method now.

Always keep in mind; coupons are “regional,” meaning some areas/states get some we don’t. So you may see some listed on blogs that aren’t going to be in your inserts.

When I posted HERE that I had just done my first coupon class, I received quite a few emails/comments asking either for the materials I used or for ideas on what to cover in the class.

For those of you that commented/emailed, I would be more than happy to send what I used. They are far from perfect but at least they are a starting point for you. I will also be doing a posting next week sometime on how to do a class of your own. Like I said, I am no expert in this subject but at least it will help you start off and you should be able to at least teach the basics that will help them find the deals and save on their grocery/household budget.

This blog was created to help as many people as possible to save money in as many ways as possible; couponing, budgeting, changing life habits, etc. So I am more than thrilled to help anyone that would love to teach these same things to people within their communities.

So stay tuned. I’ll try to get the posting up late next week.

Engineer a Debt Free Life has details HERE on how you can sign-up to get into the Pinecone Research Survey Panel. It’s a tough one to get into, with limited sign-ups, from what I hear, so sign-up before they quit taking them again!

You get $3 for each survey you complete, which can add up over time!

They already quit taking sign-ups but EADFL does have other survey opportunities for those of you looking for them. Use the same link above.

So you’ve been bit by the couponing bug and now you want to find even more coupons, but you don’t know where to look. Here are the top places to find coupons:

1) Sunday Newspapers – These are the biggest sources of coupons. To find additional copies, check recycling bins or ask your family/friends if they are using theirs. There are anywhere from none to three inserts per paper. For a preview of upcoming coupons, you can check Sunday Coupon Preview.

2) Mail – You can sign-up for coupons from Red Plum here. You can also check out their printable coupons, too.

3) Free Samples – Signing up for free samples is a great way to get some higher dollar coupons. I’d advise creating a separate email address for “freebies.”

4) In-Store – You can often find coupons called “blinkies,” which are the little machines that spit out coupons by the products they are for. There are also “tear-pads,”as well. You can sometimes even find “peelies” right on the products themselves.

5) Printable Sites – Some of the big printable sites are Coupons.com , RedPlum, Coupon Network and Smart Source. These coupons rotate week after week and usually have maximum printings that when the limit is reached, they are pulled off the site. So if you see one you think you might need, you should print it. (You can usually print two per computer.) Other sites are for eCoupons are Saving Star and Cellfire.

6) Blogs – Blogs are a great place to find coupons. I stumble upon several at my fellow blogger’s sites throughout the week. I compile them throughout the week and post them on Mondays.

7) Search Engines – If you are looking for a specific coupon, just type the brand name followed by the word coupon and you might be able to find one that way.

Join Groups/Surveys – There are some groups you can sign-up for that will offer/mail you coupons from time-to-time. Some are:
Vocal Point
Shoppers Voice
Upromise
Ebates
Recycle Bank

9) Manufacturers Websites – More and more manufacturers are hosting coupons on their own sites now. If you use a lot of a particular item/brand, check their website to see if they offer coupons. If they don’t, email/mail them and request some.

10) Magazines – By far, the magazine with the most coupons lately has been All You magazine, which you can only get by subscription or at Wal-Mart. The price of the magazine is well worth the coupons inside. Make sure you check your magazines to see if there are some inside.

11) Free Periodicals – Some stores will have local newsbooks that have local area coupons inside. (For Chicago, try Chicago Parent and Family Time)

12) Forums – There are several great forums out there to check into. The top ones I’ve found are WeUseCoupons, HotCouponWorld and AFullCup. You have to register at each of them, but it’s free.

13) Store Websites – Make sure you sign-up for your local store’s loyalty programs and register at their websites so you can get emailed coupons. You can add eCoupons to your card through Saving Star and Cellfire.

14) Phone Book – Don’t forget to check your phone book for coupons for your local area businesses.

15) Entertainment Books – The Entertainment books have coupons for restaurants, entertainment, retail stores, etc.

Here are a list of common sites that regularly offer coupons:
Coupons.com
RedPlum
Coupon Network
Smart Source
Pillsbury
Very Best Baking – Nestle
Family Cents
Eat Better America
Box Tops for Education
Red Plum
Target Coupon Generator
Saving Star
Cellfire

BOGO (Buy-One-Get-One) coupons and sales are the still the hardest thing for me to wrap my head around as a couponer. And that’s mostly because they are almost too good to be true sometimes! Now keep in mind, it’s always up to the stores on what their policies are on handling coupons. But here is how they generally work:

BOGO Coupon By Itself (or a BOGO sale item by itself) – If you use a BOGO coupon by itself, you’ll pay full price for one item and get the other one for FREE.

Coupons on BOGO Sale Items – If your store is running a BOGO sale on an item, you can use TWO coupons, one for each item, even though one item was technically free. The reason for this is because the sale is offered by the store and the coupons are re-imbursed by the Manufacturers.

BOGO Coupons w/ BOGO Sale Items – This is like winning the lotto. You get BOTH items for FREE. Why? The store will give you one for FREE with the sale and the manufacturer will re-imburse them for the value of the coupon. (Check your store for policy on this.)

The best way to use BOGOs? Shop with a friend and split the bill! (unless you personally need two of one item.) This is especially helpful if you only have one set of coupons to use.

Always keep in mind that you have to pay tax on the free item. Like they always say, nothing in life is free.

Hope this helps!

Some of you may be hestitant to grab the great deals at Walgreens because you don’t shop there enough to use the Register Rewards that help you technically get your deals for free or money-makers. (Or you have enough toothbrushes, toothpaste, air fresheners and shampoo to give one to your entire town!)

Well, here’s great news for you: Register Rewards can be used at other stores that accept Competitor’s coupons! (Check your store’s policy to see if they will take them.) This also works with store Catalinas!

Why would they take them? Most Register Rewards/Catalinas will say “Manufacturer’s Coupon” on the top. This means that the stores can mail them into the specified manufacturers and get their money back.

I’ve found out that my CVS, Jewel and Dominick’s will take these. (I haven’t checked with Target/Wal-Mart yet.) So I figure out which store has the best overall deals and use them there. This week, it’s Jewel! I can run the Huggies deal at Walgreens, get the Register Rewards and then go and buy up some super discounted items at Jewel! In the end, I’ll still get a great price on diapers, I can still mail my receipts into Caregiver’s Marketplace AND I get groceries for next to nothing out-of-pocket. (I’ve got enough stockpile in most of my household items right now.)

This is how I keep my grocery AND household costs down. Just make sure two things: Do those Register Rewards/Catalinas say Manufacturer’s Coupon on the top and will your stores accept them?

Also, make sure you are really using them to their best potential—basically you need to figure out what will give you the most groceries/household items that you REALLY need for the smallest out-of-pocket cost. It’s great to get a lot of “freebies,” but if you don’t really need them and are paying more for groceries, it’s not a deal. Free isn’t always free. (And remember…you still have to pay tax on “freebies.”)

Hope this helps! I’ll be putting up more Couponing Basics as time permits!

(Confused by “Coupon Lingo?” Click here for the explanations.)

Note: I do still pick up freebies often so I can donate to charities or help out my family members. I just have to make sure I am providing for my family first. In the end, you’ll figure how to “run the deals” so that you can do both!

Sometimes I feel so far behind the times or like I live under a rock! Time is so limited that I always fear adding one more thing to my plate. Email. Blogging. Twitter. Facebook. Surveys. The list goes on and on….Somedays it’s sooo overwhelming!

So when I heard about Swag Bucks, I was like, yeah, I can’t handle another thing! But when I kept seeing these free codes pop up online, I thought I’d check it out.

In one day, I earned 11 Swag Bucks and did nothing but register, found a few codes on blogs and won 5 more by using them as my search engine. You turn the Swag Bucks in for prizes. Example: 45 Swag Bucks (SB) will earn you a $5 Amazon Gift Card. (Oh, how I loooovvee Amazon! I’ve been ordering from them for years.)

I looked at it this way: even if I just collected codes on blogs throughout the year, I’d earn an easy $5. So I thought…maybe you’d all want to check it out, too?

Click here to register and read all the details.

And here are two Swagbucks codes I’ve found that MAY still be working: BirthdayBuck and HappySwagDay. If I find more codes, I’ll share them with you. But you have to be quick at adding them, as they expire quickly.

For those of you that are new to couponing, I’ve compiled a list of some of the abbreviations/terms that you might find while shopping/blogging in the “coupon world.” If you see one that I missed, please let me know and I’ll add it. Thanks!

$$/$$ – This means $ off when you spend $ amount. Example: $5/$30 is $5 off your purchase when you spend $30. (Check to see if the amount has to be before or after coupons to apply.)

$/# – This means that you get $ off for every # you buy. Example: $5/2 would mean that you get $5 off every 2 that you buy.

B1G1 = Buy One Get One Free (B1G2 is Buy One Get Two Free etc.)

Blinkie = A coupon that prints out at a machine in the store. They are located by the product associated with that particular coupon.

BOGO = Buy One Get One Free

Cash Register Tape = Your Receipt. Also refered to as CRT.

CAT = Catalina. A coupon that prints out at the register that is either $$ off your next purchase or $$ off a certain product. You typically have to use them at the store they printed, but some stores will take “competitor’s” coupons. Note: These are sometimes delayed in printing so wait a minute before walking away from the register. If you think you were supposed to get one and didn’t, talk to the cashier/manager and explain.

Catalina = Also refered to as CAT. A coupon that prints out at the register that is either $$ off your next purchase or $$ off a certain product. You typically have to use them at the store they printed, but some stores will take “competitor’s” coupons. Note: These are sometimes delayed in printing so wait a minute before walking away from the register. If you think you were supposed to get one and didn’t, talk to the cashier/manager and explain.

Closeouts – These are typically greatly reduced items that the store does not plan on re-stocking.

Competitors – This is the term meaning “of related chains.” For example, grocery stores will take other grocery store’s coupons and drug stores will take other drug store coupons. Always check with each store on what their couponing policy is and whom they consider to be a competitor.

Couponing Policy – This is the statement that each individual store abides by, in relation to coupons. What is typically included in their policy is whether they: take competitor’s coupons, take coupons past expiration dates, “double” or “triple” coupons, accept Internet Printables or if they even accept coupons.

Coupon Insert – These are “packets” of coupons found in Sunday papers and also sometimes in the ads mailed to you during the week. These are typically sent out by Smart Source (SS or S), Red Plum (RP) and Proctor & Gamble (PG)They are also refered to as inserts, S, SS, RP and PG.

CRT = Cash Register Tape, or your receipt

Discontinued – This means that a store has depleted their inventory of an item and does not plan on re-stocking it.

Double Coupons = This is the term used when stores will double a coupon’s value. Example, if you have a $1 off coupon, they’ll take $2 off. Stores vary on how often they do this ranging from never, always, on occasion or specific days of the week. Some stores may also set a maximum value limit. Example, no coupons over $2 and only 10 per transaction/day.

ECB = Extra Care Bucks. Exclusive to CVS. They work like cash on your next order. (Some restrictions do apply.)

ES =Easy Saver. This is Walgreens’ monthly rebate program. You can find the books by their ads in the store.

EXP = Expires or Expiration Date

FAR = Free After Rebate (See Rebate for explation)

FAE = Free after Extra Care Bucks (See ECB or Extra Care Bucks for explanation)

FARR = Free After Register Rewards (See RR or Register Rewards for explanation)

Inserts = These are “packets” of coupons found in Sunday papers and also sometimes in the ads mailed to you during the week. These are typically sent out by Smart Source (SS or S), Red Plum (RP) and Proctor & Gamble (PG) They are also refered to as coupon inserts, S, SS, RP and PG.

Internet Printable = A coupon that can be printed online. Also refered to as IP or Printable.

IP = Internet Printable Coupon. Also refered to as “printable.”

IVC = Instant Value Coupon. These are found at Walgreens in their weekly ads.

MFR = Manufacturer

MIR = Mail In Rebate. These are checks or coupons that the manufacturers/stores will send you if you meet the requirements on the rebate form.

OOP = Out-of-Pocket. This is the amount of money that you have spent after coupons, ECBs, RRs, Catalinas (See terms for explanations)

OOS = Out-of-Stock. This means that the store is temporarily out of an item but plans on getting in more inventory. Sometimes they will offer a raincheck in cases like these.

OYNO = On Your Next Order. Used when refering to coupons that you can use on your next order at that store. (Sometimes Competitors will take them.)

OYNP = On Your Next Purchase. Used when refering to coupons that you can use on your next purchase (order) at that store. (Sometimes Competitors will take them.)

Peelie = Coupons found on products in the store. (Don’t forget to pull these off and hand them to your cashier when you check-out. Don’t rely on the cashier to notice them for you. It will only aggravate you later when you come home to find it’s still there!)

PG = Proctor & Gamble. A big chain of brands that also puts out a coupon insert.

Prinables - These are coupons that you can print online. Also refered to as IP or Internet Printables.

Q = Coupon

Raincheck = A slip you can ask for in the store when an item’s on sale and out-of-stock. Some sales will specifically say “No rainchecks” and some stores will put an expiration date on their rainchecks

RP = Red Plum. This is a coupon insert that you’ll either find in your paper or the mail.

Register Rewards = Exclusive to Walgreens. They work like cash on your next order. (Some restrictions do apply.) Also refered to as RRs.

Rolling Catalinas – This means that you can use a catalina (see definition) as payment on another transaction of equal merchandise and another catalina will still print. Example, if you buy 5 “name brand items,” a $5 catalina will print. If you then buy another set of those same 5 “name brand items,” you can use the previous catalina you received as payment towards the order and another $5 catalina will print.

RR = Register Rewards. Exclusive to Walgreens. They work like cash on your next order. (Some restrictions do apply.)

S or SS = Smart Source. This is a big name coupon source. They not only send out inserts in the papers but they also have an online site with printables.

Stacking Coupons = This is the term used when stores will let you use their own store coupons along with a manufacturer’s coupon for the same item. Example: Most Targets would let you use their $ off “specific brand” product coupons along with a manufacturer’s coupon for that same “specific brand” product.

Triple Coupons = This is the term used when stores will triple a coupon’s value. Example, if you have a $1 off coupon, they’ll take $3 off. Stores vary on how often they do this ranging from never, always, on occasion or specific days of the week. Some stores may also set a maximum value limit. Example, no coupons over $2 and only 10 per transaction/day.

UPC = Universal Bar Code. This is the bar code that’s scanned on products for pricing/info at the stores. Several companies will ask you to mail these in on rebates

WAGS = Abbreviation for Walgreens

WT = Wine Tag. These are coupons that you’ll find hanging on the wine bottles in the stores.

YMMV = Your Mileage (Manager) May Vary. This is what you’ll see when someone finds a deal but they want you to know that your store branch may not offer the same deal.

WYB = When You Buy

OK, now you can put on your job applications/resumes that you speak a foreign language – Coupon Lingo!