Coupon Basics courtesy of Colin from www.Hip2Save.com
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Couponing: Putting On Your Game Face
Before clipping the first coupon, the game face is a must! Getting in a good mindset can be key to coupon success. Complete transparency: this can be a stressful game, but it can also be incredibly enjoyable!
PRE-GAME
• Drop your pride! If you’re afraid of how you might look to other people when you pull out your binder full of coupons in the check out lane, decide right now that you don’t care. Other people are not going to work to save money for your family!
• Be ready to work on it! The more money you want to save, the more you have to work at it. It’s all about what you want to put into it.
• Know what you need and what you don’t. When you start uncovering one deal after another, it can get overwhelming. Before you know it, you’re buried and you haven’t saved a thing. Have a plan, stick to it. As you get more comfortable with couponing, add a little here and a little there as it makes sense for your life.
GAMETIME!
• Smile! This is where the rubber meets the road. Smile the moment you hit the door of the store. It really makes a difference in your attitude!
• Cashier having a bad day and taking it out on you? Be the bigger person. “People are more important than things.” We are Christ-followers first, and $1 off Cheerios is not worth blowing your witness. Continue to be friendly, educate your cashier as they will allow you to do so, but at the end of the day, any store can turn down any coupon at their discretion. Arguing with them just makes them dislike you, everybody gets their blood pressure up, and it’s a mess! Bottom line: go home happy. Your family deserves it!
POST-GAME
• Celebrate! Do a little dance, call a friend to brag about your shopping trip, put it on facebook, frame your receipt…whatever thrills you!
• After the celebration, find some way to track what you’re spending and what you’re saving. Are you being effective? Do you have what you need? Are you using what you’re buying? It’s even a good idea to track frequently purchased items and come up with a “price point” for each item. How cheap does something have to be for it to be worth it to stockpile that item?
www.Hip2Save.com
My favorite site, and one of the most popular ones out there! There are lots of giveaways, online freebie deals, and tips and tricks to save even more money.
www.CouponKatarina.com
This site has a lot of the same stuff has Hip2Save, but there often different deals. In addition, Katarina posts Kroger deals while Hip2Save does not.
www.mojosavings.com
Again, a lot of the same deals as the other sites, but sometimes you hit the jackpot!
www.southernsavers.com
This one is great! Kroger deals, CVS deals, Walgreens…hits them all! Also, you can print out customized lists of the items that you’d like to get on your shopping trip. Anything that makes it easier is worth it!
www.organicdeals.com
Who doesn’t want to give their family the best? We don’t have to feed our families a meal in a box every night to save a buck! Check this one out if you’re looking to go the organic/ whole foods route.
FREE! FREE! FREE!
Don’t turn your nose up at free samples! Sign up for everything that you would use, or could give to someone else to use. There are lots of money-saving uses for free samples, and every now and then you’ll get full-sized items. Use toiletry items to give to over night guests, food samples for spare snacks in the car, or use beauty samples to make a “pamper yourself” package for a friend. Lots of times freebies come with coupons, so that alone makes it worth it. Some things in life really are free!
Here are some places to sign up for stuff:
www.kraftfirsttaste.com
Get coupons for 100% free items that Kraft is rolling out. They mail you the coupons, and you redeem them at the store. So easy! This is a great way to try out some of the newest products without paying a thing for them, which is the purpose of the program.
www.pgeverydaysolutions.com
Here you can get great coupons, and sample packs. Again, 100% free!
$$ OTHER GREAT WAYS TO GET STUFF CHEAP, FREE, OR EARN CASH $$
www.ebates.com or www.shopathome.com
If you do any online purchasing at all, they’re worth it! It’s really easy. Use one of their online retailers (there are 1000’s to choose from), go through their site to make a purchase, and get cash back 4 times a year! The more you buy online, the bigger your check. Even if it’s just a couple of dollars, it’s more than you had before!
www.swagbucks.com
Earn swagbucks by simply doing online searches, filling out surveys, shopping online…there are lots of ways to earn! Redeem your swagbucks in the swagstore for stuff or gift cards. My favorite is the $5 Amazon eGift cards. They work just like cash on amazon.com, which leads me to the next thing…
Amazon Mom and Subscribe & Save
Sign up for a trial membership of this service and you get free shipping on hundreds of items that moms need, from groceries to baby products to beauty…you get the picture. When you place orders using your trial membership, it extends the trial. Combine this with Amazon’s Subscribe & Save service, and the savings just keep adding up. Look it up!
Surveys
This one is a little time consuming, and there are a lot of frauds out there, but there are legit survey sites that can allow you to earn real money. A couple of the legit ones are www.opinionoutpost.com and www.mysurvey.com. Before you go for any survey site, check them out. If they ask you for card numbers, bank account numbers, social security numbers, DON’T DO IT!!
www.groupon.com, www.livingsocial.com, and www.weshop.com
These are daily deal sites. Each site sends out an email everyday with the daily deal to a retailer local to you. Most of the time the deal are gift cards at 50% off or more, and then sometimes they’re coupon codes for online purchases. These can be great for cheap date nights or gifts!
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