NO COUPONS THIS WEEKEND

What a great week to start a couponing blog!  I'm sorry, guys, with the holiday weekend, there will be no coupons in the newspaper this Sunday.  Don't buy a paper unless you want to read the news!

Spectators or Participators

Now, I'm not one to beg for feedback, and I know you guys are reading because my stats say so, but I am really hoping this blog can be a place we can work together to save more on our shopping.  That means tonight I am going to ask you to participate! 

I do my shopping on Saturdays, except for the occasional time I get to do my CVS and Walgreens shopping during the week, so Thursday and Friday nights are the nights that I start getting my shopping lists in order.  And that means I am trying to answer the age-old question:  "What's for dinner?" 

Food can be one of our biggest expenses, but it's one we have the most control over.  You decide what you eat, where you buy what you eat, where you eat, and how you eat.  And that can make the difference on whether you meet the budget for the month.  Um . . . you have a budget, right?  Believe it or not, I feel more freedom with a budget than without.  I guess we'll have to talk about that sometime, too.

The point of all this is that I want recipes.  So pull out your trusty recipe book and find your favorite, and hopefully frugal recipe and post it in the comments.  It can be a recipe for an entree, a side, dessert, a snack, breakfast . . . whatever.  Just make sure it tastes good!  I'll post your recipes as entries so we make sure everyone sees them. 

Here's my offering to the cause:

Key West Chicken

3 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs honey
1 tbs vegetable oil
1 tsp lime juice
1 tsp chopped garlic (I usually just use garlic powder)
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves  (I can find chicken thighs for $1.00/lb pretty much all the time at HEB and bone-in split breasts for $1.00/lb pretty regularly.  So you don't have to use boneless, skinless.  Just use whatever you like and whatever fits your budget.)

In a shallow medium dish, blend soy sauce, honey, vegetable oil, lime juice and garlic.  Place chicken into the mixture.  Marinate in refrigerator at least 30 minutes.  Bake until done.


I love this recipe because it's quick, except for the marinating.  There's very little other prep work so you can spend your evenings doing other things rather than cooking.

Now let's find out what you've been cooking!

how low can you go?

Jack be nimble, Jack be quick


Jack go under Limbo stick!!
 
 
 
No, we're not talking about limbo.  We're talking about groceries.  Not quite as fun, unless you're seeing some deep savings. 
 
One way you can start saving money is by tracking prices on items you use a lot.  How often do you notice what you are paying for your favorite brand of laundry soap or peanut butter?  Do you know what the best price is on your favorite snack or the foods you pack for lunch?  Like everything else, start simple.  Get a spiral notebook or maybe a small pocket notebook and start tracking the prices on items you buy the most.  I tried this a couple years ago and tried to track EVERYTHING I bought, and I soon realized that is a bad idea.  It's hard to keep up with when you've got so many items, and you get bogged down.  So choose five or ten items, however many you are comfortable with, and start tracking the prices you see from week to week.  Sales tend to go in 12 week cycles, so by the end of that time, you'll have probably noticed the prices of your items fluctuate, and you'll find them at the lowest point.  Now that you know how low you can go, watch for those deep sales to come around again.  And buy extra.  I don't necessarily recommend having a room the size of a child's bedroom filled with your extras, but maybe you can buy enough to last you a few weeks, and maybe even enough until it gets to that deep sale again.  I have an average size plastic Rubbermade tote that has some extras in it -- extra toothpaste, mouthwash, laundry detergent.  I got those things at very low prices, so I don't have to run out and buy one at full price when I need a new tube of Crest. 
 
Buy something at full price if you need it right then, but make it a goal of yours to be able to buy at least a few of your most common items at those good sale prices.  $.99 mouthwash instead of $6.00 mouthwash and $.25 deodorant makes for some extra cash to be spent elsewhere.
 
It's Thursday, so I need to get off here and start planning my shopping trip for Saturday.  I got a CVS coupon in my email today that I plan to make very good use of!
 
Goodnight!

how to get gift cards for FREE (FOR REAL!!)

If you are my Facebook friend, I'm sure you've seen me talking about Swagbucks.  A lot.  Almost too much?  I don't know.  LOL.  It's worth it, though, even if you think I'm a little crazy.

Swagbucks is an online search engine that rewards you points for using their search engine.  These points can be redeemed for all kinds of gift cards as well as many other items.  Why not earn some goodies while you're doing something you would do anyway.

I don't do much actual searching these days, so one of the ways I maximize Swagbucks is instead of typing "Facebook.com" or "Gmail.com" or whatever else into the address bar, I search for it via Swagbucks, either at the website or the downloadable toolbar.  What I'm looking for is almost always one of the first few responses, and at least a couple times a day I win Swagbucks! 

Another way to earn lots of "bucks" is to get referrals.  Yes, that's what I'm trying to do now.  LOL.  When you refer someone, you get Swagbucks every time they win some when searching, up to 1000 Swagbucks.  (There a few other ways to win Swagbucks; you aren't matched for those.)  If you are trying to get a referral, make sure you have them use your referral link or click on your banner.  Otherwise, you don't get the referral.  If you sign up, I'll tell you where to find those on the Swagbucks website.

Other ways to win Swagbucks are by filling out surveys, answering polls, finding Swagcodes that show up from time to time, and doing your online shopping by clicking through their website. 


Exactly what can you get through Swagbucks?

I got a $20 Target e-gift card (just the code, not an actual card).  I bought a spice rack, and all I had to pay was a couple of dollars shipping that the gift card didn't quite cover.

I have gotten several $5 Amazon.com gift cards, and with those I bought a Game Genie for my Nintendo (yes, the old one) for nothing OOP and just the other day I got a rice cooker for $1.79, the little bit of shipping left over that my gift cards didn't cover.

And now, I have another Amazon gift card waiting for a few friends so I can do some more guilt-free shopping! 

As an idea, one of my Swagbucks friends saves all her gift cards and is planning on using them for Christmas shopping.  Wouldn't that be nice?  Christmas gifts without hurting your credit rating??  LOL.


If you're interested, click this link http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/rzokian or click the banner on the right of the screen.  They will start you out with 30 Swagbucks! 

Let me know if you have any questions.

what a mess!!!

Now you've printed a bunch of coupons and hopefully cut them out.  You're planning on picking up your newspaper Sunday morning, and you're starting to wonder how you're going to keep all these little slips of paper together.  Well, let me tell you, one letter-sized envelope is not going to cut it.  If you're going to save more than a quarter here and a dollar there, you're going to need to get organized.  It won't hurt much, I promise.


There are, for the most part, two ways to organize coupons.  You can get the little pouch with dividers and tabs that you can label.  WalMart has them for a few dollars, or you can find something of a higher quality on ebay or etsy.

This first picture is one I found just now on ebay.  One convenient thing about this is that it latches on to your shopping cart.  It looks like this one doesn't have a lot of dividers, and you're going to need a lot more than three. 

This one I found on etsy.  It has 26 dividers, and it's a lot deeper.  Once again, it latches on your shopping cart, so it's easier to take in the store.

This next way of organizing coupons is a little intense. . . . But if you can convince yourself to carry it into the store, in my opinion, it's really the best way to organize your coupons.

This is a coupon binder.  It allows you to easily flip through and see every coupon you have, without having to sort through a stack of coupons in the grocery store.  At its basic, it is a zipper style three ring binder and baseball card sleeves.  You may want to a spiral notebook or a stack of paper to use for your grocery lists or as a price book (we'll talk about that later), folders to hold ads if there isn't a place in the binder for them, and a pencil pouch.  You probably will want to store a pair of scissors, pens or pencils, and highlighters or magic markers.  Really, though, the point of the coupon binder, or any coupon organizer, is to make it work for YOU.  Whatever helps you to keep this mess organized and functional.

Whatever you use, you definitely want to make sure it is something you can use in the store.  You really don't want to leave any of those babies behind because even if you weren't planning on buying the shampoo you've got that coupon for.  If you go in the store and discover that it's on sale, when you add the coupon to that sale, you could get it cheaper than you've EVER bought it for before.  And if you left that coupon at home, that's just too bad.

So start considering how you want to keep your coupons organized.  Start simple if you want.  Use the small organizer and if that works for you, great.  If not, try something else.  Like I said, just be sure it makes sense to you and is helping you get those good deals.

How to Talk to Couponers

When you jump into couponing, it’s just like every other group of people, whether it’s Mensa, dry wallers, or the five girls or guys you’ve known since you were three. It has its own language that you need to learn to converse with others. So here is a list of terms you might want to be familiar with if you go looking at sites that post various coupon deals.


There’s a lot here, so just skim it over for now, and use it as a reference as you need it later.



AC – After Coupon

AR – After Rebate

BLINKIES – Some stores have coupon boxes in the aisles for specific products. These are called blinkies because sometimes they have a blinking red light. As if we need a blinking light to notice a coupon. LOL

BOGO or B1G1F – Buy One Get One Free (woo!)

CATALINA – These coupons are printed at the cash register when you check out. You might also see it called CAT.

CRT – Cash Register Tape

CVS “Boyfriend” – This is the price scanner at some CVS stores. It also prints coupons if you scan your Extra Care Card. Many couponers refer to it as their “boyfriend.” I don’t. LOL. I love the scanner, but I think the nickname is weird.

DND - Do Not Double

DND5 – Sometimes a coupon will say Do Not Double, but the bar code starts with a 5, and most computers will double it anyway.

ECB – Extra Care Bucks. These are part of the Extra Care program at CVS. It’s my favorite way to save and soon I’ll be telling you how to do it, too!

EXP – Expiration.

FAR – Free After Rebate

GG – The Grocery Game. Great website that researches the deals for you and tells you when items are at their rock bottom price. There is a free trial. Subscription rates are reasonable and can easily pay for themselves. www.thegrocerygame.com

GM – General Mills insert.

HBA – Health and Beauty Aids

HTH – Hope This Helps

IP – Internet Printable coupon

IVC – Walgreen’s Instant Value Coupon – These coupons are in the weekly ads or in the booklet printed out every month. The booklet is usually located at the front of the store, next to the ads, and is stuffed with great coupons.

MFR – Manufacturer coupon

NED – No Expiration Date. Sure would be great to run across one of those, but I’ve not seen one yet.

OOP – Out of Pocket – actual money paid after your coupons.

OYNO – On Your Next Order. These usually come as catalinas. You can’t redeem them right then, but you can use them the next time you’re in the store or the next time you make the specified purchase.

P&G – Proctor & Gamble. The lovely newspaper insert. My favorite coupons are in this one.

PEELIE – This is a coupon that you find on the product in the store. Sometimes they are for the product you’re buying (yay!) and sometimes they are for other products from the same brand.

POP – Proof of Purchase

PSA – Prices Starting At

Q - Coupon

RC – Raincheck. You can sometimes ask for this in the store when an item is on sale and they are out of stock. This enables you to get the deal when they have received more, even if the deal is officially over. Sometimes sales will say no rainchecks, or a raincheck may have an expiration date.

RP – Red Plum newspaper insert.

RR – Register Rewards. These are at Walgreens and are similar to ECBs at CVS. We’ll learn about these, too.

SS – Smart Source newspaper insert.

STACKING – Using a store coupon and a manufacturer coupon on the same product. Great savings here!!

TEAR PAD – A pad of coupons or rebate forms found near a product.

V – Valassis. Red Plum used to be called this. You may see it used occasionally.

WAGS - Walgreens

WYB – When You Buy. This means you have to buy something else to get the deal. Sometimes a coupon will give you product A for free when you buy product B or give you a discount on product A when you buy product B. For example, Gillette often has a coupon that gives you a free body wash WYB a deodorant.

YMMV – Your Mileage May Vary. This basically means the deal might not be the same where you are located as compared to where the blog poster is located.

$/$$ - X dollars off when you buy XX worth

.50/1 – Fifty cents off one item

.50/3 – Fifty cents off three items


One last thing: there is a question box at the bottom of the page where we can talk coupons. Ask any questions you have or answer any questions you see there.



Have a wonderful night!!

First of the Month!!

Hey, guys, here's a quick rehash of something from my last post.  Coupon websites reset old coupons and add new coupons at the first of the month.  Today is September 1st.  I am looking at coupons.com right now, and there are some great coupons!  Yogurt, frozen vegetables, frozen pizza, soup, medicine, lice treatment (school is back in session, you know!), baby formula and a lot of other great stuff.


I'll be back soon with another post.  But before you read it, go get your coupons!