>The weekend is here. Thanksgiving is next week, so pop on over to Sunday Coupon Preview and decide how many papers you need to help you finish your preparations. In advance, there will probably not be coupons next weekend. I have found there is often no coupons in the paper on a holiday weekend.
If you eat gluten-free or will be entertaining some g-free guests, there’s a great holiday recipe here.
>I found this Sunday as I was thinking about what I’d want to share for this week’s Save $ Monday. How timely! You can click here for some great tips on many different places for freebies, as well as link to other money-saving articles.
In addition, two more coupon sites were passed on to me. I have not had time to check them out, so here they are for your perusal. Coupon Craze and Good Shop. Enjoy!
>Another week has gone by and another coupon preview is here! As I remember last year, there were lots of great coupons leading up to Christmas and then it seemed kind of small for a couple weeks. Go over here and decide if you want one, two, or three papers!
>As the holidays move closer, the coupons will become more helpful! Stop by this weekend’s coupon preview to decide if you want extra newspapers this weekend!
Reminder–it’s the end of Daylight Savings on Saturday! Remember to change the time on your clocks.
>Just a quick note to give you something to think about. A week or so ago, a friend of mine posted on Facebook that a friend of hers met a lady who needed some clothing for her and her three children. Tonight her friend is going to meet me at training to collect some things a church friend and I have gathered up.
The point of this post is not to toot my own proverbial horn. The point is for you to look at saving money in a different light. I do not have hundreds of dollars I can give this lady to help her get on her feet. However, thanks to couponing, I had a stash that I could grab items from and clothes that don’t fit me anymore that I could pass along. When you are clipping coupons, you may come across coupons for items you don’t use. Perhaps you know they go on sale often. Consider clipping them once in a while and starting a giving stash. You never know who may benefit from your frugality.
>A friend of mine and local loyal reader gave me an article from the August 19 Detroit Free Press. It is about the Coupon Queen Susan Samtur. She’s from New York, but for some reason (maybe only for the article) she was in the Detroit area and completed a grocery trip at the Allen Park Meijer. Before coupons and rebate her bill came to $134.99. After is was $12.12. Yes, I did not mistype.
So, what does she do? First of all, you need to know she’s been doing this for 35 years. Don’t feel overwhelmed! Second, some of the things she saved on were regular detergent and premade sauces, things that I personally do generally not buy because of their ingredients. However, whether you are chemical conscious or not, you can use her tips to save big bucks!
I am not a big rebate-user as the stores I frequent the most are not rebate stores. Samtur says they are worth the effort, so maybe I should try more. I have to weigh my time vs. my savings, personally. The thing I personally liked about Susan’s tips was she said to research your local stores and see what fits you best, then have a back up store. I have had to use that method instead of the hit every store each week method. I simply can’t do that when I have to work around my husband’s crazy schedule, sharing a car, and two little guys. Her recommendation made me feel validated.
The other thing I liked about Samtur was she suggested you start where you can. She recommends you “start with items that are more expensive or paper products.” As you save money and gain confidence and experience, you can work your way up to other savings. Start out as a coupon princess and work your way to being a coupon queen!
Of course, in this day and age, we all want to know if she has a website! She does. In fact, she has three! I have not yet had time to spend playing around on them, but here you go:
www.couponqueen.com
www.selectcouponprogram.com
www.refundbundle.com
It looks like there is a coupon program you can sign up for to receive $25 in coupons a month at the select coupon program site, and “for a limited time only” receive extras, including Susan’s DVD.
If you are a Michigan resident, the Detroit Free Press wants to hear your personal coupon tips and stories. You can click over and learn how to submit them here.
>I’m sure some of you Swaggernauts out there are much better at Swagbucks than I am. I have found two new ways to earn Swagbucks, and I thought I’d share them in case someone else didn’t know they are there. If you don’t know what I mean when I say Swagbucks, you can click here to read my introduction post about them.
I have not been convinced yet that online surveys is a good money maker. I’ve tried a couple and have found them basically to be a waste of time. However, the other week I found that Swagbucks now has “trusted surveys” under the “ways to earn” category. I was curious, so I clicked on it. It took some time, but when you open up your survey profile, you get various amounts of Swagbucks for completing each section of your profile. If you’re close to your next reward level, this is a great way to finish it off! I think I earned about 70 Swagbucks or so completing those profiles. Then, each time I have clicked on “trusted surveys” to check if I have an available survey, I earn 1 Swagbuck just for checking in! I know it’s little, but it helps.
Another way to get a Swagbuck a day is “daily poll”, also under the “ways to earn” category. When you click on daily poll, it brings up a question and 4 answers. You click on your answer, then vote, and you earn a Swagbuck! Again, not much, but if you do both of those each day, that’s 60 Swagbucks in a month!
Finally, here’s an encouragement for you wondering if couponing is worth it. For a long time now I have been saving kid’s toothpaste coupons when they come out, and it never goes on sale when I have coupons. I was beginning to think it wasn’t worth saving the coupon. I am very glad I hung in there! This week, the kind of kid’s toothpaste I use is on sale. I took out my coupon holder, and lo! The coupon is still good! So, the toothpaste is on sale 3/$5, or $1.67 each. With a $1.00 off 1 coupon, that makes the toothpaste 67 cents. Pretty good, especially when I think it’s close to $3 regular price and I don’t buy it then.
What got me really excited was, when I pulled out the coupons, I had FIVE! The week that particular coupon came out, I had deemed that there were enough good stock up items that I should buy 3 copies of the paper. Apparently my coupon trading partner also thought it was a good week to get extra, because she bought two. Now we both have five copies of some coupons if we want them! So, I can stock up on this kid’s toothpaste and not have to buy for a long time! Ah, the satisfaction!
Do you have a coupon victory you’d like to share? Feel free to leave a comment!
