After Debra's wonderful post on Couponing the other week, we both started doing it ourselves and have had amazing results so far. I have saved $228.10 in less then 2 weeks and most importantly on stuff I actually needed.
Here is a photo of my latest shopping trip. All of this stuff came to $122.29 and I paid $10.82 with tax.
Here is how I did it.
1.First off I started by emailing all my local stores and asking what their coupon policy and price matching policies were.
Specific questions were:
Do you accept manufacturers coupons?
Do you accept online coupons?
Do you allow customers to stack coupons? Or to at least use both an in store coupon and manufacturer coupons together?
Do you price match?
Once they emailed me back I printed off their policies and put them in a binder. Most cashiers have no idea what store policies are and if you are having trouble with a cashier, you can show them the email. (every store I emailed, emailed me back with in a week)
TIP-London Drugs is stacking friendly. Which means they will allow you to use coupons up to the value of the product. Each of the coupons must be different ( different USP code) and none of them can say " can not be combined with any other offer" This is their policy. You still pay tax on the full amount of the product though and any online coupon over $2.00 needs in store approval. London Drugs also allows you to price match with other local stores ( item must be in the flier and in stock at the competitors store)
2. Second I called our local paper and asked to have the fliers delivered to my house.
3. I then sat down and started writing down prices of the items I use all the time ( Pampers, wipes, shampoo, soap, deodorant) and comparing them to sale fliers. Now in my binder I have a list of prices for these items. I can compare the sale price to the best price and know if it is a good deal, if I should wait for it to go on an even better sale or if I should price match it with another local stores price.
4. Start collecting coupons.
Where can you find coupons?
Local fliers, newspapers, magazines, back of food boxes, in store and online.
Make sure to sign up for newsletters from companies you use alot of for example Pampers, the newsletters almost always include coupons
.
TIP- When you find a coupon on something you use alot in store, grab extra and keep them for a later shopping trip.
5. Put all your coupons in your binder and organize them in sections ( beauty, baby, food, household etc) This way you can clearly see what you have. Hockey card holders are great for holding coupons. In your binder you should also have scrap paper, pen, scissors, calculator, shopping list,store policies and list of prices. Carry your binder everywhere.
6. Only use coupons on items that are on sale to get a better price for example-
In my photo I bought a Box of 156 Pamper Baby dry Diaper. They were on sale for $26.97 (already a good price) I then had a bunch of coupons. 6 x $2.00 off ( all were different coupons some printed off line, some from save.ca, some from Pampers newsletter etc. I then also had a $3.00 off and 2 X $5.00 off when you buy a box of pampers and wipes. So in total I got $25.00 off the pampers and only paid $1.97 for the box of diapers.
But it gets better since I also bought a box of 320 wipes which were on sale for $8.97 ( remember I had to buy wipes to save the $13.00 on the diapers) I also got to use coupons on the wipes. So I used another $6.00 worth of coupons on the wipes so I paid $2.97 for the wipes.
7. When you get a great deal, stock up. The whole goal is to never buy something not on sale. So stock up when you get that great sale and never pay full price again.
I think couponing will become a regular topic on our blog and we will continue to share some tips, coupon sites, sales etc. So keep checking back and hopefully we can help you shop for free as well.
If you like the post make sure to leave comments:)
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