Sample Lady!

Who doesn't love free samples!? It makes my day when I happen to hit Costco on the rare occasion and the sample ladies are out. Oooh...yes I would like to try that morsel of hot dog on a toothpick. Don't mind if I do.

P&G are now offering free samples for men and women. And they magically arrive at your door in a box. Love it!

Check it out. These are trial size so they're great for camping or vacation.

http://brandsamplerformen.ca/en_CA/

https://www.pgbrandsampler.ca/en_CA/

Customer Appreciation Day!

Does your grocery store have a customer appreciation day? Mine does. I shop at the Extra Foods on North Road. Their customer appreciation days are the first Sunday and Monday of every month. You get a discount on your groceries over $100. Sometimes I sould get a gift card back. When I spent over $100 I got a $10 gift card to go towards my next grocery bill.

Well, this time I did my shopping and I got $15 off my grocery bill right there. All, the coupons I've been doing are great. They save money in the long run. I've heard a lot of people wanting to save on their food items. Here's a perfect example of saving money on your food items. I tend to do my shopping once a week on a Sunday so I can easily have over $100 grocery bill.

So there you go...ask the next time you go in to your grocery store if they have a customer appreciation day or if they have a points system. Or shop at the Extra Foods, maybe I'll see you in there and we can compare savings.  : )

Entertainment Book!

Love that I got a call about this...

The Entertainment Book is on sale now for only $15. Coupons are good until November. If you only use a couple out of here, which I think most people would, $15 is well worth it. That's a lot of coupons so you can even go half-ers with someone.

Here's the link....

http://www.entertainment.com/discount/home.shtml?cm_mmc=Google-_-Brand%20Geo-Modified%20Ad%20Groups%20N%20to%20Z-Exact-_-Vancouver-Exact-_-entertainment%20book%20canada&cm_mmca1=29088144

Put in your Postal Code and you'll get the book for your area.

Coupon Day!!!

Did you get your P&G brandsaver in the paper today?? I raised to check out the papers on Saturday and nothing. Went to the gas station this morning and nothing. Huh?? How could this be!?!? Went to my brother and sister-in-law's for a visit and they got them in their Province newspaper. I think people took them out of the paper that's why I couldn't find them.The nerve! Turns out the flyer is in the local paper too.  The great thing about apartment living is that the local papers get delivered to the lobby, not door to door. I saw a large stack of the local newspaper and maybe grabbed a couple or ten. : )

My husband needed deodorant and he asked me if I have any coupons. A little tear came to my eye. Okay, I might be overexaggerating but it does make me happy that he's on the coupon bandwagon. I said of course I have coupons. I showed him exactly what to do. He called me up after using his coupons and he was so happy because he got two deodorants for FREE using the coupons. Sigh! So proud!

Here's the receipt.  The deodorants were on sale for $1.99 each, he had a buy two get $3.00 off coupon and a buy one get $1.00 off coupon. He actually made two cents on the purchase!

Happy Saving!!

Big Savings...Big...Huge...Have To Go Shopping Now!!

Okay...everyone must check out this website.

https://www.brandsaver.ca/en_ca/coupons/

Set up an account, if you haven't already. Very easy. Then once you're set up you can order a load of coupons. All you do to order is click on a check box and verify your home address. They don't send you junk emails or call you or harrass you. They just send you savings in the mail. They mail them to you in a few days. These huge savings come out every quarter (January, April, August, December). So now's the time!

What you need to know too, is that these same coupons come out this weekend in the paper as well. I'm not sure which one, it's either The Vancouver Sun or The Province.

So, you order these ones online AND make sure you get your paper this weekend.

Here's an example of "extreme couponing" using the coupons from the website and what you will get this weekend.

Using the Oil of Olay body coupons.

• when you buy 2 get $5.00 off
• when you buy 1 get 1 get $2.00 off
• when you buy 2 of participating products (Oil of Olay is one of these products) get $3.00 off

What you will do is buy 2 products. You will use the $5.00 off coupon, the $3.00 off coupon and the $2 off coupon twice (one you order, one you get in the paper). You can use this coupon twice because you are buying two items. That's $12.00 off on the two products!! I doubt these even cost $6.00 to begin with. So you will likely get both these items for FREE!!!

Eek...can't wait for my coupons! Is anyone else excited or is it just me?!?

Progress Update

It’s been several weeks now since I started my quest on couponing. I have to say I’m so glad that I did this. It was a lot of research in the beginning and now all I have to do is spend a few minutes a week checking out the websites for new deals. Actually, when you register for the website they usually send an email with coupon alerts. How easy is that!?

I haven’t done a tally but I think I save at least $5.00 each week when I’m doing my groceries. That’s by using a couple $1 off coupons here and there. That's $20/month, which is $240 a year. Not too bad if you ask me!! And that’s just on my weekly shopping and not combined with an in-store offer. If I combine it with an in-store deal I several dollars more on that one item, this works out to several hundred dollars a year. I have noticed that we are getting way more for our money lately. And I haven’t gone over my weekly shopping budget in several weeks.

I’m paying close attention to the cost of items and shop for sales now. I haven't changed grocery stores but I'm more aware of what is a good deal. What I like is that I’m trying new things. I think brand loyalty is great. And usually once I find something I like, I stick with it. But the coupons are for some products that I’ve never tried before but would like to. And in that past would want to buy and try out but maybe didn’t want to spend the money. And now, if I have a coupon I’m more willing to spend the money and test out the product. I don’t think I’ll ever have to pay full price for laundry detergent, dishwashing liquid, toilet paper, deodorant…the list goes on! And that makes me all giddy.

So just want to check-in with anyone reading this. Have you tried to get coupons? If so, how is it going? Don’t know where to start!? Let me know and hopefully I can get you started. I think it’s worth it.

COUPONS!!!

I’m so excited to write this entry. I’ve been waiting and waiting. Sorry it’s long but there’s a lot to talk about.

And here it goes…

My inspiration for even finding out about coupons started when I saw a TV show on TLC called “Extreme Couponing”. And judging by the amount of people I’ve discussed this show with, many of you have seen it too. And if you haven’t, well then, you need to.

I was mesmerized by watching this show. I was in awe watching how these people were able to save literally thousands of dollars by clipping coupons. They would go to the grocery store and buy hundreds of dollars worth of groceries and only have to pay $50. How is that even possible!?! I really wanted to know more. First of all, the show is American, which means they have different rules around coupons. They can coupon stack. So, it’s easier for them to get those huge deals. Unfortunately, in Canada we have these pesky rules by the manufacturer and the grocery stores that limit coupons. Such as, not be able to use it with other promotions and offers. So we can’t really coupon stack per se (I’ll get to that later, because we can-ish). You can save more when you combine a $1 off coupon, for example, with an in-store sale. When we went shopping on the weekend, I used a $1 off coupon for Fibre One cereal bars. The store was having a sale for $2.49 a box. So I got them for $1.49. Not too bad. Pretty good savings. I was just so excited to use my coupons!!

I did all the hard work and research and hopefully you can benefit from it. I found some really good websites that you can get coupons from. They are either printable or mailed to your house. The best part is that they’re FREE. Love it! All you do is set up an account, only takes a few minutes. Then you click the ones you want and then they get sent to you. Easy Peasy!! Once you order your coupons there’s like a “blackout” period where you’ll have to wait a certain amount of days before you can order that particular coupon (about 30 days or more). But you can go back and order others. Not sure how often new coupons become available, so I’m checking back often right now. I'm guessing new coupons come out monthly. As I go I will provide updates on what I found out.

From what I gather there’s a coupon code of conduct. Only order and/or print the ones you know you’re going to use. Or if you’re not going to use it pass it on to a friend that will.

Check out all the coupons I have been able to get so far. This is in about a week and a half of checking out websites. Now that I know which ones are the good ones, it’s so much easier. And there is a lot more on the way!!

COUPONS

 

Here are the websites I found:

http://www.save.ca/
By far the best one. Coupons come in about a week. They were the first ones I received in the mail and I’m pretty sure I have more on the way. (seriously, you have no idea how giddy this makes me.)

http://www.brandsaver.ca/en_ca/coupons/

A great one too. Probably less coupons overall available but they have the big savings. They have bigger dollar amount coupons. The bummer about this one is that when I followed up about how long it takes to get the coupons they said 6-8 weeks. So have to be patient with this one.

I really like this one too because it has a lot of the brands that I use. Like Ziploc, Pledge and Glade. Even has recipes on it. This one is a printable site. So you click and print the coupons you want.

http://www.groceryalerts.ca/

Basically a website (run out of Victoria so you know it’s relevant) that will tell you where the savings are. I’ve gotten some printable coupons from this site as well. For the most part, it does lead you to www.save.ca. Still a good one to check out though.

http://www.websaver.ca/

Another good one. Like the others, just click and order.

http://www.flyerland.ca/

Has basically the same coupons that www.save.ca does (if you click on some coupons it’s actually a link to the website). Has other good deals though, like Michael’s, restaurants, magazine subscriptions, car repairs etc. The best part is that it has all the flyers on it. So, you don’t have to collect each one, which I actually don't mind doing. I kind of like having that piece of paper in my hand to look at. But if you don't get a variety of flyers at your door then definitely check it out online.

The one website I haven't mentioned is groupon.com. Which don't get me wrong is great for deals. But if you're like me and are being really strict with spending then it doesn't really matter how good the deal is at that particular restaurant, I'm still spending the money. But that's what's great about saving money with coupons. It will allow you to save money on groceries and allow you to splurge in other areas. So a good time to mention just because it's a good deal doesn't mean you have to go for it. I'm the first one to admit that I get distracted by sparkly things that those advertising companies make me think I need. Ooh something shiny.

Sorry got distracted. Here’s how to get the most out of your coupons.

I’m going to talk to you about our version of “extreme couponing”. It’s not exactly extreme couponing it’s more like “somewhat exciting couponing”. But it still makes me all giddy. It's so fun checking the mail now knowing that it's not going to be bills in there all the time, there will be little surprises of savings.

If you happen to look at the website http://www.brandsaver.ca/en_ca/coupons/ you’ll notice that they have coupons by 2 Old Spice products save $3.00 AND buy any Old Spice product save $1.00. This is where you can stack your coupons. You can use the buy 2 and the buy 1 coupons together. And you can use them at London Drugs. They allow this at London Drugs because they see them as different UPC codes. As long as the coupons are different then you can use them. So you can’t use the buy 2 coupon twice but you can combine the other. Make sense!? And if they happen to be on the sale then you can save really big.

And I realize the example is for Old Spice which may not be everyone’s favourite, but you get the picture. J

If anyone knows of other coupon sites please be sure to make a comment. And if anyone starts this coupon journey or has been doing it let me know. I'd love to know!

Till then...

"A fool may earn money, but it takes a wise man to keep it" –scottish proverb

http://www.rightathome.ca/fhj_savings.aspx