Quick Tip for Printing Coupons

There is nothing more frustrating than finding a great coupon and not being able to print it.  Most of the time with bricks coupons (the ones that look like THIS and say bricks in the URL) there are two things you can do:

1. If you keep circling back to “install coupon printer” you simply need to change your browser.  (Now this is assuming of course you have installed the coupon printer already.)  So what does that mean?  That means if you are using Internet Explorer just cut and paste the link in another browser- like Mozilla Firefox and it should work!

2. If you still can’t get it to work you can look for the little help link at the very bottom right corner of the screen:

Some manufacturers will mail the coupon to you!  If that is the case, when you click on HELP you will see a screen that asks for your mailing information!  Now I had some problems with the Stouffer’s coupon about a week ago and I requested to get it in the mail.

And ta da!  Here it is mailed right to me within just a few days!  Obviously this isn’t as good because I only got one copy not two- but better than no copies at all!

So you can try this if you ever run into this problem- remember not all offer this option.  Also, it is VERY easy to discard these coupons as they come in plain white envelopes.  You want to be on the lookout because they look like junk mail and usually have just a PO Box or plain address typed in the corner.

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Earn Money From Home: Toluna Opinions

I have talked about a few other survey sites in the past and wanted to add one more to the list that seems to be both credible and worthwhile.

There is a company called Toluna and they send you surveys and if you complete them they will award points which can be redeemed for cash.

This company seems to be good because I understand they send quite a few surveys- possibly 2 per day.  Each survey will take about 15-20 min to complete and you earn $1-5 each.  I think a $5 return on your time is a pretty good investment, especially if you can do these surveys while you are watching TV or during your lunch hour at work.

I used to do these types of things all the time and it is a very easy way to earn a little extra income.  Now that I spend so much time on the blog, I can’t do as many surveys as I used to do.  So I do appreciate any feedback you guys have on the companies that I recommend!

As always, I think it is a good idea to set up an email account that is exclusive to the survey sites.  I also think it is worthwhile to sign up for a few different ones to see which ones you like best and which seem to pay the most.

Thanks for your tips Koupon Karen!

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Reader Question: How to Determine a Grocery Budget?

This is a question that I get asked quite frequently and I have a few tips that might help you to figure out what a good weekly budget is for your family.  I thought I would also share how our weekly budget works.

The short answer to this question is it depends.  I don’t like blanket budgets because every family is going to be different.  For example I do not have double coupons in my area so my prices are higher than others might pay.  I also have 2 in diapers- so that is an added expense for us each week.  Personally my philosophy is that you just want to live within or below your means. I could certainly spend less but I try to have a varied menu each week.  Also I don’t have any of the great grocery stores like Kroger, Publix and Food Lion that seem to have exceptional sales from week to week.

When we moved to California and I started learning to coupon we had an extremely tight budget.  I made $30 per week work for us including every single thing from diapers to groceries to cleaning supplies.  Let me tell you that was a struggle!  But we both moved here without jobs so we needed to save every penny to avoid dipping into our savings.  Once we were both employed, I increased the budget to $50.  That includes pretty much everything from dog food to toiletries.  The two items I do not include are diapers and formula.  This seems to be a very workable budget for us but I would encourage you to find the range that seems to work for your family.

Here are a few tips to get started:

1. Evaluate how much you currently spend each week. Aim to reduce that by 10% every week without sacrificing too much quality in your menus.  If you are new to couponing this is the easiest way to immediately see a difference in your weekly budget.

2. Pay attention to waste. Before I started my frugal adventure we would go through the fridge every week and toss a ton of food.  Produce that was past its prime, items that expired etc…  Now I aim to stop the waste entirely.  So I always think every week about what we will really eat.  It doesn’t mean I am stingy but I don’t buy 4 pounds of bananas if we can only eat 2 pounds.  I also try to freeze as much as I can.  So this week we had a bag of potatoes that needed to be used.  I went ahead and mashed them up and made a casserole that went into the freezer for a future meal.  If you are regularly throwing away items than you are essentially throwing out your money.  You might try scaling back a little on what you buy or try to come up with creative ideas to use those items up before they expire!

3.  Start menu planning! This alone should help to save quite a bit each week as you are planning ahead for what you might need rather than just buying whatever looks appealing when wandering the grocery aisles.

4. Get creative with recipes! I almost never follow a recipe exactly.  More often than not they require a long list of ingredients. I try to omit or substitute as many items as I can.  For example, if a recipe calls for Provolone cheese and you have Mozzarella on hand- can you substitute that ingredient?  On my menu this week I wanted to try a homemade pizza recipe with Butternut Squash and Pine Nuts.  Those two ingredients would have killed my budget so instead I found great deals on fresh mozzarella and Roma tomatoes.  Our family had a nice roasted tomato and mozzarella pizza instead.  Just as good for a fraction of the price.

5. Be honest with yourself. I would really encourage you to be honest about how much time you have and are willing to spend from week to week.  If you can spare one hour per week to prepare and organize coupons I would think you can really get your budget down.  You will likely need to spend a little extra time at the store as well if you are using coupons, but in the end you will save yourself from making extra runs to the store to grab those last minute ingredients anyway.  If you simply can’t spare that time, or you don’t want to invest the time, you can still reduce what you spend by buying low and stocking up.  See my vlog about this HERE.  You will likely wind up spending more than what a couponer might spend- but every little bit counts so even just a small difference in your budget can really add up over time.

And now for you!  What tips do you have for finding a workable budget?

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List of Free Item Coupons Available

When I first started couponing I learned that you can actually call or email a variety of companies and request coupons from them!  More often than not, they will send you coupons.

I used to call a handful of companies a day and sometimes I would get $10 or so in free product coupons and sometimes just .25 off one item.  One of my favorites to call is Huggies- you can call them about every 6 months and they will usually send you $3 off coupons.  I once got a $5 off coupon from them.  I would just look for items we really liked that I already had on hand and I would call the phone number on the back.  You can also just look up companies online and send them emails.

Reader Melinda had some luck recently doing this- and Mama Cheaps found a huge list of companies that will send out coupons if you request them!

See the list by clicking below- many of these are Organic and pretty expensive items.  If you decide to try emailing let us know how it goes!

Read more

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5 Lessons I Learned Using Coupons

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I know a lot of you are just getting started using coupons and I thought I would share a few things I have learned.  For those of you that have more experience please feel free to share your tips as well!

1.  Start slow. Just like with anything new there is a tendency to want to hit every store for every deal every week.  I would strongly recommend starting slow.  You might start off with one drugstore at first and do one or two very simple transactions.  Once you get comfortable with that store you can start doing more complicated transactions or branch off to other stores.  You will also want to get a feel for each of your local stores and their policies on coupons.  I have a wonderful Target and a wonderful CVS in my area, so I try to do as much of my shopping there as I can.  Likewise, I happen to have a Walgreens that is very anti-coupons so I almost never shop there as a result.

2. Read the fine print. Many drugstore deals in particular have limits on the quantity you can buy.  Typically the limit is 1- especially on deals that involve ECBs, rebates or Register Rewards.  You will want to be sure to check your local ad for any limits before you plan your trips.   Be sure you carefully read the beginners drugstore series for Rite Aid, Walgreens and CVS HERE before your first shopping trip.  I have been doing the drugstore game for a few years and I still make mistakes all the time.

3. All deals will come around again.  I promise the chances of seeing an incredible deal come back around are extremely high.  If you miss out on free Colgate this week- I just bet it will come back around next month!  I usually only go to the drugstores once every few weeks to roll my ECBs or Register Rewards.  Your time is an important factor to consider when couponing.  When I first started I made myself crazy running all over to get every deal every week.

4. Moderation is a good thing. This is just my personal opinion and your situation might be very different from mine.  If you live in a rural area and it is 45 minutes to the nearest store or you have a very large family than I would encourage you to find the balance that works for your situation.  It is easy to get a little carried away with coupons.  I see people that have 20 newspaper subscriptions or that purchase hundreds and hundreds of coupons for specific deals.  I would encourage you to really consider what you need.  For drugstore items, I usually keep 3-6 items on hand because most products we simply don’t go through that quickly.  I know a lot of people will disagree with me on this and that is ok!  Just keep in mind that you will have to manage everything you buy.  So if you buy 46 boxes of free cereal and you only go through 1 box a month, that is a ton of product that you have to store and manage.

5. Have fun!  Hopefully using coupons will become fun and fairly seamless.  Once you start to get the hang of it I hope that it gets easier and easier to do.  I have discussed my price book in the past and I have a certain price I try to pay for certain items.  I usually try to look at the big picture.  If an item hits my buy price one week and I simply don’t have time to get to the store, I will happily pay a little more the following week or I just make it work without that item until it goes on sale again.

I also have the same philosophy for stores.  If I know a store is going to give me a hard time I just don’t shop there.  My regular grocery store is a great example, I drive out of my way to a friendly Safeway store rather than go to the one right by my house.  I would rather spend a few extra minutes in the car than get treated badly and wind up angry, embarrassed and upset at a store that is not going to treat me well.  I would encourage you to do the same!  When I first started there were countless times I was near tears when leaving a store because I was treated so badly.  Now that I am a little more experienced I have no idea why I put myself through all that.

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Great Article to Read on Couponing!

There is a great article HERE on couponers if you have a moment to read it today!

This is exactly the way I look at couponing- I figure out how much I get paid per hour.  We used to spend $600/month on groceries (for just 2 people) and now we spend $200/month for groceries (for 4 people and a dog).  It takes me about 2-3 hours a week between cutting, planning and the actual shopping trip (this would be way less time if I had better grocery stores to choose from!  I usually go to a few stores every week to make my budget work.)

So I figure 10 hours or so per month to save $400 which is about $40 an hour.

According to the Wall Street Journal I actually got a a raise to $86 per hour.  Yeah me!

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The MFA Price Book: Grocery Stores

This is part 3 of the price book series. As I mentioned before, I don’t usually like to discuss the prices I will pay for certain items because it really depends on where you live and where you shop. I live in a very high cost of living area and I do not have double coupons in any of my stores. So my prices are likely much higher than yours are! This is just to give you a very rough idea of what I consider a good price for certain staple items. I do not have a formal system of tracking prices- I just sort of remember them in my head. When a sale rolls around or coupons get me to the prices listed, I usually buy enough to last until the next sale. Typically I use 6 weeks as a rule of thumb for the next sale cycle, but again you will want to simply watch the ads in your area and see what works for you.

All prices reflect name brand products. I have found I get name brand items for much less than the generic version by using coupons and shopping the sales.

CHEESE: (Basic Cheddar or Mozzarella) $5.49 for 2 lbs (.17/oz)

WHOLE WHEAT BREAD: .99/loaf

EGGS: .99/dozen (usually I can get 18 for that price)

PASTA: .49 (I try to pay .25 or less)

BUTTER: $.99-1.50 (this is for quality butter like Challenge)

BANANAS: .39/lb

COFFEE: I usually pay $5.50-5.99 for a 29 oz tub. I like a specific brand or I could probably get a better deal.  I do splurge on Tassimo disks but that is not in our grocery budget.

5 LB FLOUR: $1.99 is the highest I will pay.  I try to get closer to $.99-1.49.

PASTA SAUCE: .49-.99 (again with double coupons you can likely get a much better deal!)

5 LB SUGAR: $1.49 or less

CRACKERS: .49 or less

CEREAL: I just reduced my buy price to .25 a box.  I will occasionally pay a little more for Organic products or something new I want to try.  Also I find Cheerios I have to pay a little more for.  I will spend  up to .70 per box.

OATMEAL: .49-.99 for instant oats

PEANUT BUTTER: .49-.99

JELLY: .99 (I will pay a little more to get a high quality product)

FROZEN PIZZA: $2.50 or less for a large pizza

CANNED VEGGIES: .25 is what I aim for but I will pay .50

CANNED SOUP: We don’t eat a lot of canned soup- I try to stock up on cooking soups for .50 or less a can

So those are just a few basics.  You can see my drugstore prices HERE and meat stock up prices HERE.  Just leave a comment below if there are other specific products that you are interested in!

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Earn Money Online.

This is the 4th installment of Earn Money Online- with yet another survey company highlighted.

This time I wanted to tell you about Mindfield Internet Panel.  This is a company that will send out online surveys and will compensate you for your time in completely the survey.  The nice thing about Mindfield is that you can cash out your earnings as low as $5- so you don’t have to wait for ages for a check.  Plus they mail it out within a week of when you request it.

I just signed up for Mindfield and I received a survey within 2 days.  I did not qualify for the survey but it only took a second for me to find that out.  I didn’t have to fill out a long questionnaire to find out I didn’t qualify.

Also, even if you don’t qualify you are entered into a monthly sweepstakes just for filling out the qualification survey.

So all in all this seems like an easy company and I really like how quickly they pay out.  This is a great way to take a few minutes from your day and try to earn a little extra money.

Don’t forget you will want to set up a separate email account for these survey offers so you can keep everything straight.  Mindfield is totally and completely free to join.

Head up HERE to see the other companies I already talked about.

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