Couponing Class

I taught "Couponing 101" today at the Titus2Moms group at our church. It was a great discussion with about ten moms about saving money. I told them I'd put the notes with links on the blog, so this post is primarily for them. But, feel free to read it if you're interested in couponing or earning a small income online.

Main Points:
Keep a good stash of coupons

• Sunday Paper (try to get your subscription for less than $1/issue)
• Free samles often come with high-value coupons (go here to see some recent freebie offers)
• Coupons Online (go here to see some examples)

Keep your coupons organized in a box, binder, accordian file. Organize your categories according to your family's needs (diapers, denture cream, depends... haha!).

Often (weekly, bi-weekly or monthly) go through your coupons and purge the expired ones. This also helps you to know what coupons you currently have and can watch for store sales.

Study the store ads. Pick two to four stores you frequent and study their weekly ads. Play the matching game with your manufacturer coupons and your store ads.

Couponing Tips:

• you can use two coupons on Buy One, Get One free- one coupon on the item you are buying, one on the one you are getting free
• If you have a Buy One, Get One Free manufacturer's coupon, watch for a store sale where that item is also Buy One, Get One Free. You will get both free!
• "Stack" a store coupon with a manufacturer coupon for maximum savings.
• If there is no size restriction on the coupon, look for a trial size or buy the size closest to the value of the coupon. (Examples: Johnson's Baby Swabs at Wal-Mart- $0.34 after coupon, Kotex pads at Wal-Mart: Free after coupon, Renu contact colution in trial size bins at Target: $0.54 after coupon)
• Sign up for the Publix and Winn-Dixie Baby Club. LOTS of high value coupons and some free coupons sent to you in the mail!
• There is also a Publix Preschool Club for kids ages 2 and 3
• Publix Store coupons (If it redirects you to put in your zip code, do so and look for the coupons tab on the right middle of the page)
• Whole Foods Store coupons
• Target store coupons

Deal Examples:

• Albertsons and Publix 4/19/2010
• Winn-Dixie, Albertson's and Publix 4/6/2010

Other Random things:

• I mentioned PaperBackSwap.com. List ten books, get one credit. Request books from members nationwide. Pay only media mail when you ship books.
• SwapaDVD.com. Similar to PaperbackSwap.com, but with DVDs.
• Swagbucks- this is a search engine, like google, that gives you "bucks" just for using their site to search. Happy Housewife (Kathy's daughter) did a great explanation of this here. I redeem these "bucks" for Amazon gift cards at Christmas or birthday time. Sign up here.
• Pampers rewards- great gifts for birthdays- John Mark is getting the legos for his 3rd bday in October.
• MyCokeRewards- found on all coke products. I bought my MIL a stainless steel gardening set for her birthday from these points.
• Tropicana has started a rewards program too.
• Earn money online with Opinion Outpost or Inbox Dollars. See a more detailed explanation of those ideas here.
• Wendy Bowerman's Aldi Blog
• The Happy Housewife (Kathy's daughter)
• MoneySavingMom
• Tonya's blog- full of great recipies and money saving tips

I hope all these links work. If any of them don't, please let me know.

Hope this is helpful to you ladies. If you didn't hear the talk this morning, this information may seem choppy or unclear. PLEASE leave a comment if you have questions, or email me. I would be happy to help. I really believe couponing can help your budget, your family, and give you a stockpile of items to give away to those in need.

And ladies who were there this morning, I will keep your kiddos if you want to go try your hand at a few deals. I promise!