YOU In Bloom: Answer Questions & Possibly Win an Amazon e-Card in Return!
Thanks to all the amazing participation in the original “Clip it to the Bank” Q&A post I have quite a few follow-up questions that I’m hoping you can all help me to answer. I want to make this extra fun for you guys, so I’ve decided to give away 20 $5 Amazon e-cards! How do you win? Here’s the deal – I have chosen 20 random numbers (1-1000) shown below. If your comment ends up being any of the 20 pre-selected numbers below, then you will win a $5 Amazon e-card. Please remember that your comment is only valid if it is an original comment (NOT a response to another reader’s comment) and if your comment is an ANSWER to one or more of the questions posted below. Please note that you do not have to answer all of the questions below…if you only want to answer one question, that is fine! Thanks!
Winning Comment numbers:
47, 80, 120, 164, 232, 276, 313, 390, 423, 459, 519, 572, 632, 661, 749, 787, 845, 860, 915, 995
Calling All Couponers – Beginners want to know…
1)How do you decide which coupons to print out and which ones to avoid?
2)How long does it REALLY take to get to a point where you feel like you know what you are doing?
3)How much time do you seriously invest in the process of organizing your grocery list, coupons, stores sales, etc. before you head out the door to go shopping?
4)How can you fit couponing into healthy meal planning?
5)What/where can you find the best deals for summer traveling?
6)What are the pros/cons of your coupon organization method?
7)How do you get the maximum use of coupons before the expiration date?
8)How do you determine if it’s worth the extra trips (gas money, time) to special stores?
As always, thanks for your input and good luck! 🙂
8)How do you determine if it’s worth the extra trips (gas money, time) to special stores?
Generally, I shop at the stores close to home – Meijers, Walgreens, CVS – so I don’t waste gas or time. For me to venture out, a deal has to be free or pretty darn close! 🙂
Pro’s to my coupon organization baseball card binder- I can shop clearance easily and have easy access to know what coupons I have.
Con’s to my coupon organization- Time consuming (usually 1-2 hours a week to cut and file) but I do this after my kids go to bed.
Couponing has become my hobby 😀
1)How do you decide which coupons to print out and which ones to avoid?
–>I only print and cut out the coupons of things I know that I will buy and my family uses those products. When I first started couponing, I was cutting out all the coupons, and it was very time consuming, and a lot of sorting. I soon realised to only cut/print coupons I NEED and will use.
#2 – I have only been seriously couponing for the last 3 weeks or so, and I feel pretty confident that I have it down….It may have helped that I took a “class” from a local lady here 🙂
4)How can you fit couponing into healthy meal planning?
It’s really not that hard! I think there are just as many deals and coupons for healthy items. I just make sure I don’t buy less healthy stuff just because its free. Because if it’s in my house, we will eat it!
#6 – I only clip the coupons when I am ready to use them. THis method is organizing the weekly coupon booklets by date and leaving the coupons in tact until I am ready to use them. THat way I can search by source (SS, RP, GM or PG) and date. The PRO to this is that I am spending less time actually clipping coupons. In otherwords I don’t spend time clipping a coupon that I won’t end up using. Also, I don’t miss clipping a coupon that I could have used. The CON is that I probably miss some sales because I don’t have the coupons already clipped and with me while I am shopping in case I run across a deal while I am in the store.
#7
As far as expired coupons–thats the pits! I hate at the end of the month when I go through my binder and have to toss [or donate to military overseas!] expired coupons.
I’ve started doing this the past month:
keep an envelope in the front of your binder that has coupons expiring in a weeks time. make sure to review them before going to the store to familiarize yourself with them..and be on the hunt for a good deal! that way they dont get lost in the shuffle!
*kelly
1) If the coupon can get me something free or close to free I will print it no matter what it is for(if it is something my family does not use, I donate the item) other than that I print coupons for things my family needs. I try to steer clear of conveinence items, unless the coupon is a great coupon or I know I can pair it with an ad.
2)I have been couponing for about 6 months seriously and I feel like I have the non food item shopping down, but I still struggle to save a lot on grocery items. I think it takes some time to really get to know your local stores, there sales, policies, etc.
3)I spend about 2-3 hours a week clipping coupons and organizing my binder. And on top of that I spend another 2 hours or so a week checking out the ads, writing list,etc. I have 3 children and my husband is gone alot so I do ALL my ad shopping at Walmart and only go to the other grocery stores if they have a good store coupon, or match coupons.
4)I struggle with fitting couponing items into healthy meals because a lot of the food coupons are conveinence foods that are pricey and not that healthy, but I try to stick to my meal plans and work with the coupons I can.
6)I love my binder. It is easy to use and very organized. The down fall is that it is huge to carry, especially when I shop with the kids.
7)I don’t try to use a coupon just because it is going to expire. I use my coupons when I can get a great deal using them.
8)First and for most..I am a stay at home mom, so couponing has become a part of my “job”. The money I save couponing is kind of like my income. I try to group errands together so I am not wasting gas. We are fortunate enough to have 3 main grocery stores and a Rite Aid, Target, Walgreens and Walmart all within about 10 miles of my house. But just going to Walmart to do all ym ad shopping saves me time and gas since I don’t have to hit all the grocery stores as well.
I wanted to answer question 1. I feel that this takes some time to get the hang of. At first, I printed almost all of the coupons. Now, I really think about if I will actually use the coupon or if that item might possibly end up a freebie ( if I don’t use that item, I could donate it ). I would say give yourself some time to see what you will actually use.
To answer question number 7……I go through my coupon binder the last week of the month and pull out all that are about to expire. If there are any for products that I know I am going to need to get anyway, I will use them. For the others, I just check as I’m shopping to see if any will make for a great deal. If it doesn’t, I toss them or send them to military 🙂
My friend and I ALWAYS shop CVS & Walgreens on Sunday night about 8:30. Our husbands know this is our time to shop KID FREE and they enjoy hearing about the deals we get when we get home. Even if we are only going for a few items…it is worth the time out to just chill without the kids.
Target is on the other side of town for me so I usually will put my deals/coupons together on a Monday and wait until I am headed to that side of town that week and stop by to pick up my goodies. I shop Target in the daytime with my 4 yr old so I have to time this JUST RIGHT…if you know what I mean!
When it comes to printing coupons, I am very selective to the one’s I choose. As ink is very expensive, I don’t want to waste it by printing something I’m not going to use. I like to print high value ones, especially when stores like VS or Lane Bryant are giving away one of their products. For example, the free cami and panty…
3. A lot :). I enjoy reading about and finding deals, but honestly, I don’t think it would be worth it if it wasn’t a hobby.
I print coupons for things that I knwo I can use…. or stock up on! 🙂
I spend about 2 hours a day looking at and printing out coupons!!
If its free it worth the extra trip to town!!!
6. The pros/cons of coupons organization. I currently use a 3-ring binder that I put in a tote that has a strap. I love that my tote is wide enough that I can clearly see the coupons in my baseball card pages. Cons- you can’t lay it out in your shopping cart.. But that was kind of what I wanted anyway.. I always got funny looks and my binder could easily fall on the floor.. So I like putting it in a tote-bag. I organize my foods in categories (after 9 months of trying other methods) and my bath/body is organized by brand name. My household products I just switched from brand name to the category, which I am liking. It’s taken me over a year to figure out what I like, don’t like, organization style. The tote bag idea I got from Hip2Save and I love this method! I’m currently debating on buying a coupon clutch now –it looks like it might not be as bulky.. We’ll see.
It took me about 3 months to confidently coupon, 6 months to do it in multiple scenarios and transactions, and by 9 months I’m teaching others to be “hip2save” too!
5) Best deals in summer traveling…. I use kayak.com for all traveling. It finds the best airline, hotel, and car rental deals by comparing lots of companies. There are also good filtering tools to narrow things down.
If the item is something I would already buy, then it is defintley worth going to the store for. Also, if I can combined my trip with other errands then it is even more worth it.
I enjoy coupons so much that I spend at least an hour each morning looking at the coupon deals online and four hours each week clipping printing and putting my weekly deals together..then spend Friday afternoons sopping!!!
I am choosy about the printable coupons I print off. You have to consider the cost of the ink also. My printer has a separate cartridge for color and one for black and white and I keep the color one in the drawer-so my son prints out in B&W and all my coupons are B&W. As for the time to round up your coupons and the deals for the week-it takes me about an hour to do CVS, Walgreens, and my grocery store. I try to do them all at once and put the coupons in an envelope with my list for that week. HTH! 🙂
1. Honestly, trial and error. I still print out far more coupons than I use, and I am trying to cut back, since it is so wasteful.
7. I try not to worry about it or I’ll end up buying stuff just to use the Q!
2)How long does it REALLY take to get to a point where you feel like you know what you are doing?
REALLY? Probably never. Stores change their policies, coupons change their restrictions… its a constantly changing and evolving process. You do get more confident though. 🙂
6. I use an accordian folder to organize my Q’s. The pros are that I know what coupons go into what categories, and am able to find Q’s that way. Cons are that I have so many Q’s now, that sometimes looking through a “file” of Q’s take a while! For example: Health and Beauty, well, that includes like 5 subcategories! So I usually organize my Q’s before I leave the house, and attach them to a list for a specific store with a paper clip. That way I have all the Q’s for the sales and specials that I need for a particular store all organized and ready to go!
5. Wish I knew! We’re just doing day trips.
I spend a couple hours a week planning my trips..this doesn’t include clipping the inserts…just looking up blogs and matching up ads with my coupons!
8. If I’m headed out, and in the same direction, it’s worth it.
6) My binder is so neat and organized it cuts down the time I spend couponing during the week in half!! The only downside is lugging that heavy fat binder through the stores just in case!!
#6
I do a coupon binder with the clear baseball card sleeves with clipped coupons.
PROS:
I can easily see what coupons I have [they are categorically organized] so If Im in a clearance aisle and I see…vaseline lotion on sale for $1.19…i can flip to my “beauty” section and find that $1 off coupon real quick…thats the best. having it all at your finger tips
CONS:
It does take time to cut [which i actually dont mind]
sort {blah}
and then fold them and put them into the cards {double blah}
but, if you pick a day of the week to do it on….sunday and wednesday nights for me–then it gets done!
*kelly
Pros:
Easy to find, my little binders fit in the diaper bag
Cons:
Too much cutting out coupons! Then fishing out expired coupons.
3)How much time do you seriously invest in the process of organizing your grocery list, coupons, stores sales, etc. before you head out the door to go shopping?
–> in a week I probably spend about 2 hours in total, cutting, clipping, printing, sorting, organizing. Sometimes I feel that is too much time, but at the end, I know I am saving a lot more money, and being a SAHM, this is my job now, “a couponeer” 🙂
I have been couponing for about 5 months and I FINALLY feel like I have got the hang of it!
4. By avoiding lots of the freebie or cheapie deals! It’s hard.
1. I only clip the coupons for items I know my family uses. I feel it is a waste of time (& ink/paper for internet coupons) to cut out each & every coupon available.
#8-the way i determine if extra trips are worth it is by looking through the sale ads and such to see who will give me the best deals after coupons and sales. If i can get a product much cheaper at another place then I will see what else will be a good deal and make the trip. If the difference isnt going to be too much at the main store that I shop (commissary or walmart) then I will just stay at that store and not make the extra trips. Fortunately most of these stores are close to each other.
5) For summer traveling airfare -we just discovered a pretty cool website where you can plan a muli city trip pretty easily and very cost effectively!! It is http://www.kayak.com – this might be old news, but we have recently found it incredibly helpful!!
8)How do you determine if it’s worth the extra trips (gas money, time) to special stores?
This one is easy for me. If I am going to be saving less than $20 I don’t bother. The closest Target, for example, is over an hour away. It costs me roughly $20 in gas to make the trip. If the deals I am interested in will only save me $10 or so, its just not worth it. I wait until I have coupons from Bed Bath and Beyond, Bath and Body Works, Michael’s, etc. before I go so that I am saving as much as possible in one trip.
3. Hours!
I’ve been couponing for 3 months and have a great stash already!!! When I look back, on month one I got some good deals, month 2 was better deals, and this third month I’m practically being paid to shop :). Can’t wait to see where I’m at in another 3 months!
#1 I print out some Q’s that are things that look interesting, I print all of things that I use on a regular basis, I print out some that people say are HOT coupons. Sadly, I do end up with a lot of coupons that I don’t use and also some coupons I wished I printed out. Not sure how to really figure that one out!
It takes a while to learn which coupons you need to print and which ones are just wasteful….I usually only print if the coupons are very high value, and low value ones if I have a deal already in place to use them!
1, Print high value Qs and items you”ll use.
I normally only print the coupons that I know I can combine with a sale. I rarely print a coupon if I don’t know where & when I will use it. Sometimes the extra trips to the store is a nice way for me and my son to get out of the house. We have several stores including a Walgreens within walking distance, and so I can combine couponing and going on walks!
4. Only buy foods your family will eat. It doesn’t do you any good to save money on items that will forever sit in your pantry. There are plenty of health food coupons out there. Just be aware of what your family will consume, and don’t purchase items they won’t.
8. I have to have a list of at least 5 items or more to justify going to store.
3)How much time do you seriously invest in the process of organizing your grocery list, coupons, stores sales, etc. before you head out the door to go shopping?
Too much. I’m not very organized. I’m the example of what NOT to do. It probably takes me an hour to get ready to go to the grocery store. Its not best way to do it for sure!
I only visit the stores that are in a 5 mile radius of my house. Luckily that includes Publix, Walgreens, Rite Aid, CVS and Target (not a SuperTarget). There is also a Kroger but I don’t like that store because it is very dirty and I’ve bought lots of items there in the past (cheese, cake mixes, canned items!) that were past date and still on the shelves. Yes, I should have checked the dates before I bought them but who expects cake mixes and other pantry items to be past date in the super market. Walmart is just about 8 miles away but I’m not a big Walmart fan so I usually don’t do those deals either. Besides my weekly grocery trip, I try to only go to the other stores when I’m driving past them shuttling my son around. I make my list and get my coupons together at the beginning of the week and put them in my car so I always have them ready.
I only print out the coupons that are a) high value and b) something I really intend to use. That saves on ink!