The Checkout Chicks

I was recently asked, “Should I clip every coupon? What if I need it and I didn’t clip it?”  When it comes right down to it, there are a lot of coupons out there. Knowing which ones to clip and keep involves some intuition and a bit of forethought.

When someone is first starting out couponing, here’s the guidance I offer: Think about the products you buy on a regular basis and determine how brand loyal you are.  Must you *always* buy Pert shampoo + conditioner? Or are you flexible and willing to try a few other brands?  Will the world come to an end if you don’t have Aquafresh toothpaste (evidently, that is exactly what will happen in my house according to my husband)? Are you dedicated to a particular brand of cereal, pasta, soda, canned tomatoes?

Think about your purchases in terms of these three categories:

• Brand Loyal - must purchase.  Always clip these coupons.
• Not brand loyal - willing to try. Clip these if you are willing to try it out when it’s on sale.
• Luxury items - products you would buy or try if they were dirt cheap or free. Clip these and hold onto them with the expectation that you probably won’t use these coupons unless the deal is too good to pass up.

For example, I do not purchase the premium M&Ms. They’re a luxury for us so I just don’t buy them. But I clip the premium M&M coupons in hopes of seeing them on sale so I can work a deal to get them for free or close to free.  For me, it’s worth the extra few seconds to clip the coupon and hold onto it.

A friend of mine clips every coupon - even for products she doesn’t use. Her feeling is that if she can get the product for free, she’ll give it to someone who can use it or will donate it.  I applaud her determination and kind heart; I, on the other hand, can’t deal with the mental organization it takes so I just clip what I need.

Once you’ve started cutting coupons for a month or so, you’ll start to pick up on the trends - the types of products offered, the frequency, the amount of the discounts - and you’ll find your own clipping groove.

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I promise, this is not a class on advanced calculus!  BOGO + Q = Deep Discount is a very simple principle to maximize your savings.

Often you’ll find products on sale for BOGO - buy one, get one free. When the store has a BOGO sale, you can still use a Q (coupon) on BOTH PRODUCTS. You’re buying two and you can use a coupon on both of them even though one of them is free.

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I love getting together with other money-saving moms; I always learn something new and tonight was no exception. While teaching a Coupon Bootcamp to fellow moms, I was told that UPromise now has e-coupons. Perplexed, yet cautiously excited, I clicked on over to UPromise.com as soon as I got home.

Here’s the scoop! Log into your UPromise account and mouse over “Earn Rewards”. Choose the eCoupons and click. If you’ve ever use ShortCuts.com or eSavers, the screen will look very familiar. Click on the product coupons you want and they are added to your account. When you’re done choosing, click “Activate Coupons”. You’ll go through a screen or two to validate your info and then you’re good to go.

Any time you use any one of the grocery or drugstore member cards you have registered with UPromise, your coupon will be used (just once). The value of that coupon will be added to your UPromise account. You won’t receive a $1.50 discount at the store for buying Huggies diapers, but $1.50 will be added to your UPromise account.

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Entertainments get a big YEA from me. Even with our extremely tight budget, the coupons in the Entertainment books are well worth the cost of the book.

The first year I purchased a book, I was amazed when I realized that the savings for pre-purchasing my movie tickets was more than the cost of the book. Did that make sense? I paid about $20 for the book that year and saved $25 on movie tickets I would have purchased anyways. Then I started adding in all the restaurant savings (most of the coupons are BOGO - buy one get one free) and vowed I would buy an Entertainment book every year.

Don’t forget that there are coupons for events, local grocery stores, travel and various retailers as well. Definitely a must buy!

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Sign up for this free coupon book with $10 in Betty Crocker coupons. This is one of the many easy ways to reduce your grocery bill. Coupons aren’t always in the Sunday paper, so be sure to sign up for coupons from the brands you purchase the most.

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Be sure to add the Checkout Chicks to your pages on Facebook and MySpace. There are many options to receive our updates  - take your pick!

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• Subscribe to The Checkout Chicks by Email

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• Peelies - These are coupons stuck on products that you peel off.
• Blinkies - SmartSource has automatic coupon dispenser machines. They are often called Blinkies because of the blinking red light on the side.
• Manufacturer coupons - Coupons produced by the manufacturer. They will have “Manufacturer Coupon” printed on them.
• Store coupons - Coupons that are specific to one store - Target, Food Lion, Kroger, Dollar Tree, etc - and can only be used at that store.
• Combo coupons - Manufacturer coupons with a specific store logo on them (Target does this a lot). It will say “Manufacturer Coupon” on it.
• e-Coupons - Electronic coupons from sites such as P&G eSavers and Shortcuts.com
• IPs - (Internet Printable coupons) Manufacturer coupons printed from a website.

The only way to legally combine coupons (also called stacking) is to pair a MANUFACTURER coupon with a STORE coupon. Every other kind of coupon listed above is still a manufacturer coupon and will have it stated somewhere on the coupon. Peelies, blinkies, IPs, e-Coupons…. all manufacturer coupons.

“Combo” coupons can be confusing so be sure to read it carefully. Often, they will appear to be a store coupon. Check it over; if it says “manufacturer coupon”, you cannot combine it with another manufacturer coupon.

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This week, Kroger brand Private Selection ice cream is on sale 2 for $5 ($2.50 each). This is a good price and I usually buy several when they are on sale for this price.

But before you run out to stock your mini-mart (aka the deep freeze), make sure you go over to ShortCuts.com and add e-coupon for Private Selection. An additional $.75 will come off your total when you scan your Kroger card.  Purchase one half-gallon of ice cream for $1.75!

At most, it will take you 5 minutes every week to scan through Shortcuts.com and P&G e-Savers to add e-coupons to your savings cards.

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Because I’m an avid couponer, I’m often asked how much I typically spend on groceries each week. I know people are expecting an answer like, “Oh, I feed my family of four on ten dollars a week!”  I wish it were that simple to quantify.

Many times, I’ll spend $60 - $100 at the grocery store but it will be on food that we won’t eat until later in the month or maybe not even until the next month.  This is because I stockpile.  I find good deals on foods we regularly eat, I buy in bulk and freeze it.  While there may be serveral weeks when I spend $100 a week on groceries, there are often weeks - even up to a month or longer - when I only purchase essentials like milk and fruit.

Here’s an example from today. I happened to find some incredible manager specials at Kroger today.

1/2 gallons of skim milk - $.99 normally $1.99
1 qt bottles strawberry Homestead milk - $.99 normally $2.49
5lb tubes ground beef - $3.69 normally $12.99
Gogurts - $.99 normally $2.89

I bought ALL they had.  I poured the glass bottles of strawberry milk into an empty gallon container and will return the glass tonight to get my deposits back. The skim milk will go in the freezer as will all the ground beef except the amount I use to make chili for dinner tonight.

I spent $60 today but I won’t need to buy ground beef for several months.  We’ll have milk for the next week at a reduced price.

The key to saving on your grocery bill is buying extra when it’s on reduced price and combining those reduced prices with coupons.

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I shop at Kroger most of the time. With your Kroger card, you can use two different e-coupon sites - www.shortcuts.com and P&G eSavers. Go to these sites and register your Kroger savings card with them and load them up with coupons. (Some people have had difficulty w/ eSavers. If you have a problem, call customer service and have them figure it out! It’s well worth the coupons!)

The thing to keep in mind is that when using these e-coupons, you don’t have to do anything special. Just load them onto your card and go shopping. The bonus is that you can stack these e-coupons with paper coupons. So if you have an e-coupon for Pantene on your Kroger card, you can also use a regular manufacturer’s coupon for Pantene.

What is stacking? Stacking is legally using more than one coupon for a single product. This usually happens when you have a manufacturer coupon and a store coupon. You can use both of these coupons together for a single product.  You can also use an e-coupon combined with a manufacturer coupon.

My favorite example of stacking with e-coupons is they day I bought Oscar Myer Deli Creations for a steal! They were on sale. I had two $1 off e-coupons loaded on my card AND there was a blinkie for $1 off 2. I was able to buy two Deli Creations for $2.99 - $1 - $.50 = $1.50 each!

What is a blinkie? Have you seen the automatic coupon dispensers at your grocery or drug store? They are often called “blinkies” because of the blinking red light on the side of the dispenser.

Normally, I try not to purchase pre-prepared foods but for a buck five-oh, that’s a cheap and easy lunch for me!

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