The Art of Being Frugal: Part 2

Karen from Frugal RI Mama is back with more tips on how to save tons of money this holiday season by using those coupons! I took her advice today and went to CVS. I'll show you the deals I got probably tomorrow!  Oh and Don't forget to grab a button for Deck the Halls Blog Carnival!

 

Tiffanie

 

What is stockpiling?

 

If you find a good sale on an item that you use a lot and you have coupons to make it free or next to free, then if your budget allows buy more than one. This way when you need it again before it goes on sale, you don't have to pay full price for it. I usually stockpile when I have a coupon and it's on sale for nothing or next to nothing.

 

How about rebates? Are they worth the time?

 

Yes they are!! A lot of companies will give you a full rebate of an item, just to get  you to try it hoping you'll buy it again, but next time at full price. You should always take advantage of these items. It doesn't take long to fill out the rebate and send it in. When that check arrives in the mail, you'll be glad you did it.

Some places are making it even easier to send in rebates now, like Walgreen's and Rite Aid. Almost every month they have tons of items that you can get a rebate on. Some of them are full value and some are not. The ones with a full value rebate can even be money makers if you have a coupon for them. Walgreen's and Rite Aid allow you to enter these rebates online and it only takes seconds. All you need is the store receipt, nothing to mail in. At the end of the month, Rite Aid requires you to go into your account and actually request your rebate check. You have about a month to do it, then it's no longer available and you lose the rebate. Walgreen's is different. If you don't request your check by the first day of the next month, they automatically send you a rebate check. But, if you get your rebate in the form of a gift card, then they will give you 10% extra. That sounds like a money maker to me!

 

What about CVS? What's the Extra Care Bucks (ECB's) program all about?

In order to participate in the Extra Care Bucks program, you need to apply for an ECB's card. You can do this at the register or online at cvs.com. It's free. Extra Care Bucks (ECB's) are like cash. It's a coupon that will print out at the end of the cash register receipt that you can use next time like cash. This is the CVS way of offering rebates. If you buy a certain product you'll get ECB's. A lot of times the product will be on sale for the same price of the ECB's so it's FREE after ECB's. And if you have a coupon then you'll make money. For example, if the sale is for Colgate toothpaste and it's on sale for $2.99 and you get $2.99 ECB's and you have $1.00 manufacture's coupon then you'll spend $1.99 for the Colgate ($2.99 less the $1.00 coupon) and get $2.99 ECB's so really you made $1.00. This is a great way of maximizing your savings. Each week they have different ECB's deals and you can use the ECB's you receive one week to buy the items next week. That's called Rolling your ECB's. (You can see scenarios of how I use ECB's on my website.)

 

How do I organize my coupons?

This is something I've changed over time, as I got more into coupons. I started out with just a little coupon organizer with different slots for each type of food. I got mine at the dollar store. As I started clipping more and more coupons I found I needed more room. I then moved onto a plastic container and filed them alphabetically. That worked for a while too but then I found I was spending way too much time cutting things out and sometimes find later on I wished I had cut out a coupon that I didn't and now my inserts were gone. Then I began keeping the inserts each week until all the coupons were expired. In order to do this, you must stay organized. Write the date of the insert on the front page for quick reference. Then when you need a coupon, you know where to go and look for it. I do still cut coupons each week. I cut the ones I use most and like to have with me at all times. I have a business card file I keep in my purse with all those coupons sorted by type so they are easy to find.

 

You really need to figure out what system works for you. Any of the ones I listed are great systems. You can always keep changing like I did as you get better at this.

 

Karen