Couponing 101 or How to Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half

Hi!  My name is Sabrina and I'm a coupon addict.

Well, not quite that bad unless you talk to my husband and then he might agree with you that yes, in fact, it is that bad.  Hey, I only have a small stockpile of cereal, toothpaste and dog treats nothing like an entire room dedicated to my binge bargaining.

I typically save around 50% on my weekly grocery bill by using coupons and in store sales.  I've had some friends ask me how I do it so I figured I'd share it with everyone else.

1.  Get organized!  If you don't already have a way to sort and organize your coupons then you need something STAT.  I found an old small accordion file that my husband used for sorting his bills before we got married.  I stuck some labels on it and I was good to go.  Some of the categories I use are:  Pets, Dairy, Health & Beauty, Cereal/Bread, and Frozen Foods.  You can use whichever ones make sense for you.

It is a little beat up and missing a label, but it still works for me! 

2.  Start clipping those coupons!  The easiest way to get them is from your Sunday paper (always check to make sure they are still in there before you purchase).  We get the Red Plum inserts in our weekly mail every Wednesday.  You can also find them on redplum.com  The stores out here also have coupons in their weekly fliers (hang on to these for later) or online.  I print out a lot of coupons from coupons.com.  Also, if you haven't already then sign up for Mamacheaps.com.  She posts great deals on her blog, her Facebook page and Twitter.  She also sends a daily digest email of the deals she has posted.

3.   Match your coupons to the stores' sales.  This step is when those weekly store fliers that I told you to hang on to come into play.  They should all be for local stores so you are not driving out of your way and wasting gas in the process unless you live somewhere really rural.  This step is time consuming so make sure you have at least an hour set aside.  You'll need your organized coupons, weekly fliers, pen and paper plus your shopping list.  What you need to do is go through your weekly flyer and match up your coupons to what is on sale.  Doing that is what is going to save you the most money.  If you can swing it financially you'll want to look at stuff that you might not need now, but you know you are going to use it in the future (hence the reason I have so many tubes of toothpaste and boxes of cereal).  I write down the sale price of an item then how much the coupon is going to save me and then the final price.  This step also helps me really stay on budget because I can total it out at the end.  If you have older kids this can really turn into a great math lesson.

Be sure to keep your coupons organized especially if you plan on hitting up multiple stores.  Another way to maximize your savings is to buy the smallest amount of an item.  Yes, you can save a dollar off that giant bag of popcorn, but can you buy a smaller bag and save even more money or maybe even get it for free?

4.  Check your stores' coupon policy.  All of the major stores have theirs listed on their website.  You might even want to print it out especially if they let you do double coupons or stacking just in case you need to haggle with a cashier who isn't up on their store's latest policy (they can change frequently, unfortunately).    Stacking is using both a manufacturer's and a store's coupon on 1 item which is another great way to get deep discounts.  For more information on the fine print on coupons check out the The Krazy Coupon Lady's website.  

5.  Keep a log of stores' prices.  This is a bit of Extreme Couponing here.  For about a month I kept a small log book with me to write down the price at each store of commonly purchased items.  I now know where to go if I need the cheapest chocolate syrup, but more importantly I also know what price is a good deal and what isn't.  There are also some stores that I will never shop at because they are just to expensive even when their stuff is on sale and I have a coupon.

6.  Shop at discount or bargain stores.  Here in Western Washington we have WinCo and Grocery Outlet.  WinCo lets you use coupons but they don't print weekly fliers as a way to keep costs down.  Also, when they first opened the store's cashier told me all of their sale items are in the aisle when you first walk in the door.  Grocery Outlet does NOT let you use coupons because then some of their items would be free (darn).

This might sound like a lot, but I learned this all over time and it really does take some time and dedication to get used to doing it.  I'm at the point now where I can't even fathom going to the grocery store without my coupons. It is just a waste of money!  So my advice is to take it slow and don't give up.  You can shave 50% off your grocery bill too.

Some Couponing Sites to Check Out:
www.Coupons.com
www.Redplum.com
www.Smartsource.com
www.Mamacheaps.com

Vega$ Money Saving Tip$!

A few people asked me to share with them some tips on how to save money on a trip to Vegas.  My husband and I have now traveled to there 5 times, including one very special trip to get married there (yes, it was planned) so we've had plenty of experience to learn from our mistakes.  Here are the best money saving tips I can give you.

• Book a Package!  We've booked all of our flights and hotel stays as a package deal through either expedia.com or travelocity.com  In my opinion, expedia is cheaper.  Do your homework though and price compare.  I always check to see if we'd be saving any more by booking them separately, but usually we don't. Keep in mind the time of year you travel there will affect the room rates as well.
• Promotional Deals!  If you find a good deal that offers you complimentary show tickets or buffet passes act on it (assuming you are also saving money booking as a package).  On this last trip we just barely booked in time to get complimentary show tickets for a Cirque show.  When we got our tickets to see Criss Angel's "Believe" we found out that the going price was $100 a ticket!  We saved $200 this way and we got a really sweet deal on our hotel/plane tickets to boot.
• Never hurts to ask!  My hubby searched different hotels' websites to see what kinds of deals they were offering after we booked our trip.  He found out a hotel other than ours was running an all you can drink deal so he used Twitter to ask our hotel if they had a similar deal.  They didn't but they said they could put us on the guest list for their nightclubs.  He also asked if we could get a strip view room.  They put a notation in our reservation for us about his request so upon checking in we were upgraded to a premium strip view room for FREE!  And we got a complimentary bottle of champagne because he told them it was our anniversary trip. 
• Coupons... before you go!  Restaurant.com, Groupon.com and Livingsocial.com are all great sites to scour for Vegas deals.  You don't have to live there to buy one of their deals.  Always read the fine print.  For this Vegas trip we bought a Groupon for Cabo Wabo that saved us $15 off a $30 bill.  We also brought several Restaurant.com certificates for breakfast, dinner and lunch.  Do yourself a favor and sign up for their emails to get the 80% off coupon codes.  I bought 5 vouchers for $9 using the codes and had we used them all we would have saved around $90.  The certificates don't expire, as far as I can tell, and if the restaurant stops participating in the program before you use the voucher the company will issue you a credit.  Needless to say a little preparation before the trip can save you a lot of money.  
• Coupons... while you are there!  Many bars will have people out on the street handing out 2 for 1 deals ("Twofahs" as I like to call them) for drinks.  TAKE THEM.  From our experience they are legit.  You'll even find some on the ground as you are walking The Strip.  I think most places have even taken to just throwing coupons on the ground because you can pretty much follow a trail of them down The Strip on the sidewalk.  Just watch out for all of the hooker cards too.
• Nightclubs!  Most nightclubs start handing out wristbands for reduced admission or free drinks during the day.  We were offered one by our waiter at Cabo Wabo on our first day there.  You'll get better deals at the beginning of the week because they are trying to get people in on notoriously slower days.  If someone asks, go ahead and put your name down on the guest list.  There is no obligation to go, but if you do you'll get a good deal or at least save some money.  Drinks are pricey at nightclubs, think $13 for a screwdriver, so it can get a little crazy if they offer a "Ladies drink free from 10PM to midnight" deal.  I'm going to warn you that you'll be lucky if you get two drinks during that time period and you might even get an elbow to the eye from all the ladies scrambling to the front of the bar before the clock strikes midnight.  
• Drink in your room!  Matt and I have learned from past experiences that it is better to buy a bottle of your favorite alcohol on the first day of your trip to keep in the room to mix drinks before you head out.  We went to the ABC store at The Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood and spent $15 on a bottle of Skky Vodka which is a pretty standard price here in Washington State.  We've also found that the convience store at the Excalibur also has good liquor prices if you are staying down at that side of The Strip.  
• Deals on Show Tickets!  I scoured the Internet and found a BOGO (Buy One, Get One) deal for show tickets through Ticketmaster.  We used these to see Holly Madison in "Peepshow."  We got 3rd row aisle seats for a little over $100 total.  The seats were awesome and we enjoyed the show.  We also noticed long lines for Tix 4 Tonight booths while we were there, but I have no idea if they had good deals or not.  

I think that about sums it up!  We saved a pretty good deal of money and were able to have an awesome trip by following these tips.  Like I said, we've been to Vegas 5 times and we do something new every time which I attribute to us being smart about saving money.  Still haven't skydived or flown in a helicopter over The Strip at night but we'll save that for next time.