free Green Bag Tag @ CVS

ok, so have you signed up for the ExtraCare Card at CVS yet?  

if so, it looks like the Magic Coupon Machine is giving out coupons this week for a free Green Bag Tag!

I picked up an extra one, I'm not sure just yet if I'll keep it in the car as a backup - because, yes, there are those times that I forget my coupon binder! - or if I will keep it to give away to someone later. :)

that's in addition to the $10 free gas card promotion!   it looks like the promotion is going to be happening every week this summer, with different items every week.    

it's spend $30 on "select items" and then get a $10 prepaid gas card!

if you can combine those items with coupons, and they're items that your household uses regularly anyway, then it's a fantastic promotion!  we took advantage of it this week, but I don't know if the deals will align as well for us in the weeks to come.

y'all get this weekend off!

just a reminder, there will be NO COUPON INSERTS in this Sunday's newspaper!

so either take the day off from clipping and filing; or use it as an opportunity to clean out your coupon organizer and rearrange it, if needed.

have a safe holiday weekend, y'all!

oh, how I love CVS!

About a month ago, over at Smart Care Living there was a coupon-by-mail offer to get a free 5-pack, or $7 off a larger package of Zyrtec (an over-the-counter, or OTC, allergy medicine) - and I got mine in the mail yesterday!

Today, we were out running errands and stopped in at my favourite CVS store, and when I scanned my ExtraCare Card at the Magic Coupon Machine, it gave me another $3 off of a $10 Healthcare purchase coupon!  I say another one, because I used one earlier in the week, along with some ExtraBucks that were expiring!

But today I combined my free Zyrtec coupon with their advertised price on Puffs @ 2/$3 (I got three boxes) and used the $3 coupon with it! yay!

so the breakdown is that i got five individually packaged Zyrtec pills (which are so handy when travelling!) and three of the full sized (not the small square) boxes of Puffs (the nose knows!) for $2.05 AND then I got a $1 ExtraBuck back for it having been a fourth scan of my Green Bag Tag

so, yay!  Allergy medicine and Puffs for $1.05

As a footnote, I am aware that Puffs are not thrifty, nor are they environmentally friendly, but they are a small thing that makes my everyday life easier and more comfortable....and I use allergy medication regularly (although normally I get the CVS brand Loratadine for my once-daily medication) so this was a particularly good deal for me!

Couponing 101, part 5

CVS!  Walgreens! Rite Aid!

most major drugstores have Loyalty Card programs - those plastic hangtag thingies on your keychain?  free to join, but handy for discounts!

each store has different programs, and different quirks.  personally, i find trying to get all the deals at all the stores to be too much of a hassle.   so i suggest you pick one to use most often.

i'm a big fan of CVS - there's a huge, clean, well-lit, 24-hour location not far from our house and i freely admit i enjoy going there!

but whichever drugstore you choose.... it isn't just for prescriptions and getting pictures developed!  truly!  some of the most amazing bargains you can find when couponing, will be found at the drugstore!

CVS has their ExtraCare card, and their ExtraCare Beauty Club.  both free to join, but with fantastic benefits!

and when you first join the ExtraCare Beauty Club, a 10% off beauty items coupon will print out on your receipt! it expires after 3 days, and doesn't include sale items, but it's a nice welcome bonus!

i know i told you before that i'd only ever tell you to pay for two things, but if you can add the purchase of a 99¢ Green Bag Tag to your first CVS purchase, it will pay for itself.  See, they're encouraging their customers to use reusable shopping bags, so if you have your Green Bag Tag scanned with each purchase where your bring your own bag (or buy something that doesn't need a bag, like detergent), with every fourth scan, you'll get a $1 ExtraBuck printed on your receipt.  (you can only get credit for one scan per card, per store, per day)

straight off the top, CVS will give you 2% of your purchases back, quarterly, as ExtraBucks, $1 for every two prescriptions you have filled there, and the ExtraCare Beauty Club will give you $5 ExtraBucks for every $50 you spend on beauty items.

every week, different food and household items go on sale at CVS - and they're very coupon friendly! - i can almost promise you'll be amazed at some of the deals!

Couponing 101, part 4

in my opinion, the secret to truly saving money - substantial savings, i mean - using coupons, is to match your coupons with what's on sale.

think about the products you use everyday - shampoo, toothpaste, bar soap, dish liquid, laundry needs. if you're 100% brand-loyal, that's okay (there are certain things i'm brand loyal about, too!) but if you're willing to be flexible, at least with some things, that's where savings can really add up.

now think about the foods you and your family like...what do you like to have in the fridge/freezer/pantry?

some things, like milk and lettuce, it's hard to stock up on!

(not impossible, though. you certainly can freeze milk with no problem. but it does taste different after you thaw it, and it's best for cooking.)

if you can invest even a little extra into your grocery and household budgets - to shop for things at their best prices - it truly does save money in the long run!

a good example is dish liquid - Dawn, Palmolive, Ajax. it regularly goes on sale for under a dollar, and occasionally you'll find 25¢ coupons (particularly in the P&G Brandsaver coupon inserts that come out periodically)

do you know how much your groceries actually cost? if you make yourself a Price Book - it can be a notepad or even just the back of a junk mail envelope - and jot down the price of things you buy regularly, then you can compare the prices at different stores.

you may be surprised at where you can find the best deals!

....but i have to say, i'm not a fan of driving all over town just to get a lower price on a few things. it's not worth the time, gas, or wear & tear on your car)

Couponing 101, part 3

you've probably heard of or been to Coupons.com? you can print out most of those same coupons through MyPoints, or through Swagbucks.

which means you'd get the same value on the coupon *plus* Points or Bucks for every coupon you redeem!

there are a few coupons every now and then that you can only get by going directly to Coupons.com - so it is good to check there occasionally - but for the most part i print all my coupons through MyPoints (they also have links to SmartSource coupons and to Cellfire) or through Swagbucks.

MyPoints will send you emails.

most of the ones they call BonusMail will have a link at the bottom to click for 5 points.

i also get between one and five survey invitations a week - usually 10 points if i don't qualify, more if i do qualify and complete the survey.

NOT counting the coupons, i get about 50 Points a week....for very little effort.

true, you do need to accumulate several thousand points before you can redeem them for the "good" rewards, but it really doesn't take that long!

Plus, if you print and use the coupons (only counts if you USE them, just printing them doesn't count!) you get 10 Points per coupon AND 25 bonus points if you use more than 10 in a month!

Also, if you make online purchases, you can get Points from a lot of popular merchants. you can also get substantial points for certain offers - things like NetFlix or home-printable postage offers. nothing i'd suggest you do *just* for the points, but if you were planning to sign up anyway, then it's a fantastic deal!

now, Ebates! oh, how i love Ebates. much like how you get Points from MyPoints, when you shop online, except it's actual cash-money. a percent of your purchase credited to your Ebates account. You get a sign-on bonus (usually between $5 & $10) and then once you've gotten a certain amount in your account (i think it's $5 - but that doesn't include your sign-on bonus!) and they pay out quarterly. i have mine sent to my PayPal account!

before i make ANY online purchase, i check with Ebates to see if the merchant is listed!

finally, Swagbucks.

it's a little more complicated, but not by much. basically, it's a search engine. like Google. you don't need to download or install their search bar - although if you use Firefox as a browser you can install Swagbucks as an option in the built-in search in the address bar.

you can earn Bucks for searching for things on the internet. not with every search, but if you're searching the 'net anyway, you may as well see if you can earn a little while you're at it. And they have the same print-through option as MyPoints, so you can print the Coupons.com coupons through them and earn Bucks when you use the coupons.

when you visit the site daily, you can earn about five Bucks a day, not counting searches.

again, it doesn't sound like much, i know! but with less than an hour's worth of effort a day,

Points and Bucks can really add up!

and then you can redeem them for gift cards - my favourite is to redeem them for CVS, but i've also redeemed them for Walmart gift cards and Amazon certificates.

Couponing 101, part 2

one of the next things i suggest you do, if you haven't already, is to open a new email account.

i like Gmail - it's free and has lots of storage!

see, this way, you have what some people call a "junk" email account.

but, really, it comes in handy for signing up for things (coupons and deals, etc) without clogging up your primary email account.

but DO remember to check it, at least once a week!

after that go and join Ebates, Swagbucks and MyPoints using your new email account.

go ahead. i'll wait for you here! :)

Couponing 101, part 1

Hi there!

your friendly neighbourbood coupon lady, here :)

to start off with, the basics of couponing? there are only TWO things i will suggest that you pay for.

1. a newspaper subscription.

if you already subscribe to your local paper, with a Sunday delivery, then great! you're halfway there!

if you don't have a subscription to your local paper, i'd look into a Sunday-Only subscription service to the next major city's newspaper.

for example, we get our local city paper delivered every day, but we also have a Sunday subscription to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

and what i have noticed is that the AJC's coupon inserts have more pages than our local paper - oddly, our local paper doesn't always get some of the more high-value coupons!

every six months or so, Groupon has a deal for a six month Sunday Subscription to the AJC for about $30; and there's also this deal for $28 for 3 months of Sunday only delivery.

i'm sure there are other deals out there (especially if you're not near Atlanta!), and there's

always the option of picking the 'paper up yourself, of course.

if you don't currently have a newspaper subscription, and don't particularly want one, you can use the Sunday Coupon Preview to get an idea of what coupons will be released, and decide if you want to head out and pick up a 'paper -- or if you already have a subscription, decide if you want to pick up extras.

the catch is that "Regional coupon inserts & value differences are to be expected!" so sometimes only certain areas (of a city/state/region of the country) will get certain inserts and/or specific coupons (like i said before, sometimes our local paper doesn't get all the same coupons as the AJC!).

write the date on the front page to make your life easier later, and KEEP the coupon inserts! 

i have an accordion type file folder that i keep the inserts in, one month's worth per tab.

2. All You magazine.

it is so totally worth the subscription price ....you can find subscriptions on Amazon, and you can pick it up at newsstands, but for the best price get it here. where the price is 15 issues for $15 or 30 issues for $25 (so $1/issue or 83¢/issue).

i really do have two subscriptions, and it really is worth it.

don't expect to be wowed by the articles, but some of the recipes are actually okay - and there's a two-page pullout calendar month in each issue which is sort of handy.

you can check this list to see all the coupons in the May issue, to get an idea of whether or not you're interested :)  

...there's one other 99¢ item i suggest, as a good value, later on, but it may not apply to you or your shopping area.

now, it doesn't matter if you're the type of coupon user who has a few coupons tucked into your wallet, if you have all your coupons in an envelope, if you use the small accordion organizer, or if you've graduated into a three-ring binder - i've done ALL of those, and you have to find the way that works best for you!