Couponing Tips

Finding Coupons
I listed some sites in a previous post, but I've really found it much easier to just rely on these email lists. They're great about detailing what various store specials are each week and how you can manage your coupons to get the best deals. Plus, when you follow links to print coupons, you're directed to many of those sites that I previously listed.

(Click on "Subscribe via email" or the envelope icons on each site)
Couponing101
Coupon Cravings
Southern Savers
Surviving the Stores
*Please note that each site sends an email a day

As far as getting other coupons, the majority come from the Sunday paper, a few from food boxes/mailers, some from turning in rebate forms (ie. the P&G campaign that ended recently), those emails/coupon sites, and manufacturer websites (you can sign up to get on email lists to companies such as P&G, Johnson & Johnson, WishBone, Kraft, etc)

Organizing Coupons
I've had a little coupon stack, and then a mini file divider pouch, and now a huge binder. Personally, I've found the binder works best for me because you can actually SEE all the coupons better without digging through them all. I've organized mine by expiration date (I tried the type of food method before, but I just couldn't keep up with their dates!) I just picked up some baseball-sized sheet protector pages (9 slots per page) to put them in:

Using Coupons
Unfortunately, the stores I go to don't offer coupon doubling - ie. Wal-Mart. Those sort of situations are where people get the big savings. You might check with your local grocery store - some offer coupon doubling on just certain days.

I've heard Walgreens will accept their coupon (they have monthly coupon books in the front of their store) + a manufacturer coupon for an item (maybe even multiples). Plus you can get "register rewards" back on certain items. We don't have a Walgreens close enough to us to go to often though.

We've averaged about $8-10 (out of $70 total) per week of savings just at Wal-Mart, which in addition to their low prices I think is pretty good. That puts us at over $400 saved per year. I'm starting to keep all my receipts beginning this month so I can really track it.

P&G Coupon Booklet

Ok, call me a complete nerd, but I got super excited when I heard about this coupon offer:
http://www.pgeverydaysolutions.com/pgeds/pg-brandsaver-samples-coupons.jsp

If you buy $50 worth of P&G products between now and April and save the coupons, they'll send you a $100 coupon book. And I'm sure you buy at least a few of these brands:
http://www.pg.com/en_US/brands/all_brands.shtml

Is that a good deal or what? This week alone I've already spent $10 of P&G products. Piece of cake to spend $50 by April. :) Just don't throw away your receipts!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Another weekend come and gone - I'm jealous of everyone in Arkansas that got either a 3 or 4-day weekend! Thankfully the ice storm wasn't near as bad there as it was last year. I don't think it can get much worse than this:

{Ice Storm 2009}

Let's hope not at least.

Friday night we expanded our Columbia cuisine by trying a local Chinese restaurant that was delicious! I think our count of local restaurants that we've tried is up to about 4 or 5. Pathetic considering we've been here 7 months and go out to eat at least once a week. :) We just can't get away from the Ruby Tuesday coupons, McAlisters, and Panera.

Despite the temperatures in the upper 20's, we went out to the park Saturday afternoon for the first time in months. Thankfully the sun was out so it wasn't too unbearable. I downloaded the "Couch to 5K" iPhone app a few weeks ago so we gave it a try. It's a 3 times a week, 9 week program that trains you up to run a full 5K. (It's been YEARS since I've done that, so I'm definitely out of shape!) Our workout Saturday was a 5 minute warmup, and then 20 minutes of alternating 60 second runs with 90 second walks, followed by a 5 minute cooldown. I was able to do it, but I couldn't walk hardly at all yesterday my legs were so sore! Time to hit the gym again tomorrow I guess!

Eric and Clayton picked up the infamous chair on Friday, so I started to rip it apart on Saturday. Eric jumped in immediately and basically took over the whole project. :) After him giving me such a hard time about the thing, he was actually super excited about it.

It took us 3.5 hours with 2 tool sets to rip apart most of the upholstery.

And the smell wasn't too great once we got to the stuffing. Good thing I just got my new vacuum filters in.

Sunday we set out to town to get fabric and a staple gun. With the two of us going we were able to use double coupons so we saved about $25. It took us forever to find the upholstery fabric section at Joann, and then another 10 minutes for me just to pick something out, but I ended up going with a print of slate blues with a hint of gold. Thankfully, they had some weekly ads at the front of the store that we were able to snatch two 40% off coupons from. Then we took off to Michael's to use their weekly coupons (and Hobby Lobby will be hit tonight!).

We got the back and the sides stapled on last night, and as we were flipping the chair around, out flew 3 pens, a guitar pick, a used bandaid (eww!), and 31 cents. Who knows what else we'll find in there this week. A $100 bill would be nice. :)

I painted the legs a mustard yellow, and I'm going back to get some gray fabric to do the other parts of the chair. I need to find some trim or tubing at some point, too. But here's the progress (hopefully it'll be done next weekend!)

And as if that's not enough going on, I've got 7 canvases to do this week, too! I got a huge order over the weekend thanks to Etsy, so I'll have plenty to keep me busy for the next week and a half. Eric also got my chalkboard and antique frame hung over the weekend in our office, too!

And, as if this entry isn't long enough, I found out on Friday that I've been accepted to join the ASID (American Society of Interior Designers) blogging team on Healthcare Design Magazine's website. So, beginning in March, I'll have an entry every 4-6 weeks on this website! I'm super excited!

Have a great Monday!