"Where do I get MORE Coupon Inserts???"

Make Nice Like Good Little Boys and Girls

So besides buying an insert in a Newspaper at approximately $1.50 a pop and getting 1 insert up to 3 if it’s a good week. If you are anything like me, I LOVE the inserts but feel so bad about all the newspapers I’m left with. I hate wasting it so I give it to family but often times I’m still left with a lot of them.

How do you go about getting more inserts without all of the newspaper mess and possibly for FREE???

 A few ideas:

Visit your local recycling plant

I’ve heard that this place tends to be one of hidden treasures and by treasures I mean INSERT PANDAMONIUM lol Apparently you can find A LOT here. I haven’t tried this yet but I found my recycling center and it’s super close! :) So check them out! You might have one close by and you didn’t even know it! Make sure the plant recycles NEWSPAPERS.

Recycle Dumpster Dive

Ok, now I have yet to personally do this but I have read quite a few times that people have had a lot of luck. Some have even asked their neighbors while others just plough right in. They wait for trash day and have at it. Now there’s no need to do this if you don’t want to or you feel too weirded out by the idea of going head first into your neighbors recyclables or even a convenient store recycle bin. You COULD just ask your neighbors if they are not into couponing to kindly give the inserts to you. Often times you will find they are happy to!

Play nice with your mailman

Now my particular mailman apparently always leaves everyone just the front page of Red Plum and keeps the coupons (which irks me to no end and after much attempts to correct that issue it’s never been fixed). When I called the post office to see how I could go about getting an insert intact (I spent 2 years patiently awaiting and seeing that I NEVER got a full Redplum insert delivered), the same paperboy came back to give me a new one.

His version of "new" was writing my apartment number on it and ripping up, JUST the first page again, and sticking it into my mail slot. Which bothered the bejesus outta me even more… but mostly for the fact it was only the first page again!

COME ON THE FIRST PAGE AGAIN?!!! Couldn’t you at least have brought the whole thing and ripped that up so I could see you actually DELIVER WHOLE INSERTS! GEEZ! lol  Glad to see people doing their jobs lololol He’s lucky I work when I get mail, because I would have gladly waited outside of my steps to see if he would give me the front page again lol.

(Two people probably fighting over inserts as the Paperboy passes lol)

I’m not that crazy to fight for ONE insert but, mail men: if you see a tenant really does want theirs give that person THEIR MAIL. So SOME newspaper guys are obviously already helping someone else out (which is plain rude to steal from others and then be a complete jerk about bringing a new insert the next day)

BUT there are GOOD and HONEST mailmen that have a ton of LEFT overs that aren’t for a particular set of houses on his route. My mother has a stellar relationship at her job with a mailman there so she posed the question about left over inserts he has at the end of his route and he says they don’t do anything with it. So my mother asked if he could bring them to us. He asked us if we needed a set amount. The answer “All the ones you can spare!” Guess what? The mailman has agreed that he will bring all of his left over inserts to us! Costing us NOTHING. If this also happens to you consider making him or her a nice thank you box every month or so with a few items from your coupon bounty! They’ll appreciate it tremendously and you will continue to maintain a nice relationship of give and take! Both of you win :)  So on the up and up, God blessed me with getting inserts other ways without dealing with a rude mail man and in the end I’m going to make out better than just ONE insert - I WIN :)

Convenience Stores

I heard some convenience stores will also give them to you for free after midnight. It doesn’t hurt to ask! If they do agree to let you have them, every once in a while give them a couple of your coupon bounty items as a thank you!

Buy Newspapers

Worse comes to worse newspapers are still a good way to ENSURE you get inserts just check before you buy it to make sure they are in the paper! Your savings are still going to outweigh $1.50+ for the newspaper cost so no worries!

Check Local Areas
If you happen to be around these areas check for newspapers! Starbucks, Doctor’s offices AND libraries :) SOME libraries even have a coupon exchange box where you drop off your unwanted ones and substitute them for someone else’s discarded coupons! One man’s“trash” is another man’s treasure!

EBAY

I’m hooked on EBAY for coupons. Although you don’t get them free you can get A LOT of coupons at a fraction of the price of the newspaper. AND there are people who pre-cut them for you! So it’s less time consuming on your end. I currently have two sellers that I’m going to buy from on a very consistent basis. Reason being after all the coupons I purchased, the two sellers were FAST with shipping, had AMAZING prices on bulk inserts and were SUPER SUPER friendly. It was a pleasure doing business.

The one seller mentioned if you wanted any baby or pet coupons to your winning pile of Coupons (pre-cut and about 100+ each lot)to contact her and she would gladly add them. So I sent her a nice email stating I had a beautiful furbaby cat and if she had any cat coupons she could add to my pile both I and my fuzzbucket of love would appreciate it immensely. She responded by stating that she would gladly give me ALL of the cat coupons she had! And SHE DID! Cat coupons galore came on top of my winning coupon lot. She didn’t have to do that but she was SUPER sweet and did. That DEFINITELY made me a customer for as long as she’s selling!

My other seller had an awesome deal on 15 P&G inserts with free shipping so I bought from them. (Not to mention my Ebay bucks rewards brought down my total to under $3.00!When I received the packet they had added 12… I repeat 12 free inserts from previous weeks that still had a VERY GOOD AMOUNT of coupons that still had time to expire (all the way up to 6/2013). Talk about how happy I was! It was a surprise and took me aback on how sweet people can be! I contacted my seller to say how much I appreciated the generosity and that I was looking to buy coupons regularly from them. Turns out it was a wife and husband team, the husband responded and in conversation mentioned his wife had an account on Ebay and that both were linked together. If I didn’t see something on one I could find it on the other! So I have the feeling this is going to lead to a beautiful coupon buying friendship.

Don’t get me wrong all of the sellers I dealt with have been AWESOME. However I struck accord with a few that I thought really would work well with my coupon buying and personality. So when you buy on Ebay: keep in mind sellers that made you happy or you were pleased with and consider them in the future!

IMPORTANT:

EBAY Etiquette!
If you buy an item, please PAY FOR IT. I read so many seller’s descriptions on items stating MANY people have not paid after they bought the items resulting in opening Ebay dispute cases. One mother had a case every week for the past year!!!! If you run into a paying issue, INFORM THEM. They are willing to work with you!

Don’t give a seller grief about shipping price.

Just bid or buy another lot from someone else. In the store if something costs more than you are willing to pay or is higher than another retail chain you don’t automatically go crazy on the closest cashier about outrageous prices. You simply leave it and buy it elsewhere (at least NORMAL people do). So same here. Just because it’s the internet doesn’t mean it isn’t someone’s BUSINESS. Treat them with respect.

LEAVE FEEDBACK, even if your experience was less than perfect.

If you got a great item, take 5 seconds to leave a nice note for other potential buyers and to increase their seller scores! Especially if they left YOU feedback positively increasing your buyer reliability score. It’s the nice way to say THANKS for a great product and service.
IF… AND PLEASE FOCUS IN ON THIS ONE. IF you had a bad experience (and it does happen) contact the seller FIRST to resolve an issue. Do NOT leave negative feedback immediately. Negative feedback cannot be erased! It can be mutually withdrawn but it is a mess with Ebay as the mediator to correct the bad rating.

How do I know?

As a previous seller of items I’ve had similar issues with lack of feedback and on ONE occasion a negative which was mutually withdrawn JUST because the BUYER added extra information to the item after it SHIPPED!!!!! I never sold outside of the US, however a person in the UK really wanted the item. So I BENT my typical selling practice to accommodate him. I sent it out quickly, only to receive a negative feedback stating I hadn’t put it listed as “gift” on customs so he had to pay a little bit more money to get the item. Mind you, I got his email the day AFTER the item shipped. Had he messaged me first with what happened and the cost he incurred I would have GLADLY refunded him that. BUT I got that nasty mark on my score. I refunded him IMMEDIATELY and was adamant he should have come to me first. He apologized and started the process to withdraw that nasty negative rating. It is now listed as a mutual withdraw. However it was a long dragged out process that could have been resolved QUICKLY and with less stress on both ends if communication would have been used. My score is 100% with 200 feedback as both a seller and buyer. I pride myself in that, so do others!

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Please just communicate with your seller - things can be resolved and after trying if STILL nothing gets fixed THEN leave the negative. TRY FIRST! Trust me we WANT your business we WANT you to be happy. Not everyone in the world is out to get you, I PROMISE! :)

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CLIP IT, USE IT, LOVE IT... GOOD LUCK! <3

You Gotta Fight For Your Right to Coupon

You Gotta Fight For Your Right to… COUUUUUPON!

So yesterday I was lucky enough to get some of the razors that were money makers @ my nearest Rite Aid. I got the last 2.

 

But 2 is better than none so I took those razors and ran like a coupon bandit to the register.

 

As my mother and I rang up the two razors I gave the man my coupons. He scanned the one fine when he went to the other it would not accept it.

So he looked up and said I couldn’t use the coupon.
So I politely asked why was that.
He stated the register wasn’t accepting it and I could only use one.
I politely told him it’s because the coupon exceeded the amount of the item and the coupon had to be priced down in order for it to work according to their coupon policy, and that I was able to use up to 4 coupons in one shopping trip, 1 per item as stated in the coupon’s fine print.

So he took a deep sigh as though I had asked him to cross the Euphrates River with nothing but a purple dinosaur swimmy. He grunted he had to call his manager. And I was more than happy to wait for her.

When she arrived he explained to her my situation and asked if I could even use another coupon since I used one. The manager looked at the coupon, and I told her clearly it states I can use one per item up to 4 in the same trip and I was only using two. He was very adamant that I couldn’t use two coupons. She agreed that I was in the clear for using my coupons (YESSSSS) as long as I had two items which I did. So he asked his manager if it was even possible for me to get it, it’s less than the item price. So I kindly referred to their coupon policy stating it could be priced down and that I had the coupon policy on my phone straight from their website (GO ANDROID PHONE! Lol) (I have no ink for my printer right now lol). The manager didn’t even look at the policy she looked at the cashier and said yeah we can do that. Just price the item to 2.99. And with that he did.

My total? .42 cents.

As I finished my transaction he was shaking his head. My mother being the feisty woman she is said “In this economy you have to survive”. I didn’t even notice him shaking his head frankly I didn’t care. He could have shook his head until the contents rattled like a maraca, I was not concerned with his loss of the extra 2 minutes it took for him to call a manager and for her to arrive. My eyes were focused on my bounty of 20 razors. And at the end of my receipt there were $4.00 beautiful +UP rewards waiting. Ahhhhh… money made for buying items I use. Who’s laughing now buddy boy?

 I’m sure I’ll bump into the Music Man again in Rite Aid as I see him working all the time.
And the next time I’m in his line again I’ll be waiting with the same smile to challenge his “no”.

 

Things Learned:
Some people are just miserable in life.

Training at a job not always covers things like inside and out coupon knowledge.

Keep your coupon policies with you and know them.

Wait for a manager if need be, there are other registers and if not those people can thank the cashier that doesn’t know his/her own store’s policies.

 

Be prepared to confront misinformation. People are quicker to say “We can’t do this and/or You can’t use that” Than actually finding out. Question it. Be persistent.

Be POLITE at all times. Don’t be a crazy coupon lady (or man)! It’s not worth getting upset over razors or anything without a beating heart for that matter. Even the nasty cashiers or people, just stay calm. Things work out and if not just go to another store and coupon there.

When people shake their heads, blow it off. There’s nothing wrong with couponing. That’s what it’s there for. And if all else fails enjoy the soothing sounds of the maraca from the other person’s hollow head. Shame on them for looking down on you for being a sale GENIUS lol

Most importantly: Enjoy your bounty!

 

CLIP IT, USE IT, LOVE IT... GOOD LUCK! <3

Coupon Match 4/7/13 - Money Maker $$$$

   You're paying me to take items off of your shelves? Don't mind if I do!

Heads up there's an awesome money maker deal going on at Rite Aid today 4/7/13 that I just saw while going through my ads at 3am in the morning lol

There's a sale for Bic Twin Select Silky Touch Disposable Razors (10 count) for $2.99.

You also get $2.00 back in +UP rewards. So ultimately .99 cents. Not bad right? What if I told you you can actually MAKE money on this. HOW? Here's how! :)


On the Smart Source Insert from 3/17/13 ( which was an Ebay insert I bought - which was the 15 ones I mentioned in my earlier blog!) there's a coupon for $3.00 off 1 Bic Disposable Razor (ANY KIND) which expires 4/14/13.

The limit is 4 per household. The coupon has a limit of 4 in one shopping trip (PERFECT!)

So buy 4 10 count disposable razors @2.99, use the $3.00 off coupon for it to become FREE. Pay Tax and enjoy the $8.00 bucks you made back in +UP rewards for buying the item.

Free razors and you are paying me to take it off your hands??? GLADLY!

Welcome to the awesomeness that is couponing.

CLIP IT, USE IT, LOVE IT... GOOD LUCK! <3

Cutting Coupons and Savings

eBay Coupons & Paper Trimmers

 

Yesterday I mentioned awaiting some of the eBay coupons I purchased and would update you all regarding my experience. 

End result: AWESOME!

Talk about major savings! So the person I bought coupons for was auctioning 5 SmartSource inserts with expiration dates of 4/30-6/30. If you won the auction not only did you get the 5 you bought, the seller gave 10 MORE of the same inserts. 15 inserts! I got that for a steal at about 5 bucks + free shipping. Considering I spend 1.50 on each newspaper just for ONE specific insert I'll take a $5.00 steal over $22.50 for the same items without all of those newspapers! After all, I'm couponing to SAVE money and EBAY coupons definitely SAVES money.

And to put the cherry on top: the seller gave me a Red Plum insert with coupon expiration dates of 5/31-6/31 for FREE just for buying with them. Can you say loyal buyer? I will definitely purchase more from this particular seller. It was a win win situation!

 

It should come to no surprise that more coupons = more cutting. After cutting 2 inserts you might start feeling like the pile of 15 inserts in front of you will never be finished... not to mention what I call the purple thumb effect. It's kind of like the green thumb for gardeners only you get the purple thumb when cutting inserts and the scissors unfortunately start to create a sore spot and at times looks purple, red, and if you were really going at it white. The life sucked out of your poor thumb from all those savings. And let's not talk about the cramping in your hand which has the capacity of making your hand stay like a Chinese back scratcher when you're done cutting.

So what can you do?

BUY A PAPER TRIMMER!!!!!!!!!

I just purchased one yesterday because I knew tackling 15 inserts was not going to be easy and what could have taken me 5-6 hours easy took me about 2 hours. My hands thanked me... and it was the easiest fastest way. It's a really good investment. The one pictured above is the bad boy I got to help me with my coupon crazes. It is by Fiskars and is the 12 Inch By Pass Guillotine Paper Trimmer. I personally love guillotine trimmers, I find them to be more effective and less stress on my hand then a glided cutter. This particular cutter has a protection screen so I wont be able to cut my fingers, let's keep the cutting to money spent not my fingers! 

It's super light weight, easy to setup, and very effective at cutting coupons.

Choose what works for you and your cutting style there's plenty of them. I bought mine at Michael's (and yes I used a 40% off coupon lol). 

Advice: 
If you are stacking like inserts and cutting multiple coupons at the same time make SURE you are not accidentally cutting bar codes and manufacturer dates! Same goes for individual cuts. Just be careful of your coupons and hands!

Now go out there cut those coupons and get those savings!

 

CLIP IT, USE IT, LOVE IT... GOOD LUCK! <3

Born Again Couponer (1st Trip Since Hiatus!)

Born Again Couponer

So yesterday I went to CVS and did a pretty good job snagging some sales. I was able to get $188.81 worth of stuff for $30.00, 26 items total including 6 Tide Laundry detergents. Could I do better? Absolutely but for just starting all over again with just this week’s coupons I don’t think it was a bad deal at all!

The hardest thing about couponing is starting out, and even though I was more familiar with couponing since my very first time it felt kind of like trudging through mud. I was heading to the finish line but I was a little weighed down with limited coupons and remembering what I had learned.BUT no complaints! The sales I got were definitely 100 times over better than ANY sale WITHOUT coupons. So I’m super happy, after all working towards becoming a Coupon Goddess while wearing peasant novice coupon clothes is going to take some time to turn into fabulousness!

Two freebies this week to take advantage of before 4/7/13:

Clear Shampoo

It’s $4.99 if you go to the red box coupon center and use your cvs card you will get a $4.99 off coupon making this item FREE! Just pay tax J AND if you have a smart phone, download the IBOTTA app and you can get $1.25 rebate back on it (MONEY MAKER). Once you get $5.00 you can cash it out with your Paypal account. AWESOME! There is a 1 item limit per household, which means you can only buy one PER each CVS card.

Rescue Sleep and Rescue Pearls

It’s currently $8.99 and you get 8.99 ECB (Extra Care Bucks) back with your CVS card – it’s all natural and worth a try. They have a sleep and a stress one. It’s supposed to be an all-natural aid to help you sleep or relieve stress. Last night I tried the sleep one as I couldn’t sleep! It is a drop that dissolves on the tongue, it has a light natural taste of oils slightly fragrant not bad at all! And I knocked out like a light about 10 minutes later. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not. Be advised you will have to pay the $8.99 OoP (Out of Pocket), you will then receive the $8.99 back attached to your receipt. There is a 1 item limit per household, which means you can only buy one PER each CVS card. 

 Some terms I used with you will see me use often:

ECB = Extra Care Bucks  OoP = Out of Pocket

Ebay Coupon Update: In my previous blog I mentioned purchasing some Ebay Coupon lots, some are arriving today and I'm so excited! I will let you know my experience with them. I'm awaiting for the mailman, some sellers were awesome enough to include tracking so I've been able to hound the tracking site like a mad woman lol Right now some say IN TRANSIT and they are in my town out for delivery!!!! Wooooo! Anywho I will post an update sometime soon regarding my experience.

Well until next time my fellow baby couponers!

CLIP IT, USE IT, LOVE IT... GOOD LUCK! <3

I've returned! For good this time!

I'm Baaaaaaaaack! Coupon Insert Tip

Sorry baby couponers I had a slight hiatus, but I'm back and am ready to start giving you inside tips of my couponing as you still embark on this adventure with me :)

 

I'm currently in the process of building my coupons back starting with this past Sunday's inserts. I've also tried (FOR THE FIRST TIME) buying coupons and coupon inserts off of Ebay!!! I'm so excited! I got some really great deals. So here's a new tip for those of you still out there. Check Ebay for inserts and weigh whether you are getting a deal or not buying the paper or buying the inserts.

 

I was able to snag 5 P&G saver inserts from this weekend for a whopping $2.50. That's definitely better on the money I spent for the newspapers just for the insert at $1.50 each. I spent $7.50 on Newspapers for the same 5 inserts and I was able to snag 5 of the same inserts for only $2.50!!! I'm going to have to check out Ebay more often.

 

I also snagged quite a few other coupons I was interested like 20x $1/24 Friskies Cat food coupons for another whopping amount of .99 cents and FREE SHIPPING. I can't beat that!

 

Word to the wise!

 

BE VIGILANT OF COUPON EXPIRATIONS ON EBAY.

 

Also be very mindful of the shipping time it will take to get coupons to you!

 

If there's a coupon or coupon insert thats being sold and the expiration date is 4/8/13 but the shipping estimated time is 4/5-4/15 it may not be the best coupon to purchase since it's cutting it close! Use caution and your own gut feelings.

 

ALSO,

PAY ATTENTION TO COUPONS!!!!!!!! If it is listed as a Military Coupon it is NOT the same as a Manufacturing coupon!!! They are good at military commissaries and exchange stores only. Please don't buy coupons you can't even use.

 

That's all for now I will write soon with policy updates, and a few things I was working on before my hiatus so check back soon!

 

 

CLIP IT, USE IT, LOVE IT... GOOD LUCK! <3

 

 

I'm still around!

Just to keep all my fellow baby couponers posted, I'm STILL around! haha It's been crazy lately and I've been busy but I will be posting a new blog soon (the coupon policies simplified) So definitely keep an eye out! Thanks for waiting!