Coupon Lingo!

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Just like any other hobby or subculture, couponing has it’s own lingo. You’ll often run across it reading blogs or talking to fellow couponers. Here is a list with the most commonly used lingo:

Actual – Physical items you hold in your hand meaning a box of pasta rather than a pasta coupon. Used often in trading coupons.

BLINKIES – These are found in stores in a dispenser machine. Most often the box will have a red blinking light on it.

BOGO (or B1G1)- Buy one get one free.

Catalina – Coupons that come from a machine at the cash register. Named after the manufacturer of the machine that spits out the coupons.

CRT – Cash register tape.(this is a pretty dated/old school term for a receipt)

Double Coupon – Means the value of the coupon is doubled at the register. In San Diego, Only Kiehl’s doubles coupons.

ECB – Extra Care Bucks. A form of rebate from CVS. ECB’s are a CVS exclusive.

FREE ITEM COUPON -You get a free product at the store at no cost or just tax.

HBA – The health and beauty aid section.(shampoo, conditioner, body wash, styling products, etc.)

IP – Internet printable coupon.

INSERT- The packages of coupons that come in the Sunday paper.

MANU or MANNY – Short for Manufacturer Coupon. A coupon issued from the manufacturer. Manufacturer Coupons are about 90% of the coupons in the Sunday papers.

MIR – Mail In Rebate – you have to mail it to a clearinghouse to redeem. Learn more about rebates here.

MM- Money Maker- Any deal where you come out ahead or the store pays you to leave the store with items. These deals are pretty rare these days.

NON-INSERT- A coupon that does not come from the coupon packages (called inserts) in the newspaper. Non-insert coupons come from inside or outside packages, home mailers, Smartsource blinkie machines, magazines, tear pads.

OOP – Out of Pocket – money paid after coupons.

OYNO – On your next order – a lot of Catalinas fall under this, meaning you need to make an additional purchase to redeem.

P&G – Proctor & Gamble Sunday insert coupons.

PEELIE – coupon’s found on products that are sticky unless removed carefully.

POP – Proof of purchase found on actual item, usually a UPC/barcode.

RP – Red Plum Sunday Insert Coupons. In San Diego, these coupon inserts come in the Monday junk mail.

SASE – Self Addressed Stamped Envelope some freebies or rebates require them.

SS – Smart Source or Sunday Insert coupons.

STORE COUPON- A coupon good at a specific store (Target, Albertsons, Vons, CVS, and Walgreens all have store coupons).

TEAR PAD – A pad of refund forms or coupons found hanging from a store shelf or display.

TMF – Try Me Free – rebates for the full price of the item when it first is new to the market.

WINE TAG – coupons found on the necks of wine bottles. In CA, these coupons require the purchase of at least bottle of wine to redeem the deal.

WYB – When You Buy – additional purchase is required to redeem.

Schoola: Shop Sundresses and Take 50% Off Your Next Order

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Schoola is hooking us up! Starting today, Buy a Sundress and Get Half Off Your Next Order!

Purchase a sundress between 6/6 and 6/12 and receive a 50% off code via email on 6/13! Oh, and it gets better with FREE SHIPPING!*

To get started, click here. New to Schoola- that’s cool too. Sign up here and score $20 in new to you clothes for you, or your kiddos! Schoola helps schools fundraise by selling gently worn clothes. You can learn about their mission here.

New Month, New Coupons!

file000786402730Here is your monthly reminder!  A new month means new printable and electronic coupons!

Check out the following sites:

One of my favorite website is the Sunday Coupon Review.  It helps me plot out scenarios in advance and I can email friends to ask for coupons in advance. Remember if clipping coupons isn’t your thing, but saving money is, check out my list of Smartphone apps that can save you the big bucks!

Here are just a few of the new coupons that have me excited:


$1.50 off (2) JOHNSON'S and/or DESITIN products
$0.75 off any 1 NESTLE COFFEE-MATE Coffee Creamer
$1.00 off one True Lemon
$2.00 off one (1) Playtex Cup Product
$1.00 off ONE (1) 10 oz. Chobani Meze Dip

Saving money at Costco!

DSC07871-BMost of us Costco shoppers love it for the good deals (and the samples- COME ON!), but ever wonder if there is a way to save more money at Costco?

First off, let’s be clear: Costco doesn’t accept coupons, other than their own. So don’t pick up a Sunday paper and get clipping thinking that you’re going to save a ton of cash at Costco that way, because… no. Not gonna happen. And most of the time, you don’t actually need the paper coupons from the Costco Flyer/Coupon book. The coupons come off at checkout OR the checkers all have the coupon books at their registers.

Here are my tips for saving money at Costco:

  1. Keep a Price book. You can learn more about them here. It will tell you if that 5 gallon drum of hummus is a better value than the small 16 oz tub at your regular grocery store. Sometimes bigger isn’t better. Top money savers at Costco for my family include Fat Free Milk and PB2.
  2. Make sure to use money saving and rebate apps! There is a full list here, but my favorites for Costco include Mobisave and Ibotta.  Any rebate app that is not store specific can be used to save extra cash at Costco. I cruise all my apps before I hit up the store. It takes just a few minutes, and I usually save $5-$10!
  3. Shop from a list. I know it’s an oldie, but a goodie. And it will help you save money.
  4. Don’t shop hungry. Or with hungry kids.
  5. If you’ve never had a membership, before you shell out the cash, check Groupon and see if they are offering their discounted Costco Memberships. A few times a year you can get a membership for $55 (which, btw is the regular price), but it comes with a $20 cash card, and a booklet of coupons for free merchandise- including their rotisserie chicken, which we love. You can only buy it if you’ve never had a membership. TRUST ME.

Talk Back: What are your tips for keeping the grocery bill down at Costco?

New Month, New Coupons!

file000786402730Here is your monthly reminder!  A new month means new printable and electronic coupons!

Check out the following sites:

One of my favorite website is the Sunday Coupon Review.  It helps me plot out scenarios in advance and I can email friends to ask for coupons in advance. Remember if clipping coupons isn’t your thing, but saving money is, check out my list of Smartphone apps that can save you the big bucks!

Here are just a few of the new coupons that have me excited:

$1.00 off 3 LaCroix Curate
$2.00 off any one Balmex Diaper Rash Cream
$2.00 off any ONE package of HUGGIES Diapers

How do you get so much free stuff?

Screen Shot 2016-04-24 at 11.31.34 PMIf you’ve been around for a while, you may notice I post photos on Social media- a lot of it is stuff I’ve gotten for free.

If you’d like to fill your mail box with goodies, here are a few companies that have great, FREE programs where you can earn free stuff!

L’oreal USA: The makeup Giant wants women from across the United States 18+ to join and take surveys on products, daily skin care regimens, and test new products . When you take 5 surveys, you are eligible to receive a full sized L’oreal product (Of their choice)! They also do consumer product testing. They send you a product, you test it and complete a survey.

Vocal Point is a multi-faceted website. One of its greater aspects is that it’s connected to Proctor and Gamble (P&G), and they often times have new or improved products to test and share with consumers. The members of Vocal Point can opt in to receive these items, and them share their opinions with other members of the Vocal Point community.

The Good Housekeeping Beauty Lab: The Beauty Lab needs female testers age 35 and up to help in our evaluations of beauty products. Some evaluations may require testers to visit the Good Housekeeping Research Institute at 300 West 57th Street in Manhattan, but for other evaluations, products can be sent by mail. There is no cost and very little time involved, and participants may keep beauty product samples.” If you’re interested in participating, please contact ghribeauty@hearst.com or 212-649-2408.  I do 1-2

Bzzagent A WOM (word of mouth) website that helps spread the word on tons of great products. Sign up for campaigns when there are products that interest you, use them, and share your opinions (as well as coupons and samples!) with others in person or via the Internet. This sharing is called “buzz”, and the more you buzz and report your buzz, you earn Mypoints points, and chances for early invitations for more campaigns. I’ve been a Bzzagent for about four year, and I receive about eight campaigns per year.

Smiley360  is much like BzzAgent, in that it is also a WOM (Word of Mouth) website. Sign up for campaigns and you will receive samples to use, and coupons to share with friends. Report your sharing and earn points!
From their website, “Do you love to try new things? Haven’t you ever tried a new product and thought, “This would be so much better if…” Well, as a smiley360.com member, you can provide that kind of feedback directly to the source. Your opinion matters. And as a fringe benefit, you’ll earn status in the smiley360.com community, which has its own perks, rewards, and opportunities. It’s a win-win situation, really.”

Moms Meet- Read my post here.

Ralph’s Free Friday Download– Learn more here (one of their prior offerings that has info on the post about the program).

There are websites like MySavings that have a free sample section that is updated several times a day.

PinchMe offers free sample boxes once a Month- some months there are tons of samples, some months not so much, it just depends on your demographic and what they have.

Proctor and Gamble (P&G) offers samples once per quarter. Sign up here.

Legoland California: Special $35 tickets this weekend only!

unnamedCommunity Days This Weekend!
$35 Admission to LEGOLAND

Support our local science, arts and after school programs this Saturday and Sunday!

Specially-priced $35 LEGOLAND tickets include admission with Park hours extended to 8 p.m. for even more family fun!

Buy your tickets online here. You can also get tickets to the SEALife Aquarium at Legoland for just $9!!

This event is very crowded, so please remember to be patient!

50% off at Schoola!

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SQUEE! It’s back! 50% off at Schoola!  Just use Coupon Code  SPRINGBRK at checkout. And in addition, if you are new to Schoola, they are offering $20 free and free shipping when you sign up here.

In addition to offering awesome gently worn kids clothes, Schoola also gives a percentage (40%) of each sale to a school. So you can feel good twice: Once while your saving $$, and again because you are helping support a school in need.

To get started, click here. And I can’t wait to see what you have scored!

6 Tips to Save Money WITHOUT Clipping Coupons!

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Trust me, it can be done! There are lots of people who ask me about saving money, but they announce that they don’t want to bother with clipping coupons. They either lose them, forget them, or are embarrassed to use them. That’s ok. There are still ways to save money!

Here are a few:

  1. Use money saving apps. My list of favs (and links) is here. I use these in addition to coupons and I save a ton. I was at Target buying shampoos and body wash the other day. After coupons and other discounts, I paid $14.86. After submitting my receipts to Ibotta and SavingStar, I got back and extra $7.99 in my paypal account!
  2. Don’t forget your loyalty card! Some stores like Vons, Ralphs, heck even Best Buy have loyalty cards. Some offer discounts on the spot, and some accrue discounts to more you shop and scan your card!
  3. Don’t forget your discount! Some stores offer discounts to military, teachers, and peace officers. And if you are a senior citizen there area plethora of discounts waiting for you!
  4. Buy what’s on sale! If you have a choice between an item that’s on sale versus an item that is full price that is comparable size….
  5. Check out the Price per Unit to see what is the best deal. Bigger isn’t always better!
  6. Reusable bags can net you some savings….In addition to helping Mother Earth, some stores (like Target and Sprouts) offer a discount of .05 per re-usable bag used. A nickel isn’t a lot of money, but over a year, they can sure add up! I use between 5-10 bags each time I shop.

 

Price Per Unit: Is Bigger Better?

random-aisle-photos 013The price per unit helps you determine if the jumbo sized drum of applesauce is a better deal than a regular sized jar. How to determine the price per ounces is easy, most of the time stores do it for you! Take a look at the shelf tag- it should give you a price per unit, usually in ounces (oz.) or pounds (lb.).

If the price per ounce/pound on the larger container is smaller, then it is a good deal. When comparing, make sure both containers are using the same unit of measurement

Here is an example of what the shelf tags can look like:

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The majority of shelf tags will list:

  • The Item
  • The size of the container (in ounces, pounds, or units)
  • The Price of the item
  • The price per unit (in ounces, pounds or units)

This is also a great strategy to see if the store brand or a brand that isn’t your usual brand is a better deal than what you normally buy.

If your store doesn’t have shelf tags that break down the price per unit, here is how you can figure it out- I recommend using a calculator.

Take the price of the item and divide it by the number of ounces/lbs/units in the package.

Let’s use for our example the Uncle Ben’s Buttery Ready Rice, pictured above on the left.

$1.93 divided by 8.8 ounces equals .219, which is 21.9¢ per ounce.

If you keep a Price Book, you might want to  include a space for unit price, you would write 21.9¢ in the Unit Price Column. You can round up, or leave it as a fraction of a cent, to get an exact price for comparison. Learn more about price books here.