Coupon Basics

Couponing as a Part Time Job

by Karen Mendes | General Information | 1 Comment

If you are a one-income family, couponing can be like pulling in a second income with the money you’re saving. When I first starting using coupons I felt like I had a part time job. It took me about an hour - two hours a week to plan my shopping trips and then about another hour - two hours to go shopping (depending on how many stores I went to each time). When I looked at my savings, I thought of it as an income. Because after all my time is worth money, isn't it? If I put 3 hours into my planning and shopping and saved $40 between sales and coupons, then I made about $13 an hour! And I probably used the equivalent of gas that I would use if I was driving to work each day. All the...

Reduce Debt and Save for Vacations with Coupons

by Karen Mendes | Frugal Ideas, Using Coupons | 0 Comments

How many times have you wished you had just a little bit more money each week to pay off your credit card or perhaps just pay cash so you don’t have to charge things? Wouldn’t it be great to be able to splurge and buy something you didn’t need, but wanted instead? When you have a limited income, it's very hard to do that. However, at some point or another everyone should treat themselves to make all their hard work worth it. But if your credit card bill is through the roof, you just end of feeling guilty about spending money on something you want, but don't necessarily need. How about a night out with your spouse or significant other that doesn't consist of only going somewhere for free?...

How Coupons can Keep Money In Your Wallet

by Karen Mendes | Using Coupons | 0 Comments

Whether you are strapped for cash or not, everyone should be using coupons. They are everywhere and easy to use so why not? Wouldn't it be nice to stretch your paycheck by at least 25% every week? Coupons are like money, the more coupons you hand over to the cashier, the more money you keep in your pocket. Have you ever read a magazine and found a coupon for a $1.00 off a product in the middle of the magazine? Imagine that was a $1.00 bill. Wouldn't you put it in your wallet? If you answered yes then it's the same thing as using that coupon and keeping that $1.00 bill in your wallet! You don't even have to use a lot of coupons to see a difference. You may have been following along in my...

How To Shop at CVS and Score GREAT Deals

by Karen Mendes | Drug Store Deals | 0 Comments

I love shopping at CVS and I find so many great deals. But I know not everyone is as sure as I am about how to score the good deals. If you are one of them then I suggest you read these posts where I explain the in's and out's of shopping at CVS and how to save a lot of money while doing so, and getting your family the things they need. CVS Store Coupons & The Bag Tag CVS Weekly Deals & Quarterly ExtraBucks Rewards CVS Beauty Club CVS ExtraBucks Rewards To help you, I post all the great deals each week along with what coupons to use and where to find them. I want to make it as easy as possible for you to save on everything you need! Check out this weeks HOT CVS deals...

Koupon Basics: CVS Store Coupons & The Bag Tag

by Karen Mendes | Coupon Basics | 0 Comments

You are already to shop at CVS - you have your CVS Extra Care card and you know how to earn ECB's (ExtraBucks Rewards) by having your prescriptions filled, purchasing Beauty Products, shopping the weekly sales and for your quarterly spending If you don’t know what I’m talking about read this post. Now I’m going to tell you how to stack CVS Coupons to save even more and how you can earn ECB's and save the environment at the same time!! CVS Store Coupons CVS offers their customers store coupons that you will receive several ways; the easiest of which is on your receipt when you make a purchase. They print out most times you shop and since they are store coupons, you can combine them...

Koupon Basics: CVS Beauty Club

by Karen Mendes | Coupon Basics | 0 Comments

So now you have your CVS Extra Care card and you are handing it over to the cashier each time you shop, right? And you know that you can earn ECB’s (ExtraBucks Rewards) each quarter by having your prescriptions filled at CVS. If you don’t know what I’m talking about read this post. Now I’m going to tell you about another program that pays you in Extra Care Bucks at CVS – it’s their Beauty Club. Earning ExtraBucks Rewards through the CVS Beauty Club The CVS Beauty Club will give you $5 in ExtraBucks Rewards for every $50 you spend in qualifying Beauty Purchases. It will be tracked on your card so you don’t even have to think about it. To start accumulating towards this reward, you’ll...

Koupon Basics: CVS ExtraBucks Rewards

by Karen Mendes | Coupon Basics | 0 Comments

As you learned last week, the drug stores have great programs to get you in their stores and CVS is by far my favorite - but that's just my opinion. Either way, you can save lots of money by shopping there each week for things your family needs and this week I will explain to you all the in's and out's of saving money at CVS. But first I will share with you a little overview of their wonderful program! CVS ExtraBucks Rewards CVS has a wonderful program called the Extra Care program - to help you save on things your family needs and it’s my favorite store to shop at. I feel it’s the easiest program of all the drug store programs but perhaps it’s just because I use it the most. It’s very...

Coupon Basics: Using Manufacturer & Store Coupons Together

by Karen Mendes | Coupon Basics | 0 Comments

Using Manufacturer & Store Coupons Together There are two basic types of coupons - Manufacturer Coupons and Store Coupons and when you know the difference between them and how to use them, you'll open up an entire new world of using coupons. Did you know that you should be Using Manufacturer & Store Coupons Together? What are Manufacturer Coupons? These are coupons that are issued by the manufacturer - or company - and can be used in any store that accepts manufacturer coupons. These are the coupons you'll find in the Sunday inserts, in magazines, on the shelves and online. They will always have a bar code on them and will state on coupons "Manufacturer Coupon". What are Store...

Coupon Basics: Planning Your Shopping Trip

by Karen Mendes | Coupon Basics | 0 Comments

Planning Your Shopping Trip You can have all the best coupons, but if you don't use them then they aren't any good to you, are they? Planning your shopping trip is very important. But if you have them, you want to use them, right? And the best way to use them is to plan your shopping trip and choose the coupons you want to use, before you go to the store. Planning your shopping trip will accomplish many things but it will help you to become a successful coupon user. By planning ahead of time, you know exactly what coupons you will use and you'll have them there with you. Make a list of the items you want to purchase, then go through your coupons and pull out the ones you'll use on...

Coupon Basics: Coupons In Magazines

by Karen Mendes | Coupon Basics | 0 Comments

Coupons In Magazines Magazines are a GREAT source for coupons - especially coupons you don't normally find in the inserts. There are several magazines that have coupons in them every month but the best magazine to find coupons is All You Magazine. Every month it's chuck full of coupons - and good coupons too! As soon as the issue is complete, I will post a list of what coupons you can find in the up coming issue so you'll see if you want to purchase it or not. The magazine itself is a great magazine and I love reading it, I don't just get it for the coupons - others I may but not All You Magazine! All You Magazine can only be purchased at Walmart or through subscription. A...

Coupon Basics: Sunday Coupon Inserts

by Karen Mendes | Coupon Basics | 0 Comments

There are a lot of places to find coupons, not just the Sunday Paper and you may be surprised how many you've missed once you look over this list. But since the Sunday paper is the most common place, I wanted to go over a few things to help you out when purchasing the paper, especially if it's just for coupons. Sunday Inserts Just about every Sunday there is at least ONE coupon insert, if not more. Some major holiday weekends there will not be any coupons but I will let you know ahead of time when that is, so you don't buy any extra papers looking for the coupons. I suggest before you purchase the paper, you take a quick look to see if all the inserts are there because unfortunately...

Understanding the Wording on a Coupon “Available at Walmart”, “Redeem at Walmart” and “Redeemable Only at Walmart”

by Karen Mendes | Coupon Basics | 1 Comment

If you come across a coupon that says "available at xyz store" and has the store logo on it you may be asking yourself if it's really a manufacturer coupon that can be used anywhere OR can it only be used at xyz store. Good question. We've been seeing this a lot on printable coupons and lots of people are confused. I would like to help you figure it out so you know exactly where you can use your coupons. If it says 'Available at Walmart' then that just means you will find that item at Walmart. There may even be a logo but the 'availalbe' part is what is the clue here. It's advertising for Walmart and I'm starting to think we are going to see more and more like this. If it says...

Coupon Basics: Setting Your Printer to Print in Black & White ONLY

by Karen Mendes | Coupon Basics | 4 Comments

The discussion came up yesterday on the Koupon Karen facebook page about how to set your printer to print just in black and white so all the coupons you print don't use up your color ink. You'll need to set the default on your printer to only print in black and white since you aren't given the option to change it when you print a coupon, like you get when you print a document. If you own a PC here are the steps to take with Windows 7... Go to your control panel Under Hardware & Sounds select "View Devices and Printers" Locate your printer and right click on it and select printing preferences. You'll then see an option to print in Black & White so go ahead and select that You've...

Coupon Basics: Coupon Abbreviations Explained

by Karen Mendes | Coupon Abbreviations, Coupon Basics, Using Coupons | 0 Comments

There are lots of abbreviations that I use through out Koupon Karen. Here is a run down so you know what I'm talking about. You may want to bookmark this post for future reference. OOP - Out Of Pocket ECB - Extra Care Bucks ESR - Easy Saver Rebate RR - Register Rewars SS - Smart Source Coupon Insert RP - Red Plum Coupon Insert P&G- Proctor & Gamble Coupon Insert GM - General Mills Coupon Insert WAGS - Walgreens BOGO - Buy One Get One Free B2G1 - Buy Two Get One Free BOGO 50% off - Buy One Get One 50% off wyb - When You Buy DND - Do Not Double Cat - Catalina - A coupon that prints out at the register YMMV - Your Mileage May Vary Hope this helps! Looking to learn more about...

Coupon Basics: Stacking Coupons

by Karen Mendes | Coupon Basics | 4 Comments

Stacking coupons is a term for using more than one coupon on an item. Now before I go any further I want to point out I don't mean using more than one manufacturer coupon on one item, I mean using coupons that are not 'like' types of coupons. Let me explain.... You can only use 1 manufacturer coupon per item BUT if you have a store coupon for the item, you can use that along with the manufacturer coupon and stack them for more savings. So if you have a Target Coupon for Pantene and you have a manufacturer coupon for Pantene, you can use them both on one item. Here is an example: Pantene Shampoo, 2/$7.00 Use $2.00 Pantene Target Coupon AND Use $2.00/2 Pantene Manufacturer Coupon Final...