Coupons, Where I Find Them

COUPONS

Coupons really can save you a lot of money.  I have heard comments that coupons are more of a pain in the butt then what they are worth.  Honestly, I spend less than two hours a month on my coupons.  I feel that any dollar I save is better in my pocket than in the retailer’s.    I used to save roughly an average of $200 a month with coupons. Now that I have a massive stock pile I am saving about $100 a month in coupons.  What would you do with an extra $100? 

When I get home, I take note of how much money I saved using coupons.  When we were paying off the mortgage that amount was flipped onto the mortgage as an extra payment daily. Now that our mortgage is paid off this money is saved to a vacation fund.  Do this daily, it will become automatic in your habits. This is how you will see the results quickly.

When I go to the grocery store, I walk up and down every aisle to hunt for coupons. I don’t know about you, but I end up needing something in almost every aisle of the grocery store so I don’t count aisle walking as extra work. I do however pretend that it is exercise and counts towards my cardio.

I find coupons all the time in front of products right there on the shelf!  This is the easiest way to start your coupon hunt.  Often at times the coupon holder looks similar to the product and could be missed and presented to the consumer as another subliminal advertisement.   Look closely.

Proper coupon etiquette is to take the amount of coupons that you will need.  If you take 15 and will use them for your family or stockpile go for it.  Just be respectful, and remember to be a Coupon Fairy with the coupons that you will not be using. 

I am going to list a few of my favorite coupon sites for you to get started.

I suggest you create an email account just for coupons.  I suggest creating an email account with your name, and the word coupons. Then only coupons come to your email account are coupon related. Take a piece of paper and track all your passwords, and mailing addresses. Add this paper in a plastic sleeve to your Home Binder.  I have accounts registered for my father's house and my mother's to receive more coupons.  This is my coupon holder, it is from the Dollarama and is really a business card holder. It holds coupons perfectly. One half is for food, the other half is for everything else.

Now that you have an email address just for coupons and a Face Book alias, here is a starting point for coupons. Some of these lists will do a mail out to you and others you will need to print.

1.                 healthyessentials.ca  (currently nothing there)

2.                 gocoupons.ca (currently nothing I use, a few are available)

3.                 pgeveryday.ca (lots of printable ones today!)

4.                 websaver.ca      (have to pay for mailouts, choose print option)

5.                 save.ca (toilet paper mail  out, and Tostitos print, great for Pepsi Promo)

6.                 smartsource.ca

7.                 groupon.com (changes daily)

8.                 walmart.ca

9.                 Flipp App now has coupons instantly

10.            zebracoupons.com   THIS IS MY LEAST FAV, THEY CHARGE FOR THE     COUPONS

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Toiletries Stockpile

You have heard me mention a stockpile a few times.  I have a stockpile for food items, and one for toiletries.  The easiest one that I found to gather up for a minimal cost is the toiletries stockpile.  An added bonus, toiletries don't expire, and can be gathered in large amounts.

Toilet paper coupons are available frequently.  Super Store has a coupon board, and coupons are often found there. Save.ca and the Walmart magazine also often has coupons for toilet paper.  I am not brand loyal to toilet paper.  Coupons can also be used when items are on sale.  My stock up price for toilet paper is under 30 cents per double roll. I keep a shelf in the pantry full of rolls, and always have some packages in the basement.

Tissue is another item that often goes on sale.  50 cents and under is a great stock up price for tissue.  A little known secret, often the Royale Tissue goes on sale a 6 pack 3.99  and there are often coupons for this brand.  Watch for the sales, and stock up! Last year, I had coupons for $2 off a 6 pack of tissues.  This is a coupon that I have seen a few times a year. I bought 3 cases, and feel pretty sure we have a few years of this on hand. It seems excessive, but we have 5 boxes open in our house at any given time. Running out of this item and buying at regular price is at least $1 a box. 

Shaving Cream was free last year!  There was a coupon on the board at Superstore for $2 off and it was onsale inside for 1.99, I just paid the taxes!   It's a good idea when looking at the board to walk through the store and see if the item is on sale, and then go back and get more!  There are often coupons for $1 off at SS and Shoppers Drug Mart. Using conditioner to shave legs is also a great frugal tip! 

Body Wash coupons are found in P and G inserts for Gillette and other inserts for other brands, Irish Spring and Dove are common coupons.  With sales and coupons 50 cents is a stock up price. Body Wash is often on Check Out 51 for Cash Back.

Pads and tampons coupons are often available at Shoppers Drug Mart right in front of the product.  Often these can be scored for 50 cents! 

Shampoo and Conditioner are everywhere!  Look for these and match up with sales.  Almost weekly, there are Check Out 51 offers for shampoo and conditioner. Matching up with sales and coupons, my shampoo and conditioner is $1 and under stock up price.  These cash back offers often run out the first day, so claim it fast!

Body Lotion is often very cheap after Christmas. Look for the Value Boxes that have lotions and marked down to half price after Christmas.  Then I take them out of the boxes and stock up!  Also I have scored with the pink stickers at grocery stores when lotions are changing their packaging.  I find grocery stores the cheapest place for my body lotion.

When I am building up my toiletries stockpile I try to buy my items at Shoppers Drug Mart for Optimum points, No Frills for PC Points, or Sobeys for Air Miles.  I try to hold on to coupons to match up with the flyers and earn points at the same time.  Start small, you've got this, Happy Savings!

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Know Why You Want To Be Out Of Debt

Everyone wants more money and getting out of debt helps with that.  Maybe it's for travel, or to be able to buy the newest fashion trend or maybe it’s to drive a great car.   Once you figure out your why, you need to think about what you will sacrifice to achieve this goal.  I have 'sacrificed' the trendy clothes to achieve this goal. Our clothes are mostly second hand. Guess what, we are ok! And sometimes we even get compliments on our clothes.  I often hear “Don’t tell me you got that at Frenchy’s” (a used clothing store). 

We have also ‘sacrificed’ what we drive. We drive old cars. My husband drives a 2008 Toyota Yaris, and I bought a used 2013 Toyota Corolla a year ago that we saved up to buy and traded in a car towards the price.  Is it my dream car? Nope, but to lease my dream car would be over $40,000 for 4 years and not even own it.  Knowing our WHY, to get out of debt made the other things seem not so important, and eventually we will have the 'things' that we want.

Our why is to give our children a better life then we had. Don't get me wrong, my childhood was amazing. However, my husband and I want to give our children the gift of experiences and the gift of an education. Being debt free was the only way we saw this could be possible.

I wanted to have our house paid off.  Not having a mortgage payment would allow us to put aside money for our children's RESP university tuition and have money to travel.  I want our kids to start life off without a large student loan debt.

Once you know your why, you can determine if the small sacrifices are worth it.   Know that these sacrifices aren't forever.   We still had fun during our 5 year journey to get out of debt. We still took great paid for vacations, we just had an envelope to budget for it. It is worth it!

Make your why specific to ensure it is achievable. Simply saying I want X amount in your bank account isn't good enough.  Grab a pen and your partner and start dreaming!

Once you know your specific why, you are ready to achieve it. Great things will happen!

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Declutter...and Make Some Money

**this is a picture of what we gathered up yesterday, take note of our hamper repaired with duct tape that saved us a few bucks lol

 

Declutter

We took on a HUGE endeavor, purging our house.  This took ONE WHOLE YEAR! It took this long because we have touched every item we have.

Today is a great day to start. I am doing a re-visit today.  Before the Christmas items get put away, I will decide if all the holiday things truly bring me joy.  There are some ornaments on our tree that no  longer bring me joy, and I plan to get rid of them. 

To make room on my bookshelves, all of our knick knacks were packed away. As I put them out to their year long spots, I will see if they bring me joy. 

I don’t know about you, but I was guilty of buying a few gifts that just weren’t necessary. My husband really doesn’t want the Toronto Maple Leafs gumball machine.  We will sell it.  Ask your kids if they received anything that they don’t think that they will play with. My kids got a few things that they don’t think they will use, and I returned them to the store a few days ago.  

 To some of you reading this post, you may think this is harsh. We try really hard to use the things we have.  We don’t want to be tripping over items or moving things to clean that we don’t even like. We have all been there, by March the kids have so many toys they don’t even play.

As you put away laundry, take a check on how many pairs of PJS you have, or sets of sheets etc.  I noticed that one of my kid’s had 4 sets of sheets. THAT’S CRAZY! This is after I thought we purged everything! 

Take a laundry basket and go through your house and challenge yourself to fill it up.

I was extremely motivated to do this by the possibility of financial gains.  I had a goal to sell $5 of items a day. Do the math, that’s $1825 a year!  That is more than one month’s mortgage payment as an extra payment. The goal was achieved and then some! I tracked how much money was in the jar in my day planner.  Less stuff to move when cleaning was a fringe benefit. 

As I touched each item, I asked myself if the item serves a purpose, or brings me joy.  If the answer to these questions was yes, it stayed, and if not, away it went.

This is a great way to build up your Emergency Fund or make some extra payments to pay down debt.

No item was safe. There is a great documentary I recommend if you need a little motivation on Netflix

http://www.theminimalists.com/netflix/  

Join Guess Who's Cheap on Facebook, and on Amazon A Penny Saved is a Mortgage Paid, and A Guide to Collecting Air Miles in Canada

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