Couponing 101 with Coupon Suzzy
Why Coupon?
o To provide extras for the family
o To never pay retail again
o To beat the system
o To take control of your finances
o To stockpile for the Zombie Apocalypse
There are so many reasons to coupon!
However, I find over and over that people are afraid to do it saying one of the following:
o It’s too hard
o It takes too much time
o People will look at me strangely
I am a busy wife, mother and secretary and I spend one night a week organizing my weekly shopping trip. From September – December 2012 I saved $1500.00. From January to February 2013 I’ve saved $1000 already – the majority of that on our grocery bill.
Guess I must be pretty thin now, cutting back on all those groceries. NOOO!!! What it means is that I have $1000 in the bank and $1000 of ‘free’ groceries in our house.
So, throw out the excuses.
Start small.
Start with one or two deals.
Give it a few months and you will get the hang of it and begin to learn the ‘tricks’
Tune into Coupon Suzzy on Facebook or couponsuzzy.blogspot.ca for help.
Each time you save money you/your family can use this for other necessities.
Where do I get
coupons?
Mail order.
These companies mail them right to your door. (HINT – use multiple addresses if available to have more than one account – grandma might let you pick up mail at her house)
www.save.ca
www.websaver.ca
www.brandsaver.ca
www.gocoupons.ca
You can reorder from these sites at certain times during the year. When you have an account you can check in monthly and it will tell you when you can reorder a specific coupon again.
Hidden Portals – sometimes you can find hidden coupons on save.ca/websaver. Just type ‘hidden portal’ into google for either and it will show up. Another way to find these is to used www.savealoonie.com who POSTS the hidden portals for you.
Facebook Coupons
Check out your favourite product names. More often than not they will have a coupon posted.
Peelies
These are coupons attached to the packaging of a product in the store. DO NOT tear all of them off for future use – this is bad coupon etiquette. Consider it an ‘instant coupon.’
Tear Pads
Some stores (Loblaws, Independent, Metro, No Frills) have displays with coupons on them in their stores. Also, there are tear pads under products right on the shelves. Take a few (not a dozen though). Note that some coupons are for in-store use only and others will not be designated for a specific store.
Newspaper Inserts
Smartsource and Redplum have inserts that appear about a dozen times a year in your local papers. You can ask your delivery person for extras.
Magazines
Some magazines have coupon offers in them. (Be a quiet ripper though if you are reading at the doctor’s office and find a current deal!)
Don’t be afraid to email companies and ask for some, Chapmans allows an email once a year for $5.00 coupon off ice cream. Just ask.
Printables
Lots of places online have coupons you can print from home. Make sure the site is Canadian.
www.smartcanucks.ca has a database of printable Canadian coupons.
www.Livingwell.ca offers high value printable coupons (medicine)
www.smartsource.ca is a great database for groceries.
Products with Bonus Coupons
Look around when you are buying things off the shelves. Often boxes have coupons on them for free stuff.
Taco kits may have an offer for free hamburger.
Cereals may offer free movie tickets or yogurt.
Ketchup may offer a package of hotdogs.
Keep your eyes open for Bonus products.
Products with Loyalty Bonuses
We all know that Zellers has bit the dust – so I hope you cashed in your HBC points (unless you are a Hudson’s Bay shopper). Other stores offer loyalty cards. I personally am NOT a fan of credit card deals (Airmiles, Walmart points, PC points) mostly because I am ANTI-debt. You are saving money here. I do however carry Shoppers Optimum and Airmiles. Club Sobeys also has a reward card.
Shoppers will often offer bonus points for items on sale (which you can also use coupons on)
Recently I spent $75.00 on items we needed (many on sale/coupons too). Shoppers gave me 21500 points or just short of $30.00 on the rewards card. I use this money at Christmas to stocking shop!
Airmiles you can now choose whether to save for that dream item or convert to cash (my choice).
Couponing Lingo
Here
are the main shortforms used in forums and with couponers
AC - After Coupon
BOGO - Buy one get one
FAR - Free after Rebate
FPC - Free
Product Coupon
HV - High Value (Coupons)
IP - Internet Printable Coupon
MIR - Mail in
Rebate
NED - No Expiry Date
PEELIE - Coupon you peel off a
package
OPP - One per purchase – one
coupon per item purchased
OPT - One per
transaction – one coupon per store visit/customer
PM - Price
Match
SMP - Specially Marked Packages
WUB2 - When you buy two
Do’s and Don’ts
Do Don’t
Take more than one coupon at
a tearpad Take the whole
tearpad
Share your coupons (Coupon
Fairy) Ask with out
giving
Leave coupons on the store
shelf Leave
too many on shelves (litter)
*Be informed on store
policies Get
made when the teller questions you
Stand your ground when you
are right Be rude and
insulting
Use printable coupons Photocopy
printable coupons (fraud)
Be prepared (flyers circled,
coupons ordered) Frantically
flip through flyers/coupons
*Know your store policy. Many couponing policies are posted
online. You don’t need to know all the
rules, just the ones that will apply to you.
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