Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Is it Worth it to Buy Coupons Online

People often look at me a little funny when I tell them I purchased a certain coupon online(usually ebay, but I often using the coupon clipping services too). Just yesterday there were 2 coupons in particular that I was interested in buying. One was worth it to buy and the other wasn't. Here's why:

Coupon #1 Gatorade $.50 off 1



We got $.50 off 2 coupons for Gatorade a couple weeks ago in our inserts, but I was unaware that other regions received $.50 off 1. This would make for free Gatorade at my grocery stores that double coupons when the price of Gatorade is $1.00 like they are this week at King Soopers(Kroger). From buying my local paper I already have 4 coupons for $.50 off 2 which means I could get 8 Gatorades for $.50 each since the coupon would double to $1.00. When I checked ebay the cost per coupon averaged out to be about $.50. So even though I could get the Gatorade free at the store with the coupon the coupon itself would cost me the same as if I had just used my $.50 off 2 coupon. The only reason to buy the $.50 off 1 coupon would be if I wanted more than 8 Gatorades. I decided not to buy any coupons. If I would have realized sooner I could have purchased these for much less from a coupon clipping site like Coupons & Things by Dede, but they are sold out already.

Coupon #2 Quaker Chewy Granola Bars $.55 of 1


While previewing the Safeway ad I saw they had an in ad coupon to get Quaker Chewy Granola Bars for $.99 with a limit of 3. I already have several $1.00 off 2 coupons that would make a box cost $.49 with the Safeway sale. Since there is a limit of 3 and the coupon is off of 2 I would only by 2 at a time. I generally only like to make 2 trips to the same store each week meaning I would only buy 4 boxes this week for a total cost of $1.96. I checked ebay for the $.55 off 1 coupons and found that I could do a "buy it now" for 20 coupons for $1.48 with free shipping. Since this coupon will double up to the $.99 sale price that would make each box I buy free. Also, since these coupons are off of 1 box instead of 2 I can buy the limit of 3 at each visit. So with 2 trips to the store I can get 6 boxes free, but will have paid $1.48 for the coupons. So overall it was worth it for me to purchase the coupons. I'll spend about $.50 less and get 2 more boxes.

When purchasing coupons online make sure to check the expiration dates and also the reputation of the seller if buying off ebay.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Safeway Run for Cheap Fruit Snacks

I'm really liking Safeway lately. They seem to just keep getting better! First they started doubling coupons, then lowered their prices and now you can load additional eCoupons from their website. There were a few that I really liked: $1.50 of 2 Yo-Plus Yogurts, $1.50 off 2 Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks and $1.00 off 2 Progresso Soups. My son wanted the yogurt asap!



1 Gallon Milk $.99 with in ad coupon
4 General Mills Cereal $1.49 each - 4x $.55 doubled - $.55 ecoupon
4 Nature Valley Granola Bars $1.50 each - 4x $.40 doubled - $.40 ecoupon
5 Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks $2.00 each -$1.00/2 - 3x $.40 doubled - $1.50/2 Safeway ecoupon - $.40 ecoupon - $.50/2 ecoupon
2 Yo-Plus Yogurts $2.50 each - 2x $1.00 - $1.50/2 Safeway ecoupon
2 Progresso Soup - $.50/2 doubled - $1.00/2 Safeway ecoupon

Total $11.28 and I got back a $2.50 Catalina for buying 4 Nature Valley Granola Bars and a $3.50 Catalina for buying 5 Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks!

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Things I Get For FREE!

There are frequently opportunities to get stuff for free by using coupons. Here is the list of the items I never pay for. Most of these are Health and Beauty items.

  • Shampoo and Conditioner
  • Body Wash
  • Body Lotion
  • Hand Soap
  • Toothpaste
  • Tooth Brushes
  • Floss
  • Mouth Wash
  • Razors
  • Shaving Creme
  • Deodorant
  • Frozen Vegetables
  • Salad Dressings
  • Condiments
  • Powdered Mashed Potatoes

Here are some that I rarely pay for, mostly either because the sales don't come around enough or we just simply go through the items at a faster pace. There are also some things you simply cannot stockpile, like yogurt for example.

  • Crackers
  • Granola Bars
  • Cereal
  • Toilet Paper
  • Snack Mix
  • Fruit Snacks
  • Yogurt
This year I want to track all the items I get for free. I also want to try and collect more free items that I can donate to various organizations in my community.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Walgreens and Safeway

On Sunday morning I was really bummed out when I saw the Walgreens ad. Here in Colorado we get the smaller version of the ad which results in less of the sales being offered to us here. The Finish Dishwasher Detergent sale that would make it free with this Sunday's coupon was not in our ad. I was happy to see the new Safeway sale that started today that included getting Cheerios and Cinnamon Toast Crunch for $.49 along with really cheap Progresso soup.

Walgreens Trip

Transaction #1

1 Gallon Milk - $1.99

2 Kellogg's Special K - $5.00 - $2.50 BOGO coupon

2 Neosporin Lip Health $8.00 - $3.00 IP coupon - $3.00 IP coupon

Total $7.20 and got back a $2.00 RR for the Special K/Milk and a $3.00 RR for the Neosporin.


Transaction #2

1 Gallon Milk - $1.99

2 Kellogg's Special K - $5.00 - $2.50 BOGO coupon

3 Denver Post Newspapers - $4.50


Total $9.21 and got back a $2.00 RR
for the Special K/Milk.


Safeway Trip
4 General Mills Cereal - $5.96 - 4x$.55 coupon doubled - .55 ecoupon - .55 ecoupon

4 Progresso Chicken Noodle Soup - $4.44 - 2x$.50 coupon doubled - .50 ecoupon - .5 ecoupon - .5 ecoupon
2 Florida's Natural OJ - $4.00

1 18 Lucerne Eggs - $.98 Safeway in ad coupon

1 Gallon Milk - $.99 Safeway in ad coupon

2 Foster Farms Lunch Meat - $4.98 - $1.00/2 coupon

1 Canteloupe - $1.22


Total $13.60

Total Spent on Groceries in January $27.31

Monday, January 4, 2010

Free Money - Adding it All Up

Now that the year is over I decided to tally up how much "free money" I made throughout the year. This is money I made without doing any work, unless you count a couple extra clicks work.

Discover Card Cashback Bonus- This is our main credit card. We get 1% cash back on all purchases and 5% cash back on different purchases throughout the year. You can also get additional cashback when you shop online by clicking through from Discover's website. In 2009 we made $216.34 with Cashback Bonus.


Target Visa 10% Coupons - Our second credit card is the Target Visa. We pretty much only use this at Target. For every 1000 points you accumulate you get a 10% Target Coupon. You can also get them when you fill prescriptions at Target Pharmacy. I didn't track these throughout the year, but I estimate our savings from getting these coupons to be $30.00.

Swagbucks - I discovered Swagbucks almost a year ago now. Basically it's a search engine that lets you win Swagbucks when you search. You can then use your Swagbucks to purchase items. By far the best deal is buying the $5 Amazon Gift Cards with 45 Swagbucks. Over the course of the year I have bought $100 in Amazon Gift Cards that I used mainly to buy Christmas presents for my boys.


Ebates - Before my Discover Card became so great with it's online shopping bonuses I mainly used Ebates to link through for all my online shopping. Last year I earned $31.94 using Ebates.




Bing - Bing.com is another shopping site I discovered right before Christmas. It seems the cash back percentage can vary. At one point they had %20 cash back for Ebay purchases so I bought one of our more expensive Christmas presents at a great price with it. My total Bing cash back pending for 2009 was $25.61.




Altogether I made an extra $404!

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Our Expenses

Where does it all go? This year I am going to do a much better job of tracking every dollar that we spend. Here is a list of our monthly expenses.

  • Mortgage Payment/Taxes/Insurance - $2563.57
  • Car Payments - $1078.59
  • Student Loan Payments - $366.85
  • Utilities - $200 (Usually closer to $250 in the winter/summer and $150 in the spring/fall)
  • Credit Card at 0% - $100
  • Cell Phone - $110
  • Internet - $54.95
  • TV - $53.14
  • Groceries - $250
  • Shopping - $150 (anything that doesn't fit in the grocery category)
  • Gas - $125
  • Once a year expenses - $100 (this goes into a savings account to pay yearly HOA fees, Life Insurance and Car Maintenance)
  • Veterinary Services for 2 dogs- $59.90 (We pay a monthly fee for our vet services. This covers 2 exams, all shots, 1 dental cleaning and unlimited office visits each year)
  • College Savings for our 2 boys - $50
  • Charity - $20
Total Monthly Expenses = $5,282

Once our debt from the credit card, truck loan and students loans are paid off our monthly expenses will go down $944.85!

Friday, January 1, 2010

First Walgreens Trip of the Year

We needed milk and I wanted some free cereal so I took a trip to Walgreens this morning. I also did the money maker Neosporin deal while I was there. With two boys at home I love getting free Neosporin and Band-aids!


1 Gallon Milk
2 General Mills Lucky Charms
2 Neosporin
1 Package Candy Canes(filler to be able to use all my coupons)

The total $7.30 and I got back a $2 Register Reward for the Milk and Lucky Charms and a $3 Register Reward for the Neosporin. Net cost was $2.30!

Thanks Common Sense With Money!