I'm still learning as I go. Did pretty good on my shopping trip today- saved 65%! But saw some areas I could improve on:
Here's my first rule about eCoupons- keep them current! Every two weeks Cellfire.com and others have eCoupons available to download that don't expire for 4 weeks- Tuesday Feb 9 was the most recent one, then you wait for another set to upload 2 weeks later, and you'll basically "double" your coupons. Shortcuts.com has a lot of the same items available to put on your card, so then you'd "triple" on some items and you can also use 1 additional printable coupon in the same purchase- "quadruple" your savings! All of the upload sites link through the Safeway site.
A few things I learned- you don't need to buy the Nature Valley nut clusters AND granola bars- just get Nut clusters next time- the granola bar ecoupons still were counted toward it. They were $2 each mix and match with General Mills cerals and BC fruit snacks in sets of 4. I had 3 $1.00 off ecoupons on the nut clusters- so already I was $1 in the positive and $1.20 in ecoupons from the granola bars. Then I also had another $1 printed on the nut clusters- so that is $3.20 in the positive on one item, which can help me take $ off on the items that don't have coupons. I've also done this with frosting- when it was $1 each and actually got a $2 overage from it without printing coupons.
Cheerios was also part of that $2 sale, I had a $1 off paper coupon and $.55 off ecoupon- so got the cereal for $.45.
Another thing, if you have a hunch you might use something- print it anyway! I didn't realize all the GM cereals were in the sale, so didn't print the $1 off 2 Big G cereals coupon- would have worked perfect with the mix and match 4 deal. 4 cereals for $6, not even counting the ecoupons- I had at least 1 $.55 off ecoupon each on Trix, Multigrain cheerios, Lucky Charms and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. That would have come out to around $.95 per box (or less, if I had the 2 weeks worth of ecoupons mentioned above)- if I would have been more ready, I would have ended up with $.67 per box. (My kids love cereal.)
I like to pull out all the coupons I plan to use before I get there- then use it as a checklist right before paying to make sure I have all the items I planned to get.
Also, make sure you give yourself limits on what you'll pay for something. I had $1 off 2 Nestle candy bags as an ecoupon and as a printed coupon, but they were $4.50 each- I don't like to spend more than $2.50-$3 on those. Don't spend $9 to save $2. I would have got them if it were 2 for $6- which would make them $2 each after both kinds of coupons.
It's very possible to get around a 50% savings just with the ecoupons and the items available on your card because you are "tripling" even before using printed coupons. There are some great things on there- Fiber One products, Green Giant frozen veggies, Betty Crocker items- so check it out. Put ALL available ecoupons on your card, cause you never know what you'll use and once the limit of uploads is reached, then you are out of luck until the next opening.
Showing posts with label eCoupon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eCoupon. Show all posts
Friday, February 12, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Weekly deal themes- Diaper deals
I'm starting to notice themes with each week of ads that I go through.
A few weeks ago it was juice, last week it was fruit snacks, this week is diapers, I'm guessing the following week will be cheese or soda/snacks for the Super Bowl.
If any of you are moms with kids in diapers or future moms, this is a good week to do some stocking up. I was anticipating the Walgreens deal to be pretty good ($5 back when you buy $25 worth of Huggies), but our starting price is $2 more than mainland ($10.99).
Safeway actually has the lower base price this week at $9.99- which is what I look for and haven't found lower yet, then use the eCoupons and printed coupons with it. I've gotten down to $5-6 for a jumbo pack ($2-3 eCoupons + $2 clipped). Because I have both eCoupons and printed/clipped coupons for Pampers, Safeway is the better option for me since both will be accepted on the same item. Make sure you upload the card at safeway.com before you go. There's also a uPromise.com eCoupon, but those aren't deducted from your receipt, instead they are put in an account for your child to go toward college someday.
If I didn't have any eCoupons on my Club card, then Walgreens would be fine- I would print 2-$2 off Huggies and 1-$1.50 off Huggies and buy 3 at the $10.99, which after coupons and the $5 RR back would make each pack $7.49. My goal is less than $.22 per diaper. Then the $5 could go toward something else needed for the house.
Target is also having a sale on the large box of Pampers- $35.99, but only a good deal with the smaller sizes of Swaddlers (180 ct) and Baby dry (228 ct). Most likely in their Value (Bulk) Size area.
A few weeks ago it was juice, last week it was fruit snacks, this week is diapers, I'm guessing the following week will be cheese or soda/snacks for the Super Bowl.
If any of you are moms with kids in diapers or future moms, this is a good week to do some stocking up. I was anticipating the Walgreens deal to be pretty good ($5 back when you buy $25 worth of Huggies), but our starting price is $2 more than mainland ($10.99).
Safeway actually has the lower base price this week at $9.99- which is what I look for and haven't found lower yet, then use the eCoupons and printed coupons with it. I've gotten down to $5-6 for a jumbo pack ($2-3 eCoupons + $2 clipped). Because I have both eCoupons and printed/clipped coupons for Pampers, Safeway is the better option for me since both will be accepted on the same item. Make sure you upload the card at safeway.com before you go. There's also a uPromise.com eCoupon, but those aren't deducted from your receipt, instead they are put in an account for your child to go toward college someday.
If I didn't have any eCoupons on my Club card, then Walgreens would be fine- I would print 2-$2 off Huggies and 1-$1.50 off Huggies and buy 3 at the $10.99, which after coupons and the $5 RR back would make each pack $7.49. My goal is less than $.22 per diaper. Then the $5 could go toward something else needed for the house.
Target is also having a sale on the large box of Pampers- $35.99, but only a good deal with the smaller sizes of Swaddlers (180 ct) and Baby dry (228 ct). Most likely in their Value (Bulk) Size area.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Lesson from the boy scouts...
So my sister and I learned something while at Safeway last Friday- be prepared!
My favorite part is checking out and seeing all the eCoupons uploading and being taken off the total. It doesn't start until they finish scanning all your products. If there's someone behind me in line, they are amazed at the show as well and usually ask how I do it- alohadeals.net! With the products I buy, there are usually between 20-30 eCoupons on my card that get used.
Well, this week their network must have been down or having issues, because nothing showed up on either of our transactions. Once we explained that this is BEYOND the club card savings, they were nice enough to take us aside to work something out. Luckily I had my ipod with me which has the Cellfire and Coupons.com apps on it (free). Each of the sites also allow you to print off your list, so I suggest that before you leave to go shop if you don't have a way to do it electronically. It was such a huge bummer even though they did help us out.
It also helps to have all your possible coupons there with you. Sometimes you may have missed something in the ad and see it at a great price at the store. This is why you take all your coupons with you. I have been trying all different methods of filing coupons, so when I find something that I think works, I'll share it with you.
Last way to be prepared is to have the coupons you are planning to use at each store out from the rest of the stash. My sister had an envelope for each store and wrote out what she was getting and how many of each item. Coupons can be pretty specific on what sizes are accepted, so I usually put that down too.
We're going to work on getting out the lists for each store. The Sunday ad for Safeway is usually only good Sun/Mon/Tues, so those are the best days to shop so it overlaps with the Wednesday ad from the previous week. They are also good about rain checks on items that they have run out of if I mention it, especially special promotions.
We also are going to be better about sharing other stores' deals. It's just hard not to love all the Safeway savings!
My favorite part is checking out and seeing all the eCoupons uploading and being taken off the total. It doesn't start until they finish scanning all your products. If there's someone behind me in line, they are amazed at the show as well and usually ask how I do it- alohadeals.net! With the products I buy, there are usually between 20-30 eCoupons on my card that get used.
Well, this week their network must have been down or having issues, because nothing showed up on either of our transactions. Once we explained that this is BEYOND the club card savings, they were nice enough to take us aside to work something out. Luckily I had my ipod with me which has the Cellfire and Coupons.com apps on it (free). Each of the sites also allow you to print off your list, so I suggest that before you leave to go shop if you don't have a way to do it electronically. It was such a huge bummer even though they did help us out.
It also helps to have all your possible coupons there with you. Sometimes you may have missed something in the ad and see it at a great price at the store. This is why you take all your coupons with you. I have been trying all different methods of filing coupons, so when I find something that I think works, I'll share it with you.
Last way to be prepared is to have the coupons you are planning to use at each store out from the rest of the stash. My sister had an envelope for each store and wrote out what she was getting and how many of each item. Coupons can be pretty specific on what sizes are accepted, so I usually put that down too.
We're going to work on getting out the lists for each store. The Sunday ad for Safeway is usually only good Sun/Mon/Tues, so those are the best days to shop so it overlaps with the Wednesday ad from the previous week. They are also good about rain checks on items that they have run out of if I mention it, especially special promotions.
We also are going to be better about sharing other stores' deals. It's just hard not to love all the Safeway savings!
Monday, November 30, 2009
eCoupons- load up before tomorrow!
On the 1st of the month, the eCoupons will be reset- so make sure to load up whatever you can tonight and then again tomorrow for the new ones. Go to the Safeway.com coupons area or there are links on the sidebar.
New coupons:
cellfire.com
uPromise.com
New coupons:
cellfire.com
uPromise.com
Thursday, November 12, 2009
eCoupons
Safeway has a great program where you can save money without printing or clipping a single coupon! They are eCoupons that you load onto your Safeway club card- they are even good on the club sale prices.
At Safeway.com, go to the "Our Store" tab and under it will be a link to "Coupons". From that site alone, there are 4 different sites to add coupons from and many overlap! (Coupons.com, Shortcuts.com, Cellfire.com and P&GeSaver). You can also go to Coupons.com and sign up your card separately to get more eCoupons.
Upromise does eCoupons a little different- you don't get the money saved directly, instead they let you upload the eCoupons to your store card and it shows up as a credit to your Upromise balance for your kid's college funds (or yours!).
It doesn't hurt to do all 6 and get as many eCoupons as you can- they usually reset each month, so make sure to go to those sites on the 1st of each month!
If you don't mind printing coupons, you can also print the same ones as the uploaded for 2x the discount!
At Safeway.com, go to the "Our Store" tab and under it will be a link to "Coupons". From that site alone, there are 4 different sites to add coupons from and many overlap! (Coupons.com, Shortcuts.com, Cellfire.com and P&GeSaver). You can also go to Coupons.com and sign up your card separately to get more eCoupons.
Upromise does eCoupons a little different- you don't get the money saved directly, instead they let you upload the eCoupons to your store card and it shows up as a credit to your Upromise balance for your kid's college funds (or yours!).
It doesn't hurt to do all 6 and get as many eCoupons as you can- they usually reset each month, so make sure to go to those sites on the 1st of each month!
If you don't mind printing coupons, you can also print the same ones as the uploaded for 2x the discount!
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