Hi my name is Elizabeth and I am addicted to coupons

I promised a couple of my friends that I would share a little bit about my couponing adventures (yes, couponing is a verb for me now), so I'm going to use this blog post to tell you about a few of the ways I've discovered lately to save money and earn free stuff. Feel free to read on if you're interested! If you're just here for pictures of your cute grandsons/nephews/favorite little kiddos, tune in again tomorrow. :)

"Couponing" is not just about clipping coupons (or printing them or loading them onto your store loyalty card, which are also popular options today)... it's about getting the best possible price on every item your family uses. Some people think coupons are just for the fancy brand name products they never buy anyway. While it's true that a lot of coupons are for frozen dinners and boxed items like hamburger helper that we never use, I've found plenty of coupons for common things like cream cheese, yogurt, butter, cereal, bbq sauce, salad dressing, fruit snacks, canned vegetables, and even flour and sugar! Aren't the generics of these things cheaper you ask? Yes, at the normal price they are. The trick to couponing is waiting til these items are on sale, then swooping in with two, three, or ten coupons (and "doubling" them if possible by using them at Albertson's, which frequently doubles coupons to $1, and Safeway, which doubles them up to $.50) then buying as many as you will need for a couple months. This is known as stockpiling. For example, flour is normally $2 for a 5lb bag at Winco. It recently went on sale at Safeway for $1.50. I had a $.50 off coupon which Safeway doubled, so I got four bags of flour for $.50 each. That means I saved $6 buying all my flour right then instead of at Winco as I needed it.

It took several months of reading couponing blogs like frugallivingnw and thekrazycouponlady before I finally got inspired enough to try a few things on my own. I started small by just couponing at Safeway, where I liked to shop anyway, then branched out to Albertson's, then Rite Aid and occassionally Fred Meyer. Others have had good success with Walmart, Target, and Walgreens as well, but since I live at least 15 minutes away from all these stores, I choose not to shop a different store each day just to save a few bucks. I pick one store each week to do most of my couponing at. I like Safeway because they take coupons you clip from the newspaper, as well as ones you print from coupons.com - and my favorite feature is loading coupons directly onto my Club Card at cellfire and shortcuts. Then your coupons automatically come off when you buy the product. Another reason I prefer Safeway is that once a month they print a coupon in the newspaper for $10 off your $50 purchase. I spend around $50 a week in groceries, so this is perfect for me. One time, after my Safeway Club Card discounts, coupons, and the $10 off coupon, I purchased $160 worth of groceries for $50, and received a voucher for $10 at Kohl's ($10 minimum purchase, so I got a great price on a sweater).

When you plan your coupons right, you can often get items for free or very cheap. I recently paid $.10 for a box of bisquick, got a free pack of Caprisuns, and got several free tubes of Pillsbury crescent rolls. The couponing blogs also tell you when stores or companies are running a promotion where you just plain get an item for free. By becoming a "facebook fan" of several companies recently, I have received a free pint of Starbucks ice cream, a free box of chocolate-dipped fruit from Edible Arrangements, and a free pint of creamer from International Delight.

So far I've been saving about $40 to $50 a month off our grocery bill. Like I said, I am not as into it as some--those who get 6 or 7 Sunday papers and will buy 10 or 20 of something with their coupon when it goes on sale. Some people have cut their groceries bills in half. But I'm still getting into it, so we'll see. :)

When it comes to household products, the trick to stores like Rite Aid and Walgreens is their rebate programs. I only do Rite Aid right now, and I got started by transferring a prescription, which earned me a $25 gift card. Then, I purchased about $25 worth of items, used the $5 off a $25 purchase coupon which is available almost all the time, and several coupons to bring my total under $15, while being able to pay with the gift card. Rite Aid puts out a list of 30 or so different things each month that have a rebate tied to them, and I get whichever of those interest me. So each time I make a purchase, I usually earn $10 to $15 in rebates. They send a check in the mail, and I use that for my next purchase--basically, "rolling" each rebate check into the next purchase and never really spending any money.

Couponing definitely takes time and planning--I probably spend at least 5 hours a month printing, clipping, and loading coupons and planning my shopping trips. So is the savings worth it? If you calculate it out to see what I earn per hour, probably not. But, I enjoy it and it's something I can do on the laptop while I sit and supervise the kids, so it works for me.

Through the couponing blogs I follow, I've also jumped on board with a few other ways to get free stuff:

1. bzzagent.com - Some of you have probably gotten free samples handed to you in the past few months. Bzzagent is a word-of-mouth marketing program that sends you free samples of new products and in exchange, you go on their site and post your opinions of the products. They usually send enough to share with your friends, and you report your friends' opinions as well. When you first join, you have to work a little bit to move up their "honeycomb ladder" (yes everything has a major "bee" theme) by posting some opinions and reviews of products you've used in the past, but once you start getting offered free samples, it's easy... in the past six months I've received free samples of soap, acne treatment, baby shampoo, cold medicine, and mascara. As long as I report back with my opinion, they keep sending me free stuff.

2. swagbucks.com - this is probably the most effortless way to earn free stuff. Swagbucks is a search engine, powered by Google and Ask.com, and through advertising they are able to give their users credit for searching. So, a few times a day I will search through them instead of using Google or Yahoo and earn what they call "swag bucks." These are redeemable for a ton of different prizes, but the best and most popular option is the $5 amazon e-gift card, which is 45 swag bucks. You typically earn 2-3 swag bucks a day with normal searching, and there are other ways to earn including completing special offers and watching their blog or twitter feed for special codes. Firefox's browser has a little search engine option list up in the right top corner, and I just have this set to swag bucks, and use that to do most of my internet searches. So, with not much effort, I've been earning a $5 amazon e-gift card about every two weeks. This has translated into about $60 of free stuff bought on amazon in the past six months. The one difference I've found between search results from swagbucks and search results from Google is that the advertisements are at the top of your search results with swagbucks instead of in that side column like Google's are. If you don't mind that nuisance, it's a pretty good deal. If this sounds like something for you, join here and start with 3 swag bucks. It's free and you can walk away from it if it doesn't work out. :)

3. Walmart, Costco, and other companies are always offering free samples of products. The couponing blogs alert you to these deals so you simply click the link and sign up! I think this probably translates into more junk mail, but that doesn't bother me (I recycle it) and I love getting a free sample or two in the mail each week. I've gotten diapers, granola bars, cereal, girl stuff ;), toothpaste and floss, shampoo, and a bunch of other stuff I can't even remember.

That about covers it. Comment if you have questions. :) Tomorrow we'll be back to your regularly scheduled programming with pictures of my kids opening their Christmas presents.