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June 20, 2011

How to Coupon

This is stuff we learned in our coupon class and also things i have researched and added myself. 

Where can i get coupons?
  • Sunday Newspaper, the Sunday paper has Smart Source, Proctor & Gamble (Red Plum) Call 801-344-2959 to get your papers. Thursday has coupons too. I ordered Thursday and Sunday papers 5 copies for about $17 a month. The recommendation of the number of papers to get is 2 for every 1 person in the home. 
  • Online, print coupons from www.coupons.com, www.smartsource.com & manufacturer websites. You are allowed to print 2 of each of these coupons NEVER PHOTO COPY THEM!
  • Manufacturer's # call or email with a compliment or complaint and you will get coupons.
In-store Coupons:
  • Catalina, a coupon printed at the register. Usually good for you next purchase or can also be used on a separate transaction.
  • Blinky, found in the store on a shelf has a "blinking light" 
  • Tear Pad ("beer rebate") a coupon/rebate offer which can be torn off a glued stack, often found in the beer aisle. Limit one rebate per household.
  • Peelies, coupons found attached to products usable for that purchase.
  • Store Rewards grocery and retail store reward programs= extra value for every dollar spent.
Matching Coupons to Sales:
  • Shop Smart, use coupons when products are on sale in your price point, not just because you have a coupon. Don't always be brand loyal- it can be expensive!!
  • Price Points, the point at which a product is at a price you are willing to pay.
  • Save Time & Money-PANTRY SHOP Prepare weekly meal lists from food-already on hand- at your "own store" from items purchased on sale. Its Cheaper. Stock up on staple foods your family regularly uses. Shop ones and get up to 5x more groceries for less!!
How to Organize my Coupons:
  • Cutting Method. Separate & stack coupons by page & cut once up to 5 copies ( be careful not to cut off bar code or numbers under it!)
  • Portfolio Method ( BINDER) 9 clear baseball card pages, Pocketed Dividers, Tab Dividers
  • Accordion File (MY CHOICE) 2 12 tab files
She categorized her BINDER into 3 MAIN SECTIONS 
     1- STORE SECTION
  • Your favorite grocery & drug stores for Rain Checks, Shopping list and Store Coupons all for each store.
  • ** Also is you are price matching to make it easier on yourself bring the store ad you are matching. 
  • KEEP THE STORES COUPON POLICY WITH YOU!
    2- Category Section 10 or more tabs (with recommended amount of baseball pages for that section)
  • Baby- 2 pgs Diaper, shampoo, baby foods
  • Bread & Cereal - 5 pgs Cereal, breakfast foods, breads, rice, pasta, chips and crackers
  • Cleaners- 8 pgs Floor cleaners, dish cleaners, two fabrics, standard cleaners, bathroom cleaners, and 2 air fresheners
  • Dairy- 4 pgs Cheese, butter, oil, yogurt, misc dairy
  • Dessert- 8pgs Cookies, frozen desserts, cake, brownie mixes, fruits, Jell-o, pudding, two drinks, candy, baking goods
  • Meat- 6 pgs Fresh or frozen poultry, lunch meat, breakfast meats, misc meats, seasonings and sauces
  • Medicine- 8 pgs 2 cold & allergy, pain relievers, first aid, 2 stomach acids, vitamins, and 1 misc medicines
  • Paper Goods- 4 pgs Facial tissue, garbage bags, foils, wraps, & containers, plates and paper towels, toilet paper
  • Personal Hygiene- 14 pgs Face wash, body wash, lotion, misc tooth products, deodorant, shaving needs, make up, shampoo, stylers, personal items
  • Miscellaneous- 9-10 pgs Sauces, salsa, ketchup, 2 canned goods, 2 frozen goods, salads, dressings, misc food, pets, misc household items
   3- Coupons you aren't currently using that are NOT expired yet

  ( I personally am not going to use the binder method I am going to use 2 accordion files 1- for the coupons i am planning on using that week sorted by categories listed above and the other for the coupons i am not planning on using that week that i will organize according to expiration.) 
They have really cute accordion files on etsy!! Take a look!!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/Laa766?section_id=6145713

OK how about some more terminology?

  • Price Matching: Match the price of another stores add (only works if a price is given for the item. example: buy one get one will only work if it is a buy one at 2.50 and get the other one free)
  • Double Coupon: Walmart does DOUBLE COUPON Tuesdays they will match any coupon UP TO $1 ** Warning you will need all your coupons as the item is being scanned and tell them you are double couponing for it to work.. Weather the 20 cents is worth it to you is your choice.
  • Rain check: a Rain Check is for an item you are wanting to buy that they are out of. Take it to customer service and they will write you a rain check you can use when the product is restocked usually for the next week with the sale price still usable.
          ***YOU CANNOT PRICE MATCH AND DOUBLE COUPON AT THE SAME TIME!!!

 Go register at www.savvyshopperdeals.com
  • Free weekly emails
  • Training/ Support
  • Shopping Wizard
What is the Shopping Wizard?
  • You can browse and select products and coupons from the weekly store ads and then print a customized shopping list stored by Store, Aisle, Percentage of Savings, and Amy's Price Point Rankings.
  • Amy's price point ranking will let you find WOW deals GREAT deals and GOOD deals ( Sally who taught our class said she basically only shops the WOW deals)
Use your regular shopping center and ALSO a drug store either Rite Aid or Walgreens. Both Rite Aid and Walgreens do a rewards program.
 If you would like more information on these feel free to ask questions!!

Don't try to take on more than you can handle start at one store and feel good about it before you take on another one! 


Why to Coupon?
  • Save Money 50%- 80% on retail prices each week.
  • Prepared Pantry/ Food Storage Perfect for busy moms. Cut your shopping trips by more than one half!
  • Help Others. Donate inexpensive/FREE products
For me why I want to coupon is because in our monthly budget what is set aside for food does NOT cover anything for food storage. Money got tight a couple months ago and our cupboards became very bare because we were using everything we had. I don't want it to EVER be like that in the future. Times will get hard and I feel like its very important for us to have a food storage and to be able to provide for our family when that time comes. But to do it within our means and staying in our budget which has already been established which is why I am going to coupon.
The spread for my coupon party!
No bake cookies and Oreo balls
Crowd favorite Brownie Bites
And the last minute Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Tis the Season....

Of Carnivals and Rodeos!!!


Summerfest: We attended Orems Summerfest on Friday usually i LOVE summerfest because of all of the CRAFTY BOOTHS! But this year they really didn't have that many, we were super glad we didn't wait to buy our temple picture either cause they didn't have that booth this year either :(  Nate played the game where you try and hit down the 3 milk bottles with softball.. He now thinks its rigged LOL We walked away after a round of failure... I heard that saturday the fireworks were pretty spectacular but i wouldn't know...


Art City Days: They had Art City Days and Summerfest at the time this year so we split our time mostly because we were hoping Springvilles Carnival would be a little more exciting than Orems. Good news it did not disappoint! Going with Morgan, Jenna and Madi was a good start. We played lots of great games and everyone won some awesome prizes! Madison won herself a FISH tossing a ball into those tiny water bowls. She named him Phillip. Morgan, Jenna and Nate all swung the hammer to test their strength they got themselves some Air Guitars. Nate's FAVORITE game of the night was a game where you have to break a beer bottle with a baseball. Of coarse the baseball fact grabbed his attention and the fact of knowing a baseball can break a glass bottle! He won me TWO great prizes this super cute PENGUIN and a PANDA BEAR that is holding a MINI PANDA BEAR. Nate wanted to trade in my PENGUIN but i was dead set on keeping him! But i did contemplate trading them both in for a BIG FLUFFY UNICORN!! ( spoken like the girl from despicable me!) We ended the night with some yummy food and treats and trying to stay warm while we waiting for the firework show!.... Sadly Madison's FISH Phillip Died 6.15.11 at 12:15 pm
Grace had nothing to do with the death of Phillip


Strawberry Days: This one is definitely our favorite carnival of the summer we look forward to it the most! Wednesday night we attended the RODEO with Jenna and Morgan. Which was super fun because my step brother Trevor roped in it. Sadly his calf came untied AND he broke the barrier so it added a lot of time to his score! Thursday we took my little sister Brianna to the Carnival my mom was really nervous because she didn't know how she would do. She did great and had a lot of fun! She even rode the dragon roller coaster, she did say it was really scary after.. i will take her word for it! Since Madison's fish had died she wanted to win herself a new one. Brianna won herself a fish before Madison did!! ( Nate ended up winning Madison's for her) They both ended up going home with an arm full of prizes and a big smile on their face. Friday my Dad set up his Angry Octopus bounce game in the Ace Hardware parking lot there wasn't much of a crowd so Nate was able to spend lots of time warring out his energy. Saturday we had the Jensen Family Reunion at Big Bear Park during the day Nate had fun with all of the other family members playing baseball and football, while all the girl sat and caught up with each other. After the Reunion we wanted to take his brothers to strawberry days since they hadn't been yet and it was the last day! They didn't want to do much so it was a pretty short trip! But Nate did do the Baseball Beer Bottle game one last time ( he did it every day)  He won Michael a Boxing Gorilla and the night before he had won me a BIG FLUFFY UNICORN! We walked through the boutiques one last time and since it was the evening on the last day EVERYTHING was on sale it was awesome i got all the things i wanted for a quarter of what i was going to pay the first day!

As you can tell we enjoy the summer carnivals and MOST of all the RODEOS. Trevor will be at the Lehi one next week and we are definitely going to support!

Lake Powell 2011

No children died during these events. 


We just got back from our yearly lake powell trip. It was windy and the water was cold but it was a fun. There were a lot less people there this year and i loved it!! Nate got in lots of tubing with his brother Daniel and Caleb which is exactly what he wanted :) I got some sun when it wasn't to windy. It was nice to just relax and sleep under the stars

In between homes!

We have been in between homes for about 2 months now... It is AWFUL! Our original plan was to move in with my Dad while we saved and looked for a house to buy over the summer. Because of the Utah Auto Sales stuff with Nate's credit we needed a co signer and my Dad had offered to help... which we learned down the road that the help we thought we were going to get was not actually the plan. Not being in our own place has been difficult i feel like Nate and i are quicker to snap because we are annoyed at someone else. Getting alone time seems to NEVER happen sometimes. Which makes our date nights that much more important! We have found an apartment so we are just planning on saving until Aug and then move out to another apartment. Its sad that we aren't moving into a house but it just wasn't our time yet, we have faith that when it is supposed to happen it will.

Easter 2011

This was a basic normal for Easter we had dinner at my moms house Brent made a very yummy Easter ham, potatoes, carrots and i brought the rolls. After dinner Brianna wanted to show me what the Easter bunny had left her..( while eggs were hidden for the egg hunt) She was so excited all of her eggs were in different shapes such as ice cream cones, popsicle, turtles and lady bugs..ect.
Later we stopped by to see Nate's mom and his whole family I love being able to get together with everyone so often. Isabelle was so excited to show me her new pink pok a dot Easter Dress.
Unfortunately we didn't dye any Easter eggs this year when we finally realized that we had skipped that step it was about 11pm ( WAY past my normal bed time!)
  I put together our Easter baskets the night before and was able to put them out before Nate woke up. We kept our basket budget really small this year our items other than candy were $5 or less. I would say Easter take 2 was a success. Nate even let me get an Easter dress i'm glad he still lets me do that!

Hopefully next year we'll be able to get more into the Easter spirit and maybe even do some of these fun Easter treats and decorations! Since we will be in our own place and not in between homes! These are some way cute ideas that maybe you could do with your family! I loved them all!



http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/04/dinosaur-eggs/

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/04/easy-spring-chick-cupcakes/

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/04/tutorial-quick-and-easy-easter-wreath/