January Deals Wrap-Up!

January Coupon Deals and Ad Match-ups!

You will notice that toothpaste, floss and Up2U gum were my deals of the month!  LOL  Tom Thumb had Colgate 6.4 oz on for $.99 this month.  I used the $.75 coupon from the newspaper and snagged toothpaste for $.24 each!  I stocked up and used all my coupons on this deal!  We'll be in the toothpaste for a while.  ;) 

I matched an ad for Alkaseltzer for $.98 - which was a good deal, but I used a $2 off coupon and got $1.02 overage on each one.  The gum is another cool deal of the month.  It runs $1.28 at wm and I used a $1 coupon.  Up2U is our favorite gum these days.  I also plan to use it in a Valentine project, so woo-hoo! 

Does anyone else love French Bread Sandwiches?  Oh boy we do!  I picked up French Bread with an ad match for $1 a loaf.  Woo-Hoo!  Subs all week guys! 

Brookshire's had bags on sale for $1 one week so I stocked up by matching the ad at wm. 

Have you tried the Asian Helpers yet?  We've done the Chicken Lo Mein so far - not too bad.  I got these with an ad match for $.99 and used a swagbucks coupon for $.80/4 - so I got each for $.79 plus I earned 10 swagbucks!  What a deal! 

Have you made a pink lemonade pie?  I haven't ever made one yet, but I want to try one.   I picked up frozen concentrate with an ad match for $.99!  I plan to make this one over the weekend!  Yum!

Bananas have been on sale several weeks this month.  I matched them a few times for $.33 and once for $.44.  I also picked up apples for $.99 a few times.  We go through a lot of apples around here, so I am always glad to find a good deal on them.

 

I picked up oranges 20 for $1 - that's a spectacular deal!  I also picked up sweet potatoes for $.50 a pound. I got lettuce for $.79.  I like these kind of deals, it allows me to pick up extras to take to one of our MOW clients, Mrs. Ford. 

Canned veggies 5 for $1 - a great stock up deal!  Love it!  I stocked us up and also snagged some extras for Mrs. Ford. 

Here is a good CVS deal - I got $5 extra bucks for buying the Naturemade multipack, plus I used a $7 coupon.  I also got $3.49 extrabucks for the D3 vitamins.  I used extrabucks to buy it all, so actually cost less than $2 for them all!  

Below you can see where the camera started to poop out on me and my pictures started to look overexposed.  Time for a new lens baby!

Check out the 100 extra point cards I got for ECCHO - Yeah!

More toothpaste! 

More toothpaste and gum...here is also the free floss ($1 off coupon) and free pens ($1 off coupons).  I got the bodywash at $2.49 (ad match) and used a $2 off coupon - great deal!  I also got $.55 off my favorite licorice candy...oh yeah! 

More toothpaste, body wash, gum and pens.  Can't let those coupons go to waste!  I also picked up some beans using a $.55/3 coupon and tp with an ad match $6.99 for 24 rolls plus a $.45 off coupon! 

I hit the jackpot at the Midlothian wm - racked up lots of free pens with my $1 off coupons.  Plus campbells labels on each one!  Woo-Hoo! 

More pens, floss, toothpaste and bodywash.  Plus bananas for $.33 and tomatoes for $.33.  I also matched corn tortillas for $1.99 for the 80 count and Bama Grape Jelly for $.98 - that must have been a big match item because there was only three on the shelf! 

More of the same...plus dawn - I matched an ad for $.99 and used my $.25 off coupons.  I love this stuff! 

My last shop of the month.  I saved $84 in coupons alone on this shop and a ton in ad matches!  I matched bananas for $.44 and mushrooms for $1.50 a carton.  I got potatoes for $.99/5lbs and lettuce for $.59.  I also matched apples and hamburger buns for $.99 and cucumbers for 3/$1.  I picked up more tomatoes for Mrs. Ford for $.33 lb too.   

I matched A&W and Pepsi's for $.99.  I also got sb mac and cheese for 3 for $1 and canned corn and green beans 5 for $1.  Planters PB was $1.49 and OM ham was $2.69 plus I used a $1 off 2 coupon.  I got Butterball Turkey bacon for $1.19 and used a $.55 coupon. Man oh Man did I stock up on these - love this stuff...especially when it's lovingly wrapped around asparagus.  YUM!  I also matched an ad for Ken's 9 oz salad dressing for $1 - then used my $1/1 coupon...FREE!

More coupon deals...Pickle relish was $.23 with a $.75 coupon and Up2U was $.28...floss - free with coupon.  I matched an ad for Fabuloso for $.99.  I love the smell of this stuff!  I have found that when we leave the house a few days it's awesome to dump a little down the drains and into the toilets.  We come home to good smells! 

More toilet paper deals!  I matched an ad for $4.99 and used a $1 off coupon.  What a great deal!

It was a good month of coupon deals.  I am excited to see what comes up in February...until then...happy couponing!

Couponing Websites

Hey Ladies - Angela Perry asked me to post the websites I use to find coupons/deal alerts and match-ups! What a great idea - I hadn't thought of that before! LOL

couponmom.com - this site has a great coupon database and it's easy to search. The coupon match-ups are also easy to use and I have found they are very on target with the local deals.

mydallasmommy.com - I like this site because it's got the local info.

texascouponchicks.net/ - The lady who runs this site is from Waxahachie.

savingcentswithsense.net/ - This one is a good one I think - lots of good deals here - and if you facebook she is usually on top of the deals really quick!

raininghotcoupons.com/ - I like this site a lot - lots of good organizing info here! She is a quick poster to FB too.

mysouthcentraltexasmommy.com/ - another Texas couponing Momma!

couponingtodisney.com - another good site with deals and coupon info.

justmarriedwithcoupons.com/ - she does A LOT of give-a-ways!

moneysavingmom.com/ - another good one for deal and coupon match-ups!

totallytarget.com - All about Target.

Freebies:

dealsnatcher.com

dealcrown.com

yofreesamples.com

Here are some places to print coupons:

allyou.com

smartsource.com

couponnetwork.com

coupons.com

redplum.com

Okay I can't think of any others right off the top of my head...I am sure there are more so I will probably need to update again! LOL - I hope this helps everyone!

Coupon Reorganization Project!

Okay I decided last week that my coupon organization just wasn't working for me. I am always amazed that I can "remember" what coupons are in my binder and what I have recently cut. But while browsing online at one of the coupon sites I follow, Raining Hot Coupons, I got some ideas about how to organize better and more efficiently! I generally pick up the weeks coupons towards the end of the week and I try really hard to make sure they are sorted and clipped right away. I find that if I don't, boy oh boy does it get out of hand quickly!

In this picture you can see how I started. I pulled all the coupons out of my binder (expect the peelies and catalinas and the ones that I had printed). I laid them all out so I could staple an strays and see exactly what I had to work on. What a task!

Here you can see where I was pulling them out of the food binder.

For inserts that I had not clipped yet - I simply put the date on the front to file. I only had one of this particular insert so this is all I did to this one.

For inserts that I have more than one of I sort the pages and staple at least one coupon - this holds them together in the file. Bug really enjoys "couponing" with me, so this is a great way to get him involved without making too much of a mess and making me crazy! LOL He takes the inserts and lays them out on the living room rug and sorts them out. Woo-Hoo! He's a great helper! And I am sure their is some life skill in here...and reading...lots of reading practice as well. He cracks me up because he reads like every single coupon to me. LOL- What a great kid!

After I had all the coupons out of the binder, I began the arduous task of sorting them according to date and which insert they came from. Then they went into baggies. Each baggy has a date and abbreviation for the insert.

Some weeks have two bags and some more - but each insert gets it's own little baggie. Inside the baggie is all the clipped coupons (which are stapled together).

These bags go into a file box with hanging folders - I will show more on this later in the post.

Here is a close-up of my "reorganized" coupon binder - I am using heart shaped sticky notes for now. Someone told me that Post-It makes tabs that you can stick on - something like binder tabs - but it's just the tab. So I am going to look for some of those. Until then hot pink hearts it is! :)

Each little heart is labeled with a category. My categories include: Albertsons; Target; Baby; Cleaners; Dairy; Dry Foods; Frozen; Household; Meds; Personal Hygiene; Pets and Photo; Refrigerated & Snacks.

This is the very front of my binder. I put all of Albertsons and Target coupons in their own category so they would be easier to find.

Here is a close-up of my file crate. Each week has a green hanging folder with a tab labeled with the date. Then the bags and inserts go into the hanging file folder.

Well, I guess that is it. The reorganization project took a couple of days of sorting and labeling and such - but I have to say that I feel good about it.

I am still using my small file folder so that when I create my list and match up my coupons I can carry that with me easily. I still have my binder with all the catalinas, peelies and printed coupons as well as those I get from books, magazines and such.

I don't really think there is a perfect system, it's really want works for you! :)

Happy Couponing!

Wendy