Lately it seems there has been a revival on using coupons – in a BIG way. This isn’t your ordinary using a coupon when your store is running a sale, this is crazy couponing that can cut your grocery bill by over 90%. You read that right. If you watch any of the coupon videos we have posted here, then you will see women save even more than 90%. How do they do it? Now, that part is not so simple – but it can be done. Just ask the Coupon Queen (watch the video at the bottom of this post)

How it’s done – Basically

Saving money with coupons is work, but work that can pay fairly well if you figure it by the hour. The more you do it, the less time it will take you, but figure on spending at least 3-5 hours every week putting it all together at the beginning. Collecting coupons will also take some time, because it goes without saying – the more coupons you have the more you will save. Having the right coupons on hand when the right store is offering the sale is key.

I’m not a coupon-guru, but have been matching coupons and store sales for over 30 years.After researching this coupon phenomenon, I’ve decided it’s just taking it to a deeper level. Spend the time, you’ll save the cash – along with experience.

Basically start with these steps:

• Find local stores that will double coupons and take more than one coupon for an item. Using a columnar pad sheet or Excel on your computer, start your list.
• Once you have your list of stores written down along with their coupon policies, then you will want to find the best way to get their weekly sales flyer. Note the dates the flyer typical comes out.
• Start accumulating truckloads of coupons.  A few ways to do this would be to ask your neighbors and friends to pass along their stray coupons, buy the Sunday paper, and if all else fails, buy them off of Ebay. There are many websites that will list best coupon finds, but this is a bottomless pit you have to decide how much time you will spend searching for coupons. We listed a few websites at the bottom of this post that offer printable coupons.
• Organize your coupons. Here is a video that shows an efficient way to organize your coupons with a binder you create yourself:

Now, there are two stores that are mentioned frequently that seem to be where many of these amazing stories are really from. CVS Pharmacy and Walgreens both have in store programs that compound ways you can save. Watch this video from Coupon Mom and you’ll see what I mean:

Don’t have time to do all this work?

I hear you. Over the years, it seems there are seasons of life that you have more time than money, and other seasons you have more money than time. Regardless,  most of us still want to save money anyway we can. The best way that I’ve found to make the most of your grocery dollar is with Walmart’s Comp program – especially if you live in a more rural area that driving from store to store isn’t practical. That may not be the official name of Walmart’s program, but it’s where Walmart will ‘comp’ any sale price that you can offer proof of the price. This way, I sit down with all the local ads (I pull Kroger’s off the internet and print them out-just make sure the date is somewhere on the print out) and write down the best price for every item that I need for that week. Often, I will even use whatever meat is on sale to plan that week’s menu. Then, I’ll match whatever coupons to the sales, and I’m off to the store. Just don’t forget your sale ads, most Walmarts won’t give you the sale price without it.

For items available at CVS and Walgreens, if you have one close by, I would look into that, too. We don’t have one by us, so it’s not something I’ve tried….yet. (plan to, though!)

Stockpile the best sales

Our final tip is to begin your grocery back stock if you haven’t already. I know that most budgets don’t have much wiggle room, but if you are saving anything at all with your coupon efforts, take that extra money and buy extra of items that are the best deals. Many of the videos I’ve listed here show outrageously stocked pantries, and that is where much of the saving takes place. It’s those emergency trips to the store for a forgotten item at full price that can burst your savings bubble! I really hate paying full price for anything.

Websites to find coupons and savings:

Kroger – you can view current sales, click on the items you want and print a list in only a few minutes. There are also coupons you can download to your Kroger Card if you tend to forget them.

Coupons.com – THE coupon site, you can scroll through hundreds of available coupons easily and print the ones you want.

The Parent Rewards Card - An amazing way to save on non-food items and activities

Coupon Mom – Check out her entire system and database of deals and coupons. You will probably find the most information here. She also has a book that has made the NY Times Bestseller List -  The Coupon Mom’s Guide to Cutting Your Grocery Bills in Half: The Strategic Shopping Method Proven to Slash Food and Drugstore Costs.

Cool Savings – One of the top coupon sites online, a little too much advertising, but a concentrated source of coupons!

Pinching Your Pennies.com – a great blog with useful advice and the latest coupons

Here’s the Coupon Queen:

That aside, we also checked her out online, and didn’t find one single negative report. Still growing after 13 years, she’s done so well, she now operates out of a separate building (still on her property). Including a coloring page and stickers with an adorable personal letter, Shannon also offers some really cute gift ideas to go along with the letter.

Some of the reviews:

The Internet Patrol reviewed a half dozen or more and cited SantaLetters4Kids their favorite.

The Classy Mommy classified them as a “Hot Find”

The Women’s Forum and The Mommy’s Playbook Forum both included SantaLetters4Kids in a (short) list of favorite Santa letter site (and mentioning how much their children loved them!)

Prices start at $8, and you can save 20% until Dec 4th on orders over $10 with the coupon code: 20PERCENT.

http://santaletters4kids.com/ *

PS-Just saw two other offerings that I thought were really cute, craft kits and personalized ornaments that look like sugar cookies. The crafts start at $3.50 each and she offers an assortment of 6 different crafts for $6.50

Craft kit $4.50

Craft kit $7.50

Ornament, $7.50

Craft kit $3.75

Are YOU a mom with a home business? Email us with some brief details on your business and any coupons or savings you’d like to share with our readers and we’ll blog it for you. We support WAHM’s!

*NOT a paid endorsement or affiliate link.

Rachael received a catalog from them and instantly fell in love with dozens of their items. So she called and we decided to do a little digging and see if their reputation was OK, and – most importantly – were there any coupon codes available? I did pick up an affiliate link, so you know up front about that-but you know we’ll be honest anyway.

Rachael really loved the ornament and photo frame selection. What I really, really, really liked is the selection of items that seemed to fit those hard to buy for people on my gift list. I think the “Family of Characters” is really cute, and it’s looking like they are pretty popular this year, and Personal Creations has a big selection of items you can put your family look-a-likes on. They say it’s exclusive to Personal Creations-but I’ve seen versions of the family characters other places, so beware of imitations. We’ll have to explore that further and let you know.

Here’s a few of the Family Characters:

Create your own family ornament by choosing from Grandpa, Grandma, Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister, Baby Brother, Baby Sister, even a dog and a cat. You have your choice of ethnicity (Caucasian, African American or Hispanic) hair color (red, brown, black, blonde or bald) and pet color (yellow, black, grey or white). Add any 1 line message up to 20 chars.
Other Family Character selections: mugs, doormats, sweatshirts, magnets, cookie jars, cutting boards, mouse pads, note pads,gift labels-well, you get the idea. Their prices are pretty reasonable, and there is a coupon code for up to 20% off, which helps.

Some of our favorites:

Personalized Fill Our Home With Joy Print ($19.95)

Give Thanks Serving Tray ($24.95)

Wouldn’t this  make an awesome hostess gift?

Personal Creations checked out pretty good with the major review sites:

BizRate gave them an overall good rating, between 8.1 and 9.1.

Epinions gave them a 4 out of 5, with the main complaint was some minor customer service issues and high shipping charges (see coupon code for free shipping)

Pricegrabber gave them better than 4 out of 5 stars (however, it was significantly affected by a woman who gave them 3 stars out of 5 because she was on the phone too long and it made her late for a dr’s appt…I’d say that might be poor planning on her part, don’t you?)

Pros: Incredible selection, great customer service and big savings on coupon codes (that’s what got our attention!).Turnaround time is faster than any other service rated, and photo upload is easier than most. Most of the reviews raved about the cool selections, and the customer service. I didn’t see one review complaining about getting the order wrong. They only charge shipping to Illinois residents.

Cons: Confusion over shipping and personalization charges, coupon codes not working like they thought (see our note on how this can be prevented) Also, if you have a photo image put onto something, be sure it’s a good quality photo (5 megapixal or better). If there is a flaw in the picture you send, it will show up. Most of the complaints were on the prices and shipping charges-so make sure you have those coupon codes.

Coupon Codes: Make sure the code you entered adjusted the price before you check out. There is an additional $1.50 personalization fee added. If the code didn’t take, call and place your order by phone, telling the rep your problem. (just the problem with the code, not all your problems…)

On sale, $11.98

Save 10% off any size order at PersonalCreations.com. Use code: AF0933

Save 15% off any order of $59 or more at PersonalCreations.com. Use code: AF0928

Save 20% on an order of $75 or more at PersonalCreations.com. Use code: AF0935

Save with Free Shipping on any order of $59 or more at PersonalCreations.com. Use code: AF0927

Whether you buy or not, you have to check out the Christmas Ornaments they have…(I noticed one of the clearanced ornaments were priced wrong- $59.50  instead of $5.95 -oops!

Anyway, to update you on our experiences with the printer, all three of us are still very happy with our printer. (three of us being myself, my daughter, and my daughter in-law who is a pt photographer, all own the HP7460. ) Rachael and I use the lined paper printer option (see last post) for homeschool writing paper alot, and the convenience of the photo card outlets and wifi option continue to make this the printer of choice in this price range.

The sad part of the story is that this model isn’t available from Amazon anymore. So, if I had to replace it, which is very unlikely as it runs as well as the first day we received it, I would want one as close to this model as I could find. After doing the research, it looks like the model HP Photosmart D7260 is the way to go. It takes the same incredibly cheap but long-lasting ink, and has slightly better reviews than it’s predecessor. However, it looks like it takes 1-3 months to ship from Amazon. Overstock.com might be a good place to check, or even Ebay.  I’ll keep searching for a good replacement and let you know.

Don’t forget, no tax, no shippingcharges if it’s directly from Amazon (as opposed to a reseller)-which is why I’m always talking like it’s the only online place to shop. No, I don’t work for them, although I do use their Associate program, you should too! It’s easy.

Need ink for your current printer?

4InkJets has a back to school special offering 10% off and completely free shipping. (no minimum)

Use the code, SAVE4SCHOOL . It’s on the website when you go through this link.

Would love to hear about printers you or a friend has had that you would recommend…or NOT recommend? Thanks!

**Be sure to check our regularly updated coupon code section for current codes.**

It’s that time of year, you can find homeschool books here too! I’m always surprised at how many moms don’t know about this big money saver.

Use this code when you check out to save $10 on an order of $100 or more:
saveonbooksfall09