21 Things to be an Epic Couponer (full)

[Giving-Small]

Welcome! I'm so happy you all agreed to give this a try.


This is the first "learning circle" that I've hosted about couponing, saving $$ and maybe earning a few gift cards online. We also learn how to use Smart Canucks features, short cuts and tips so it's easy to find something we found before, connect with people, etc.

We have an awesome group to start with. The group is diverse in its experience. Cdnchk who has been couponing longer than I have and is a whiz at beauty deals will join us. There's some intermediate folks who are on the learning curve are hopping in and some brand new folks.

Our Group Members are:

• theweave
• eltada
• $power
• LovelyLaeticia
• new2savings
• susan.h
• Gemini06
• scbpooh - another gal who lives on the prairies and is an epic couponer and will be helping out

Here's what I will do for the group:

-I'll facilitate
-I'll post up show and tell photos, pictures, answers to questions, videos, slidecasts etc.
-I'll send out a coupon train (no board pass for conductor) -- to be explained when we talk about trains


Here's what I hope you'll do:

1. Please participate and share your ideas, opinions, and questions. The idea is that we'll all learn together and hopefully make some coupon buddies along the way.

2. Do the activities. From time to time, I'll post a question or an activity (let's make your first wish list, all related to Smart Canucks and take just a couple of minutes) etc. I'd like everyone to try to answer and share. I know that our families, friends and self care time comes first, so fit it in when you're able, but please fit it in.

3. Have fun. Feel free to discuss more than couponing. We'd do that if we could meet face to face.

4. Give me lots of feedback and suggestions. We're all guinea pigs together.

Okay - let's dive in.


FAQ

1. Can visitors (non-group members) post in this thread?
Answer is in this post.

2. When would the next group start?
Last group was Fall 2011. Not planning to do anymore.

[Giving-Small]

Okay I have posted a slidecast (slideshow with audio) that show you my coupon "binder", coupon stash, stockpile and some tips on stockpiling.

You can jump ahead to the particular slides that are of interest and the sound track will skip along accordingly.



Start the slideshow. (16 min)


Your Activity

• Create a post and introduce yourself a bit (ie. from Kamloops, mom with 2 kids ...)

• Tell us how you found out about couponing.

• Share your thoughts on the tour and whether you think you'll stockpile a little or a lot.

[Giving-Small]

Train #1
Left Regina Sat Feb 26
Gemini06 Mississauga ON - Arrived March 9 Left March 10
Eltada Oshawa, ON Arrived March 14 Left March 16
LovelyLaeticia Perth ON Arrived March ? Left March?
greeke33 Niagara Falls ON Arrived Mar 28 Left Mar 31

had some hiccups, train was returned, some delays

Resent: May 8

new2savings Sherwood Park, AB
susan.h Calgary AB
$power Salmon Arm B.C.
Giving-Small Saskatoon


Train #2

Left Regina Sat Feb 26
$power Salmon Arm B.C. - Rec'd March 4 Left March 5
susan.h Calgary AB - Rec'd March 11 Left March 12
new2savings Sherwood Park, AB Arrived March 18 Left March 19?
greeke33 Niagara Falls ON Arrived March 18 Left March 19?
LovelyLaeticia Perth ON Arrived April 2 Left April 3
Eltada Oshawa, ON Arrived April 13 Left April 14

Declared Missing

Gemini06 Mississauga ON
Giving-Small Saskatoon

[Giving-Small]

Post 3 - reserved for future use

[theweave]

Okay I liked what you had to say so here I am!

I am Chris (as in Christopher not Christine!). I am 38 years old and still live at home with my mother who is disabled and my father who was out of work for about 4 years until he went back to school at 59 and became a Personal Support Worker!!!! I was off work myself for a year (personal reasons and lots of other reasons!) but just recently got a full time job at a call centre.

I started couponing about six months ago. I forget what I was looking for on the internet but I "googled" something and up came Smart Canucks, and the rest was history!!!

At first dad didn't really understand why I was doing what I was doing? He thought I was spending too much of his money on him. I had to finally explain one day like this:

Him: "Why are you buying so many Depends and Poise??? We can't keep spedning like this!"
Me: "Are they going to go bad?"
Him: "Ummm no..."
Me: "Is mom going to eventually use all of them?"
Him: "Yeah."
Me: "So would you rather wait and pay $18.99 a bag at Wal Mart or me get them now and spend $10 each? I am pretty sure I just saved you $100 on something you will always need and use!"
Him: "Ohhhhh okay I get it now, what kind of coffee should I get for you?"

He didn't quite get the stockpiling part but sure loved it when I told him how much I just saved him! We are still working on Depends bought back in the summer and I just got four more Poise that were on sale and had coupons for!

You can read about my new stash of Koo Aid Jammers and Granola bars in the braggging section too!!! I still amaze him (and myself really!) on how much we save on stuff!

Still got the 75 cans of soup that I got free from Zeller's too! Have not touched a can yet!!! Oh and I should mention the 110 bottles of Ocean Spray that I got and only paid HST on it! I donated 98 to the Food Bank!!!

Okay so what do we do next???? I will subscribe to this thread so I don't miss nothing!

P.S. Loved your slide show... our basement is the storage area for my stash, looks more like a "junk pile"! Thus no photos!

[Giving-Small]

Okay Chris - welcome to the group. There's about 6 people who probably aren't online who will intro themselves.

I'll dig up the list of possible topics.

How did you get all the juice for free - that's quite amazing.

[eltada]

I just watched the video and thought it was great! I am eager to follow along and participate!

I had to ask my husband...how did I get into coupons anyway??? I'm not really sure, but I think it was similar to Chris...I was googling something and smartcanucks fell in my lap - I don't think I've I stopped reading yet!

My name is Tanya and I live in Ontario with my husband, two kids (4 and 14 months) and dog. I am a stay at home mom and had NO IDEA how much money I could save with coupons. Aside from 2 or 3 coupons my cousin gave me for diapers, I was clueless. Up until recently (I started around the first of January 2011), I didn't even know what price matching WAS!

Once I stayed home with the kids, I really tried to shop and take advantage of the sales but I never visited any stores other than my closest No Frills and occasionally Wal-Mart. I never looked at flyers and didn't even think it was "legal" to use a coupon with a sale!! I know, I know...crazy!!!

My first official coupon purchase was using some brandsaver coupons to buy Secret antiperspirant. I was known in the past to buy my favourite scent for $3.79-3.99 at NoFrills if I was all out. If it was on sale, I might get 2. But when I went to Walmart and used my 7WUB3 coupon and got each one for about $0.30 each I was SUPER EXCITED!!!! Even my husband was surprised...he asked me: "how is that possible?" as we both sat looking at this pile of cheap secret laying on the table. I shook my head..."I don't know, but I LOVE IT!!" Now I couldn't imagine ever paying anything except the tax on secret....and my husband has enough shaving gel & foam to last him a good long time!

I have started a stockpile of sorts. There are clusters of things all over the house for now (partly because I kinda like looking at the things I got for pretty much free!) mostly because my husband just finished the basement and is creating a nook in our utility room for everything. We are going to buy two heavy duty chrome shelving units and I will store everything there. I am reminding myself not to buy something because it's cheap...just only if we will use it. Things like personal products, juice, pantry items, etc.

Supporting local charities is also very important to me. I used to work at a non-profit agency that relied on the generosity of the community to support those in need. I have not forgotten how important that is and I am excited to use couponing to stretch my dollars as far as I can! I hope to make regular donations...not just my customary holiday hampers.

So I am not sure how much I will stockpile...I guess I don't know how much is a little and how much is a lot!!!

Two things I want to ask/mention:

1. As a new couponer, I don't know sometimes if a sale is a good price. I have noticed, even after just over a month of doing this, that one store will have something on sale one week. I'll get all excited, rush out and buy it...only to see it on sale EVEN CHEAPER the following week -- but of course my coupon is long gone by then!! So I am still getting a feel for pricing and such. I still need to get used to the cycle of things too - for example, does my favourite shampoo typically go on sale once every three months? If so, I should have a stockpile of at least that much (in my mind anyway).

2. Ok, I just forgot my second point....blame it on baby brain that I really don't think I will ever lose! I'll post again if I think of it.

Looking forward to future assignments and learning more about couponing and saving money!!! Thanks so much Darlene for all your work on this -- the video was fantastic!!

[theweave]

Okay Chris - welcome to the group. There's about 6 people who probably aren't online who will intro themselves.

I'll dig up the list of possible topics.

How did you get all the juice for free - that's quite amazing.

It was in the summer, No Frills had it $1 and there was a $1 printable on here... so I fired up the printer one day and did 110 of them and drove there! I thought the manager was going to have a heart attack! He tried every reason not to accept them then went as far as to open a separate cashier to ring them in on so I didn't hold up the line! She had to ring in each coupon individually!!!! She was awesome though! She even paged a guy to help me to my car with it all!

The women at the Food Bank was blown away! She said she didn't know which was better, the juice I donated or the fact that I only paid $18.10 for the 110 of them! The brag is here somewhere, let me try and find it, even I wanna read it again!

[$power]

Hi guys, my name is Susan....I'm 47.
I'm located on beautiful Shuswap Lake, here in B.C.

I found the forum after watching the notorious TLC coupon show.
I have always been smart/careful with money and wondered what was possible with coupons here in Canada.

Two years ago my 53 year old husband was diagnosed with a rare terminal brain disease. He is in long term care and I am raising our two children (12 and 14) on my own.
The only way for me to help our bottom line is to spend less , so here I am.
I would also like to help out some friends from church whose husbands haven't worked much due to the economic slowdown.

I would be happy to have a 6 month supply of what we actually use and have 6 Greenworks products bought with the $5off WUB3 to start my stockpile.
My nature is not to spend at all so I want to make sure I'm not getting 'sucked' into buying stuff unless it's a really, really good buy.

I had the very good fortune to be taken under Darlene *giving small's* wing and am really looking forward to being part of her group.

So far I have started building my coupon collection and am nervously thinking about trying to stack at an inconsistent LD next week.
My biggest fear with coupons is all the inconsitency with cashiers and store policy. Anybody with me on that one?

I thoroughly enjoyed Darlene's video. Practical, instructional... just what I need starting out.
Keep them coming, gentle teacher...

[theweave]

Hi , my name is Susan....I'm 47.

I found the forum after watching the notorious TLC coupon show.
I have always been smart/careful with money and wondered what was possible with coupons here in Canada.

Two years ago my 53 year old husband was diagnosed with a rare terminal brain disease. He is in long term care and I am raising our two children (12 and 14) on my own.
The only way for me to help our bottom line is to spend less , so here I am.

I had the very good fortune to be taken under Darlene *giving small's* wing and am really looking forward to being part of her group.

So far I have started building my coupon collection and am nervously thinking about trying to stack at an inconsistent LD next week.

I thoroughly enjoyed Darlene's video. Practical, instructional... just what I need starting out

Hi Susan!!!!

So sorry to hear about your husband but you are family here trust me!

I was just starting out myself not that along ago and am amazed what this site has tought me and allowed me to save for myself and my family!

Just count your lucky stars that you have a LD drugs to stack at!!! I soooo wish they would come to my area! I would really have a field day there!!!!

Check out my brag in the braggin section to see my latest load I got home, then go to the tea room to read about my wonderful day today! I come here for therapy a lot of nights and it works to a T for me!!!!

SMART CANUCKS ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!

[Giving-Small]

Welcome Susan, $power. Thanks for the comments on the slideshow. I'll try to keep the others shorter.

Especially when you're new, inconsistent rules and cashiers is stressful. In the TLC video they talked about cashier profiling, and it's a bit like that. Over time you'll learn which folks are "okay" with couponers and which ones wish you'd go away but can't say it directly. It's tough when the store is a bit of trip because it's hard to justify the gas to make another trip later on. I'm close so I'll scale up or scale down my shop based on how busy they are, who's on cash, etc. After all who needs more stress?

Eltada - you've pointed out another sticking point with couponing - use it now or later? Is this the best deal.

Some deals you can predict -- usually this goes on sale. About 4 to 6 weeks before Christmas, health and beauty is generally higher and there's less sales, less price matching opportunities and there's a ton of coupons expiring Dec 31.

It's also tricky because the coupons may not come round again. P&G coupons have been pretty steady - for same products for the past two years but when it comes to food and cleaners, it's often the "new" or "improved" product.

Shoppers Reward program - optimum points - can really help fill in the gap for things that a) don't have coupons or b) don't show up on a good sale.

theweave - wow I can just imagine the Food Bank person being amazed and think how many families were able to get some great juice.

[eltada]

Oh boy! Stress! Tell me about it! I get embarrassed easily so I don't like "trying something". I want to be sure they will take it. If I have a lot of price matching or coupons (like I did the other day), I usually go to Walmart late in the evening when the lines are empty. I usually make a little joke with the cashier asking them if "they are ready for a WHOLE LOT of price matching and coupons? Can ya handle it??". So far I've been lucky and got a smile and a "sure, why not?". The last one kept telling her co-worker "this lady's gettin' some smokin' deals!". lol! Those are the days I come home giddy! lol!

Ok, off to figure out my game plan for Food Basics & Walmart tomorrow.

[theweave]

Hey Darlene, I tried to find the thread but can't find it! I know it was appreciated as it was I think the week before Thanksgiving that I did it too!

Etelda: I am notorious for buying something one week and then it goes on sale the next week or two! Always ticks me off! *LOL*

The truth is: P&G is a coupon machine! They also do the promotional products alot (I know, I used to work in the place that assembled them!) So you can always count on them!!! Also keep your eye out for brandsaver.ca as they have coupons a lot on there. Just do what I do and stock pile the ones you use the most... for me it is Poise, Depends, Green Works and D'Italiano bread. Those are the ones that I covet the most and will wait and wait for them to go on sale!!!

Also keep trading coupons! I have one very good "friend" on here that is always shipping me coupons out of the blue! I just got 3 $3 off Poise from her in the mail on Thursday and guess what? WM had them on sale and to make it even sweeter, the coupons expired on FRIDAY! So they arrived just in time and were purchased and added to the war chest!

Remember, one person's junk is another person's treasure!! I try to save all the coupons I can and post what I don't use on here (don't look at my list now, it is soooo outdated!). I will try and update the list MAYBE tomorrow if I find the time to do it! I always mean to do it but keep getting other stuff in the way of doing it! I have piles of save.ca and brandsaver.ca coupons that have come in the mail and have not even cut out yet! Heck I threw out at least 40 coupons on Thursday that were uncut and were expired in January!!!

I never collected coupons before here, now I got a pouch for them and everything!!! And yes I am a guy that goes into a store with a coupon pouch and usually flyers in hand! I am waiting for the day that cashiers run when I come through the door! Should be any day now I figure! *LOL*

[LovelyLaeticia]

Hi everybody! My name is Kim, I live just outside of Ottawa, ON. I have a wonderful husband, and a cutie-pie of a baby girl. I am a stay at home Mom, and hopefully will continue to be one until we are finished having kids, and they are in school. Hence, the need to save money everywhere possible!

I've always used coupons, but never in any sort of an organized fashion... decided that would be my goal for 2011, get organized and keep track of the savings! I'm notorious for only buying certain products on sale (ie. pasta, sauces, cookies, granola bars, cereal, ect.) If it's not on sale and my stock pile runs out, you're out of luck in my house! And I'm proud to say I have yet to pay full price for diapers or wipes! I always buy them on sale and with a coupon at the same time.

I have what I consider a decent stockpile, usually a month's worth of non-perishible food/frozen food, and a couple month's worth of hygiene product. Am considering increasing that to a 4 month stockpile.

It's great to meet you all, I look forward to this group and all the things we can learn together!

[greeke33]

Hi Everyone! My name is Andi and I live in Niagara Falls. I guess I am what everyone calls a newbie. I recentley saw a show on Nate where he had some ladies on who only shopped using coupons and I was blown away at the amount of money that they saved. I decided to look into it on the internet and came across Smart Canuks, the rest is history. Its a bit overwhelming with all the terms, searching for the best deals, learning the site, but I am sure in time and with the help of you great people that it will soon be like second nature. I am looking forward to reading all your great buys and learning. Thanks Darlene for the great intro video and allowing me to join your group.