Team 9: 21 Things to to be an Epic Couponer

[HouseholdSaver]

Thank you again. Just found out that I hadn't made that post at all! Lol

So I will complete that activity now.

[HouseholdSaver]

I am going to try my hat at uploading a photo, and I am trying to make sure it is not huge!

Here goes nothing! lol


The items here in my photo were "purchased" at Walmart using coupons, all the items cost me a grand total of 3.21 OOP, (out of pocket). With Walmart's new coupon policy or guidelines, I used the overage from my HV (high value) coupons to pay for my items that I didn't have coupons for! The Hellman's mayo alone was $4.97! I used the Olay 5WUB2 coupon, (save $5 when you buy 2) for the travel size lotion and had $1.86 to use everytime I bought 2 olay, and the coupon states only 4 like coupons in the same shopping trip, so that means that you can only use 4 coupons each time you shop, so I did 2 transactions.

[HouseholdSaver]

I have some catching up on activities to do! lol

When I first started couponing I hit London Drugs almost everyday, because I think I had it in my mind that all the good deals would run out. Now I know that if I don't get the deal of the week it may come around again in a couple weeks. So now.....

I shop once a week or if the deals are great I shop twice a week. I am lucky enough to be near a bunch of stores all in one little area.

I hit Walmart to use my coupon overages to "buy" the rest of my regular weekly groceries like bread, milk, eggs, cheese, veggies and fruit.

I go to London Drugs to do any coupon stacking there.

I head across the street to RCSS Real Canadian Superstore to purchase things then use their MIR's (mail in rebates) such as the current one: purchase 20 dollars worth of Pepsico products and get a 30 GC in the mail. So I purchased pop and chips and oatmeal for our summer feasts!

And lastly, if there are any awesome deals at SDM Shopper's Drug Mart I use my optimum points card to rack up points!

[HouseholdSaver]

I just recently had enough points at Shopper's to do their bonus redemption event. My 95,000 points would normally get me $170 worth of stuff free, but during the bonus event its worth $200! You just pay the taxes. SOO off I went, and I got 78 items for free just paid taxes and deposit on the pop! Very happy with my points spending.

[Giving-Small]

Great shops HouseholdSaver and photo too!

[Giving-Small]

I'm going to sit tight on the train for a wee bit.

.

[Giving-Small]

Many of us don't want emails for threads we leave comments on or subscribe to (see screenshot below) but occasionally we do. For example you post locally for your city "does anyone know what store the Vector cereal has the boxes with banana coupons on it?" - if someone answers you want to know asap.

Or if you love emails or a daily digest, then this tip if for you.

Note: There are other ways to keep on top of subscribed threads without emails. Remember this tip? How do I find this thread again?

When you post in a thread you are automatically "subscribed" just by posting. You won't necessarily get an email -- it'll depend on your global settings.

You probably don't want every thread to email you ... you'll be swamped.

Here's how to get an email notice when a thread that you really want to watch such as this one:

Step 1. Look for the Thread Tools link on the upper right burgundy line menu.




Step 2: The default will be: no email notification (most likely) and a folder called Subscriptions (you can add extra folders ... hold on to this idea because it'll be useful down the road when we explain some power user tips)





Step 3: Pick the type of email notification you'd like.






.

[Giving-Small]

Many of us don't want emails for threads we leave comments on or subscribe to (see screenshot below) but occasionally we do. For example you post locally for your city "does anyone know what store the Vector cereal has the boxes with banana coupons on it?" - if someone answers you want to know asap.

Or if you love emails or a daily digest, then this tip if for you.

Note: There are other ways to keep on top of subscribed threads without emails. Stay tuned.

When you post in a thread you are automatically "subscribed" just by posting. You won't necessarily get an email -- it'll depend on your global settings.

You probably don't want every thread to email you ... you'll be swamped.

Here's how to get an email notice when a thread that you really want to watch such as this one:

Step 1. Look for the Thread Tools link on the upper right burgundy line menu.




Step 2: The default will be: no email notification (most likely) and a folder called Subscriptions (you can add extra folders ... hold on to this idea because it'll be useful down the road when we explain some power user tips)





Step 3: Pick the type of email notification you'd like.






.

[EJEJ]

HOLY SMOKES! i miss so much when im not here!! lol, ok this is just a quick pop in, it was been STUNNINGLY GORGEOUS! here in Duncan, BC and i just cant bare to stay inside on the computer right now, gardening and walking in the sunshine! mmmm im in love, i just wanted u to know, that i will be making time tomorrow for all my couponing along qwith smartcanucks, will do all the wonderful great activities too!!! thanks agian, taking the dog for a walk now, then watching are CANUCKS GAME TONIGHT! woooohoooo!!

[jujubetwins]

trading for stamps....what is the reasonable "exchange" on these?

I am not sure how many stamps to ask for in a trade I'm working on

[Giving-Small]

JuJube - this thread gives some ideas of trade values including postal stamps.

What do you think trades should be worth?

trading for stamps....what is the reasonable "exchange" on these?

I am not sure how many stamps to ask for in a trade I'm working on

[Giving-Small]

Okay Team 9 - how is everyone?

Trading is a huge topic so we're going to take it a bite at a time starting with creating wishlist and tradelists.

Thanks to JuJube's question we've already touched on one of the trickiest parts - how much is this worth? The link to trade value summarizes the current opinion on SC but trade value is subjective and it's a judgement call.


This screencast, Thing 4, will show examples of wish lists and trade lists and provide some information on where to post your lists once you have created them.



View Coupon Trade Lists and Wish Lists



Activities

For people with tradelists already:

1. Please post a link to them and talk about your experience setting them up and where you post them (in the thread or on your profile).


2. Do you trade for things other than coupons -- why?


For people just making a tradelist for the first time:


1. Find a tradelist or a wishlist that you think is easy to read and well organized. Share the name of SCer who has created the trade list.

2. What are some other things people trade coupons for besides coupons?


3. Try creating a tradelist and wishlist. Keep it simple. It can grow over time.


Important Tips

Save your work often. Sometimes there's a hiccup and all your work can disappear on the about page or when posting to a thread.
Some people prefer to edit their list in Notepad and then cut and paste.

Do not include coupons expiring in a month or 6 weeks - it's pretty late to try to trade those unless they're very popular.



Getting a Quick Start on Creating Your First List

Creating your first tradelist and wishlist can be a daunting task. Check out the two tips below for how to bootstrap the set up of your own trade list and save time.





..

[EJEJ]

ok time to do all the activities i have been putting off, sorry!!
ok....
activty - how do you shop?
i shop bi-weekly and i go through the flyers from SDM, SFW, LD, RCSS and PetSmart, match my coupons to the sales, then go through my usual list for coupons and sales. i think i spend about 4 hours in 2 weeks in planning sometime more???

activity - trains
no i have not yet joined a train, still a little confused with the adding stamps etc, but id love to learn and excited for the first train to come along. i have done 3 trades, 2 so far have went well, 3rd one i have not heard anything about it.... hmmmm....

activity - reps
i have Rep'd alot of people and i think its a GREAT feature!!!

activit - shopping/cashier experience
superstore in duncan has been really great with coupons for me, now they sure tried to rip my friend off though with her coupon along with the manager... but for me its always seemed to go well, i did feel guilty when i got 2 boxes of crackers for free when i should've paid at least 1$.... my advice to others would be to patient and pleasent and always thank them when done!

activity - trading
i will upload my trade list tonight or tomorrow, im pretty tired... once up dated i will post the link, for now u can see my list under my profile page. im pretty easy for trading i think for now anyways maybe when i get more expirienced i will be more picky lol, but for now i just want to get rid of the coupons i have and dont use, becuase id like for some1 to use them

[Giving-Small]

It's grey and almost raining here in Saskatoon for the holiday Monday.

I had my garden rototillered. Yeh!

Our puppy 75 + lbs love to dig.

I managed to buy some chicken wire to fence off the garden - yeah. So my small deal was 10% off purchases at the garden store -- I bought a membership for the Community Radio and there's 10% off a few businesses. So better than nothing.

I found some posts for the corner. Yeah.

I need some help to get the posts pounded in and set up. Ack!

It rained a bit and guess who is Mr. Muddy?

[Giving-Small]

One of the most popular coupon tracking spreadsheets was made by DH666 - but the latest thread and links seem to be expired/gone.

I found the links to the Excel Savings Calculator here - not sure if it's up to date.

There's a few tools / ways that have been shared over the years on SC.

• pen and paper works for some
• schpooh wrote "I just use Word and keep track of everything monthly as well as using my tracker that you can see for my signature"
• liezlranoy posted this: uses Facebook; not sure if it works well in Canada or not; more info here:http:///h4zCf
• Integrated with Household Budget --"If you are tracking your grocery expenses with a household budgeting software or accounting system, this is how you do it." Monroe Blog
• Another spreadsheet template from The Coupon Project

Show Your Savings in Your Signature



Many people use TickerFactory.com to show a progress meter on savings in their signature. Here is courtreporter's description of how to set it up.

Quote:
Coupon Ticker to track how much you save http://www.tickerfactory.com/ezticke...r_designer.php

Scroll down and under debt reductions/saving, click on Saving Ticker and go from there. Pick your own design. Very easy to do.
Then copy the link after you are finished and put it in your signature here and keep track of all your coupon savings.

When you want to update it, you might be able to click on it from here. It won't let me do it on this site, but if it doesn't you can just go to tickerfactory.ca and update from there and it will automatically change the information here.

...


What do you think is the most important thing to track?

...