Group 13: 21 Things to be an Epic Couponer

[Giving-Small]

Welcome

We`re ready to start our couponing / money saving adventures.



I know many of you are well on your way so I hope you`ll share tips, insights, experiences and links and help answer questions.

Learning as group is terrific -- it's fun to share your enthusiasm about what you find out and ask questions and swap stories.

Love to have a volunteer facilitators for future groups so any one with lots of coupon experience or running groups - pm me.

Our Group 13 Team Members are:

• ashokia Ottawa, ON
• Barbs Big Fam Ottawa ON
• sweetproserpina Stoney Creek ON
• frugalmom2 Ottawa ON
• eislercoupons Regina SK
• Tiabelle86 Saskatoon SK
• floweredangel Winnipeg MB
• Samantha MacGregor London ON
• hopeinfaith Belleville ON
• Rika Edmonton AB
• Drake Zephyr ON
• Giving-Small Saskatoon ON

Wow - there's a lot of Ottawa folk - you could coupon shop together.

We are all on the learning curve together so please contribute what you've found where you are - things are different regionally, from city to city, and even from store to store.

Here's what I will do for the group:

- I will facilitate
-Generally I'll post videos, slidecasts, interviews, etc. and activities/discussion topics
-Tami will keep the discussions going and start new ones
-I'll send out a coupon train (boarding pass is optional conductor) -- to be explained when we talk about trains

Here's what we hope you'll do and other team members are expecting from each other:

1. Please participate and share your ideas, opinions, stories, 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, we'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. We 'd like everyone to try to answer and share. We 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 as a group.

4. Give me, your facilitators, lots of feedback and suggestions. Please.

Okay - let's dive in.

FAQs for Visitors

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

2.Is this group full? Yes but no worries see #3

3. When would the next group start?
Last group was Fall 2011. Not planning to do anymore.
4. How do I sign up for a new group?
Just send me a message and let me know your town or city and province.

[Giving-Small]

Reserved...

[Giving-Small]

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

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 Activities

1. Create a post and introduce yourself a bit (ie. from Kamloops, mom with 2 kids ...). Just hit "reply" on this thread and type away.
   
2. Share the story behind the Smart Canucks "name/handle" you chose
3. Tell us how you found out about couponing.
4. Do you have a pet(s) and if so tell us about them and post a pic if you like ...
5. Share your thoughts on the tour and whether you think you'll stockpile a little or a lot.

Bonus Question

Anyone have ideas for a great name for Team #13? Please post your idea(s) here and then we'll pick one.

.

[Samantha MacGregor]

Hi All, I am a 25 year old married woman trying to conceive our first little one. I just recently started couponing but my Mom has used many many coupons in the past..LOL I was in the military and lived in Montreal, Kingston and have recently moved to London ON. I am originally from a small town south of Winnipeg. Look forward to our adventures

[Rika]

Hi I am a 50 year old married woman with no kids. I recently became disabled due to a car accident which changed my financial situation. Yep you guessed it I watched 'that show' and was determined to be able to save money if I could just start to coupon! I have lived in almost every province in Canada but am currently living in Edmonton. I have a pet cockateil named Harley. Since my husband works seasonal it is essential that I stockpile for the winter.

[sweetproserpina]

Hiya everyone!

I'm Meg. I'm a 28 year old mama to a lovely 1.5yo little girl, happily married to a self-employed DH, and chicken mama to 1 pretty white hen, and two ridiculous roosters that when I bought them were supposed to turn out as hens too! Ergh! They are off to be exchanged today for some slightly more productive egg-layers I live in the country-side outside of Hamilton/Stoney Creek.

I've always done a little bit of couponing, but I too watched 'that show' and had a bit of an epiphany (no, I don't want to be a crazy coupon lady!) I realized that with coupons, I could spend the same amount of money or less than I've been spending on the cheap stuff and with coupons get the better quality stuff instead. Amazing!

I also am looking forward to building a well-stocked pantry- a good combo of couponed items, and home-canned goods

I'll have to have a think about a team name and post ideas later....

[floweredangel]

Hi everyone!

My name is Debbie (nickname kitten) I'm a 29 year old female from Winnipeg, MB.

I just recently started getting interested in couponing. Last year in January I had a really big wake up call when I hit the scales at 210lbs. Between January and October 2010 I lost 45 lbs and I've been maintaining successfully at 165lbs.

However with that change in my life, we obviously started eating better, with more home-cooked meals instead of eating out and instead of pre-packaged foods. Our grocery bill went up quite a bit each month as we started buying more fresh foods and more chicken and frozen veggies instead of buying Kraft Dinner, frozen dinners, etc.

Groceries themselves just keep going up anyway and we would of course love more money to spend on doing the things we enjoy rather than for food or household supplies.

When I came across the Free Product Coupon printable from Facebook and Skinny Cow, I started looking to see what else was out there and found many pages on Facebook as well as blogs and this forum. I was hooked once I realized there were so many resources and coupons out there for things we use and buy for every day life.

I am still super new to this, but I just got a huge load of coupons from Save.ca, Websaver.ca, brandsaver.ca and Gocoupons. I have lots of coupons to trade and think it will be fun to trade with people all across Canada.

[ashokia]

Hi there,

I'm Melanie, originally from the Ottawa Valley and now living in the big city of Ottawa. My DH and I have been together for sixteen years now, we got married on our ten year anniversary. We gave birth several weeks ago to a healthy (understatement) baby boy who weighed in at eleven pounds. (Thank goodness they decided to induce me!) He's growing like a weed and we're having a hard time keeping up with clothes and diapers. (He skipped all his cutesy newborn stuff altogether!)

My user name is actually a name I started using when I was ten years old and my brothers forced me to play Dungeons and Dragons with them every single day. When the Internet came into being (first through BBS and then dial up) I'd always use that name and it just sort of stuck.

I also first sat up and took notice about couponing while watching 'that show' (I feel like Harry Potter - the show that shall not be named!) and it was like a light switched clicked on in my head and I thought, I bet I can do that! I knew I was soon going on maternity leave and that we'd be living on a limited budget with raised cost so I wanted to be able to learn how to make my dollar stretch.

I started off small, with the different websites, and eventually found some Smartsource inserts. I haven't gotten up the nerve to go on a recycling walk yet. We have big bins in our apartment building, so I went to check them out the other day but there's a big chain on them. (BOO!) I really want to be successful at this so that I have the luxury of being a stay-at-home mom if I want, or going back to work part-time instead of full.

Our other 'baby' is a minature golden doodle named Princess Leia. We got her two years ago for my birthday and I absolutely adore her. She's always been daddy's girl though, so it's nice to have a mommy's boy now.

I loved the tour and already learned a lot. I was really wondering what to do with all my coupons. (Currently using a dollarama folder that just doesn't have enough room!) I just ordered a coupon purse from Glowgirl's site on Etsy and can't wait to get it. I spent about four hours on Monday clipping ALL of my Smartsource inserts (I only had about twelve). I've still got a lot to learn obviously!

As far as a stockpile goes, we live in a two bedroom apartment, so there isn't a lot of space to spare. However I've cleared out two shelves in my walk-in closet to start. My husband is extremely worried about the place getting too cluttered. My mother is actually a hoarder, so I've always been secretly worried that I'll end up becoming like her. (When I say hoarder I'm serious, have you guys seen that show? That's what my mom's house looks like half the time. The only furniture still usable is her bed and the couch. It's really hard to navigate when we go down to visit.) Most of the stuff currently in my walk-in closet is stuff she's brought over.

As for a team name, how about Team Thrifty or The Smart Ladies (you know like the Pink Ladies from Grease, only better? ) I'm not good with these kinds of things.

I really look forward to learning a lot and getting to know all of you. I see a couple of people from Ottawa which is FANTASTIC!

[Giving-Small]

Super to see all the intros. A bit about me. I'm from Saskatchewan but lived in Vancouver and Toronto before coming home to roost in Saskatoon.

I used to go to Ottawa quite a bit - my dh lived there for a while. I have a 21 year daughter and her partner who live with us and 17 year old son.

We have two dogs - ours is Maggie - sweet border collie blue heeler cross. And my daugher's "puppy" - Rocco. He's 8 months and 80+ pounds. Loving and goofy and smart sometimes and not others - he's always doing something. Right now he smells a bit fishy - even though the river is high he found a stagnant pond, whew. Even after a bath and doggy shampoo.

I started couponing at SC and other online communities because I had extra diaper coupons that I couldn't give away locally and thought someone can use these. It was the beginning of an Alice like experience -- a whole new world that I had no idea about.

My yard looks funny right now -- I have Saskatoon bushes covered with large nets to keep the birds out. So it looks like 3 large mushrooms or enormous heads wearing hair nets. It works. And it's almost time to pick and pick and pick. If I'm out with the camera I'll snap a photo.

I like to garden - vegetables mostly and I can/freeze food too.

[ashokia]

I'd love to have a garden, but we live in an apartment building. We actually do have a fairly good sized balcony that I was excited about when we came to look at the place before we rented out. I thought I'd be able to fit all sorts of plants on there. Turns out they don't tell you about the pigeon problem before you move in. >_< There's pigeon poop all over our balcony and we've had to keep an eye out for nests.

They refuse to do anything about it which is infuriating to me! We've tried everything from fake owls to slinky's strung across the railing to vinegar spray. Nothing works! Now we just keep a super soaker by the balcony door and shoot at them whenever they land on there and start cooing but they just don't seem to take a hint!

Luckily my mom (the hoarder) lives in a small town and has a big yard so she always plants a nice garden and we get mostly fresh veggies from her during the summer. I'd love to own a house one day so I can garden. There's nothing like fresh veggies and my grandma's diced tomatoes were always ten times better than the grocery store stuff.

We would have preferred a bigger dog, but living in apartment building, it wouldn't have been fair. We are lucky there is a leash free park close by so Leia has some running around space on top of her daily walks.

[Tiabelle86]

Hi everyone!! My name is Tia, Im a 24 year old university student from Saskatoon SK. I live with my boyfriend Wade and our little dog Moxie (named after the restaurant where we had our first date... cause we're corny like that haha) who will be 1yo at the end of the month.

So how did I get into couponing? I started at the end of April. After watching "that show" religiously a friend and I were talking and I asked her if she thought it was possible to get those amazing deals here in Canada. She told me that when she had her daughter (who is now 4) she use to get diaper coupons mailed to her all the time but she never thought to look for other coupons.

Immediately after our discussion I came home and googled printable coupons in Canada. I was surprised to see that there was actually coupons out there for items I needed!! I went to Safeway later that night and saved $15 off my $60 grocery bill (after only 20 minutes online).... I was hooked.

I'm lucky enough to get funded to go to school but with the school year ending... my living allowance was also ending My summer job wasn't starting for another month and I needed to be really careful with the small amount of money I had. Thus my couponing obsession began.

I found smartcanucks around the beginning of May, but didnt really read the forums. I was originally just using the site for printable coupon searching. Than one day near the end of May I was googling videos on youtube about couponing and found this girl who mentioned the "official deals and coupons to use with flyers forum". WHAT?!?!?! You mean the site I had been casually using would actually tell me exactly what to use my coupons on???? Needless to say I became a smartcanucker only seconds later.

In my first month alone I saved around $500 and started building my own little stockpile. I don't think I'll ever clear out my garage and turn it into my own personal grocery store, but I love knowing that I don't have to worry about buying expensive items like laundry/dish detergent and toiletries. The savings of not having to purchase these items alone makes a huge impact on my weekly grocery shop.

[Samantha MacGregor]

I'd love to have a garden, but we live in an apartment building. We actually do have a fairly good sized balcony that I was excited about when we came to look at the place before we rented out. I thought I'd be able to fit all sorts of plants on there. Turns out they don't tell you about the pigeon problem before you move in. >_< There's pigeon poop all over our balcony and we've had to keep an eye out for nests.

They refuse to do anything about it which is infuriating to me! We've tried everything from fake owls to slinky's strung across the railing to vinegar spray. Nothing works! Now we just keep a super soaker by the balcony door and shoot at them whenever they land on there and start cooing but they just don't seem to take a hint!

Luckily my mom (the hoarder) lives in a small town and has a big yard so she always plants a nice garden and we get mostly fresh veggies from her during the summer. I'd love to own a house one day so I can garden. There's nothing like fresh veggies and my grandma's diced tomatoes were always ten times better than the grocery store stuff.

We would have preferred a bigger dog, but living in apartment building, it wouldn't have been fair. We are lucky there is a leash free park close by so Leia has some running around space on top of her daily walks.

So I have also lived in apartments, and was actually an apartment assistant manager. Many people grew items on their balcony. The most common was tomatoes. They would use something like an old pillowcase, or even you can buy these. They hang upside with the tomatoes growing from slits in the sides and the bottom. Quite neat actually

[Samantha MacGregor]

So I guess my intro was a little short..LOL so a little more about myself

My husband and I were married Oct 16 of 2010. We have been together for 4 years now and I wouldn't change any of it for the world. We have 2 dogs a z-hu chihuahua named Jr and a jack russel named Angel ( trust me she is far from and angel though lol) I also have 3 cockatiels named JoJo, Ozzy and Soliel.

I am a culinary school graduate and being one I love to cook using the freshest products. What frustrates me is that the stuff I cooked in school I cannot afford to prepare outside of that kitchen. Nothing is cheap anymore and the world today has a growing waistband and yet junk food is what is affordable.

I watched "that show" as well and was blown away. I actually have a friend who lives in Michigan and she said of a 500.00 shopping trip she had 191.00 with card discounts and another 80.00 of coupons and she doesn't try to coupon..LOL so guess who is going to the states to do some shopping Also DH and I do want to eat healthier. We had a good stockpile before we moved and than it was gone bc we didn't buy anything until we moved to London, so now we are slowly stocking up again.

My hubby and I are trying to have a baby for 2 years now, suffered 2 miscarriages and am finally going for testing to determine the problem. I have finally found a Dr willing to listen to my problems. So things are looking up and up.

[sweetproserpina]

I just got back from my first real planned couponing adventure. Got the 3 greenworks cleaners and a dishwasher soap for $4.25 at Canadian Tire! And then I headed over to SDM for my second points event. Used a few coupons, but was really excited when I found their Organic pasta on sale for 0.99$ a box (reg 2.49), picked up 4 boxes. Yay!

I never really paid attention to SDM before, especially not their clearance sections- who knew they had such good stuff?

A few silly name suggestions:
Lucky #13s
Baker's Dozen
13 Cents Off Crew

[floweredangel]

In my first month alone I saved around $500 and started building my own little stockpile. I don't think I'll ever clear out my garage and turn it into my own personal grocery store, but I love knowing that I don't have to worry about buying expensive items like laundry/dish detergent and toiletries. The savings of not having to purchase these items alone makes a huge impact on my weekly grocery shop.

Wow, what an amazing savings! How did you manage that? I only just started getting my coupons now. Did you really get that many coupons from printing them?