Group 14: 21 Things to be an Epic Couponer (FULL)

[geniemom]

Hi everyone!

I've been reading through the past posts... Seems I have some catching up to do! I have an 8 month old and I just started back to work but I'll try to catch up as fast as I can.

I'll start by introducing myself. My name is Crystal and I'm from Orillia, Ontario. I live with my DH and 8 month old son. I'm a RN on a medical floor so I work shift work. I just started getting into couponing in the last few months while being on mat leave. Once my top up from work ended my income took a huge dive and I started hunting more for coupons to try to save money. Thats when i came across SC. Although I have a good job we also have a huge debt load that we're trying to dig ourselves out of one bill at a time. This makes couponing even more important to me because the debt has to go, I'm tired of being poor! I never knew until I had a baby just how expensive it can be. I was astounded by the price of formula and had no idea a $30 can of powder only lasted a few days!

As for my screen name, it's a combination of my maiden name and married name that I've been using online for awhile now. Along with my son I also have a dog Zeppelin - a black lab/Shepard mix and a white and gray cat Ozzie.

Not sure if you picked a group name yet but I love the suggestion "Start the Car" it's easy to get excited about a deal you hear someone talk about on SC and want to go to the store right now to check it out! As for stock piling, I don't have a lot of room for a huge stockpile but I am starting to build a small stockpile of body wash, deodorant, diapers, wipes, toilet paper, paper towel and laundry detergent. I'm having a hard time finding good food coupons lately so I haven't been able to stock up on food.

I've yet to watch the slide shows on here. I can't do that on my phone so I'll have to watch them next time my son goes for a nap.

I have to say everyone on here seems very friendly and eager to help each other which is great to see! I look forward to chatting with everyone!

Welcome to the group!

[geniemom]

Most of the tips i'm aware of, the one thing i haven't done yet is call any companies. I get most of my coupons from tearpads. Looking forward to doing my first train so i can learn how that is done.

[DeeBuck]

Me too, I read about the trains all the time but am not sure enough about it to sign up. or have a big enough wish list.

[Sunshineyday]

Are we doing one in this group?

[Giving-Small]

We'll definitely do a train - just whether people want old fashioned or a "basic" VWT train is up for discussion.

[bairdgoodwin]

Doesn't matter to me either way, I think both would be good.

[Giving-Small]

Preparing to Shop with Coupons

You've collected your coupons and you're ready to shop and save. How do you prepare?

You'll be happy to know this one is < 8 min. Which means more talking and sharing by all of you.




Planning your coupon shopping trips - a slidecast - how one SCer does
it.


Activity
By now most of you have a system for this - share your tips and advice for others.

[Giving-Small]

Please pick one or more questions to answer. I know time is a factor for many of us juggling multiple responsibilities.

1. Do you shop every week? Every two weeks? Monthly even?

2. Do you use coupons every time you shop? Most times?

3. Do you save your coupons for when things are on sale? Or use them as you get them?

4. How long do you spend planning your shopping trips?

• Do you read through the flyers, make lists of what to get on sale?
• Do you have a master shopping list of what you need?
• Do you use a list at all?

5. Do you always go to the same store or stores? Which ones? Or do you browse the flyers and go where the sales are?



Optional:

Feel free to do upload a funny pic or cartoon if it represents your shopping style, write a post or a poem to share what you do, record a video. Not sure how to upload a photo - check the


SC Tip: How to Post Flyers from photos you take with your camera

[Giving-Small]

This is a quick activity.

I'm sure some of you have noticed and used the "thumbs up" icon at the top right hand corner of a thread on the very first page. This is a way to say "great thread" and also to recognize the poster for their contribution.

So how do you do it?

When you're on a thread that you like scroll to the first page first post. You'll see a grey thumb image on the right hand side. See example below. The number 31 beside indicate 31 people have given it a thumbs up.



Simply click on the thumb.

It'll turn green and the number of thumbs up will increase by 1. See below.




When you're looking all the threads under a tab like coupons you'll see some that have a little row of golden thumbs up (See below) - that means lots of people have given that post a thumbs up, like the High Five. This tells everyone - hey this is a really good thread, take a look. So if you leave a thumb up when you spot something useful it helps everyone on Smart Canucks.

Screenshot: Part of the coupons thread enlarged to show the golden thumbs up besides some posts





Your Activity


You can start by practicing on our thread - you'll notice that the thumbs option ONLY appears on the first post in a new thread.

Next find a thread that you think is great and give it a thumbs up.
Feel free to share the thread you chose on the board if you like. Not sure how to link yet; practice on us and use how to make a link to another web site or post.

[bairdgoodwin]

Trying my first link!
hope it works!

[bairdgoodwin]

Just viewed the planning your shopping trip slideshow. Gave me some great ideas. I just downloaded the evernote app for my iphone and want to try using that for copying and pasting into a list. I currently use an app on my phone called Listomni which i love for my grocery list. It saves the price of items i enter so after buying things and inputing price once you never have to do it again until its time to update the price. ùthis is great because it lets you see what your total will be before you go shopping. I find this very useful for shopping on a budget, epecially if i have to incorporate stock pile items into my budget along with all my normal shopping items.

I usually make one big shopping trip every two weeks (per pay period) but may get really good sale items on the alternate week if its worth an extra trip and if i have time. I have enough coupons now that i almost always use coupons when i shop. I like to try to save coupons for when things go on sale but if i really need an item and there is no sale i will use the coupon to make it a little cheaper. I also love the thread of deals to go with flyers and scan this weekly to see which coupons i can use that week. I usually try to hang onto my high value coupons for good sales.

When planning shopping trips I make a list of everything i need that week, scan the flyers for deals and the deals with flyers thread, then go through my whole list and see what i have coupons for and compîle all the coupons i will use that shopping trip in one pile to save from rooting though coupons at the store. After i have my list made it usually takes me an hour of planning. But after viewing the slide show i might change the way i do it now, havent decided yet. I usually go to a variety of stores but NoFrills is my main grocery store. I haven't tried price matching yet. I'm worried that walmart will give me a hard time when using coupons while price matching.

[Giving-Small]

Works great

Trying my first link!
hope it works!

[bairdgoodwin]

Are we on a hiatus here for awhile? An update would be nice, but I totally understand that life just gets busy sometimes!

[Giving-Small]

Thanks bairdgoodwin for the heads up.

I was definitely on a hiatus -- I had to prep a bunch of presentations, then off to the States, and back with an extra bonus - a cold.

Everybody else - ready for Halloween? How many kids do you usually get?

Remember if you bought any Nestle candy to check for the aeroplan pins and trade or enter - there's a bonus right now, 2x I think.

[Giving-Small]

Coupon Trains - a few things to know

So what's a coupon train?

A train is an envelope with coupons in it that travels from stop to stop. At each stop some coupons get off and some other coupons get on.

Riding a train can help build up your trade rating because the conductor will rate each rider. Each rider will rate the conductor. This is typically how its done except for VWT Virtual Wish Trains which run differently.






The person who starts the train -- the conductor, typically, asks for a boarding pass - coupons from their wish list, stamps, etc. The people who take part in the train are riders.

To find riders, the conductor usually creates a post in the Canadian Coupon Trains thread.

The post spells out the train rules. The thread's title is updated to full when all the riders have signed on seats are filled.

Some trains are "invitation only" and a conductor pm's a select group of people to join.

The conductor collects everyone's mailing addresses and creates a route for the train that helps it to speed it along.

The conductor sends out a big envelope of coupons to the first rider: see pic above to see the flow.

The first rider takes out some coupons and replaces them and mails it to the next ride and so on.

Eventually the train returns home to the conductor. And I do mean eventually. It is surprising (and discouraging when you're new and excited about trains) to discover how long these trains take. It takes about a week to make it from stop to stop so if you're a fourth rider - four weeks from now.

Read more about trains here in the Sticky post.



Types of Trains

There are all shapes and sizes - anything the conductor wants to do.

- Basic coupon train (we'll do this)
- VWT -Virtual Wishlist Train (more about this later)
- Package Train
- By geography - alberta only
- By type of coupon - brandsaver insert; baby etc


Activity
Take a look at the train section.
Share any train experiences you have had.

Canada's Shopping Bargains, Freebies, Deals, Offers, Flyers, Coupons, and Contests Forum > Canadian Shopping Section > Canadian Coupons > Canadian Coupons Trains