Group 13: 21 Things to be an Epic Couponer

[Tiabelle86]

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?

I wish printables saved that much money!! I combined store savings and coupons. Some of which were printables (such as the save $4 WUB2 Ziploc- they were 2.49 a box and I combined with the save $3 on a LaGrille Marinade WUB2 Ziploc which my store didn't consider stacking) some were from save.ca, websaver.ca and gocoupons.ca. I think the first one that really amazed me was the free quantum starter kits. They were 4.99 and the printable coupon was $6 so I got $1 overage which covered the extra bit leftover on the ziplocs. Some times the deals at grocery stores save you a ton of money as well. I went to safeway one day shortly after I started and their Purex was on BOGO, reg price 6.49, I had a $3 coup, so I got 2 bottles for 3.49 ($1.75 a bottle!!). I also started earning points at Shoppers and Sobeys that I started redeeming for dollars off my total to help with items that I didn't have coupons for. The points add up pretty quickly, especially at Sobeys. In the last month I've redeemed $5 off twice and $15 off once.

[floweredangel]

I wish printables saved that much money!! I combined store savings and coupons. Some of which were printables (such as the save $4 WUB2 Ziploc- they were 2.49 a box and I combined with the save $3 on a LaGrille Marinade WUB2 Ziploc which my store didn't consider stacking) some were from save.ca, websaver.ca and gocoupons.ca. I think the first one that really amazed me was the free quantum starter kits. They were 4.99 and the printable coupon was $6 so I got $1 overage which covered the extra bit leftover on the ziplocs. Some times the deals at grocery stores save you a ton of money as well. I went to safeway one day shortly after I started and their Purex was on BOGO, reg price 6.49, I had a $3 coup, so I got 2 bottles for 3.49 ($1.75 a bottle!!). I also started earning points at Shoppers and Sobeys that I started redeeming for dollars off my total to help with items that I didn't have coupons for. The points add up pretty quickly, especially at Sobeys. In the last month I've redeemed $5 off twice and $15 off once.

Very nice!

We mostly shop at RCSS and I need to learn how to properly price match and such. I did get a good deal with some cereal today which had free coupons for Quaker snack bars and that made the cereal $0.99 each and I also got my free Shreddies coupon and I took the box that had $12.00 in Glad coupons as well as the free Always Infinity. Overall a small little score, but for me it's a great start

My next purchase needs to be a printer, but I guess I have a ways to go before I can add up my savings to that point.

[eislercoupons]

Hi there, my name is Kathleen and I am originally from Cape Breton, NS but have lived in Saskatchewan for the past 10 years and I love it here. I also used to be in the military, and have lived in several provinces before settling here.

I am 31, and am married and have 2 boys, aged 2 and a newborn. I work for a bank as an Associate Investment Advisor, doing financial plans, etc therefore saving money is always at the forefront for me, but I never did coupon.

I always watched "that" show and really wanted to try it for myself, my husband new right away I would want to....I am just like that. I had a friend that is on the board as well, so she really got me started, and introduced me to SC. I went to a local coupon meet, and got lots of coupons to start off with since I started during the strike.....lol....so now that the mail is arriving I am starting to gather more coupons, and now have a full binder full, with dividers, card holders etc, and am going to pass on my LOVE for couponing to others as tomorrow I am hosting my first coupon exchange for other Regina moms.....I am excited.

I am really wanting to start a stockpile, and see ow much I can save while being off on maternity leave as we are hoping to have one more baby and I would love to be able to afford to stay at home and watch them grow up.

Since June 27th I have saved over $300.00 and that is only counting 10% of what I saved at LD since I maybe would not have bought those items if I couldn't have stacked, etc.

I am looking forward to building some great relationships, and ope p some potential trading relationships, and learn everything I can to make me successful. My biggest struggle right now I find is the lack of a price hook, as I don't really know if something is a good deal as I have never paid attention to prices prior to now.....so I am slowly trying to get one together but I am struggling wit that part, so I hope we cover that at some point.

I LOVE the name Bakers Dozen, so I put in one vote for that. I am not creative in that way, but would maybe throw out there "13 STACKED"

Welcome to everyone!

[eislercoupons]

Very nice!

We mostly shop at RCSS and I need to learn how to properly price match and such. I did get a good deal with some cereal today which had free coupons for Quaker snack bars and that made the cereal $0.99 each and I also got my free Shreddies coupon and I took the box that had $12.00 in Glad coupons as well as the free Always Infinity. Overall a small little score, but for me it's a great start

My next purchase needs to be a printer, but I guess I have a ways to go before I can add up my savings to that point.

There was a printer on sale at Walmart this week for $35.00, I am sure your savings have bought you several printers by now a that price. We bought ours at the end of June from Costco for $50.00 and it is wireless, a copier and scanner....a good deal I thought. I am unsure if the one at Walmart was wireless but it was a copier, scanner, etc.

I have probably saved the most with printable coupons, just because that was all I could use since I wasn't getting coupons because of the strike.

[sweetproserpina]

Good Morning everyone! Sounds like we have a great group started!

Quick printable question: I only have black ink in the printer- do stores care if I print a colour coupon in black and white? Will they think it's a photocopy?

Thanks!

[Giving-Small]

Sweet prospina - it'll depend on the store but I have a friend who only prints black and white and I do sometimes too but they're familiar with us so that probably helps alot.

[Barbs Big Fam]

Hi everyone! I'm Barbara, married and busy working momma of 4 with a extended family that includes my mommy in law and my sista in law. I was talking to my hubby two weeks ago about how we needed a change cause all our hard earned dollars was going to gas and mostly food. I then went to zellers and at the cash behind me was this women with 3 little ones with a NoFrills flyer talking about doing a price Match. "A what? What is that?" She went on and explained it to me. WOW! I had just discovered something that would make my life so much easier. Every week I go thru each flyer and write all that's in special on a sheet of paper. Then I run around between Basics, NoFrills, WM, Price Chopper and all the other ones. Sometimes I miss on some good deals because of time and gas.

I was looking thru an old magazine at work and saw a page talking about a new show called extreme couponing. Checked it on the net and all I can say is "A monster has been created!" Me.

Talking about coupons at work, I found out that a coworker of mine became a couponer after she quit smoking last October. She says she easely saves 60$ on grocery each week.

I am surprise to see the amount of coupons I got in a week. They are everywhere! I have to say the food bank has been a savior to my fam and I but our situation is getting worst. Prices are going up and I still have to provide.

This site/forum and the member here are just so amazing! Always ready to help.

what do yall think of "Savvy Cookies" for our group name?

Well that's me for now but watch out toilet paper here I come!

[floweredangel]

I'm not very good at coming up with names, but I like Baker's Dozen and Savvy Cookies

Thanks for the tip eislercoupons, but my husband says we should get a laser printer instead of an inkjet printer. He says the ink lasts way longer and though more expensive at first it is cheaper in the long run.

[Tiabelle86]

Very nice!

We mostly shop at RCSS and I need to learn how to properly price match and such. I did get a good deal with some cereal today which had free coupons for Quaker snack bars and that made the cereal $0.99 each and I also got my free Shreddies coupon and I took the box that had $12.00 in Glad coupons as well as the free Always Infinity. Overall a small little score, but for me it's a great start

My next purchase needs to be a printer, but I guess I have a ways to go before I can add up my savings to that point.

I never seem to be lucky enough to snag the FPC's. I think I've only gotten the cottonelle wipes and the chocolate cheerios since I started Which is still amazing, but Free Always and Shreddies would be sweet too!

[Tiabelle86]

I'm going to try to give rep's to all the amazing people in team 13 on a regular basis. Not that Im really sure what they are for haha. Anyways, just wanted to make sure I acknowledged each and everyone of you today!!

[Rika]

Tried to get some deals at Walmart today but every single one that I wanted had the shelf cleared.... this happens often... any suggestions on what I should do?

[Giving-Small]

Here's a bit more about rep. Spread the love and give a few people a rep on this thread and leave a comment to try it out.

Usually bulletin boards have some sort of system to show reputation for either content and members.

Smart Canucks has a couple of things:

1. Thumbs up - which helps "promote" the best threads. On your profile you will see the total number of thumbs up you have over the lifetime on the board (There's a tip for this one coming soon)
2. Reps help show a person who is valued by the forum community. In the Smart Canucks case reps are only loosely related to reputation.

How to get Reps and why it's a weak indicator of your reputation.

People who make good posts get reps.

People who have lots of friends usually get reps.

And people who hang out on the "I want a rep" thread get reps too.

On Smart Canucks reps are used just for fun. It's a quick and easy way to leave someone a short comment and/or say thanks for a post.

Once you accumulate a lot of reps you'll start having little stars and candies show up under name and little graphic/avatar.

How Using a Rep Helps the Smart Canuck community

Are you on some threads were someone posts a free code or idea and 10 people say thanks. It's nice they say thanks. In fact it's great if one person says it publicly so it's acknowledged.

The trouble starts when for a day or two people keep posting thanks. Why? Each time someone posts, the thread rises to the top and looks like it has "new" useful info information like a new code. Instead you open the thread and find it's just people saying thanks. And you do this many times before there is new information to use. Kinda a waste of everyone's time.

So if you collect pampers gifts to go points and read that thread and someone posts are "free code", you can give them a rep (nicest option so that if the thread looks new to readers ONLY WHEN there really is new content.) and the person who posts knows it's appreciated.


How to Give a Rep

The diagram shows where to click to leave a rep on a post:




Two options for repping:

1. Just click and say okay - it shows up as a "thanks" and is linked to the exact post that you clicked the scales on.

2. Click and type in a comment.


It's about 50/50 what people do.

Another time people leave a rep is when they ask for info or help and then someone answers ( ) -- it's a way to say "thanks for the answer".

Your Supply of Rep

Each day you have about 20 to 30 reps available to hand out. It starts over each day.

Can you give all your reps to a friend or to someone like me?

No. If you give someone a rep, say crazycoupongirl, and then no one else, when you try to leave her a second rep, it'll tell you to spread the rep around.

This was probably built in to the software to prevent "gaming" the system -- giving one person all 20 reps each day for a month to bump them up. "Gaming" the system doesn't really matter on SC - hence the thread for give me rep. But I suspect this limit was part of the original bulletin board software.



Your Activity

Find a few good posts this week and leave a rep for the writers. Make someone's day If you do every day for a week, you`ll be able to make this a habit and anytime you see something you like, you'll leave a rep.

[Giving-Small]

We're off to an awesome start. Last call for name suggestions and then we'll have a quick votes our team has a name.

In preparing slideshows for 21 Things, I decided that finding coupons and using Smart Canucks to do that (where/what threads) is a fundamental EPIC couponer skill.

If you just know how to do that, you're 90% of the way to being EPIC. Sweet !

It's amazing what this community of volunteers creates and maintains to help us all find and use coupons and deals.

So a big thank you to all the folks who maintain the threads mentioned in this new slide cast.


Link to the show with an audio track:


http://www.slideshare.net/GivingSmal...s-part-1/1/yes



Your Activities:

1. Share one thing that was new (or not - don't be shy to say you had this section covered) from this slide show

2. Find a thread where people are discussing coupon etiquette that you found useful e.g. is it Okay or not Okay to print lots, take 1/2 a pad of coupons from the store, etc. Post the link here to the thread.

TIP: How do you make a link in a your post to the thread you like? See next post for "how to" make a link.

3. Tell us what your favourite coupon is so far.

.

[Giving-Small]

How to Make a Link in a Post?

1. You write some words for your link such as This is my first link.
2. You copy the URL from the page you want to go to ie. http://www.smartcanucks.ca/ etc etc.
3. You highlight This is my first link with your mouse.
   
4. Click on the blue globe icon with a link of a chain over it - see red arrow in the image just above.
   
5. It'll pop up a box for you to fill in the URL.
   
6. Paste the URL into the box making sure there is ONLY ONE http:// at the beginning.
7. Click okay.
8. Save your post.
9. To test, click on your link, hopefully it'll go where you intended.

If not, ask us to help. We're here to practice on, help each other.

.

[eislercoupons]

I'm going to try to give rep's to all the amazing people in team 13 on a regular basis. Not that Im really sure what they are for haha. Anyways, just wanted to make sure I acknowledged each and everyone of you today!!

I would love to do the same but haven't figured out how, can someone help? I should of kept reading before posting this obviously....lol. Please feel free to ignore me.