Coupon Methods Revealed and some Target Steals

After spending hours getting my binder ready I made my first trip with it to Target. At first I was a little embarrassed to have this giant binder with me. I would stand in each aisle FOREVER looking at all the coupons I had try matching them with items I thought might be cheap.

I realized I was becoming the person that just buys an item because I had a coupon for it, so I told myself that I needed to only look at items that were on markdown prices. I ended up with a few steals, but it took me twice as long. Here is what I learned:

• Don't buy it just because you have a coupon. Unless the coupon is nearing its expiration date and you know you'll use it, don't buy it yet!
• Organize your binder into SMALL sections. I had a bathroom/personal hygiene section and it was over 20 pages full. I needed to have one for toothpaste/toothbrush, femine hygiene, body wash, shampoo and conditioner and makeup section. Probably even more than just those. The smaller the sections the easier it will be to find what you are looking for.
• Expect less preparing time, but longer shopping time,
• I would NEVER take my one or two year old shopping with me while using my binder.

In the essence of what problems I ran into I also saw some benefits:

• Many more people come up and talk to you about what you are doing. I have never had that many people curious about what I was doing.
• You do find some great deals on things that were put on clearance and you have your coupons for.
• It can be a nice feeling to know that you have all your coupons in ONE place. I felt super organized and put together.

Here are some of the great deals I found last night, some were well advertised others were not.

Gillette Fusion Razors $7.94 and WYB2 you get a $5 Target gift card. I used 2 $4.00/1 coupons from 2 of the previous Gillette Fusion razors I had bought making the total $7.88. Or you could use the $2.00/1 from RP 8/16. Then I used my Buy a razor get a FREE shampoo from P&G 8/2 and a buy a razor get a FREE body wash coupon from P&G 8/2 . The shampoo and body wash were normally both $3.99 and I got them for FREE. So after factoring in the gift card I spend $2.88 for 2 razors, one body wash and one shampoo!!!!

The bags of Starburst were on sale for $2.29. I used 2 $1.00/1 coupons to get 2 bags of regular flavored starburst for $1.29, but you can also use the Flavared Starburt coupon to get 2 bags of Flavared Starburst for the same price. Mine just didn't have anymore left.

A package of 4 disposable Shick Quattro for Women razors were on sale for $5.99 and I used my $3.00/1 coupon from SS 8/16. That means I only paid about .75 for a razor.

I bought some Sally Hansen nail polish that was on sale for $2.69 and I used my $1.00/1 coupon from RP 8/2. That lime color just looked so tempting!

Herbal Essence Conditioner was on sale for $2.69. Not nearly as great as a couple weeks ago at Smiths, but as I was clipping for my binder I found a lost coupon! I used the get a FREE styler when you buy a shampoo or conditioner coupon from RP 7/26. That made them each $1.39. The coupon expires 8-31, so I figured I probably wouldn't get a better deal, but I know I wanted to use the coupon.

I found a couple Tide 2x laundry detergents that were on clearance for $3.98. I used my $1.00/1 coupon from P&G 8/2 and bought them for only $2.98. That's a great deal!

Here was my favorite find! I didn't end up buying any, but the Norelco clipper/shaving products were on sale. They also have $10/1 and $5/1 coupons in SS 8/16 and there is another $5/1 Target coupon here. These good make for some awesome steals!

Dove Deodorant was on sale for $3.29. Use this $2.00/1 coupon and this $1.00/1 Target coupon and you have deodorant for only pennies.

Remember that Targets sales run from Sunday to Saturday, so some of these deals are only good for a couple more days.

Free Chocolate Friday

Don't forget today's FREE chocolate! Click here to get to the website. Remember you can have up to 4 coupons delivered to a household/mailing address. You will need a different e-mail address for each coupon. Have no idea what I am talking about. Click here to read all about FREE chocolate Fridays!

Recipes Using Sale Items

More Mac N Cheese? Oh my goodness. Whats a woman to do? Did you participate in the Kraft Promo last week at Albertsons? It was an amazing deal-when you factor in the rebate! How do you leave FREE food behind? I think the answer is you dont! You just end up with TONS of Mac N Cheese on your shelves. :) I think of it as a great food storage item so I dont worry that we have alot of it. If your kids need a project Id say that seeing as how it was FREE, you can probably part with a box and let them make necklaces with the noodles. OR click here to read about some recipes you could try.

Safety First!

FREE FREE FREE! There is FREE stuff all over the place! It is so fun! We have been asked if we sign up for the free stuff we post about. Yes we do. If we find a deal we feel is worth posting about it most often means that it is something that we will be taking advantage of. The part that you need to be careful of is what information you are giving out.

There are a few things that you should check and do before giving away any of your information.

What is the site you are on? Is what they are offering to good to be true? If so it probably is-- get off the site! There are some amazing deals available, and tons of FREE items but follow what your gut tells you. When you cant believe what you have found--slow down and check it out before giving out your info. It its to good to be true- it probably is.

Before giving out your email I highly suggest you create a seperate email address that you can use for freebies. This way you wont have a full inbox of junk mail from all the freebies you sign up to receive. In turn for the "freebie" the site/company often wants to put you on the mailing list. This ususally means that they will send you more coupons and notify you of other deals which is great, BUT it can result in a lot of emails you dont necessarily want to read.

Last but not least-- THE RULES you just dont break EVER!

DO NOT and I REPEAT DO NOT give your

credit card number

or

social security number

There is NO reason for a "FREE" item site to need this info.

Two other things I recommend you be careful of giving out are
Birth dates

and

your childrens names.

I have received so many awesome FREEBIES! I love it. Just remember to be safe and enjoy your free stuff!

Binder vs. Coupon File

The other night I ran into Macey's to grab my .77 Lysol wipes and FREE dental floss. I hardly ever run into multiple stores, but .77 for Lysol wipes was too good to pass up.

While I was in there I ran into a couple girls from a previous class! It was fun to see them there with their lists learning how to save money at the grocery store.

The one girl instantly noticed that I had something unusual with me "A BINDER". I quickly explained that I wasn't using it put rather the plastic sleeve inside it with my pre-cut coupons. To see how we organize our coupons without using the clip and file binder method click here.

Over the last few weeks we have been getting lots of e-mails about wanting to know the difference between our method and the binder method. We honestly couldn't tell you because we had never used the binder method ourselves. We really wanted to tell you and researched it a little and found many girls on other blogs and websites that were using binders, but nothing about the pros and cons to each method, so here we go....

I can't believe we are going to try this but I am going to try the binder method out for a while to see how I like it. In the meantime Emily is going to stick with our trusty file folder method. We both shop together so it will be interesting and obvious to see the differences. As we start shopping we will let you know what differences we can see!

Wish me luck! I spent over 6 hours yesterday clipping coupons for my binder. I know it took longer because I have over a years worth of coupons, but wow my back still hurts from sitting all day clipping.

Coupons for Games/Movie Nights

Entertainment at home is much cheaper than going out to movies and bowling. My family and I love having game/movie nights. There is nothing more fun than getting in your pajamas, popping popcorn and having fun together as a family. Here are some online coupons to make at home entertainment with friends or family even CHEAPER!

Here are some great coupons for family game nights!

• Save $4 on Connect 4x4 game
• Save $5 on Guesstures Game
• Save $5 on Secret & Spies Game
• Save $4 on Monopoly City Game
• Save $5 on Pictureka Flipper Game
• Save $4 on Hungry Hippos, Gator Golf, Giraffalaff, Limbo, Elefun

Thanks to Utah Deal Diva for this great find!

Here were some more fun game/toy coupons I was able to find:

• Hasbro SpongeBob game: Operation,Cranium, Connect 4, or Sorry - $2/1 Target coupon(When I printed it off it is for the Spongebob version of Connect 4. I am going to see if Target will let me combine it with the above $4/1 Connect 4 game coupon. The coupon only says for Connect 4. It's worth a try and I will let you know what I find out)

• Hasbro game: Cranium, Things, Funglis, Taboo, or Electronic Catch Phrase - $5/1 Target Coupon

• Save $5 on any $19.99 Nerf N Strike Blaster Purchase

• Buy One Get One- Buy one Transformers RPM mini vehicle and receive one FREE ($3.99 SRP)

Hot Printable Online Coupons Utah

Here are a couple online coupons I have printed over the last couple days:

$1.00/1 Motts Applesauce

$1.00/1 Goldfish 12 pack

$1.00/1 Smucker's Uncrutsable sandwiches

$3.00 of Smithfield Bacon. I am hoping I can find this at one of Utah's grocery stores! That will make for some possible FREE bacon!

$1.00/1 Carmax Chapstick

$2.00/1 Degree deodrant

$1.00/1 Degree deodrant target coupon (remember you can combine store coupons with manufactures coupons!

$1.00 any brand of cheese 2lbs or more

.75/4 or 32 oz of any brand of yogurt

Free Calendar with Coupons- Deal of the Day

Walmart is offering a Nestles Back to School Basics calendar with $20 in coupons here.

Free planning calendar with $20 of Nestle savings. Fill out this form to receive a free coupon booklet from NESTLE®.

Taste Buds- Colgate Wisps Review with Coupon

Alright this week we tried the new Colgate Wisps! They retail around $2.39 for a package of 4.

Colgate Wisps give you the just brushed clean anytime, anywhere feeling.

Sugar Free

3 different flavors of toothpaste

No water or rinsing necessary

Single use mini-brush

Just brush and go!

Soft pick gets to hard to reach places

Bristles gently remove food and other particles

Freshening bead dissolves in use

Single use

Discreet and portable

Powerful breath freshening

Just brush and go!

The package is small enough that it is easy to carry in a purse, small bag and even possibly your pants pocket!

I had just finished eating my dinner in the car and was about to walk into teach a class and realized I had forgotten my gum in the other car. I quickly pulled out my little Colgate Wisps package. The brush was super easy to get out of the pull back foil package.

As I started to brush I was impressed with the bristles and that they looked like they would hurt my poor little gums since I wouldn't have water to moisten it, but I was surprised at how painless it was. It took a couple seconds before the bead "burst" and I could tell it was freshening my breath and cleaning my mouth. It was weird not to spit anything out when I was through, but overall I felt confident that my teeth were clean and my breath was fresh. You can only use it once and then it needs to be thrown away.

This product got an A in my book! It definitely isn't a substitute for a toothbrush and toothpaste, but it made a great fix for me. I would buy more next time they went on sale! I am not sure I would have paid $2.39, but $1.39 yes.

Click here to get a .50 off manufacture coupon and click here to get a .50 off Target coupon!

Canning Up my Utah Garden

Yesterday as I watched my two boys play in the yard I noticed how all my fruit and vegetables were producing for me! I quickly realized it is time to pull out the pressure cooker and jars to bottle and make jam! The problem is, I have NO idea how to do any of it! I am planning on having my mother in law help me, but I would love any tips that you have for me!

My plans are to:

Bottle:

green beans

tomatoes

Freeze:

hot peppers

green peppers

Make Jam from:
blackberries

raspberries

First I guess I need to shop smart for my jars and supplies. The best price I can see right now is

12 pint Kerr Jars for $6.37 and use my $3/2 case coupon from RP 4/26 making them $4.87 each. I think the best price I have seen on lids was $1.35 for 12.

Then I am looking for a couple recipes for blackberry or raspberry jam!

Can anyone help me? I am excited to try these new ways of preserving food! Wish me luck!

Box Tops for Education in Utah

I noticed that this week was the "Box Top" promos at Albertsons and Smiths in honor of back to school. I remember when I was in elementary school my mom would clip those box top logos off participating products, but I don't remember much more than that, so I decided to find out more!

Box Tops has helped America's schools earn over $250 million in the past 12 years. Your school can earn up to $60,000 every year – that's as much as $20,000 from each of these three easy ways to earn.
You can make a difference for your school every time you shop for groceries! Just clip the Box Tops coupons from hundreds of your favorite products and send them to your child's school. Each box top is worth .10!

To see a list of all the products that have box tops on them click here.

There is also a neat feature here that lets you see how much money your school has earned in box tops. I checked out my old school and they have earned over $8000 from box tops! I can't believe what a wonderful program this is! We are all use to clipping coupons, so we mine as well take the extra minute and clip off those box tops for our local schools. There are also other ways to earn money through box tops by shopping at places like Oriental Trading and Barnes and Nobles. To read more about that click here.

Emily and I were taking about this and she mentioned to me that her kids at church beg for her extra box tops because when they take them into their classrooms they can earn prizes. Some classes even have parties if they bring in the most box tops of the course of the school year!

Starkist Tear Into Flavor Sweepstakes!

Enter and get a chance for $500 or a free Starkist Creations Pouch from the Starkist Tear Into Flavor Sweepstakes! There is $500 given away daily, plus 100 coupons for free Starkist Creations Pouches! You can play this sweepstakes daily thru October 11, 2009. You’ll simply pick a pouch and see if you’ve won! Even if you don’t win you can still print off a coupon for $0.50 Starkist Creation pouches.

for official rules and details click here

You can enter daily until 10/11/09

Wanchai Ferry Winner Announced

The winner of the Wanchai Ferry giveaway is-----entry #9 Joanna Wilkins - Follower!

Congratulations Joanna! E-mail us over your address so we can coordinate getting your prize pack to you!

No matter whether you won or not, here is an online coupon for $1.50 off here.

Arbys Freebie Wednesday

Can you believe another week has gone by? Its Wednesday again already?!!! That means its ARBYS FREEBIE WEDNESDAY! This week you can have a FREE Iced FruiTea with the purchase of any sandwich at Arbys.

Click here to read more about the Freebie Wednesdays.

Tuesdays Meal Planning

Here is my meal plan for this upcoming week. To read about how I plan my meals click here.

This week I am planning my meals around Albertsons and Buy Low Markets produce.

Breakfast

Yogurt, granola bars and orange juice

Pancakes, bacon and juice

Cereal and cinnamon toast

Parfaits (yogurt, strawberries and granola)

Oatmeal and peaches

Pillsbury Toaster Strudels and grapes

Lunch

Turkey Wraps

Macaroni and Cheese, Chex Mix with watermelon

Peanut Butter and Jelly with granola bars and fruit snacks

Ritz Crackers topped with chicken salad with raisins and fruit

Totinos Pizza rolls with string cheese and smoothies

Grilled Cheese and Ham sandwiches, blueberries and goldfish crackers

Dinner

Fiesta Lime Chicken

Slow Cooked BBQ Beef Sandwiches

Hawaiian Hamburgers

Parmesan-Herb Crusted Chicken

Bertolli Oven Baked Lasagna, salad and garlic bread sticks

Arby's Wednesday

Snacks

Fruit Snacks

Grapes

Pudding Snacks

Popcorn

Watermelon

chips and homemade salsa

Dessert

Strawberry Pie

Ice Cream Cups

Worms n Dirt

Utah's Thanksgiving Point

Just a reminder that any Venue at Thanksgiving Point on Tuesday's in August are $2!!! My boys are super excited for Farm Country today! See you there!

Deal of the Day

I have a sister in law who has 4 children and every time we suggest going out to eat she reminds me that with 4 kids it becomes way too expensive and that eating at home is better option for their family. I can only imagine how expensive that could get, but with deals like this it makes eating out affordable and a great treat! IHOP ~ Kids Eat FREE 4pm-10pm daily
Receive one free Kid’s Meal with each adult entrée purchase.
For a limited time.
Free meal valid for kids 12 and under on “Just for Kids’ menu items.

Where are My Utah Red Plum Inserts?

If you are new to She Shops Smart, or missed the first post we wrote, here, about Red Plum being distributed by mail here is another reminder. If you are receiving any paper in the state of Utah, accept for the Daily Herald, your RP inserts will now be mailed to you rather than in your Sunday newspaper. Good news is you get them for FREE in the mail, however you can no longer receive multiple copies, so start asking your neighbors for their unused copies. For those of you receiving the Daily Herald you will continue to receive your inserts in the paper. The Daily Herald was contracted with RP to keep the inserts in the paper, so they are unable to break the contract, but I am guessing that when their contract is up that the coupons will be pulled from the Daily Herald as well.
It is bitter sweet. Yes, we will miss the RP inserts in the paper, but we will still be receiving them . To find out whether you will be receiving the inserts in your paper or in the mail go HERE. Also, did you know that more than 75% of our coupon usage comes from the Smart Source insert? If you have been couponing for a while that is not new news to you. Half of my RP insert coupons go unused.

Class Openings

She Shops Smart is having a FREE class for all of you who have been invited to a class and couldn't make it, or would like to attend a class without hosting one!

The class will be on Monday August 31st in Provo at 7pm.

There are only 55 seats available, so e-mail us now to get your ticket!

In our class we will teach you to:

• Shop at only one grocery store- no running around town!
• Buy all your families’ groceries, household, and personal care items (including diapers) all for about $200 for a family of four- while building massive food storage at the same time!
• No clipping and filing individual coupons- Quick and easy! A HUGE way to save money!
• Eat a healthy, well balanced diet, and have ease in meal planning!
• Use the FREE website- There is no cost to attend and no cost to use the website
• Get a newspaper subscription at a great price

E-mail sheshopssmart@gmail.com and we will e-mail you over your FREE ticket to bring with you that night!

Coupons in Sundays Paper

Today in my Daily Herald paper I found:

1 SS insert

1 RP insert

(remember, only the DH receives RP in the paper. Everyone else gets it in the mail)

3 twice the value coupons to Albertsons!