Free jewelry alert!

Who doesn’t like free jewelry, right? With valentine’s day right around the corner, you might still need a quick gift for your loved ones. Why not browse the selection at this merchant, who will send you free jewely for just the low cost of the postage. This is the perfect way to keep within your budget and still give your sweetheart a nice gift. Quite an extensive selection of semi-precious stones and freshwater pearl gifts.

Let the word be known, Target is no longer accepting manufacturers coupons in certain North Florida Target Supercenter locations. Being the fantastic couponers we are, my fiance and I participated in a Nabisco promotion for their new golden oreos with double stuff; a superbowl-style promotion involving Peyton Manning of the Colts and Eli Manning of the Giants NFL teams. We’d heard about it from another wonderful blog called Common Sense With Money, where we get a lot of updates on coupons and promotions. It’s a wonderful blog and is updated constantly with some of the best deals on the internet.

Target should read their own coupon policy

As participants, we were mailed coupons directly from Nabisco which were printed on Veri-Fi anti-fraud security paper. They were very nice coupons for a free box of golden oreo double stuff cookies, a value of $2.99 each. We didn’t think anything of them being we don’t usually eat cookies, but my fiance volunteers with the local girl scouts organization, and they occasionally need snacks and drinks for the girls. So, off went our coupons to our local target supercenter.

When attempting to redeem the coupons at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, February 5th, 2010, (Wells Road Target Super Center, Orange Park, FL, 32073)the clerk attempted to scan the coupons and they were not found inside of the computer system. As these weren’t coupons issued by any of the big three coupon sites (RP, SS, P&G) the register popped up with the “item not found” link, and asked the clerk to enter a coupon amount manually. The clerk couldn’t remember the amount of the golden oreos, and called over her manager to help. The manager didn’t even bother to look at the coupons and explained to my fiance and I that they would not honor any internet printable coupons, especially internet printables for free items.

Now, you’d have thought we were attempting to commit fraud. There was a line full of people behind us and we felt them gaze over us suspiciously as if we were hardened criminals intent on stealing free oreos with bogus coupons. When we attempted to explain that these coupons were mailed to us directly from Nabisco, we were rejected with the Manager explaining quite coldly and blankly that they would not honor the coupons. When we asked them to review the Veri-fi paper and attempted to assure them that these were legitimate coupons, we were still rebuffed.

So, you should know that when shopping with your internet printables or direct mailing coupons from P&G or, god forbid, coupons mailed to you directly from product manufacturers that certain Managers in Target SuperCenters in North Florida will not honor them.

Spread the word. This isn’t the first time Target has failed to honor coupons at this location. The last time we had a problem at this store, it was with one of Target’s very own online coupons printed directly from Target.com. They put gerber baby bottles on sale for .99 cents and had a coupon out at the time for 1.00 off all gerber baby feeding products. Essentially, the baby bottles would’ve been free with a one penny overage, which made the store registers beep. That same Manager refused to adjust the value of the coupon down by one cent for us, and we had to resolve the problem with Target’s customer service regional Manager. This was one of Target’s own store coupons that they didn’t honor.

Quite frankly, our family is sick of being treated like con artists for using perfectly legitimate coupons. We will be attempting to resolve the issue AGAIN with this Manager through customer service. However, if they think that we’re going to continue to shop at Target locations and be looked upon like crooks, then perhaps we need to take our wallets elsewhere.

The good news was, we went to a nice Food Lion right down the street that did honor them. High marks for Food Lion!

The first step in treating any addiction is admitting it. I have a serious addiction to a little bean first discovered in Africa. This exquisite little red berry (yep, they’re red when ripe on the bush) is known the world over as…

COFFEE

You know it, you love it, you probably drink it. Some of us like to make all kinds of special coffee drinks and concoctions like half-caf soy lattes, mocha java mugs and you name it. I’ll take just a regular cup of Joe, with one creamer and two splendas as part of my morning wake up routine. With the rising costs of everything these days, there are some ways that you can save on your favorite breakfast beverage of choice. Here are some tips on saving money on everything from your next espresso. Good to the last drop!

Coupons: If you’re not already in the habit, raid a Sunday paper for coupon circulars like Red Plum and Proctor & Gamble. They often contain coupons for your favorite brands of coffee. Just save the coupons in a 3″ ring binder in a clear plastic pocket sleeve every Sunday and then check out the coupon databases at websites like www.hotcouponworld.com and others. You can go to the coupon databases and punch in keywords like “coffee” and it’ll tell you where your coupons are located in the flyers.

Sales: Coffee has a finite shelf life, and stores do put coffee on sale pretty often. They usually do this long before the coffee goes stale to make room for new shipments with longer shelf lives. There can be two for one sales, double coupon sales, stacked coupon sales (using a store coupon along with a manufacturers coupon) and other promotions. If the expiration date on the coffee container hasn’t already expired, it should be perfectly drinkable. If you do the shopping, search the bargain aisles near the rear of the store for coffee on sale when you go shopping. If you don’t do the shopping, have your S/O do the looking. The best time to find bargains on the bargain aisles is in the morning when the store first opens.

Generics: Compare the sales prices and coupon amounts vs. generic or store brands of coffee. Your basic coffee is 100% arabica beans. Most national brands of coffee are 100% arabica, so if all you want is a basic cup of coffee there’s no reason why you can’t go with a generic. Do a little math and I bet you’ll find the cost is a lot less on the generic version, sometimes even against the sale coffees. This is especially good to do when looking at the two for one sales on coffee as often the stores will jack up the prices on the coffee on sale, and the generic might be cheaper. If you want specialty beans or a different type of bean or roast, you might be out of luck when it comes to generic.

When you find a deal on coffee, stock up. Coffee is usually vaccum sealed and keeps very fresh on the shelf right up until the expiration date. Enjoy, and drink to your health!

In the last issue of hoarding basics, we learn how to create a space for the items you use on a daily basis. Now, let’s learn how to stockpile items and actually make money doing it.

The first thing you need to get into the habit of doing is going through your Sunday newspaper and saving the coupon inserts. The biggest ones to look for are called Redplum (RP), P&G (proctor and gamble) and Smart Saver (SS). Mint magazine is also great for goods and services coupons like oil changes and restaurant discounts. Find a local paper that carries all of them if you can and get yourself a three ring binder and some cheap clear plastic page holders and stick a couple dozen in there.  See if you can find the page holders with a tab on them and you can organize them by date. Any coupons you find for places like Sears, Office Max and other places you can also store in your binder by date. Organization by date is crucial as it can be overwhelming to try and remember what coupons you have.Other places already do that for you on the Internet, so why make your head swim.

The next thing you need to do is to check out websites that track coupon deals for you. Two good ones are over at http://www.couponmom.com and http://hotcouponworld.com . Registration is free at both websites, although couponmom.com will make you jump through some hoops to do it. Just click skip or nextwhen prompted to do so on each if presented with signups for freebies. What you want to connect with are their coupon databases, which contain lists of coupons for each insert. It’s also useful to browse their forums for other tidbits from time to time on which deals are available in specific stores. Sometimes deals pop up that you can take advantage of if you know about it before anyone else does, and this is a great way to do it. Another great blog is at http://commonsensewithmoney.com, which lists great deals from places like CVS and Walgreens. There is also a website called thegrocerygame.com which will  track specific grocery stores that you shop at. It also helps you keep track of coupons and when to use them to get the maximum benefit out of each one, but thegrocerygame.com is a pay service. Personally, I don’t use it but I hear good things from those who do.

Now, here’s the meat of how to do this: As items go on sale, buy them using your coupons. Simple. Look for in-store coupons which will allow you to stack other coupons in conjunction with them, such as the store level coupons at stores like CVS, Walgreens, Target, Sears, JC Pennies, Walmart, Pep Boys, etc.. Even if you don’t need the items right away, if it’s at a good price (or free) then go ahead and buy it and stockpile it in your hoard stash.  With the grocery stores, watch out for in-store coupons in the circulars that specifically state “do not double” or “do not stack,” or language which would indicate that you can’t use them in conjunction with manufacturer’s coupons. If the store won’t let you use a manufacturers coupon in conjunction with the purchase, skip that store unless the item is basically free.

To make money:There’s two ways to get paid to buy items you use every day. The first is to participate in special programs at Walgreens and CVS. CVS has a special card called an ECB card(Extra Care card) that’s free to sign up for. Walgreens has two programs called Register Rewards and Easy Saver. Here’s how they work:

CVS: CVS offers it’s customers ECB’s (extra care bucks) when you use your ECB card for certain purchases. When you buy something at CVS that qualifies for ECB’s, you’ll get your Extra Care Bucks back on your recipt which work like a store credit for future purchases at CVS.  You’ll see in the weekly Sunday paper the flyers for items which qualify every week for ECB’s, and when you see deals that pay you back full price in ECB’s, it’s like THEY PAY YOU for purchasing those items. For example, toothpaste might go on sale at CVS one week for $2.99, with $2.99 back in ECB’s. You buy the toothpaste and they give you $2.99 in ECB’s on your receipt to use on a future purchase. In essence, you just got the toothpaste for free.

Now, here’s how to make money from it. If you have a manufacturer’s coupon for the item, then you can apply that coupon right along with your purchase. Have the cashier scan your card, scan the item so you’ll get back your ECB’s, and then hand the cashier your coupon. The coupon will subtract from the purchase amount, not from the ECB’s you get back. So, say that same tube of toothpaste has a coupon for $1.00 off in your Sunday paper. You give the cashier your CVS card, you hand them the toothpaste and they scan it, then you give them the $1.00 off coupon. You pay $1.99 and get back $2.99 in ECB’s, and you’ve just made $1.00 profit. Congratulations, CVS just paid you to buy toothpaste plus you’ve earned a $1.00 in overage.

For Walgreens: Walgreens works in a similar way except they have no discount card. With Walgreens, look for items in your Sunday circular that qualify for Register Rewards or for the Easysaver program. Register rewards are like an instant credit on items very similar to CVS’s Extra Care Bucks. When you buy something that qualifies for Register Rewards at Walgreens, you purchase it and get back those register rewards on your receipt for use on a future purchase. Say you purchase some aftershave for $5 and you get back $5 in Register Rewards for purchasing it now, you break even by getting back $5 towards a future purchase. Use a coupon, and they pay you to buy it. Often, Walgreens also has store level coupons in their flyer that you can use in conjunction with manufacturers coupons. This is called COUPON STACKING and can really save or earn you some money. Let’s go back to our example, the aftershave is $5, you get back $5 in register rewards. Let’s say there’s a $1.00 coupon in Redplum for that aftershave and a store level coupon in the Walgreens circular for $.50 cents off. You buy the item from the cashier for the Register Rewards, you scan the store level coupon and then the manufacturers coupon for an extra $1.50 off the purchase price, and get back $5 in Register Rewards on your receipt.  Congratulations, You’ve just been paid by Walgreens to purchase the aftershave a whole $1.50.

Walgreens also has a program called EasySaver, which is free to register for. Walgreens publishes an EasySaver catalog once a month that you can pick up inside any Walgreens store or find on their website. It contains a list of products that qualify for rebates directly from Walgreens. As you purchase items in the EasySaver catalog, you can submit your recipts for the rebate by the end of the month and Walgreens will send you a check for the rebates. You can submit them online at Walgreens.com or by mail. Often, these items go on sale in the store during the month, so watch the weekly circulars for when they go on sale. Use your coupons in conjunction with them and get even more cash back from Walgreens. You can set up one EasySaver account per physical mailing address.

Use commonsensewithmoney.com to help you keep track of CVS and Walgreens.

The second way to make money is by taking all of the free stuff in your stash and getting together with your friends, family and co-workers for a little bargain shopping. If you have friends that also hoard items, there’s no reason why you can’t offer them some of the items in your stash at a severely discounted price. Consider getting together with your friends and family once or twice a year for a little sell off, and purchase items from them at a discount to replenish each other’s stockpiles.

Note: The individual stores will have limits on purchases, so please don’t go crazy and abuse their policies. They are offering their items at a discount to you as a service, and their policies and limits must be observed and respected. There’s nothing that says your individual family members can’t have their own individual purchases, but don’t expect that you can walk out of a store, then walk back in, and immediately make another purchase. Be kind, and sensible, and treat the clerks and managers with respect.

Tip: Scan store level coupons first, then manufacturers coupons. Do not exceed the purchase price with your coupons and you won’t beep at the checkout line. Same with Register Rewards and ECB’s, don’t exceed the purchase price when using them and you won’t beep. If you do, you’ll need to purchase additional small items until you break even (or as close to it as possible). The cash registers won’t let you come out a negative amount, nor will they give you your change back in ECB’s or Register Rewards.

Find some free stuff

Guys, if you have a few days to plan out your purchases, or can wait for a little while before making a purchase, why not see if you can get it for free? Maybe you can’t get it for free, but some of these tips will help you get the most for your dollar and possibly even some free schwag for your stash.

• Tip One: Use the search engines and search for “free (insert goods or services here)”, and see what you get. Yep, it’s as easy as that. Retailers all over the world are promoting free items, and service providers are doing everything they can to attract new business. Looking for some free potato chips for the next big game? Google it. Need a free gym membership? Yahoo it. Free golf lessons? Ask at ask.com. The point is, you’re not going to know it’s out there until you look.
• Tip Two: If you can’t find it for free, see if you can find a coupon for it so you’d at least get a discount. Coupons are for girls, you say? Pfft. Get that mentality out of your head. Coupons are a smart way to save money, especially when you can couple them with a sale on the items or services you really need. Check your Sunday newspaper, your mailbox, individual stores and searching online for coupons. For example, you need an oil change and normally in your area they run $20. You’ve recieved a $5.00 off coupon in the newspaper or online at your favorite grease monkey garage, and on Tuesdays they have a “ladies day special” in which all ladies that bring their cars in get an oil change for $15. Combine that with the $5.00 off coupon, and suddenly the oil change drops to $10. See? I smell a honey-do.
• Tip Three: Ask for it. When you’re shopping in a store, it doesn’t hurt to ask the manager if you can have something for a discount, if not for free. Always ask for a discount when you’re in a store if you’re going to be buying anything. Let’s say you’re buying a case of fire logs. Grab the case and go ask the manager if they’ll offer you a discount. Tell them that you’d like to purchase them there if they’ll give you a discount, and see if they’ll toss in that lighter and/or kindling for free. Don’t be a wus, it never hurts to ask.

Every story on the news is another horror story of the economy. Banks are failing, homes are under forclosure, businesses are going under left and right and jobs are in jeopardy. The days of frivolous spending are over, perhaps over for good. The party is over and the hangover cure is a bitter pill to swallow; however swallow it we must.

The first step in figuring out how to save your money and live well is by looking at what you spend your money on. It’s worth it to your wallet to take a look at going on a budget if you aren’t already on one.  If you don’t know where to get started, our friends at www.money-zine.com have a great article here that will help get you started. If you have openoffice (free download at www.openoffice.org) or Microsoft Excel, you can use their sample budget spreadsheet to help track and calculate your expenses. It’s located here.

Simply start by looking at your bank statements, credit card statements, bills and recipts and hash out a rough budget of what you’re spending every month, and which items are costing you the most. Once you know what you spend your money on, you can then analyze where you can save money by trimming back and making adjustments to your spending habits.

Tip: Learn to live below your means while still living a comfortable lifestyle. The more you can live below your income level, the more you can save for the future on things you really want or need (retirement, children’s college tuition, vacations, expenses, etc.).