There are lots of coupons that are sent directly from stores or manufacturers to our homes. I know it can be frustrating to see these listed and not have them, so here are a few tips of how to increase your mailbox coupon stash.
Sign up for online samples. Many samples also come with coupons, and these companies keep your name for possible future mailings and offers. A few of you got the “Thank You Mom” home mailer from Procter & Gamble in the last few weeks. While I don’t know exactly what triggered some of us to get this, it is probably because you asked for samples and coupons from their BrandSaver program.
Sign up for Viral Media Sample sites. They want folks who will help spread the word about the brands they are representing. Most have requirements they are looking for so you may not qualify but if you do they send awesome samples and coupons!
Sign up for e-mail newsletters from manufacturers that you are loyal to. You will get offers and special promotions. This is through a contact form on many websites.
Go to your Grocers Website and sign up for an online account.
This is something most stores offer now. Get a My Bi-Lo, My Kroger, My CVS etc… account. This is a free online account and a great way to make sure that your shoppers card has the right mailing and contact information for you. They will use your shopping history from your card to send coupons so make sure they have the right address!
Some “Home Mailers” are really internet freebie coupon booklets. Sign up for these when you see them.
- Home Made Simple (all P&G products) – click on the cascade coupons
- Home Made Simple – click on the Dawn coupon at the bottom
- There are $10 General Mills booklets available on Coupons.com right now.
I’ve had a lot of emails lately asking for advice on online surveys and if they really work. So I thought we would turn to an expert. The following is a guest post from Karen from KouponKaren. This is the first of a series of posts as she fills us in on what works and what doesn’t!
I know everyone could use some extra cash. You’ve probably heard about how you can make money online taking surveys. And you wonder is this really possible, right? Well I’m going to explain to you how you can earn money taking surveys online but you need to be careful too. The last thing you want is to fill up your inbox with SPAM.
I’ve done the research, I’ve joined the companies and I’ve earned some money. Now I’m going to tell you about them, but first I want to give you a few pointers before you start signing up with Survey companies.
- Never pay to join a survey company or to get a list of survey companies. All this information is free online.
- Open a separate email account just for surveys. Not because you’ll get SPAM, but this way all the survey invites are in one place and when you have time to take some surveys you’ll be able to sort through them more easily. You can get free email address’s from yahoo, gmail, hotmail and aol.
- Please do not expect to get rich by taking surveys. This is simply a way to earn some extra cash. The more time you have the more potential you’ll have to earn.
When you first sign up you’ll need to fill out a profile. This is very important because they will use this information to help match you with surveys. Some companies will ask about other members in your household as well. Again, this will help taylor those surveys to you. If you have babies, they’ll send you surveys about babies/baby products and the such. If you have pets, they’ll send you surveys about pets. You get the idea. Of course you can choose to leave your family information out. You also want to update your profile from time to time as things change in your life.
In the profile, you’ll need to give them information about you like where you live, your birthday, place of business and things like that. Also if you happen to earn a lot with any one company they will require you to give them your social security number for tax purposes. At that point there’s no way around it, but until then they don’t need it. But be prepared to give them a lot of information about you, the more information you give the better the programs can work. Some of it will be required and some will be optional.
Once you join and set up your profile you’ll begin to receive emails when they have a survey that possibly matches with you. Now I say possibly because what you’ll receive is what I like to call a ‘screener’ email. The screener will ask you more detailed questions to see if you match that particular survey. Now don’t get discouraged if you don’t qualify for them. Most of the time it just may be they’ve already filled their quota with survey takers that are your age, or female or that live in your state. It’s hard to know. Sometimes these screener’s will be quick and sometimes they’ll take a little longer. Some companies will give you credit just for taking the screener survey either with points or an entry into a sweepstakes. I’ll explain what companies do what as I talk about them.
What can you earn with survey companies? You can earn cash, gift cards, prizes or entries into big drawings. Each company does their own thing. I personally like to get the cash or gift cards!
Personally I’ve earned a nice amount of cash taking surveys. It does vary per month because I don’t always have time to take the surveys that are sent to me. As I’ve become busier with my blog I’ve had to put them aside. Most surveys average out to about 20 minutes and pay on average $2.00 a survey. I’ve had months where I’ve made about $100 or more. That’s taking about 3-5 surveys a day, of course I don’t qualify for all of them. While your sitting watching TV you can breeze through a few.
Those are the basics you need to know to get started but I’d be more than happy to answer any specific questions. You can leave a comment here, email Jenny or go to my site and contact me through there. I will read the comments on this post for those of you that have questions.
To get you started, here are 2 of my favorite survey companies and what I think about them.
- My Survey – I love My Survey. They are well organized, the screener surveys are usually quick and I feel they reward you appropriately. You earn points when taking surveys and the points can then be cashed in for cash (in the form of a check) or prizes. I’ve always requested a check and usually get it within a few weeks. 100 points equals $1.00 and you can cash in when you have 1000 points or $10.00. When you don’t qualify for a survey you’ll get 5 points. It’s not much but it can add up quick. I like their website, it’s very easy to navigate which is always a plus. I’ve never had any problems so I haven’t contacted customer service so I don’t know how good that is. I’ve been a member with My Survey for about 4 years now and love it. Once you join you can also refer your friends and earn 150 points when they join. They will send you an email when there is a survey available or you can check your account.
- Survey Spot – This was the first survey company I joined way back when. Survey Spot will send you a lot of emails for surveys, which is nice. But they don’t pay cash for all surveys. A lot of them will be for entries into drawings. But I did find that once I started taking a lot of them, then I received more surveys that were for cash. They probably want to see who is going to actually take them before they send the cash ones. I have read on message boards about people that do win the sweepstakes so they really do pick winners. The thing with Survey Spot is, if you stop taking the screener surveys, they will stop sending them to you. That happens to me every now and then when I just get to busy to take surveys but once you log into your account, they start to come again. If not you can contact customer service and they will help you out.
Using a Buy Price List
I posted this a year ago yesterday, but after seeing the video below I thought maybe it was time to re-feature this helpful tool.
One of the biggest parts to saving on groceries is to know what a stock up price is for the products you buy. Prices for each item will vary week by week at the grocery store, and your goal is to only buy them when they are the lowest price the store is going to offer them at. To do this it helps to have a lowest price list (on paper or in your head). When an item is in the price range or lower then you stock up on it!! Sales run on cycles so you won’t see this low price again for 6-8 weeks, get enough to get you through until the next time you see this price.
To help you, here is my Buy Price List.
The prices are after coupons and sales, and are for my area. You may find that milk is much cheaper in your city or other items are more expensive. You will also find that sometimes a deal comes and makes these prices seem like retail prices. Those deals are great, but you should not plan your list off the occasional incredible deal or else you won’t buy anything for long periods of time, waiting for only the free deals…
To make your own list you can use this Blank Version. For a long time, until I had prices in my head, I kept this sheet in the front of my coupon binder, or folded up in the back of my coupon box.
Note: Your prices will fluctuate as manufacturer’s raise prices or as new coupons come out. This just give you an idea to go buy.
A few of you have reported finding fall/winter clothing at 75% now at Target! This makes for amazing deals on clothes for next year, or this year for that matter.
Kids Jeans for $2.75… I can’t get that at a consignment sale (sorry to my great friends who run one).
Over one quarter of my email is from readers that have problems printing coupons from one of the big coupons sites or from direct links to coupons on manufacturer’s sites. Sadly there is not one answer than fix everyone’s problems. Here are some tips to try to help though.
For more answers to common coupon questions go here.
First, Many links are browser specific:
I already change any links for readers using Internet Explorer (IE) or FireFox (FF) as their browser. These are listed as printable (IE) or printable (FF).
If you run across a link surfing the internet here’s how to change it yourself:
A Link:
http://bricks.coupons.com/Start.asp?tqnm=zarmedj79203053&bt=vg&o=59668&
See the “vg”? That is one little part that makes this link only work in Firefox. If anyone tried to print it in another web browser it would sit on the “sending to printer” screen indefinitely.
Want to make it for Internet Explorer?
Change the “vg” to “vi”
Want to make it for Safari?
Change the “vg” to “xs”
Sometimes the link will have a “wg” this works the same, just change the “wg” to “wi” for (IE) or to “xs” for Safari.
That’s great but I can’t print from any link!
Try these tips to see if any will work:
1. Download a new version of Java.
I am in awe at the pictures of Haiti, the destruction and the people. Honestly, it is events like this that you never forget where you were when you saw it or heard about it.
If you know nothing about Haiti, read a little about the poverty that already existed. If you want something not mainstream media, check out this blog of missionaries in the area.
The number one need is money, CNN put together a list of international organizations currently providing relief that are accepting donations.
One easy option text HAITI to 90999 to make a $10 donation to the Red Cross.
Another Option:
I know for most of us we don’t have excessive fund to donate. We do have an abundance of other items. If you know of a clothing, blanket, personal care items etc. type drive in your please leave a comment with the details. I will pull any details together make a running list by area.
Florida
Cities All Over Florida Have Places To Drop Off Supplies; Check Here
Snack Food, Cereal, Towels, and Hygiene Products [note: no clothes at this time]
Miami – Drop off at any Fire Department
Non perishable Food, Water, Medical Supplies or Medications
Lakeland – St. Paul Lutheran
If you have had any issues with using coupons at CVS lately, this email is about the best I have seen as far as detailing out coupon issues and having a corporate answer for it.
I have removed the original person who asked the question but the remainder of the email is an untouched copy of their response.
From: Store Comments [mailto:StoreComments@cvs.com]
Sent: Friday, January 08, 2010 1:31 PM
To:
Subject: CVS/pharmacy Response 08300079
CVS/pharmacy®
Dear ,
Thank you for your e-mail regarding CVS/pharmacy coupon policy. I do apologize that each CVS/pharmacy you go to tells you something different.
There are lots of coupons out on the internet that aren’t “good” coupons. There are also lots of ways to misuse a coupon.
To see the complete Southern Savers database of good coupons go here.
Here are a few rules to help you stay on the right path in couponing:
-Always follow the words on the coupon. If it says it is for a 6oz box, then buy the size indicated. While it might work for another size or even product that is fraudulent use of the coupon.
-Don’t intentionally use expired coupons. If your store has said that it is okay, you should still ask before using one on every trip. Most stores DO NOT allow any.
-You should never make a copy, scan, or fax of a printable coupon in any way. There are lots of security features built into these coupons. While they may scan in the grocery store – the store will never get reimbursed for them.
To put this into lay person terms:
- The unique 2-D barcode on the upper left is a different number for every coupon you print, even for a second print of the same coupon.
- The dotted line around the entire coupon is really text. It has your user id, the date and time and coupon offer information printed – repeating at least 35 times around the coupon. This is also printed at the bottom of the expiration date box.
- The long barcode at the bottom also has a portion of the unique 2-D barcode number in it. These barcodes are much more specific and very soon will be the barcode that is scanned in all stores!
- To see the typical life cycle of a coupon and learn more coupon facts go here.
Coupons sent via email
There are many coupons that are passed around in emails that are for FREE products. These all fall into the “too good to be true category”. Most of these have been scanned from a coupon that someone received from a manufacturer directly. Don’t get mad at the person that sent it to you, they have been passed around for years. Manufacturers rarely if ever release printable coupons for free products. If they do it is not often through a .pdf coupon.
To see a full list of coupons that are fraudulent go here. You’ll also notice many of these have rewards offered for catching the original person that created the coupon!
What are the consquences of Coupon Fraud? Read More→
Many of you have already noticed and tried your hand at the new comment platform. We have had this in the plans for a while and I’m so excited to have it started. There are still a few kinks to work out… like getting all of the old comments pulled over but we are working on it!
I know change is tough for some but I want you to see the awesome features that made me scream “I WANT THAT!”
The biggest feature for me is Comment Sorting:
If someone has a deal to add or you find another coupon, leave a comment. Then others can click the “Like” button. Now any comments that are liked by others can quickly be seen by sorting by “Best Rating” . Now at the end of the week when Publix has 500 comments and you have 10 minutes you won’t have to spend too much time to quickly see extra deals to grab!!
You can share your deal in other places:
If you found a freebie at CVS and want to share it now you can leave a comment on Southern Savers, Facebook and Twitter all at the same time!
Other Features are just small little things that all add up.
If you ever have suggestions or comments please share. I’ll always listen to anything that can make Southern Savers more helpful.