As part of my master's degree, I am taking a research trip to Europe. Because I'm going to 7 (hopefully) cities, it's getting expensive. Fortunately, the department has been supportive, but I'm trying to keep it as cheap as possible, in case my other school funding doesn't come through. This is part of what has triggered my re-emergence as a super couponer. My goal is to "save" in coupons $500 between now and Christmas on items that I would normally buy anyway -- groceries, gas, winter clothes, travel, etc. The key to this strategy is NOT buying something "just because I have a coupon;" it's rarely enough to offset the loss if you don't use the item. If it's BOGO (buy one get one free), no loss, but just carry the guilt that you're killing a child in sub-Saharan Africa when you throw out the spare.
Guilt-tripping aside, a note on expiration dates -- don't abide by them. Expiration dates are mainly for people who don't store things ideally - this is to prevent food poisoning, just like how we have Superman costumes with "caution: suit does not enable wearer to fly." Most people don't need it, but there's always that bottom 25% of the common sense scale. Go by smell, appearance (black mold is not your friend) a small taste, and search online for tests. For example, fill up a tall glass of water and drop an egg in. If it sinks, it's good. It's bad if it floats -- it means the egg has decayed and the liquid has become gas -- ewwwww. Eggs in my fridge keep well past the expiration date. If you store them on the counter, start testing a week before the expiration date.
Back to couponing.
Most of the time, I can usually strategically shop and save about 25% to 30% off the retail price. That's just using the circular and my reward card deals. However, if you add on manufacturers coupons and choose where you shop wisely, that can easily double. Recently, I did three shopping events that resulted in a free blender, a half-price rail ticket, and savings averaging 55% on both my and the boyfriend's groceries (which saved us, in total, $150, and me personally $105).
Edit: I just realized that these rules would probably blend in well with the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition.
1. Location location location. Coupon policy is important. I used to shop at Kroger, and then they stopped automatically doubling/tripling coupons. Basically, the process is that if the coupon is less than a dollar, the store will voluntarily multiple the coupon up to 3 times to reach or get close to a dollar. Tom Thumb does it, so they are my dudes. Kroger in my area stopped doing it. Also, if you receive a "$10 off your next purchase" coupon, see what it applies to and if you can use two at the same time. Rules like this matter, because it stinks to be caught out, plus if you can get multiple coupons, you might want to split up your shopping order into 2 parts to get both of them (generally, cashiers are willing to go along with your evil plans as long as it isn't to o much of a hassle).
2. Timing. At different times of the week, stores put out their circulars. However, they also get their shipments at different times. If you're a big fan of fresh produce and you see there's a sale on, you may not want to go on Wednesday, the first day of the deal, but on Monday, when the truck comes in and you get the pick of the litter. Timing is also relevant as far as seasonal stuff. The day after Halloween or Valentine's Day is the key time to buy candy. As long as chocolate doesn't go grey or chalky, it's good -- fridging or freezing it is another way to extend its life. Starting around Halloween, stores start promoting ingredients for pies and holiday foods for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Also, stay tuned in to your local farmer's market and what's in season there. I purchased two pumpkins for $3.50, and I already have made 5 loaves of bread, toasted seeds, a batch of cookies, a pie and a half, and I still have leftovers.
How I Got the Railpass
The same goes for travel. My rail pass to Europe for my research trip was originally about $950. I examined my travel plans, and I condensed a few places and days I
would be traveling - sometimes, you need to cut everything but what you
need. Bye bye, Prague. Au revoir, Bruges. And then I waited. School starts in Europe about a month later than in the US, because they don't get Thanksgiving or any federal holidays off; they go straight through, with maybe a week's break. As a result, after the week break in October, travel is "off-peak" until March -- when spring break and Easter vacation happen.
This past week, on Rail Europe, my curtailed itinerary had a 20% off sale, plus a $50 credit, free shipping of my pass, AND a free extra day added (8 day passes now had 9, etc). This deal is now pretty darn sweet. However, never settle -- there is always a coupon out there! RetailMeNot had a code for an additional $50 off any order over a certain threshold. So my $950 itinerary, after a few edits, dropped to $509. It's a little bit of a gamble to wait; I tried to wait out my airline tickets, but because the economy is so crummy and the taxes are so high on planes, I'm not seeing the same deals I used to see back in 2005 or even 2008.
3. Stacking and multiplying. You generally get the best deal when "stacking." Stacking means that you use a store coupon and then a manufacturer coupon on top of it. Let's say you see that cookies are on sale for $1.99 a pack. The store may offer you a coupon if you have a rewards card, knocking the price down to $1.50. If you find a coupon online or in a newspaper insert from the manufacturer, you can use that coupon too, reducing your cookies to $1.00 -- you get one store, one manufacturer coupon per item, plus any sales the store has on.
Multiple items are trickier -- for example, I had a buy 2, get 1 free on Pillsbury crescent rolls. I also had a coupon for $.40 off on two Pillsbury crescent rolls. The store automatically doubled the $.40 to $.80 off, plus I then received a free one. In theory, if I had a $.40 off coupon for each one, then I could actually make money off the freebie too; I would get it for free, but because it is on the receipt, the manufacturer's coupon would ring up for it too -- I would receive $.80 from the store in credit!
In short, get the weekly circulars and don't pitch them when they come in with the rest of the junk mail. Google Coupon Divas, and they have 4 links to various online manufacturer coupons.
**Mini-tip: Check the price per ounce, per sheet, or per pound rather than the price on the tag. An extra large box of something may cost more, but you may be paying less per item, which is savings. With coupons, even though the store brand may cost less at first glance, you can usually file down the name-brand item to something worthwhile.
4. Stuff happens, embrace it. Sometimes, you need to buy stuff, and there is no planning or saving you can do to offset it. For example, I had two bras die on me in one week. I'm an odd size, so it's a pain in the ass to find stuff that fits me AND is on sale. And then a heel broke off a pair of shoes in the middle of the stalk --- at 5+ years and having bought them for under $60, it was time to send them to the happy hunting grounds (I would recommend ALWAYS repairing shoes/boots that are $100). And then I needed new towels because my old ones died. So I unexpectedly dropped over $150 at Kohl's in order to replace these needed items. On the bright side, I got a great bang for my buck in that bras were buy 1, get 1 half off, the shoes were on sale, and the towels were 50% off. (The towels weren't the color I wanted, but they were towels -- when I'm rich, I'll buy nice towels.)
How I Got the Blender
One other thing that was cool was that Kohl's was doing a double Kohl's cash promotion. Even though I didn't have a card, I was still able to get $10 per $50 spent rather than $5 for $50. So that gave me $30. And then there was a circular coupon for 20% off, as well as a special $10 off promotion in appliances. So fast forward about two weeks -- I have 2 weeks left to use Kohl's cash, and I have just acquired my first pumpkin (I do crazy yummy foods with pumpkins). I recalled last year's efforts in trying to blenderize hot cooked pumpkin with a handheld mixer. That = suck. So. Blender time! So I went to Kohl's, went back to their blender section, checked the Amazon reviews, picked my blender, threw down all the coupons and Kohl's cash, and then paid $1.61 for my free blender. The lesson here is that even though I had to spend money I didn't want to at the moment, I found a place where I could get a worthwhile kickback.
5. Look for opportunities. This goes hand in hand with #2, but think about new places that are opening, places that are closing, and after sale sales. Black Friday is abject chaos, and people in the retail business know it -- that's why stores will have their own pseudo-BF sale the week before or after, or, in Amazon's case, they will have "Black Friday" deals every day from late November to December. The huge savings I got this week at the market was due to weekly circular + rewards card + Holiday circular + new store circular + manufacturers' coupons.
6. There is no shame in thrift stores or the clearance rack. Most of my clothes? Second hand from the local thrift stores or the 70%+ off section. Luke found a cashmere green lecturing jacket worth $600 for $3. My dress that I wore to my friends Stephanie and Jeremy's wedding was $12.50 -- original price was $60, and on ebay for $30-40. When I lived up north, my mother and I blitzed Lord and Taylor, getting $1000+ worth of name brand merch for more than half off. Shoes are a little more iffy, but my favorite pair of black Anne Taylor pumps were purchased for $20 second hand. If you know the brand name and you like it enough, go for it
The first key here is to go for classic, not trendy.
It's a worthwhile purchase if you can wear it this time next year (or this time in five years) and not look dated. Many people are surprised to know that many of business suits are actually my mother's from when she was my age 30 years ago. Indeed, my grey wool is from 1978, my black pinstripe from 1982, and I do believe the red one is from the mid/late 1980s.
The second key is to find a GOOD tailor.
Get free clothes from relatives or cheap from the thrift store...and then make them yours. Because I am smaller than my mother and also than the average woman in Texas, I take my clothes to the tailor on a regular basis -- I'm about to make another run this week. Never use a department store tailor -- that's a price gouge. Ask around, or even better, ask the owner of a thrift shop you frequent -- if she's ever received any high end clothing with minor damage, you can bet she spent $10 to fix it so she could resell it for $50. Also, the tailor can get rid of certain unpopular features, such as shoulder pads, odd skirt slits, and double-breasted suit coats (to quote Nichelle Nichols, "I'm already double-breasted; I feel like I'm the Titanic").
7. Go for cards/free memberships with kickbacks. Discover has a deal with Amazon.com that means you can use any denomination of "cash back" for Amazon items; Discover and other cards have reciprocal deals to get $25 gift certs for $20. Petco now gives cardholders $5 for every $100 they spend. Kohl's cash, with or without the card. Grocery store cards that have smart phone apps for coupons. My father uses a credit card to earn points for free clothing (and his fantasy boat). Don't pay anything to get these perks -- you don't have to spend money to make money couponing.
So yeah. That is the thrifty gameplan!
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