Divide and Conquer.

Finding deals on coupons can be rough. Sometimes, it's easier to save money by just purchasing the generic brand of whatever item you're buying...but then sometimes (or you're brand loyal), you'll save the maximum amount by purchasing the brand name and using coupons...How? Divide and Conquer.

Every once in a while, the store that you buy your products from will have a sale. Right there on the front page, and you see it and go "Yesssssss!!!" Your favorite shampoo is on sale 2/8$ (for example). It's the awesome Aussie shampoo (I wonder if kangaroos smell like that every time I see the shampoo but then I'm all....nahhh...), AND you have a few coupons. Including one that says save 1.50 when you buy any two.

That sucks...saving 1.50 on two bottles of shampoo? No way. There must be a thriftier way! Divide and Conquer!

A lot of manufacturer's put out these "save when you buy two or more" coupons because they LOOK like high value coupons, you're saving like, 1.50. However, they also put out the save on singles coupons. Usually it's something like "save 50 cents when you buy any one."

Did you know that you can combine them to save at the cash?! Yeah you can!

That 2/8$ Aussie shampoo? You're going to be saving even more when you combine your coupons at the register. Use your "save 50 cents" coupon for one, and then use your "Save 1.50 when you buy two or more" for a total savings of 2$. Bringing your shampoo total to....2/6$. You're still getting them on sale, you're not seperating them, so you're getting the biggest bang for your buck.

This method works great for 2/whatever sales, but you can use it on ANY type of sale (and even some inexpensive things that aren't on sale.). If you're planning on buying more than one of the product, use both coupons! 

How to: A clear guide on how to realistically use Swagbucks.

If you're anything like me, you're looking for the next great way to earn money at home. There are SO many great new ways, and I can't possibly name all of them. This one is obviously my favorite, I use it every day to get some extra pocket change (for me, it's amazon.ca credit...it's really no surprise that I love amazon.).

There's a lot of posts out there of people claiming to earn 50$ worth of gift cards (e-gift certificates for purchasing from your favorite stores online), and they give a semi-clear walkthrough of how to earn all of these swagbucks the "fast and easy way." Realisically, if you're anything like me, obviously you want to earn as many swagbucks as possible in the least amount of time...but that's just it, the people who are earning 50$ worth of gift cards in a week are spending most of their time doing all of the tasks and surveys to accumulate the swagbucks needed.

This is a walkthrough for beginners about how to realistically use swagbucks.

First things first...sign up! swagbucks.com/refer/Marykate763 <- is a handy dandy referral code saying that I referred you to the website. The sign up process takes less than 5 minutes. Once you're all signed up, you've confirmed your e-mail and whatnot you'll start with a nice SB (swagbucks), bonus.

Now you're ready to start earning your swagbucks!!

Homepage:

-download the toolbar/chrome extension for 1SB every day
-do the daily poll for 1SB every day + watch the video for a bonus 1SB (whenever available)
- NOSO (No Obligation Special Offers), go through the NOSO's, and fill out the captcha for an easy 2SBs.

**Always remember to scan through your homepage offers since you never know when there's going to be a special oppertunity to make some extra SBs. I found an offer on my homepage for 20SB's for every review I did on Viewpoints.com, and I'm still able to make SB's through that (and that was a good 6 months ago.)

All in all your homepage SB total is going to be a whopping 4-5 SBs. Doesn't sound like a lot does it?

The Discover page is where you're probably going to make a majority of your swagbucks. I do mostly Peanut Lab surveys and can earn anywhere from 50-200SB's by doing 1-4 surveys throughout the day depending on how much the surveys are worth. You might not qualify for ALL of the surveys, but if your check every once in a while (say, 3 times a day. morning, lunch break, evening after supper), there's anywhere from 3-5 surveys available for you to fill out.

When you start the survey, fill out the prequalifications (basic info at most), and you don't qualify, Swagbucks will reward you with 1SB for just trying to take the survey...that's not half bad in my opinion.

Once you scroll over the Discover tab, your drop down box will also contain a Coupons page. Coupons are run by SmartSource (one of my fave coupon websites). You'll get 1SB per coupon printed and apparently you'll also get SB's for redeeming them, but it can take up to 12 weeks to credit, and I haven't really ever noticed a huge different (or any difference).

You can play games on the Play page, I don't really play the games, but I have. Unless you join in a contest, the most you can win is 10SBs (for ALL of the games, not 10sb per game.).

On the Answers page, you can do tasks given by various companies. It usually involves searching the web or finding business listings. I don't do them because you need a certian accuracy percentage in order to move on...and I just don't have time for that type of bologna.


Those are the ONLY things I've used to earn SB's. They have a lot more oppertunities to earn, but I don't like spending all day doing them...so I don't bother.

All in all, I can usually earn a 50$ gift card in a month. If you're a beginner, remember to have a realistic goal in mind so you're not constantly let down if you don't complete your goal.




If you have anything you'd like to add about this or any other subject, leave a note in the comments below, I'd love to hear from you!

So you want to start couponing...

I get a lot of questions about how to start couponing. It seems really easy to just turn on your computer than then print out a bunch of coupons and then go shopping. You'll save money right? You'll save millions by couponing right?

Probably not.

Couponing isn't always right for everyone. If you don't have enough time or patience to dedicate and stick to it, you probably won't go very far with it...it's not always easy, and usually it's rediculously frustrating, but if you want to save big with couponing here's what you need to know...


The Basics. 
You've decided that you want to start couponing....now what? Well, go out to walmart and pick up your supplies! They're different from person to person, and no two couponers are alike, but these are MY couponing supplies.

pens

hole punch

binder

divider tabs

letter sized sheet protectors (for various reasons)

some pens

an accordian file box

For obvious reasons, I mostly print out my coupons...so if you're going to print out coupons, make sure to get lots of printer paper. It doesn't have to be super expensive stuff, or the best of the best, it just has to hold your papers and coupons. 

I've got all of my supplies...now what?

You're ready to organize and start couponing. Decide whether or not you want to use your binder specifically for coupons, or for a dual purpose like a budget binder AND coupon binder (it's what I use mine for!). Mine looks something like this: 

I bought tab dividers to keep everything clean and neat, not because I'm an organization freak but I just like the way it looks I suppose. 

If you're using your binder specifically for coupons, you can either do what the extreme couponers do and buy the plastic card protectors (to keep collector's cards clean and organized in books), or you can get plastic sheets of photo holder (they're great because there's enough space that you don't have to fold coupons to fit in them!). I'd still play it safe and get the tab dividers to sort out your coupons though!! If you're using an accordian style organizer for your coupons (it's what I use for my coupons...not a huge one, just a small one that fits nicely into my purse but still has TONS of room for coupons), the little tabs are all provided and all you have to do is organize your coupons accordingly!! Easy peezy lemon squeezy!

If you're seeing the brown folder in the back and wondering what in the world it's for....it's where I keep all of the weekly flyers. We look through all of the flyers, but we only really keep the ones that are for the stores that we shop at. 

OK....Can we get to the fun part yet?!

Now you're almost ready to start printing off your coupons!! Start by making a grocery list (try not to check for coupons before you start making your list, you can always make changes later...). A good clear grocery list is the most important tool to keep you on track, you can print off a grocery list template or you can use a plain old piece of paper, the choice is yours.

After you've written your grocery list, then hit up your couponing websites. Websites are great, but always make sure you read the coupons before you use them (Coupons from the US will not work in Canada for example.). Also, try to find couponing websites that are for your country so there's absolutely no chance of mix ups. I've already written a previous article about the couponing websites I use on a daily basis. 

Always try to match up your existing coupons to the weekly flyers, yes it's a little time consuming, but it's always worth it to get the best possible deal. Remember that MANY places, like walmart, have an ad match guarentee, so if you're planning on going to walmart to get a bunch of  things but your best deal is in a Superstore flyer, just get walmart to match it! No need to waste gas to go somewhere you don't need to go!!

Coupons won't change much every single day, but it's always good to spend 5 minutes out of your day checking for new coupons. Better safe than missing out on an incredible deal!!

Hey, I'm going to the States this weekend...

Great! You can look at American flyers online (print em off if you'd like)! For some reason, America has a lot more coupon choices than Canadians do, so you'll be able to find a lot more in the States than here in Canada! Just remember to keep things clear, organize like crazy, and keep calm. Your shopping trip will go smoothly no matter where you live!

Enjoy this article? Follow me on Facebook!

Saint John Couponers

If you have anything you'd like to add to this article or any other article on this blog, or you're interested in writing a guest post, feel free to contact me through Facebook!

Angry Thursday Rants

HEY!!

This morning while I was doing my daily whatnots and whozits, I noticed an article posted onto my facebook wall. I clicked it and read it, and what I read infuriated me so much that I actually had to sit down and write about how ticked off it made me. It's called "5 Reasons Modern-Day Parenting Is in Crisis, According to a British Nanny" and it's complete BULLSHAVIT. Today I'll be arguing against the 5 points she's made about how people are rasing their children these days.


1. A fear of our children. Emma Jenner uses the example of a child throwing a temper tantrum because of the colour sippy cup is the wrong colour (I want the pink one, not the blue one). Ok. A lot of parents don't give in due to fear of our children we do for other reasons. You see, the ultimate truth is that sometimes....A LOT of times, it's about 50 times easier to take two extra seconds out of your day to pour already poured milk or juice into the damn pink sippy cup. If it means getting 2 extra minutes of peace and quiet, it's TOTALLY worth it. Some things just aren't worth fighting for, and when you're a parent you pick and choose your battles every day.

2. A lowered bar. I get this one, I see parents do it all the time "it's just how my kid normally is" so they either keep their kid home and wait for their significant other to come home to go out shopping (because really, 4 hands are better than 2), or they'll just let their significant other do all of the shopping so  they don't have to drag their kids out. I know I'm a huge fan of waiting for my husband to go home at 3 and then goign out shopping. Sometimes I'll even leave one kid home with my husband and take my oldest with me because really, it's just easier. Do we have to? No not really, but for convenience and speed, it's again, TOTALLY worth it. 

3. We've lost the village. I guess this one would be about the lack of discipline with kids these days. While I agree that there IS a lack of discipline in a lot of kids, I don't agree with the fact that the parents are the ones who need all of the support. When I say no, my kids know I mean NO, so they don't bother. They'll run into their rooms and have the temper tantrum and everything will be peachy in 10 minutes, but they still don't always get what they want. The problem lies equally with both parents and children these days in my opinion. Parents are getting younger and more careless/care-free and don't bother disciplining their kids....and kids can use threats like "I'm going to call Child Protective Services on you if you spank me." Sometimes, spanking (which hurts feelings and DOES NOT leave marks), is the way to go. I don't think there's a lack of discipline with kids. I think there's a lack of PARENTING.

4. A reliance on shortcuts. Technology isn't something we can avoid in the age that we're in. I've seen kids use an iPhone better than I can. I think it was about 2 years ago that we made the decision to go cell-phone free, we're slowly starting to wittle our technology down to nothing but we just can't go that far. Technology can be a beautiful thing that can help kids learn things like reading and writing. I don't think there's a reliance on shortcuts, but the shortcuts can be improved. I'm not saying "don't give kids technology because it'll cause them to be bratty and unmanagable," I'm saying "your kids will learn when it is and isn't appropriate to use the educational tools you have on your smart technology by the terms you set." You can give it to them in the cart, and no doubt they'll learn something new, provided you have the proper educational programs to entertain them.

5. Parents put their children's needs ahead of their own. Of course we put children's needs ahead of our own. Again, I think her point regarding this topic is absolute bulls**t. We are wired to put our children first. From when they were first born until we take our last breath, we'll always think of our children first. There's nothig wrong with it. There's nothing wrong with going into your kid's room and cuddling them after they've had a nightmare. There's nothing wrong with going across the zoo to get your kid a drink because she's thirsty. There's nothing wrong with saying no either, but pick and choose your battles. Always remember to treat yourself, my health is equally important than my kids but instead of putting it FIRST, I try to find a middle. Scheduling doctor appointments at the same time as my kids appointments, reading a magazine WITH my daughter, watching sports WITH my son. Most of the things that you can do by yourself that you enjoy, your children will also probably enjoy. Instead of fighting against it, why don't you include them?
Her toilet reference was also inaccurate. We have 1 bathroom in our house, and a potty training two year old. When you gotta go, you gotta go. I've seen my son run outside and pee in the backyard he's had to go so bad and the bathroom was occupied.


So there you have it, the things that absolutely ticked me off about this "Nanny's" article. What do you guys think, do you agree with what she's said or do you have differences of what you think is wrong with parenting these days? I'd love to hear from you guys!!

Money Saving Madness: How to Manage Your Points Cards

HEY MONEY SAVERS!!

If you're anything like me, you have a bajillion points cards. For everywhere. I think you know which ones I'm talking about....the customer loyalty cards that you get and then somehow always forget to use when you're shopping, or they suddenly go missing after you've cleaned out your purse...yeah. Those ones.

I try to keep my point's cards to a minimum since I lose them like they're literally nothing, but the ones that I've managed to keep a hold of are the Shopper's Optimum card, and PC Points card (I'm anxiously awaiting the day when Wal-Mart has a points reward card....fingers crossed they have one soon.). I shop at No Frills, Shoppers, and Walmart the most, about 90% of my shopping is done at these places. Not just because I'm OCD, and have points cards, but because they're literally around the corner and that's really really convenient for me. I've asked the cashiers about a billion times when I used to forget my points cards if there was any way I could just call someone or scan my reciept and get the points that way, usually they tell me that I can just take my reciept in and they'll apply the points manually (Shoppers does that, but No Frills/Superstore is easiest becase I can just call in and explain to them everything that's on the reciept and they'll put the points on that way.).

I never forget my points cards now to a new system I've been using. You're goign to think I'm nuts...........I've (not recently), brought a binder with me every single time I go out grocery shopping. No. I'm not crazy (well...maybe a little).

In this wonderfull binder of wonder is a bunch of things. It's my binder of life. Monthly calendars, expense trackers, grocery lists, kid's stuff, our monthly income, goals etc.

I also keep my own set of weekly flyers for the specific places that I shop, along with the weekly deals from checkout51 and PC points that I choose to print off and put in the binder.

What does this have to do with Point's Card's?! Everything. I keep my points cards in little pockets (made with love), inside the binder so I'll never forget them. Ever. Yes, I probably look like a super oganized OCD mom with her kids, scanning through the binder for grocery lists, coupon matchups, special deals, and running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. NO, I don't mind. I'm organized, I'm quick, and most importantly, I'm there on a mission. So while other people just try to get their stuff and get out, I've pre-planned how to cram the MOST savings and get the most points from the things I need to buy.

So there you have it, that's how I manage my points cards. Below I've given you a personal breakdown of three different cards from three different stores, a little bit about the card and how to accumulate points, and whether or not I (and this is all in my own personal opinion) think it's worth it to have or just a waste of time.

PC Points: Waste of Time or Worth It?

What a lot of people don't know about PC Points is that you have to go online to load the offers to your card in order to gather up the most points. It's the most effective way of getting the maximum points you possibly can in the store, while also getting the occasional in store points specials. You'll be able to earn free groceries a lot quicker if you take the extra 2 minutes on Thursdays to load all of your offers (you don't have to use all of the offers, just load them all because it's quick!!), using the little "load all my offers" box as soon as you're on the offers page.

If you're willing to go the extra mile, or maybe you just like keeping track of everything, you can compare your PC Points offers, checkout51 offers, and any coupons that you have, to your grocery list and modify the crap out of it!

My verdict for the PC Points card: Worth It.

Air Miles: Waste of Time or Worth It?

I have a love/hate relationship with Air Miles. Mostly because I don't go to Sobeys that often. It takes me literally forever to accumulate enough Air Miles (even when I use on Irving purchases), to actually do anything with. It really does. I hate that it can take a whole year to accumulate enough points to get free groceries, so I don't use it that often (like I said, I really don't shop at Sobeys a whole lot.).

I think that there are other quicker points card systems to get free groceries, and I'd much prefer using those ways instead of Air Miles. You can hit up the deals at Sobeys and accumulate some Air Miles quicker than the standard "1 Air Mile for every 20$ you spend" but I find (this is my opinion), that the groceries that qualify for the increased Miles are marked up and not worth it (for me to buy them).

My verdict for the Air Miles card: Waste of Time.

Shopper's Optimum: Waste of Time or Worth It?

I don't go to shopper's often either, I mostly stop there for my prescriptions so the points don't add up real fast for me. HOWEVER, there are ways that you can earn more Optimum points by doing things on the website. I updated me and my husbands profiles and earned an extra 4000 points on each card. Since the points are transferrable, I was able to transfer all of the points onto one card. 8000 points is 10$ in free merchandise at Shoppers, so I got 10$ for doing nothing. They have LOTS of points events, where you can accumulate a lot of points in a little amount of time by buying things. Of course, they don't have THE biggest selection of things, but there's a huge selection of health products (including a large beauty-make up selection).

My verdict of the Shopper's Optimum card: Worth It.

Let's make money online by basically doing as little amount of work possible!!

HEY!!

Stay at home mom's and unemployed students!! Now that I've gotten your attention.....I'm going to show you what I do on a semi-daily sometime at night when I'm bored and there's nothing to do, to earn some money (or a lot of money, it all depends on how focused you are), for crap that I enjoy or pointless crap that I've bought in the past and it's really just kind of sitting around collecting dust because I've lost the energy to actually use it/ put it up. I'll also write the pros/cons of each website because I'm just that nice today.

Alright....

1. http://www.viewpoints.com/

How to use: Sign up, and write a 700 character review on every day products you normally use or have used in the past, rating them from 1-10 in various categories such as Performance, Ease of Use, Smell, Effectiveness, Durability, Design, etc. depending on what you're reviewing. Yesterday I wrote a review about Dove soap. You get to choose the review that you do, picking from a HUGE variety of products, appliances, and yes, even mattresses. When you click on the product that you want to review, it'll say how many points you'll get for reviewing it (the points can be anywhere from 25-100 points). Then once your review has been accepted, the points will then go into your account.

Points?!: Yes, points. This website runs on a point system. You do the reviews, and then you get points. When you get 500 points, you get to choose a gift card, it's an american website, so it's american gift cards (I usually get amazon.com because....it's amazon, and they've got a lot of crap.).

Cons: Apart from the fact that there's not really an option to get an amazon.ca gift card, I really don't have any problems with this specific website. It's easy to use, clear and comprehendable and if you run out of things to review, you can pretty much make up whatever you want on other products going by customer reviews on other websites (don't plagerize though...that's not cool. Put their words, in your own words).


2. Swagbucks.com

This is the website that I mainly use dispite the fact that it's a TERRIBLE name. Here's my referral link if you'd like to sign up: swagbucks.com/refer/Marykate763



How to use: Sign up using the referral link above, and you can get started right away earning points by doing things like searching in the search engine, printing off coupons, filling out a daily poll, doing surveys etc. It's super easy, and that all adds up REALLY fast. I can usually get a gift card or two in a week if I really put my mind to it, I could probably clear 3-4. It's rediculously easy to navigate around and get to exactly where you want to be.

Bucks?!: Yes. They run on a "bucks" system, SB. You can earn "swagbucks" by doing things around the website, some things take longer than other things. They also send out codes which you can then redeem for SBs. You have a daily goal meter (with two goals- a low one and a high one), which you can fill up by earning the goal amount of SB's and then getting some bonus SB's for completing your goals.
The rewards store lets you choose from a bunch of different online gift cards from different stores that we have around the city, OR if you have paypal you can just get paypal gift card codes, and then transfer it from your paypal to your bank account (so that's some extra spending money). On each gift card there's an amount that you need in SB's in order to get it, 5$ gift cards are 2,500SB's.

Cons: I really don't have any real problems with swagbucks. For once, I really don't. They have lots of great offers (which is how I discovered viewpoints), where you can do other things to earn even more swagbucks, and it's just a generally easy way to waste some time and earn some extra cash.

3. http://www.checkout51.com/account/offers

How to use: Checkout51 is a magical place where they give you offers (very common things too) that you can then go out and buy in your grocery list to earn cash back in the form of a 20$ cheque. It's so easy my 5 year old could do it, but I won't allow him to use it. Upload your reciept by taking a picture (I take pictures of parts of my reciept resulting in multiple pictures), check off the offer's you want to redeem, and then let them process your reciept. The money then goes into your account, saving up until you get enough to cash out. You can also use coupons for the products that are on the offers page!!!
If I had a manufacturer's coupon for 50 cents off of bananas and the original price was 1.50, I'd have bananas for 1$, PLUS I'd upload my reciept for another savings of 50 cents ANDDDDDDD if the offer is there (they like to give out loonies just for uploading the reciept), Icould get another 1$ off, meaning I'll make 50 cents when I not only buy bananas, but I upload the reciept with checkout51.....in my household, we run through a lot of bananas.
Here's a sample of a reciept that I ACTUALLY uploaded on checkout51 (please note that this is an example of a reciept. I randomly bought a bunch of items for the purpose of this post in order to appeal to everyone):

I like to make the pictures of the reciepts nice and clear, so there's absolutely no confusion of what products I bought.

Cons: The website updates every Wednesday with new products and offers, and you can only check off one offer once a week. Most offers can be anywhere from .25 cents, and up (I saw that you could earn 5$ back on buying a littlest pet shop toy 16.99 and up) so it takes a little while to get up there, however, when you get used to combining coupons with the offers, you won't mind because you'll be saving so much money you'll be able to sit in your golden bathtub and get your monkey servants to do it for you.

Probably not. BUT I can tell you that you'll save money...and that's not such a bad thing.




There ya go! The full secret's out now....These two websites are how I earn a little extra cash for my pocket at night! All it takes is some coffee, sugar, and a little self-discipline to be on your way to gift code heaven (I say gift codes because they're gift cards redeemable online).

My Crazy Couponing Schedule

HEY!!

Welcome to my blog! I'm mostly going to write about amazing coupons, ways to save money, and ways to make money while also saving money. To make things interesting, I'll throw in some pretty cool DYI things as well that might fetch you a few bucks here and there. 

It's a complicated situation...but it works! So far I really haven't made a lot, but I'm also struggling with time juggling and household running and self-discipline really comes in handy to at home "jobs" I suppose. 

Now that my intro is done, I'll get right into it.... Here is my somewhat daily, crazy, over the top, unorganized routine for saving money and also doing other stuff!!

It's a mouthful, I know, I'll shorten it eventually. 

Step 1: Make yourself a coffee. You simply cannot do ANYTHING without having coffee/tea/breakfast, whatever your "thing" is. You'll never survive doing this. 

Step 2: Turn on the computer and printer. We're going to print some coupons. There's a list that I keep to remind me where all the coupons are in the interwebs, on the computer. Basically, it's these main coupon websites:

http://www.groceryalerts.ca/

http://save.ca/

smartsource.ca
http://www.kraftcanada.com/coupons-and-rewards/coupon-centre

http://www.pgeveryday.ca/tag/coupon


Those are my MAIN couponing websites, there is another one, but I'm saving that one for a different post since it's a website that makes money while saving money. 
Most couponing websites only let you print off 2 copies of each coupon, per computer. There are ways to get around that, laptops or using other browsers will let you print off more than the dreaded 2-coupon policy some websites have!! Which is great, we only have the one computer, so I use multiple browsers (you just have to make sure that you run the same program on both browsers, and they're up to date etc.). 

So the secret is almost out of the bag...almost. I usually do all of the coupon sites in the morning simply because sometimes there's only a certain number of coupons that are available and going on later in the day or in the evening I might miss those deals. I'd rather not miss deals...like, I'd really prefer if I didn't. 
When I find a good deal, I try to share it so EVERYONE can take advantage of this great deal, I have a facebook page Saint John Couponers where I post a lot of coupons and such....so that's there for anyone who wants to join and become a part of the couponing community. I'm going to try to do a coupon give-away once I reach the "major" numbers so everyone can stay tuned for that, and I'm also going to try to do a couple couponing events during the winter (probably after Christmas) too!