Hurry! Get your free Oreo Cookies!

Get a coupon for a free pack of Oreo cookies. We found this link by going to Oreos Facebook Page and clicking on the DLSR News page but you can click here and go straight to the Coupons.com page where you can get your coupons. Oreos yum! Get your free Oreos now!

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$10 off $30 at Cost Plus

If you picked up the newspaper on Sunday, you may have noticed the $10 off $30 coupon for Cost Plus. If you didn't get the paper, grab your coupon here. I love Cost Plus for their well-made, solid furniture and their variety of small gift items (when they're on sale of course!).

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2010 Coupon Insert Schedule

You probably noticed that there weren't any coupons in this week's paper. According to my 2009 coupon insert schedule there won't be any in next Sunday's paper either. But be sure to grab a double bundle on Jan 3rd, because it's sure to be packed with coupons. Well, thanks to Sunday Coupon Preview, here's the 2010 coupon insert calendar so you'll be able to stay on top of what coupon inserts will appear in your Sunday paper. I get 2 copies of the paper each week and play the Grocery Game so I save at least 60-70% on my grocery bill each week (if you sign up, be sure to tell them that affluentpauper@gmail.com referred you!)
January
1/3: 2 Smart Source & 2 Red Plum & General Mill
1/10: Smart Source & Red Plum
1/17: Smart Source & Red Plum & Proctor & Gamble
1/24: Smart Source & Red Plum
1/31: Smart Source & Red Plum
February
2/7: Smart Source
2/14: No Inserts
2/21: Smart Source & General Mills & Procter and Gamble
2/28: Smart Source & Red Plum
March
3/7: Smart Source, Red Plum & Procter and Gamble
3/14: Smart Source& Red Plum
3/21: Smart Source& Red Plum
3/28:2 Smart Source & Red Plum & Procter and Gamble
April
4/4: No Inserts
4/11: Smart Source & Red Plum
4/18: Smart Source & Red Plum
4/25: Smart Source & Red Plum
May
5/2: Smart Source & Red Plum & P&G
5/9: Smart Source & Red Plum
5/16: 2 Smart Source & Red Plum
5/23: Smart Source & Red Plum
5/30: No Inserts
June
6/6: Smart Source & Red Plum & Procter and Gamble
6/13: Smart Source
6/20: Smart Source & Red Plum
6/27: Smart Source & Red Plum
July
7/4: No Inserts
7/11: Smart Source & Red Plum
7/18: Smart Source
7/25: Smart Source & Red Plum
August
8/1: Smart Source & Red Plum & Procter and Gamble
8/8: Smart Source & Red Plum
8/15: Smart Source & Red Plum
8/22: Smart Source & Red Plum
8/29: Smart Source & Red Plum & P&G Insert
September
9/5: No Inserts
9/12: Smart Source & 2 Red Plum
9/19: Smart Source & Red Plum
9/26: Smart Source & Red Plum
October
10/3: Smart Source & Red Plum & Procter and Gamble
10/10: Smart Source & Red Plum
10/17: Smart Source & Red Plum
10/24: Smart Source & Red Plum
10/31: Smart Source & Red Plum
November
11/7: Smart Source & Red Plum & Procter and Gamble
11/14: Smart Source & Red Plum
11/21: Smart Source & Red Plum
11/28: No Inserts
December
12/5: Smart Source & Red Plum & Procter and Gamble
12/12: Smart Source & Red Plum
12/19: No Inserts
12/26: No Inserts

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QT Free Sandwich or Drink With Purchase - Which Will You Get?

This coupon appears to change depending on either the time of day or location. QT is giving out a freebie and you'll get either a free sandwich (no purchase required) or a free fountain drink with the purchase of a sandwich wrap or salad. Click here to see what comes up for you.

Other coupons include plenty of $5 off a Hasbro toy purchase, frosted Mini Wheats, Newmans Own Pizza, Pillsbury products, Luna Bars, Betty Crocker Cookie Mix, DiGiorno Flabreads, Ronzoni pasta, Diamond Sea Salt, Kelloggs Cereal, Nivea Body Wash ($2 coupon), Jergens lotion, Goodnights Sleep Pants ($2 coupon), Bisquick, All Bran, Viva Paper Towels and much more. My favorite is a $10 off any $60 Rack Room Shoes purchase coupon.

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Over $151.00 Worth of Groceries for $28.80

If you live in an area with a Kroger and you clip coupons from your newspapers each week, then you're in for a real treat this week. Kroger sales typically work in 2-week rotations, meaning that what is on sale this week for the first time in a cycle will probably be on sale next week also. The above photo is what I purchased for merely $28.88 on Friday and they have similar deals this week with their "buy 10, get $5 off" sale. There were also a couple of bunches of bananas, but I put them in a fruit bowl before taking the picture! Granted, all the items here don't make my menu for the week as I already have a good stock of meat in my freezer and had fresh fruits and vegetables on hand. I purchased these items to stockpile my pantry while prices are low and to give some items to a local food bank over the weekend. I also have a party coming up soon, so the snack items will come in handy!

As you may know, I'm an avid follower of The Grocery Game which tracks current sales with coupons that are either readily available online or have appeared in recent copies of my Sunday paper. If you aren't saving at least 50% every time you head to the grocery store, you should give The Grocery Game a try. This is a paid report (but they do have a free one month trial) and you'll pay $5 a month per store, but you'll quickly see how the report pays for itself. I love that it's color coded, well-presented and organized by isle so it's very efficient. If you truly need a free grocery report, you can try the one at Coupon Mom, although you won't get all the features that The Grocery Game offers (btw, if you do try The Grocery Game, let them know that affluentpauper@gmail.com referred you!)

If you're new to the world of couponing (you'll notice that virtually every female shopper that you encounter at the supermarket these days uses coupons, which was not the case several years ago), I want to let you know that I'm actually in the process of writing a guide that will help you navigate the world of coupons so you can get the most bang for your buck. When I first started using coupons, I was inundated with websites offering coupons only to find out that they were full of lengthy surveys and things of that sort - a guide that cuts through all of that to get down to the legitimate sources would have been a help!

If you're not already an Affluent Pauper subscriber, I recommend you subscribe so I can let you know when I post it.

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Free Panty at Victoria's Secret

Sign up to Victoria's Secret Pink Nation to get your free pink, black or white Victoria's Secret Pink panty (valued at $7.50). Offer is valid thru 11/9/09. No other purchase is required. However, if you're in the market for a new bra, the coupon also entitles you to $10 off any full priced bra.

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Publix $5 off $50 Coupons

If you shop at Publix (or even if you don't and your local supermarket accepts competitor's coupons), be sure to ask for the green and white Family Reunion Planning Guide booklet. It's a handy dandy guide to planning a family reunion and there's a $5 off any $50 coupon in the back that expires in October. Some stores have them in the carousel at the front of the store, but others keep them at the customer service desk.

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2009 Coupon Insert Schedule

Below is the 2009 schedule for the Red Plum, SmartSource and Proctor & Gamble inserts. Why do you need this information? Well, for one thing it lets you know which weeks during the year there are no inserts, so you won’t have to roll out of bed on Sunday morning and rush to the store to get your paper. Or, if you get home delivery, you may be able to call your local paper and have them hold the paper during those weeks and you might save some money and paper waste in the process.

I’ve also included the themes for the SmartSource coupon inserts. Most of the titles don’t really indicate anything, but what I’ve found is that the Back to School inserts usually have an abundance of juice products and such and the Super Bowl inserts lean towards snack foods. So here it is… I’ll file it under “Coupons” so that you can come back and access it when you need to.

January
4 - 2 SmartSource & 2 Red Plum (New Year, New You)
11 - SmartSource & Red Plum (Super Bowl Savings Spectacular)
18 – SmartSource & Red Plum (Super Bowl Savings Spectacular)
25 – SmartSource & Red Plum (Super Bowl Savings Spectacular)

February
1 — SmartSource, Red Plum, & Procter and Gamble
8 — SmartSource & Red Plum
15 – No inserts scheduled
22 — SmartSource & Red Plum

March
1 — SmartSource, Red Plum, & Procter and Gamble
8 — SmartSource & Red Plum
15 — SmartSource & Red Plum
22 — SmartSource (Easter Seals)
29 — SmartSource & Red Plum

April
5 — 2 SmartSource, Red Plum, & Procter and Gamble
12 — No inserts scheduled (Easter)
19 — SmartSource & Red Plum
26 — SmartSource & Red Plum

May
3 — SmartSource & Red Plum
10 – SmartSource & Red Plum (SmartSource Summer Blastoff)
17 — 2 SmartSource & Red Plum (SmartSource Summer Blastoff)
24 — No inserts scheduled (Memorial Day)
31 — SmartSource & Red Plum

June
7 — SmartSource, Red Plum, & Procter and Gamble (Children’s Miracle Network)
14 — SmartSource
21 — SmartSource & Red Plum (Easter Seals)
28 — SmartSource & Red Plum

July
5 — Procter and Gamble (4th of July)
12 — SmartSource & Red Plum
19 — SmartSource
26 — SmartSource & Red Plum

August
2 — SmartSource, Red Plum, & Procter and Gamble
9 — SmartSource & Red Plum (Back to School, Back to Savings)
16 — SmartSource & Red Plum
23 — SmartSource & Red Plum (Back to School, Back to Savings)
30 — SmartSource & Red Plum

September
6 — Procter and Gamble
13 — SmartSource & 2 Red Plum (Diabetes Smart)
20 — SmartSource & Red Plum
27 — SmartSource & Red Plum

October
4 — SmartSource, Red Plum, & Procter and Gamble (SmartSource Pink)
11 — SmartSource & Red Plum
18 — SmartSource & Red Plum (Bowl Championship Series)
25 — SmartSource & Red Plum

November
1 — SmartSource, Red Plum, & Procter and Gamble
8 — SmartSource & Red Plum (Children’s Miracle Network)
15 — SmartSource & Red Plum
22 — SmartSource
29 — No inserts scheduled (Thanksgiving)

December
6 — SmartSource, Red Plum, & Procter and Gamble
13 — SmartSource & Red Plum
20 — No inserts scheduled (Christmas)
27 — No inserts scheduled (New Year)

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Organic Coupons – Where to Find Them - (Stage 1)

Many people hesitate to clip coupons from the Sunday paper, claiming that the coupons are generally for junk food. While I don’t completely agree with that statement (refer to my post “Questions from Readers…Aren’t You Sacrificing Healthy Eating for Junk Food When You Use Coupons?”), I do hope that more organic and natural foods coupons will be made available in the paper. That being said, just because they’re not in the paper, it doesn’t mean that you can’t get your hands on organic and natural coupons right now, as you sit at your computer. I regularly obtain organic coupons and combine the coupons with sales to get free or low cost organic and natural items (I always have a coupon for organic milk!).

So… where can you get coupons for organic and natural products? Well, look no further! I’ll be updating this post monthly so you no longer need to do the legwork. Just visit my blog to find out where to get them! Most of these brands can be found in the natural section of major supermarket chains.

Over the next three days, I’ll post about where to find organic and natural coupons. This will be broken in to three categories:

1) I want my organic coupons today! (coupons that you can get your hands on right now and/or companies with current promos)

2) Yeah, I can wait a bit… (sites that promise special offers if you sign up). This has been posted. Read here.

3) Maybe if I ask, they’ll send me some (sites that don’t have e-mail lists). This has been posted. Read here.

If there is an organic or natural foods company that you’d like to see more of, please leave a post. Also, as companies update their sites, you may find new coupons that I haven't mentioned or go to a site and notice that a coupon has disappeared. If this happens, please let me know. Also, if you find this useful, please leave a post so I can know that my hard work is not in vain (and thanks to Danny for sitting up at 2am creating the links on this! You're a rock star!)

So here’s the first category…

I want my organic coupons today!

After the Fall (natural and organic juices)
75c coupon (wait until the page has fully loaded).

Applegate Farms
(organic and natural hot dogs, bacon, sausage, frozen food, cheese snacks, deli). Sign up to receive e-mail updates of the Child Nutrition Act petition and they’ll instantly e-mail you a pdf of a $1 off any Applegate Farms product coupon.

Alexia Foods
(natural and organic appetizers, breads, mashed potatoes, oven fries, onion rings, nuggets). Sign in to get a $1 coupon off any Alexia Tuscan Style Panini.

Attune Bars (probiotic bars)
Take the 14-day challenge from Jan 1-July 30 09. If you eat one bar a day and don’t feel a difference, you’ll get a full refund (up to $28).

Arrowhead Mills
(natural, organic, whole grain and gluten-free hot and cold cereals, pancake mixes, seeds and grains). There is a $1 peelie coupon on selected products that entitle you to $1 off cereal, valid thru 12/31/09). Also, several Arrowhead Mills packages have a peelie with a redemption code that entitles you to a free cooking class (worth up to $100) when you purchase 3 products from Spectrum, Arrowhead Mills, Hain Pure Foods, Imagine or SunSpire totaling $10 or more (offer expires 3/31/09 and cooking class certificate will be valid thru 4/3/10. Lastly, if you send in 3-5 UPCs, they’ll send you either $15 or $25 of OXO kitchen tools.

Aura Cacia (pure, sustainable essential oils, aromatherapy for adults, kids, baby).
If you make any purchase from their site during January, they’ll send you an orange pomander aromatherapy air freshener. Be sure to check the box on checkout.

Back to Nature Foods (snacks, bars, nuts, granola).
See “Publix Greenwise” for coupons.

Bear Naked (organic fruit and nut granola, trail mix).
They are currently offering a free sample on their site. Also, you get a free trail mix if you purchase over $19 of product online).

Biokleen
(sls and phosphate free cleaning products). This is often on sale at Kroger. See “Mambo Sprouts” for coupon.

Blue Diamond
(natural almonds, nut and rice snacks, almond milk). 50c printable coupon. See “Mambo Sprouts” for additional printable coupons.

Brown Cow Farm
(natural yogurt). Several 50c and 75c printable coupons for yogurt.

Coleman Naturals
(natural and organic antiobiotic-free, hormone-free meats). If you take their quick survey and they’ll mail you coupons.

Corazonas (cholesterol-lowing chips)
Take the 28-day challenge. If you eat two 1oz servings of chips per day and you don’t see a reduction in your cholesterol, you can get a refund for your chips up to $24 when you submit your redemption form, receipts and cholesterol test. Valid 1/1-12/31/09.

Crown Price
(oysters, sardines, tuna, crabmeat and more). $1 printable coupons.

Delicious Living
Printable coupons for Santa Cruz and Knudsen organic beverages, Kashi cereal, goats milk, popcorn, rice chips.

Dreamfields Pasta (high fiber, low glycemic pasta).
$1 coupon off one box.

Earthbound Farm (organic fresh fruit, vegetables, dried fruit, snacks, cookies, granola, beverages).
You’ll get coupons for misc. Earthbound Farm products and a free pocket guide to choosing organic produce when you complete a quiz.

Earths Best (organic baby food and snacks).
Coupons for baby food and Sesame Street snacks. Also, keep an eye out for peelies on select packages that entitle you to a free Elmo CD entitled "Elmo Loves You" when you purchase 3 items.

Eat Smart Snacks (natural chips and dips).
See “Publix Greenwise” for coupons.

Enjoy Life Foods (allergy-friendly, gluten-free cookies, granola, snack bars, bagels, trail mix, chocolate chips, chocolate bars).
Coupon for $1.25 on any two snack bars.

Fair Trade Honey (organic fair trade honey).
Several bottles have a $1 off coupon on them.

Food For Life (natural and organic Ezekiel 4:9 breads, muffins, pasta, tortillas, buns, yeast-free bread products, and parent company to Sunrise Organics, Natural Food Mill and Crystal Falls ). They have a link for e-coupons on their site, but I can’t get it to work – keep trying!

Garden of Eatin (organic blue corn chips).
You may get a popup (I went in an hour ago and it wasn’t there) that asks you how many chips are in a serving. It then let me print a coupon for $1 off a bag. Also, sign up to receive offers from A Healthy Way of Life (The Hain Celestial Group). Next, several packets have a peelie that entitles you to $1 off when you purchase both the chips and a Newman’s Own salsa. Lastly, the newspaper often has coupons for Garden of Eatin chips.

Genisoy (organic protein bars, chips, nuts, trail mix, shakes, powders).
If you head over to the produce department, you may find several Bolthouse Farms beverages with a tag coupon that entitles you to a free Genisoy protein bar with any Bolthouse Farms beverage purchase.

Gerber Tender Harvest (organic baby food).
$1 coupons for baby food, Graduates entrees and snacks.

Horizon Organic (organic milk, yogurt, cheese).
$1 coupons for various products.

Ians Natural Foods (natural and organic frozen breakfast, entrees, fries, snacks for kids)
Click on “resources” and enter your e-mail. You’ll get $1 off any Ians Alphatots. See “Mambo Sprouts” for additional printable coupons.

Kahiki (antibiotic free frozen Asian entrees).
Fill out a short survey to get coupons.

Kashi (natural whole grain cereal, cookies).
If you buy selected twin pack of chocolate cookies, you’ll see a big coupon attached which will entitle you to a free ½ gallon of Silk Soy milk when you purchase the cookies. I’ve also received several coupons for Kashi cereal and bars by signing up to Vocalpoint.

LifeWay (kefir products – drinks, pudding, cheese, cream cheese).
See “Mambo Sprouts” for coupons.

Maranatha Nut Butter (peanut butter).
See “Mambo Sprouts” for printable coupons.

Nature’s One (Baby’s Own organic formula).
For every 24 proofs of purchase, you’ll get coupons for two free cans.

Knudsen Juice (natural and organic juices).
$1 off coupon for Sensible Sippers juice boxes.

Laura’s Lean Beef (antibiotic free, hormone free beef products). Sign up to get an instant printable coupon
Mambo Sprouts.

Mambo Sprouts
Miscellaneous printable natural and organic product coupons. Also, if you live in the Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore/Washington, D.C., Chicago, Denver/Boulder, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles areas, you can get a copy in the mail. They also provide Whole Foods Market and Wild Oats with a Special Events coupon booklet, which is distributed at events sponsored by each store throughout the entire year.

Midel Cookies (natural cookies).
Currently have coupons in Kiwi, Eating Well, Real Simple Family, Vegetarian Times and Gluten-Free Living, available at health food stores.

Morningstar (meatless burgers, hot dogs, chicken substitute, breakfast items, snacks).
Sign up to be a Morningstar Insider and get special offers and coupons. After you sign up, you’ll receive via e-mail a 75c coupon off one package of Morningstar Farms Southwestern Style or Ginger Teriyaki Veggie Cakes.

Muir Glen (organic canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, purees, soups, ketchup).
Join the Tomato Connoisseurs Club and receive an instant $1 coupon.

Nature Made (natural vitamins).
New members who sign in get $1 coupons.

Numi (organic tea).
Selected boxes have a $1 off 2 boxes peelie coupon.

Odwalla (natural juice).
See “Mambo Sprouts” for printable coupons.

Organic Prairie (organic meat).
Printable coupons for steak, hotdogs, deli meat, other.

Organic Valley (milk, cheese, cottage, cheese, butter).
Coupons for milk, soymilk, cheese, cottage cheese, butter.

Publix Greenwise (monthly magazine available at the front door at Publix and at the customer service desk that contains both Publix and manufacturer’s coupons). You can also get a free subscription delivered to your home.

The Winter 2009 issue has the following coupons: $1 off Eatsmart all natural snacks (exp. 4/30/09), 50c off Apple and Eve Organic Juice (exp. 3/31/09) , $1 off any Back to Nature granola and trail mixes (exp. 2/28/09). The only Publix coupon is the Horizon coupon. All others are manufacturer’s coupons that can be used at any store.

PJ Madisons (organic ice cream). Fill out a very brief survey and you’ll be able to view a 25c coupon.

Rice Select (organic rice).
Sign up to the Rice Select Flavor club and get a $1 coupon in the mail and a free re-useable shopping bag. Also, see “Mambo Sprouts” for printable coupons.

Rosetto (natural pasta).$1 printable coupon.

Seventh Generation (natural cleaning products, dishwashing liquid, laundry detergent, diapers, wipes).
Coupons for diapers, wipes, laundry, cleaning, dishwashing products.

Shikai (natural haircare, lotions, bronzers, facial care, shower gels).
Free Color Reflect Daily Moisture Conditioner with the purchase of any Color Reflect Shampoo.

Shop Nature Oasis (online natural foods market).
Printable coupons for Organic Valley milk, Boiron, Tofurky and more).

Silk (natural soymilk).
Sign up to receive e-mail offers and they’ll instantly send you 55c coupon via email.

SO Delicious (dairy free ice cream and soy yogurt).
There’s a 50c coupon on the back of select boxes of ice cream bars.

Soyjoy (health bars)
Printable coupon for $1 off 5 bars.

Stonyfield Farm (organic milk, smoothies, yogurt, ice cream).
Coupons for yogurt, milk, smoothies, ice cream.

Sunspire (dairy free, gluten-free chocolate chips and bars).
See “Mambo Sprouts” for printable coupons.

The Natural Dentist (toothpaste and mouth rinse).
$2 printable coupon. Also, you can take the healthy mouth challenge. Purchase two 16oz products and if you’re not satisfied, send in your receipts along with the rebate form and proofs of purchase for a $10 rebate.

Tofurky (meatless Italian sausage, hot dogs, franks, jerky, deli slices, holiday products).
75c coupon for any Roast.

Yogi Organic Tea (tea).
They're currently offering free samples (I think the samples come with coupons).

WholeFoods.
Has an in-store publication called The Whole Deal which contains Mambo Sprouts coupons.

If you're looking for other coupons that aren't necessarily natural and organic, click here (my favorite is a 50c coupon off Cottonelle toilet paper, which my local supermarket will double. The toilet paper retails for 99c, so I'll get it for free! - and yes, you can print out a couple of these coupons!)

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Questions from Readers…What is Coupon Stacking?

Q. I’ve been enjoying your blog for a few months now, but am trying to get to the bottom of this “coupon stacking” thing you talk about so often. I am assuming that means that you use multiple coupons for a single product? I’m just wondering how that works when most coupons say that they cannot be combined with any other offer/coupon. Do you just use them anyways and disregard the rules?

A. Most coupons do indeed contain the words “no other coupon may be used with this coupon.” So in order words, if you are about to purchase a box of Cheerios and you have two $1 manufacturer’s coupons, you may not use both coupons towards the purchase of one box of cereal. You may only use one manufacturer’s coupon. However, let’s say you’re at Publix and you also have a $1 Cheerios coupon that is issued by Publix (store coupons are often available in store ads, flyers, monthly magazines, by subscribing to their website etc. You can recognize that they are store coupons because they do not have a barcode and may only be used at that store). You may stack the $1 Publix coupon with the $1 manufacturer’s coupon in order to get $2 off one box of cereal. Combine that with a sale, and you’re sure to get a really inexpensive box of cereal!

Some store coupons state limits, but sometimes your local store manager may permit you to purchase in excess of the limit. This is common at Walgreens. Walgreens usually stipulates limits on their items, but many stores will allow you to exceed the limit with no questions asked. I contacted the corporate offices of Walgreens to get a copy of their coupon policy, only to be told that it is up to the discretion of each local store manager.

If in doubt, ask your store manager. Although most stores allow stacking, some do not. Some have limits, some do not. This may sound rather complicated up front, but once you establish the rules for each of your local stores, you’re well on your way to saving big on products you buy every day!

Questions from Readers... Where Can I Get Coupons for Parent's Choice Formula?

Parents Choice Formula is Walmart's generic version of Isomil Advance and ProSobee LIPIL. You can call PBM Nutritionals at 1-800-272-5095 once every 30 days (note it on your calendar) and they will mail you a $3 coupon. The coupons generally take 4-6 weeks to arrive, and even if you have not received a coupon from your first call, you can call to request your next coupon.

Don't forget to pick up your free sample at the Parent's Choice website. It's a 4.3oz bag of powder, good enough for a one-day supply.

Questions from readers…Aren’t you sacrificing healthy eating for junk food when you use coupons?

Not at all. That being said, “healthy” is a relative term and it means different things to different people. For example, some people don’t eat meat because they consider it unhealthy. Others see lean meat as a healthy protein. Some stock a wide range of traditional fruits and vegetables at home, while others opt for organic produce. Then there are those of us who diligently try to buy organic and then to save time, we cook those same organic foods on carcinogenic aluminum foil or we nuke the food in the microwave. Go figure.

That being said, I’m often able to combine coupons and sales to get free or low cost organic, natural and healthy items. If you click look at all the free stuff I got in May (June 3rd post) you’ll notice that I combined coupons and sales to get, among other things, free organic yogurt, whole grain pasta and natural cereals. Today, the penny item at Publix was organic oatmeal, and last week it was Greenwise natural toilet paper. So it’s not just about mac n’ cheese, hotdogs and candy. It’s entirely possible to get amazing deals on healthy food. I rarely pay full price for organic milk. Sure, there isn’t an abundance of coupons for fresh produce, but perhaps by saving on other items, you’ll have more money to spend on your favorite healthy produce!

The following manufacturers are currently offering coupons on their sites. Keep in mind that some sites will allow you to print coupons several times. Hitting the back button also helps. Also, just because you print coupons today and reach your maximum printable limit, it doesn’t mean that you can’t go in a few weeks from now and print more (or that you can’t use an alternate computer to print more). I recommend that you sign up for newsletters at your favorite sites so you’re the first to know about special promotions and coupons.

Stonyfield Farm – Coupons for yogurt, milk, smoothies, ice cream
Horizon Organic - $1 off coupons for various dairy
Organic Valley – Coupons for milk, cheese, butter
Mambo Sprouts - Booklet with miscellaneous natural and organic product coupons
Earths Best - Coupons for baby food
Arrowhead Mills – if you send in 3-5 UPCs, they’ll send you either $15 or $25 of OXO kitchen tools
Rosetto - $1 coupon off pasta
Earthbound Farms – coupons for misc. products (7/13 update - I registered on their site for free info. and received two Earthbound Farm coupons for 75c and $1 off lettuce and six 55c coupons for Horizon Organic products.
8th Continent Soy - $1 off coupon for soymilk
Seventh Generation – coupons for diapers, wipes, laundry, cleaning, dishwashing products
Knudsen Juice - $1 off coupon for juice boxes
The Healing Garden – misc. coupons for moisturizer
Organic Prairie – coupons for steak, hotdogs, deli meat, other
Coleman Naturals – coupons for meat
Misc. products – dairy, skincare, gourmet, homeopathic coupons

As you can see, organic merchants offer a variety of coupons on their websites. I’ll continue to post new sites for coupons as I hear about them. If you know of any that aren't listed here, let me know!

How to Save Big on Groceries at Kroger

Reading a local Kroger circular to find out what’s on sale is for amateurs. Want to use coupons like a real Affluent Pauper to save even more on your groceries?

Today I purchased the following items for a total of only $7.37:

2 Olay Bodywashes
3 packs Ballpark Franks
1 pack Sarah Lee Hot Dog Buns
1 Aussie Shampoo
1 Aussie Conditioner
2 Aussie styling gels
2 Oral B Toothbrushes
2 boxes of Barilla Pasta.

Regular retail on these items would have been $45.00. I paid $7.37. That is a savings of 86%. Take just a few minutes to go through the following steps, and you too are on your way to saving big:

1. Buy a bundle of 2 newspapers every Sunday for the coupons.


2. Go to http://www.kroger.com/ and sign up for the P&G eSaver program. Once you’re in the eSaver site, you can log in monthly and pre-load e-coupons to your Kroger card. The eSaver program offers significant discounts. For example, this week, Olay Bodywash is on sale for 2/$7 (usually $3.99). You think “hmmm… $3.50 each – good price, and if I use my $1 off 2 coupon that I got in the newspaper, the lotion will only be $3”. Well, before you head out to the store, sign up for the eSaver program and load the “buy one get one free” Olay e-coupon to your Kroger card and pay only $1.25 for the item (the first product will scan at $3.50, the second item scans as free and then once you’ve applied your $1 coupon, you’ve ended up with two bodywashes for $2.50). You can use pre-loaded e-coupons in conjunction with coupons that you have clipped from your newspaper. Is registering on the site worth a few minutes of your time? I think so! The eSaver site has many other coupons.
   


3. On the Kroger site, also sign up for Uniliver’s “Making Life Better with eCoupons” which will load your card with, you guessed it, coupons for Unilever products.
   


4. Go to http://www.shortcuts.com/ and register your Kroger card. More e-coupons you can pre-load on to your Kroger card.
   


5. Use the 2008 Entertainment Book coupons to get additional savings. Buy any 2008 Entertainment Book today for only $9.99. Plus, discounted shipping! I have one book at home and one in each car so I can have plenty of coupons on hand for each shopping trip.
   
   
   $5 off any purchase of $50 or more
   from now until Oct 31
   10% off any purchase of $30 or more in May
   10% off any purchase of $40 or more in June
   15% off any purchase of $50 or more in July
   $5 off any purchase of $60 or more in August
   $5 off any purchase of $75 or more in September
   $5 off any purchase of $25 or more in October


6. Kroger has a promo thru July 31st on gift cards. Purchase a $300, $600 or $1200 grocery card and they will add 10% to your card. So if your budget permits, you can use your pre-paid gift card to purchase both groceries and gas. According to Kroger, the free 10% that Kroger gives you can only be spent on groceries (e.g. if you purchase a $300 gift card, Kroger will load it with $330. You can pump $300 worth of gas, but the other $30 must be spent on groceries).

Things to keep in mind…

For pre-loaded e-coupons, you can usually use only use one coupon for each item per month, they do not double and it takes at least an hour for the coupons to become active on your Kroger card.

When you’re using the self-checkout, pre-loaded coupons won’t show up until you press the “pay” button. If they don’t appear after you’ve hit the “pay” button, let the associate know. On my first trip, I had items in my cart for which I had pre-loaded coupons, but when I went to check out, it didn’t give me the discounts. Unfortunately, most sales associates aren’t familiar with the e-coupon programs (even though they’re on their website). It turns out that the Kroger site had technical difficulties the day I signed up. So I left the items behind and had to go back the next day when my card was working.

How to keep track of the loaded coupons? I keep track of what pre-loaded coupons I have by loading all the coupons, printing a shopping list from the site, labeling it “Kroger pre-loaded coupons” and keeping it in my coupon file. If I purchase an item off the list, I cross it off, so I know that I no longer have a pre-loaded coupon for it.

That’s how you can save big with coupons at Kroger!

FREE Dairy Products and Coupons

Yes, you can get your organic milk at a discount!

Check out the following sites for organic and non-organic dairy product coupons:

http://www.stonyfield.com/coupons/viewcoupons.cfm?rnd=0.470232202482&CFID=2072102&CFTOKEN=71986298
Click on “coupons” for misc. coupons for yogurt, milk, smoothies, ice cream

http://www.yobabyyogurt.com/yomommy/freetrial/
Coupon for free yogurt

http://www.horizonorganic.com/coupons/index.php
$1 off coupons

http://www.organicvalley.coop/coupons/
$1 off coupons (milk, cheese, butter)

http://www.yoplait.com/products_yoplaitkids.aspx
Coupon for free kids yogurt

http://www.yoplus.com/
$1 off Yo Plus yogurt

http://www.smartbalance.com/
Click on “print coupons” for various coupons

http://www.silksoymilk.com/drtv/
Coupon for free silk soymilk

Where to get free online printable grocery coupons

There are a lot of sites out there for all types of coupons, but today I’ll be focusing on printable online coupons specifically for groceries. The key to using coupons successfully is organization. There are some things you should do before you start using the websites:

1. Before you sign up for these sites, I recommend that you create a free e-mail account especially for this purpose. The last thing you want is to sign up for a bunch of websites who will fill your everyday e-mail in box with spam. Of course, you’ll also need a printer and paper so you can immediately print the coupons.

2. Allocate an hour or so to signing up to the various sites and write down your passwords in a place you’ll remember so you can quickly go back and obtain coupons each week. If you don’t think you’ll get around to making a record of your passwords, since you’re not exchanging credit card information, you may want to standardize your passwords so you don’t have to remember a bunch of them. When you sign up at the sites, you may need to download their free printer software, so it will initially take a few minutes to set up, but once you’re set up, you can go in and print out coupons as often as you like. Also, many of the sites run on the same software, so you may only have to download it once.

3. Refer to my blog dated April 25^th regarding organizing your coupons in a file.

Many of the sites list the same products at the same time. The downside to that is that it can get repetitive. The upside is that if you see a product that you could use a lot of, you can go to one site and print some coupons and then once you’ve reached your maximum printable limit at that site, you can go to another website and print more.

I go in to the free coupon sites once every couple of weeks to browse and see what they have. I then print some coupons and put them in my coupon file. It’s a great way to supplement the coupons you clipped from your local newspaper.

Free coupons:

• Visit The Affluent Pauper Site regularly to print coupons (the bar is on the left hand side of the screen under "about me").
• http://www.thegrocerygame.com/ has a ton of printable coupons and you don’t need to be a member.
• http://www.couponbug.com/
• http://www.couponsurfer.com/ This website is really busy, but once you navigate where the coupons are, you can go back time and again.
• http://www.smartsource.com/

Purchase coupons:

• http://www.couponclippers.com/ – you can purchase coupons for a minimal fee. For example, if you’re loyal to a certain product, you can try to find coupons for that item (I go there to stock up on coupons for diapers, Dove soap, etc.). I recently saw a coupon for $1 off organic milk in my local newspaper (an expensive product which isn’t often discounted). A couple of days later, I logged on to this site and ordered a bunch of the coupons so that we can buy our milk at a discount for the next couple of months.

Other ways to get coupons:

• Manufacturer’s websites (e.g. if Uncle Bens rice is on sale this week, go to http://www.unclebens.com/ and they’ll probably have coupons). I have printed coupons from sites such as http://www.johnsonsbaby.com/, http://www.scottbrand.com/, http://www.gerber.com/ etc.

• Google – do a search by product name.

• Your local store’s website – see if you can sign up to get online coupons or receive their flyers.

• Entertainment book. I have the Atlanta version of the Entertainment book. It’s $15 right now and provides discounts off your Kroger grocery bill each month until November 08.

If you find any great other grocery coupon websites, let me know!

Save at least 50-75% or more on your groceries each time you shop!

I *LOVE* The Grocery Game (http://www.thegrocerygame.com/). I’ve been using The Grocery Game process for almost two months now and each time I go to the store, I save at least 50% on retail prices. I aim for 75% and it’s now become habit for me to accumulate free things when I shop.

Here’s how it works - The Grocery Game website tracks what promotions your local store is currently running and then matches up what coupons were in the paper recently for those items, resulting in a report that indicates what items you can purchase this week at rock bottom pricing (think 50c for a marinade that is usually $3.29, $1 for bread that is usually $2.99 etc). The report is color-coded to indicate what items are on a good sale, what items are at absolute rock bottom prices and what items you’d get for free after coupons. The items are listed by the store’s typical layout, making it easier for you to shop and you print out your list. You can sign up to The Grocery Game for a $1 trial and then after that, you pay according to how many stores you wish to get reports for (you will definitely recoup the money on your first visit to the store if you use the system correctly – in fact, I saved so much in the first month to buy a freezer for all the groceries I get on sale). If you decide to sign up for a trial, please send me an e-mail to gaylebu@gmail.com so that I can send you the link and get a referral credit (every bit helps!)

Here’s what you need to do after signing up:

You buy at least two copies of your local major newspaper every Sunday (the ones with the coupons in them). Here in Atlanta, we have the AJC and we can get a bundle of two at our local Kroger, Publix or Walgreens at a discount. If you’re out of town, get a friend to buy it for you.

You then need to manage your coupons. You can do this two ways:

1. Clip and file the coupons that you plan to use for your family in a large check file (I have the following categories: Today, Baby, Beverages, Cans, Cereal/Bread, Desert/Snacks/Candy, Drugs, Frozen, Paper/Cleaning, Refrigerated, Toiletries/Cosmetics, Other), or:

2. Remove the coupon inserts, put the date on the front and keep them in a file so that you can go back and clip the coupons when you see an item on The Grocery Game report you wish to buy.

I do a combination of both. I clip all the coupons that I plan to use and file them in my coupon file. I then keep the coupon books in tact, put the date on them and file them away. That way, I can carry my coupons whenever I go shopping and take extra advantage of any unadvertised specials the store may have, but at the same time, my coupon file is not overfilled with random coupons I’ll probably never use. But if an item comes up FREE on The Grocery Game report or it’s ridiculously cheap for an item that I might not normally use, I can still refer back to old flyers and clip the coupon.

Then… go shopping! Challenge yourself to only buy items that are at least 50% off the usual retail price and stockpile those items. After a while, you’ll find that you create new rules for yourself as to how much you will spend on an item. In my opinion, you should never pay more than 75c for a box of high-end toothpaste (I’ve accumulated about 10 FREE boxes in the past month), name-brand hand soap is no more than 30c and name-brand frozen veges no more than 50c a bag! You will be amazed at the amount of totally FREE stuff you accumulate. I’ll keep posting photos of my free stuff so you can see that’s it’s really possible.

If you want to make a habit of only buying items that are both discounted and coupon-worthy, I encourage you to go online and find free printable coupons to complement the coupons you get from the newspaper. Next time, I’ll tell you about what websites I’ve found that have printable coupons.