Clean Home Journal Summer Fun Coupon Booklet

Clean Home Journal is offering another coupon booklet. Here is the information from their website:

Get a great start on summer fun with savings on products that are simply perfect for planning ahead for family celebrations and get-togethers.

The first 10,000 people** to respond will receive a Clean Home Journal™ Summer Fun Coupon Booklet that includes coupons for:

• Ziploc® Brand Bags
• Ziploc® Brand Zip 'n Steam™ Microwave Steam Cooking Bags
• OFF!® FamilyCare Insect Repellents
• Raid® Disposable Yellow Jacket Trap

Each coupon booklet offers $8.10 in savings. There are coupons for you and ones for you to share with family and friends.

Free trial-size body wash

There were several coupons in the 6/1 P&G newspaper insert that should make for free body wash. (These do not specify "Excludes trial size.")

There is a $1 off coupon for Old Spice body wash. The trial sizes are reported to be .94 at Wal-Mart.

There is a $1 coupon for Gillette 2in1 body wash. These are reportedly .79 at Wal-Mart--yea for overage!

FYI...

Because it's a holiday weekend, there are scheduled to be no regular coupon inserts in the Sunday newspapers.

True Lemon Samples and Airborne savings

Crystal at Money Saving Mom recently posted about receiving True Lemon samples. I'll second her recommendation--I love the stuff in water, icees, and smoothies. Click here to request your own samples.

And if you fall in love with the stuff like I did, here's an additional deal for you: Coupons.com, Coupon Bug, and Boodle.com have printable coupons for $1 off True Lemon, True Lime, or True Orange products. Boxes of True Lemon packets are regularly priced at $1.99 at Walgreens, so I often pick it up with the coupons (thus making it half price) when I have some extra RRs.

Additionally, if you blog about the True citrus products, you can get 15 free packets in the flavor of your choice. Click here for more details.

Airborne Products: To get a printable coupon for $2 off Airborne health products, click here.

Day-to-day coupon organization

As a follow-up to the post about my coupon box, here's how I handle coupons each week... at least in theory! :-)

1. Clip all coupons from the Sunday newspaper inserts.

2. Decide which ones to keep. The ones I'm not keeping, I put in a pile to mail to military families.

3. Sort by category. I also arrange mine by expiration date, so that the coupons expiring first are always in the front. It makes it simpler when I'm discarding expireds or attempting to use up coupons.

Coupon organization

I recently mentioned that I was renewing my coupon organization, and thought I'd share my system. There are lots of great ideas out there, but this is what has worked for me.


1. Obtain a small plastic box and plastic file dividers (as pictured).

2. Make a list of coupon categories. You'll have to decide how technical to get--mine are rather general: Canned, Dairy, Meals, Mouth, Hair, etc.


3. Separate categories into Food and Non-food. Alphabetize Food and Non-food categories separately.


4. Label plastic dividers with category names (I keep my Food coupons in front, Non-food in the back).

5. Put your name and phone number on the inside cover of your coupon file. I've heard way too many "lost coupon box" stories... :-)

How do you organize your coupons? What helps you stay on top of it?

Organize your coupons! :-)

I've let myself get a bit behind on clipping and organizing coupons the last couple months. I had the fliers, but my "system" had kind of gone out the window. So one morning last week, I took a couple of hours to go through my entire coupon box, eliminate expireds, and clip and organize the valid coupons.

I didn't get it completely finished, but it was far better, and provides needed motivation to keep my coupon box organized. It's so much easier to maintain a system that's already in place than to attempt to deal with a sloppy mess.

My challenge to you is to set a time to go through your coupons, eliminate the expired ones, and organize the ones that are still good. There's no point in saving coupons unless you can use them! :-)

And while you're getting rid of coupons, consider passing them on to members of the military who can use them.

Sunday paper

The P&G Saver comes out in this week's paper and is reported to have coupons that will work great with this week's Walgreens sale (see forthcoming post). If you have a chance to pick up a couple extra papers, it might be worth your while.

Inexpensive Sunday papers

Thanks to reader Charlene for passing this on...

I just discovered today that the Sunday paper is sold at dollar stores for $1. I know a lot of people stock up on extra papers when the coupons are really good so it might be worth mentioning.

And if you're interested in having some idea what coupons will be in the paper, check out Taylortown Preview. Your local coupons may vary somewhat, but it should give you a general idea.

Inexpensive organic tomatoes

From Money Saving Mom...

Thanks to More Than Enough for the heads-up on this new $1/1 printable coupon for Muir Glen Organic products. You have to register at the site, but once you've done that, you can print as many copies of the coupon as you'd like! Best of all, it doesn't expire until 09/30/2008!

Muir Glen organic tomatoes are $1.16 regularly at Wal-Mart. With this coupon, they are only $0.16/can!

Kroger also has these tomatoes on sale for $1/can on occasion. Use this coupon and you'll get them free!

Free Hiland Yogurt

Thanks to Crystal for the heads-up on this deal...

For those of you in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma (the states where Hiland products are sold), you can get a coupon for a free Hiland Pomegranate Mango or Apple and Spice Yogurt here. The coupon does not state that it is "Limit one per customer." Instead, it states "Limit one coupon per item purchased."

New website: Christian Couponers

If you want to get in on the beginning stages of a new couponing forum, you might check out Christian Couponers. They're looking to grow their (free) membership, and the administrator seems very helpful and friendly. Drop by today!

Buying coupons?

I recently mentioned that, contrary to my normal practice, I actually purchased coupons for the Olay bar soap deal at Walgreens. I'd like to share a few thoughts about buying coupons and how to figure out if it's a wise idea in your situation. My own decision to buy coupons was based on the fact that this particular deal was an awesome moneymaker and I was able to get the coupons through The Coupon Clippers (link in sidebar) at a very reasonable price.

1. How much will it actually save you?

When all is said and done, how much will you really be saving by buying the coupons? There is often a minimum order size, plus postage and handling, and all your costs must be added before calculating savings. "Free" isn't actually free if you're paying for coupons.

2. Is it in your budget?

However good a deal it may seem, it's only as good as the money you've budgeted for it. If you don't have the money, don't spend it.

3. Do you know that there will be a sale to combine with the coupons?

Unless an item is always priced low enough to make a great deal with coupons, be careful. The coupons you paid for may expire before a good sale rolls around--or you may feel obligated to use them, simply because you paid for them. Ouch.

4. Does your store double coupons?

Because coupons are usually sold by a percentage of their face value, having a store that doubles coupons can extend your savings.

5. As always, if you're going to buy, find the best deal.

I've visited a number of sites that sell coupons and my personal favorite is The Coupon Clippers (link in sidebar). After you add everything together (coupon prices, postage, handling), they seem to have the lowest prices. eBay is another option, though your success may vary from one sale to another.

There are a couple of situations where I would certainly consider buying coupons:

1. A once-in-a-blue-moon amazing moneymaking deal, such as the Olay bar soap.

2. Preparing a meal for a very large number of people (a Christmas banquet, for instance). If by purchasing coupons very cheaply I could get necessary items free or nearly free, I would consider it.

What about you? Do you buy coupons? What guidelines have you set up for yourself?

Military family: Expired coupons

I have quite a few (several hundred?) expired or soon-to-expire coupons that I'd love to pass on to a military family that could use and share them. If you are in the military and stationed in a place where you can used expired coupons, please email me by clicking here. Thank you for your sacrifice.

Edit: For those who are interested in mailing their own coupons to those in the military, check out the Overseas Coupon Program website.

Walgreens: Double dip on Phenom razor

For those who attempted to cash in on the double dip Phenom razor Register Reward deal on February 22-23, you might still be able to get your RR. Because it was advertised by Catalina Marketing (on Catalina slips that printed out before the promotion began), they have some obligation to provide the RRs. It's reported that they're making good on their promise. As I've mentioned before, if your Catalina ever doesn't print, you can contact Catalina Marketing directly via this form. Several people who bought the Phenom on those days have contacted Catalina and Catalina has been very helpful and promised to mail the missing RR.

Walgreens: Use more than one RR per transaction?

With all of the great Register Rewards-producing deals going this week, it seemed like a good time to post this email. There have been a lot of questions as to how many Register Rewards you may spend per transaction, as many of them state Only one per transaction. Some have interpreted this as earning while others believe it means spending. Below is an email from the Walgreens corporate office that clarifies the answer. You may want to print it out (or email Walgreens yourself) in case a cashier isn't sure about it.

February 29, 2008

Thank you for taking your time to contact our Corporate Offices. We appreciate hearing from our customers and value all comments received.

A customer may not use more than one Register Reward on a purchase of only 1 item example: 2 rewards for Chapstick for 1 Chapstick product). However, a customer can use as many register rewards as they have items in the transaction [emphasis added]. The Register Reward coupon works like a manufacturer coupon when redeemed. Therefore, if a customer uses a manufacturer coupon and a Catalina coupon during the same transaction for the same product, the system will not scan one of these coupons. I hope this helps.

Again, thank you for letting us know about your satisfaction. We truly appreciate your thoughtfulness.

Sincerely,

April S.
Consumer Response Representative


Ref # 1432925

Free Johnson's Buddies bar soap

Thanks to Crystal at Money Saving Mom for the heads-up on this coupon.

Johnson's Buddies bar soap is frequently $1 or less in stores (Kroger, Target, CVS), and you can get a $1 printable by clicking here. You should be able to print the coupon twice (either use the "back" button in your browser or click the link again).

Walgreens: More Jane makeup?!?

I don't know happening with Walgreens, but it's not bothering me. :-) If you miss the Jane deal this week, don't worry. Jane makeup will be BOGO again soon--March 9 to 15, to be exact. And if you're looking for the the $2 manufacturer's coupon, you can get that by clicking here. The coupon is good through April 30, 2008.

Honey Bunches of Oats $2 coupon

If you haven't yet printed your coupons for Chocolate Honey Bunches of Oats, you can do so by clicking here. You can often find these on sale for $2, so here's to some free cereal! Thanks to BeCentsable for emailing me the link.

Several coupons

Get a $1 coupon for Coffeemate.

And a $1 coupon for Advil.

Free Kotex sample.

$1 coupon Viva paper towels.

SeaPak products: $1 off.