NestEggz.com a New Concept in Coupons

There´s a great new coupon site on the Internet called NestEggz .

This site allows you to print coupons out from your computer (up to 3 each page at a time) for redemption at your local store. The coupons you print have a "cents off value" at the store and a "NestEggz credit value". When you redeem them you get .10 off the item purchased at the checkout. When the coupon completes it´s trip (about 4 weeks) through the clearinghouse process, your NestEggz savings account will be credited for the amount stated at the time of printing. In addition, for the first 12 months your account will earn 15% interest!! You can ask for the balance of your account at any time and it will be paid by check.

Here´s an example: There´s a NestEggz coupon for Motts Apple Juice. $1 NestEggz credit value and .10 coupon value. My store sells Motts for $1.50 a bottle. At the checkout the cashier scans the coupon and deducts .10. In about 2-4 weeks you will see the $1 NestEggz credit applied to your account. Ask for your balance to be paid at any time after it has been credited to your account. You just bought that bottle of Motts apple juice for .40 --a great deal.


This is a unique concept in coupons that I think you will love. Please visit their site.

Get Additional Coupons

Have a favorite product but are short on coupons?

One way to get more is to contact the company you patronize-normally there's a phone number or website located on the package. Ask if they have a mailing list for coupons and if they have any rebates/offers available currently. Many times they do and can provide information. Sometimes they even send out coupons for free items just for being a loyal customer. Don't be afraid to ask, the worst they can say is no.

Do Not Waste Money Buying Coupon Books

When I first started on the Internet looking for coupons, I ran across numerous sites promoting coupon books for prices ranging from free to $24.95. These books promise to let you choose your coupons and for a SASE and a nominal handling fee each time they will send you $10 or so of your allotted coupons.

The problem is their lists are limited (not updated often) and you have to choose 35-40 brands/items of the coupons you think you will need. No guarantees that you will really get what you have selected at the beginning of your list. It's truly better to trade directly with someone who has the coupons you need or to pay a small handling fee for the individual coupons you desire.

Reducing Your Bill or Getting Paid to Use Coupons

You can actually reduce your bills even further using coupons. Find a coupon that's good on ANY SIZE of a product. (be sure that there are no exceptions with trial sizes, etc.) Buy the smallest size available (normally travel size) and the excess ends up being applied towards the balance of your checkout bill. For example, say you hold a $1 coupon good on any size of a shampoo. That shampoo can be found with the travel sizes at a price of .69. When you check out, the $1 coupon comes off the total leaving a .31 credit balance that is applied towards your total.

*Note, verify your store´s coupon redemption policy first. Each store has different rules.

Take Them With You

You should always take your coupons with you, even when it's for a 1-item trip. You never know when you'll come across an unadvertised special that becomes an even better deal with a coupon.

Price Matching - Know Your Store´s Policy

Did you know many stores will match a competitor's price with a current ad?

Checking your ads before shopping can save you both money and an extra trip.

Marcal Paper Towel Rebate

Everyone uses paper towels and napkins. Here´s a link to the Marcal website for a printable try me free rebate.

http://www.marcalpaper.com/free_paper_towels.html

Coupon Organizer-Price Planner

There´s an attractive yet extremely functional coupon organizer out there called the Price Planner. If you go to couponorganizer.com you can view a picture of it. It looks like an everyday planner, yet it´s designed with coupons in mind.

As described on the website, the "Priceplanner is a smart, compact, durable and easy-to-use coupon organizer, price comparison book and day planner all in one! Loaded with money saving features, Priceplanner will help you maximize your savings - even without coupons! "

Look At The Packages

One way to get more for your money is to actually look at the packages on the shelf.

Many times manufacturers run special promotions. Stock is rotated different ways at stores so it's always a good idea to check behind the "front" items on the shelf for special packages. Many times you will find products with promos like 25% more free, buy 1 get 1 free, free after rebate, buy this product get a coupon for xxxx free. It's worth the extra 3 seconds to look for the better offering.

Combine Rebates and Coupons

Your goal is to save money. You can save money with rebates and you can save money with coupons so why not do both? If you see an item that has a rebate-- especially if it is free after rebate-- try finding a coupon for it too. If it's free after rebate the coupon is extra money in your pocket after taxes and postage, of course. Try to do this with all rebates.

Save your Labels

Want another way to save money in addition to coupons?

Save your labels. Try to save all your name brand labels and your receipts. Many rebates offered require one or both of these. If you aren't into refunding, trade the UPCs/labels for coupons you can use. Numerous boards are available on the Internet. You can find some of these under my links. I get many free item coupons by trading away my labels.

Setting Limits

Set a limit on what you're willing to pay for a given item and don't go over that amount. For instance, I refuse to pay more than $2.50 for a 12-can pack of soda. A friend of mine won't pay more than $1 a pound for ground beef. When you get stubborn about saving, you'll see results! If you find the price you're looking for, stock up.

Super Target Coupons

If you have a SuperTarget store close to you, check out their website on Sundays when they publish printable coupons. If you don´t have a SuperTarget you still may be able to use these coupons at stores where they accept competitor´s coupons.

http://target.com/common/page.jhtml?content=target_st_weekly_specials

Organize Them

You can only save money with coupons if you know where they are when you need them. Organization is the key!

Although you can organize manually, I highly recommend the freely available Ca$h In program. You log in your coupons manually, but then can sort by brand, amount, expiration date, category, etc. The program keeps a log of your savings and tells you when you have coupons expiring. It's an easy way to make your shopping list. See my list of websites to get this free software download.

Don't Get Overwhelmed

Coupons are a great source of saving money in the grocery store, however don't get overwhelmed by them. Only cut out those coupons for products you would normally use, for those you think you might use, and for those you feel you can trade in exchange for others.

Allocate Your Groceries

Allocate your groceries.

For example, you go to the store and buy:
2 whole chickens (on sale of course), 1 bag (2 lb.) of carrots, 1 lb. celery, 4 cans tuna, 1 (large) onion, spaghetti noodles (1 lb.), 2 1/2- 3 lb. ground beef, and 4 to 6 cans tomato sauce. First, as soon as you get home, cut up the chicken! You always need to have on hand: gallon size Ziploc-type bags. Cut the legs and thighs off both chickens. Put in one bag together and label these "fryer chicken". This is one meal.

In a smaller bag (maybe a quart, or even a sandwich bag will do) put all the livers from both chickens (they usually throw in a few extras- chickens really do only have one liver each) this is another, quick meal. Before you scoff at this, keep in mind that KFC charges $2.79 for an order of these!

Next, with a big sharp knife or kitchen scissors cut the 2 chickens in half right down the breastbone center. Haggle the back off roughly. Now take the neck, gizzards, hearts, and all the extras that a lot of people throw away, and put all of that in a Ziploc gallon bag with any extra skin and backs too. This sealed bag can now be labeled "chicken soup".

Next cut the breast meat off the bone but purposely leave a little meat behind. The breast meat de-boned will be used to fix those fancy meals like the chicken breasts in a thick sauce, for chicken parmesan, stir fry...use your imagination.

The extra along with the breastbones will be put in the "soup" bag.

Then similarly allocate the other items. Separate four or five sticks of celery and four or five carrots and cut off 1/3 of the big onion, put all these together in the bag to make the chicken soup. (This keeps someone from eating them if you label it "do not eat--for chicken soup recipe"--)

Separate the ground beef. Put 1/2 to 2/3 lb. in a Ziploc quart bag and label this as "meat for spaghetti sauce". Put in the freezer, as you would do with all the chicken you were not fixing right away.

Put three cans of tomato sauce in a special place and mark it as "homemade sauce for spaghetti" and then mark the remaining can "for meatloaf".

Then 1/4 and 1/4 of the onion go each to the meatloaf and to the spaghetti sauce.

Whatever is left of onion gets chopped up with the tuna for tuna salad, along with that piece of celery you had saved. The other celery and carrots, except for the one or two you used in a salads earlier while trying not to waste that last one third head of lettuce, go into cooking the chicken soup, while the last two leaves of lettuce form the beautiful "base" for you designer tuna salad.

For about $209.00 you have just bought over seven full meals (not counting leftovers). Works out to less than $3.00 per meal to feed a family of four!

Trading Helps

Are you brand loyal? Do you only use particular products? Tired of only getting 1 coupon for your favorite items in the coupon section when you really need 4 or 5?

Then why not try trading with local friends and relatives. I have gotten many extras that I needed this way.

No one local? Try some of the internet trade boards, like www.mycoupons.com and their coupon/rebate swap board. A wealth of information can be found there.

Etiquette

There are manners to be displayed when using coupons.

Please be polite to your cashier. You get better service when you're kind instead of rude.

When purchasing items with "free coupons" it helps to write in the price of the item in the price box of the coupon while shopping. This saves time at the checkout. Along the same lines, if the cashier looks at the slip to verify the price of the item every time, you might want to consider placing all the free items at the end of the belt so lookup is easier.

Keeping coupons facing the same direction will save time when the cashier scans them. Also place "free item" coupons at the top of the stack because these take the most time if they need to verify the price.

Do not try to pass expired coupons unless it's the store's policy to accept them.

If the cashier refuses to accept a coupon and it should be rightfully accepted, politely ask for the supervisor or store manager. Calmly tell them about your loyalty to the store (if you are) and explain why you feel it should be accepted. Most of the time the supervisor will approve it. If they do please thank them for their time.

Following these few simple tips may make your next shopping trip quicker and easier.