5 Tips and Tricks to stress-free couponing!

1. Make a separate email address: many of the coupons we can get access to require us to sign up for newsletters and emails from companies…if you don’t want your mailbox cluttered with junk mail…use a separate email address. You may even want a couple of email addresses…because sometimes you can get multiples opportunities for high value coupons if you have different email addresses for the coupon to be mailed to!
2. Use social media: to be honest most of the best coupons and freebies come from Facebook and Twitter. So you want to be able to quickly snatch up that next high value coupon or free item mailed to your home…make sure have social media sites up and running.PS: you can “unlike” all of those companies you “like” on Facebook as they appear on your newsfeed and annoy you. There are two options you have to not have to “see” the posts and updates by those companies we often times “like” to get coupons.

   a.  you can click on the little downward facing arrow next to the status update of the company you are wanting to hide and click “hide all from…”b. you can hove over the bolded name of the unwanted company on your newsfeed…a box with the logo or image of the company will come up…underneath the image it will say “liked”…hover over the word “liked” and a drop down will appear…on the bottom it will say “unlike” click that and you have “unliked” and “unfollowed” that company. And if they come up with a new coupon you want…all you will have to do is “like” them again 🙂

   

3. Use a Zipper Binder: If you use the binder system…make sure you use a Zipper Binder. I will tell you from experience that using a normal trapper keeper open folder will not work! You will only end up dropping coupons out of your binder constantly…and believe me that’s just no fun at all!!! Eliminate a lot of stress and lost coupons with this one simple tool!
4. Take advantage of the free trial offers: I honestly sign up for ALL of the free trial offers I find. I do this for a few reasons…first of all I never promote something on my blog without trying it out first. Secondly, why not try it if its free?!?! The one thing I have to tell you…it can get confusing and frustrating if you sign up for monthly club or month long trial product and forget to cancel and get charged for something you weren’t planning on paying for. SOOOO here is my little trick…I put an alarm in my calendar on my phone to remind me to cancel 2-3 days before my trial time ends (make sure to set the time for a time you will most likely be at able to call or go online to cancel).  I also usually use a reloadable visa gift card to put in a credit card number on anything that requires a credit card number…this way my personal debit/credit card is not floating around out there…and I don’t have to worry about my own bank account being affected.
5. Take advantage of online deals: To be quite honest…I don’t always have the time, will or motivation to go out and chase down all those awesome deals. However…many times I can find similar deals online (especially on Amazon)! One of my favorite things about shopping online is that I can combine promo codes, with a good deal and then also shop using Ebates or ShopAtHome to get cash back on my shopping…plus most companies offer free shipping anymore!***Go HERE and find out why I highly recommend Amazon Prime!

Another online “deal” that you should definitely take advantage of…are all those points/rewards programs…I have gotten TONS of free products and gift card by using the following rewards programs: (I use ALL of these following rewards programs)

• Pampers: Rewards as you grow
• SwagBucks
• Bing Rewards
• Kelloggs Family Rewards
• My Coke Rewards
• Similac StrongMoms 
• P&G Everyday Coupons and Free Samples