Intro to Couponing!

My best friend sent me a text the other day saying that I needed to teach her how to coupon. I know a lot of people feel the same way, and I won't shop any other way. I don't necessarily say I'm an extreme couponer, because I don't do the volume that others do. I might get $40 worth of stuff for $5 where as, if you watch the TV show, they get $1,000 transactions for free! Don't get me wrong, I know how they are doing it. But I don't put as much effort into finding coupons as they do, and I can't shell out $300 on newspapers to get 100 of the same coupons. But I never pay full price for anything, and we always have name brand toiletries that I probably got for free or very little. So below the pictures is a copy of the email I sent her.

This is from one of my recent shopping trips. I paid $5.70 for all this!:

Another one of my trips. I paid $11 out of pocket and they gave me $9 in rewards to use on my next trip. That makes it a $2 net!:



Ok, so let's talk coupons! First things first: where to get coupons. The Sunday paper of course! I don't know how much your local paper costs, but mine is $3 for one or $5 for a two pack. Kinda pricey, but I know my coupons will at least pay for the price of a paper, even if I'm not planning a trip that week. So buy however many you want. Also, internet printable coupons come from coupons.com, redplum.com, couponnetwork.com, and smartsource.com. Those are just the general coupon sites, a lot of brands have their own coupons they put on their website. Also Target has store coupons on their website.

That leads me to the next topic. You can stack store coupons and manufacturer coupons to get a great deal or possibly free stuff! My favorite stores are Target and CVS, because I can stack coupons and sales. You should also look for stores that will double or triple coupons. I also shop at Albertson's when they have good sales because they double coupons that are up to 50 cents and triple coupons that are up to 39 cents.

This is important to note: you should find and read the coupon policy of anywhere you want to shop. This will save you surprises at the register. Every store is different, and some are even different by location. Like the Krogers in the Dallas//Ft.Worth area don't double coupons anymore. But I think they still do other places. Also, some stores will only allow you to use so many of the same coupon in one transaction. Like, Target's limit is 4 of the same coupon.

Tip: Don't buy something just because it's a good deal. Don't buy cat food, just because you can get it for $2 if you don't have a cat. That being said, sometimes you can get things for free, or make money on an item. Then, I don't care what it is, I'm buying it. I do this a lot when I have coupons for CVS for $5 off a $25 purchase. Because I plan to use that coupon first, I will buy items that I have good coupons for even if I don't use the item, to get me close to that $25 mark. I'll make up an example, because I'm not sure I'm making sense.

Ok say I have a coupon for $5 off a $25 purchase. I need diapers this week and those cost $10 and I'll get 2. So, I need to spend $5 more to use my coupon. So I pick up a brand of mouthwash (that I don't use) from the travel section for $2.50. I'll get 2 of those. Ok when I hand my coupons to the clerk I make sure the $5 off $25 coupon is on top, so it gets scanned first. Then I have 2 coupons for diapers of $2 each, and 2 coupons for mouthwash at $2 each. So that should take $13 off my trip making it $12. That makes my diapers $6 a package and I'll just give the mouthwash away to someone that uses it. But if I hadn't bought it, my diapers would have cost $20 - $4coupons = $16 They would have been $8 a piece. So it's all a math game. I have spent 2 hours in CVS before with my calculator. LOL

But that brings up another point. Always check size restrictions. If it doesn't say anything you can get trial or travel sized items and probably get a free item! So make sure you read the wording on your coupons.

Ok, that should get you started. I also follow couponing blogs on the internet there's a local one for me at mydallasmommy.com and then there's one that's devoted to target savings at totallytarget.com. Both sites have good tips on them and are updated daily. You should also see if anyone has a similar blog for your local area. Ok, finally, I watch the Extreme Couponing tv show on TLC. They also have a website with videos and lots of tips. Hope that helps, and absolutely ask any question that you want!  - Leslie

PS. I didn't proofread this so, I hope it all makes sense :)

DIY Yarn Pom Poms

Hey! Long time no see! This upcoming weekend I'm helping my sister-in-law host a wedding shower for some dear friends of ours. I thought that we needed something outside to kind of mark her house, because there will be people we don't know coming. But, it's not a five year old's birthday party, so we didn't want to use streamers and balloons. I've seen people use these yarn pom pom garlands on tons of posts on pinterest, so I thought I'd give it a go.

Here's how I made my pom poms:

All you need is yarn, a piece of cardboard, and scissors.

Wrap yarn around a piece of cut cardboard. The wider the cardboard, the bigger the pom pom.

Wrap, wrap, wrap! Like 100 times! My thought was if my yarn looked like a square on the cardboard, my pom pom would be more symetrical.

Carefully pull it off of the cardboard, keeping it intact, and cut the string still attached to the skien.

Cut another length of yarn. Mine is probably about a foot long. Just remember, you can always trim shorter, you cannot grow longer. :)

Tie your string in a knot around the loops.

You should have two sides of loops when finished.

Start cutting the loops!

I find it easiest to cut one side of loops, then move the other side. It's easier to spot the ones you miss.

Fluff it up! I find rolling it in my hands works great. Now time to trim. While I love the look of wild haphazardness, some strands are just too long. Snip them away. Heres where you can alter: If you want more pristine poms, keep triming until all strands are the same size. They will become much smaller than when you started if you go this route. I wanted big shaggy poms, and I'm lazy, so I didn't.

Then just make how ever many you need, for the length of garland you are planning. I'm planning to place mine about a foot apart, so I made 6. This should give me at least 8 feet of garland.

So next week, after the shower, I will show you how to strand them together and the finished product! Have a great week!

UPDATE: Sorry I never got back to finish out this project. Sometimes life gets in the way. All I did to string these together to make a garland, was use a yarn needle and thread yarn through the middle of the pom. I would say, depending where you are planning to hang it, you might want to make a big knot in the place you want the pom to stay, to keep them from bunching up together. I had mine outside and the wind moved them around, wish I would've done that.