Eating Out?

You can find coupons for pizza all over the place, but what about those Mom & Pop restuarants in your area? Check out restaurant.com, search your zip code, and try a new place to eat!

These gift certificates are printed just before you go, right off your computer, so there's no need to wait for the mail to come.

You can save if and only if you are frugal about what you spend. Check to see what the minimum is on the certificate, and be sure to spend JUST that amount. If you go crazy with appetizers and desserts, you'll find you didn't spend much of anything. In reality, if it's a $25 certificate off of $35, you should only be spending $15 or so at the end (depends if your alcoholic drinks are included, and this is before taxes).

As for other chains, make sure you keep your eyes open to see if they have a "club" you can join (for free) to earn points. T-Bones and Smokey Bones are a few I know of. For Smokey Bones, you can join their email club to ge coupons, but I'd join the rewards club too. You get a point for each dollar you spend and when you've reached 100/200 points, you will get a $10/$20 gift certificate towards your next dinner there!

At the very least, visit the websites of those restaurants you like to visit and sign up for their email list. Most will occasionally send you coupons, especially on your birthday (so have diffent members of your family sign-up so you get coupons throughout the year!).

Happy eating out!

Coupons Galore!

Get your coupons from more than just the Sunday newspaper... visit these websites to get in on all the action...

www.coupons.com
www.SmartSource.com
www.RedPlumm.com
www.RightAtHome.com
www.valpak.com
www.pgeverydaysolutions.com

You can also visit specific brands websites for coupons on their products. Just search for the brands you buy week after week to see if they offer coupons on the items you use.

Savings at Walgreens and BJ's

Please be aware that some stores, including Walgreens and BJ's allow you to use one of their coupons in addition to a manufacturer coupon for the same item - that's double the savings! Thanks to a tip I found on moneysavingmom.com, I just went to Walgreens and bought 3 boxes of Huggies wipes (72ct) for $0.97 each! I used the Walgreens 15% off "Friends and Family" coupon, another Walgreens $1 off 1 box of Huggies coupon (which they automatically ring in as $1 per box ($3 total) and a $2.50 off 3 boxes of Huggies manuafacturer coupon from SmartSource.com.

I usually go to BJ's and buy the 616ct box of Luvs wipes for $12.99 minus their $3 coupon, and sometimes minus a $1 or $2 manufacturer coupon with that.

These 2 deals come out the the same ultimate price (actually, without a Luvs manufacturer coupon at BJ's the Huggies deal was better at Walgreens). Either way, a steal over paying full price for wipes normally, even at Walmart's low price.

My suggestion is to stock up on Huggies during the great deal (see moneysavingmom.com for more details and to get your hands on the coupons you'll need, along with other great deals) and when you run out of Huggies, grab hold of your BJ's coupon book and go for the Luvs. In my opinion, Huggies are better wipes than Luvs, but I'd take Luvs over the Sesame Street wipes at the Dollar Store anyday (those are too rough).

If you know of other stores that honor store coupons AND manufacturer coupons, let me know so we can share!