Free product coupons and mail-in rebates

Who doesn't like the word free? Right, no one!

Companies put out FPC (free product coupons) and mail-in rebates in order to get their brand out there and for people to try their product. If the companies are putting the freebies out there, why not make sure you get a piece of the action? 

I try and use all free product offers that I can. 90% of the deals are for great stuff I'll actually use. The other 10% I will get and either "gift" or donate. It makes me feel good to get free, and it's a doubly nice feeling when you can donate items (for me, like dog food trial bags, diapers, shavers, etc) that you didn't have to pay for. 

FPC's and mail in rebate forms are usually in those sample booklets that come around in your newspaper, or direct from the vendor. I'll suggest that you subscribe to a few newsletters where people post the deals there, or follow a couple groups on Facebook that do the same thing. Saves you the effort of searching every day, because your time is valuable!

This week alone, I have 6 mail-in rebates I've sent off, including a hands-fee soap system, a home air effects system, a oxi-clean stain cleaner laundry wash bottle, some nair hair strips and others. 

My only suggestion is to really read the details of mail in rebate offers - make sure you pick up the right product, in the right size, and within the $ (including tax) that they will reimburse for. I've seen products on the shelf for more money than they will pay me back for, so I wait for the item to go on sale. Also, they usually have timelines, that the product has to be bought between and the rebate request received before. I also like to make it the only item on the receipt, which makes it easy at a glance for them to see the total amount. A good rule of thumb too that I've read about is to either photograph or photocopy the items before mailing them out. 

Time is of the essence when it comes to coupons and deals!

Watching a lot of court shows lately and in a court of law, this is an important line to add on any contract. What it means in the law system is that a person can't take their sweet time for years, it means they need to pay back your loan to them as soon as possible.

Couponing is much the same. If you don't make the time to go and buy a good deal, you'll miss out. Case in point, tonight's couple items...

I saw on Saturday that a couple of my e-rebate apps had scrubbing bubbles items on it. One was a buy two SC Johnson products and get $3.00 back and another app had buy any 2 scrubbing bubbles bathroom and get $4.00 back. Combine that with a Food Basics deal for $3.00 a bottle, and that's pretty good. Combine THAT with a manufacturers coupon I printed from online I had for buy one get one free, and now that's a great deal. 

Couldn't bring myself I go out to grab any of these this weekend and went out tonight instead. Well one of the apps was sold out tonight, so instead I got two bottles for $1. Still good, but we all like the idea of being "paid" to take stuff out from the store. 

Another of tonight's deals I missed the boat on was Pledge Floor cleaner. One one of the apps for $7 back a bottle, and I have a manufacturers coupon for save $5 each. Walked down the aisle and ran into a lady who was very excited to see a "fellow couponer" and asked if I was in on the Pledge deal. I said I hoped so and she said, yeah this was her third lap going to different cashiers to get the deal. Of course, when I got to the spot on the shelf she had cleared the shelf of all pledge products. Whomp whomp. 

So, note, another good tip is to make your shopping day either Thursday or Friday, when most of the apps have just refreshed their deals. After the weekend, all the other die hard couponer a have cleared the shelves and the available deals from the apps. 

Where to find coupons?

Okay, so this post will be edited a million times as I go along, remembering where I gather all my savings from.

On product - these are usually cereal boxes, cases of pop, cleaning supplies, and starter kits. I always check the packaging in store before I buy, seeing if there are any different boxes that might have a contest or coupon inside the box, or a swing tag or stuck on coupon on the outside. Always worth a look. 

Bottom of receipts - I've noticed this happening more and more. Sub shops and Petsmart have been best examples of this I've seen, usually offering a deal if you come back in a certain time period. Also, check the back/bottom of your receipts for the "fill out our survey and get.." offers for freebies (like Subway gives a free cookie for doing theirs). 

Free sample requests and emailing - so this'll be a separate blog post but request any free samples you can, which usually come with coupons attached, and also join samplesource for quarterly sample boxes in a couple clicks. Even just writing to a company telling them you like their product and do they have any samples/coupons they can send, usually they will (like Chapmans ice cream will send a free product coupon once a year if you ask).

Store tear pads - many grocery stores have tear pads in the aisles for new products and such. My favourite store for tear pads is Zehrs, as they have two big coupon boards when you first walk in, which saves all the wandering aisles. Mind you, I don't really shop at Zehrs as they won't price match, but they'll be my first stop to grab a bunch of coupons before I head off to a different store. 

Coupon websites - another blog post to come for this, but for example websaver and save.ca have coupons and there a so so many brand websites that host "secret coupons" through them. Make an account, click on the coupons you want, then press print. 

"Brand" websites - again, there's a list of these but I use P&G Everyday and Walmart online who host coupons to print. 

Mail to home sites - these are becoming a little more scarce, but there is a few sites that will still mail you physical coupons if you request. Websaver has just switched their mail to home program, which I'll review when I get my first bundle from them. 

Home mailers - these come in your newspapers and are popular for their free product mail-in rebates, buy one get one deals and fast food booklets of coupons. These are great to gather from friends and family who don't coupon, and can help start your mini-stockpile. 

Email subscriptions - everybody and their mother offer email subscriptions, so it's knowing which ones to join. I've joined a tonne under my non-primary email to see who sends coupons, and I'll try to do a post to update who I've found and liked. I also suggest you sign up for freebie notification subscriptions, like freebiefrenzy, which helps easily keep you on top of free samples and offers. 

Free magazines - Walmart one is the first one I can think of, but there are free recipe books, calendars for food and etc that you can pick up in stores for free. Usually, vendors have a bunch of coupons inside. 

Step 2, App's that give cash-back

So your binder is organized and you are ready to go.. But first, lemme take a detour..

On my iphone I have 6 money saving apps that are easy and actually work. I've tried to think about how these apps actually make any money on their end, but the opportunity here for everyday people like us to save a couple bucks a trip is offered, and you bet I'm taking it!

The idea behind these apps is to influence your purchases to try a certain brand or item. You go shopping, come home, open the app, and submit photos of your receipt to redeem offers like "Get .25 when you buy milk" or "Get 1.00 when you buy any 2 Febreeze scented sprays". Click on the things you bought in that trip, hit send, and wait for the approvals. All of these apps will send you a cheque when you reach a certain amount in your account, and I recently received my first $20 cheque from one of these apps. Easy, quick, and another few cents saved. 

Oh, and the apps will give you the credit no matter what you paid for the item. As long as the item is easily identified on your receipt, you will get the credit. This means you could use a coupon on the item in store, then come home and redeem it on the app (maybe making the item free). 

What I use, in order of preference :

Checkout 51 - good combination of generic items (buy any milk, bread, apples) with brand names we actually want to buy from. Large selection, and this changes every single week. They've also started bonus offers recently, where buy a couple of specially flagged items and get bonus credit back. This is who I got my first cheque from.

Zweet - again, lots of generic items and brand items. Weekly turnover of offers. Difference here is you also get Zweet points for purchases too, which after 650 points you can redeem as charity donations, gift cards and such. 

Snap (by Groupon) - same as the two above, except I find their deals run out quickly. Any generic deal is gone the same day, and what is left is sometimes not a favourite brand. You can also only redeem some offers once (like milk), like, ever, but they usually have high value credit backs for the items that are there. 

Save.ca - this app isn't the best to be honest, but every once in a while they get a couple good items on it. I believe they say their offers change weekly, but you can probably check it once a month as 75% of the deals stay the same. For sure, the website version of the this site is better for printing coupons!

CartSmart - same as save.ca. Okay for some offers, not so great for most.

Changio - this is an interesting app that does points instead of money, but for everywhere including groceries, fast food, department stores and restaurants. It also has a "scan" feature that awards points without having to buy the item (like scan this product's barcode in the store and get 5 points). I've just found this app and it will take me a long while to get up to the redemption point, but you need 2000 points to basically redeem anything. It's a great app if you are going to that place anyways (restaurants and fast food are my major go-to's), but I wouldn't structure my buying plan based on it. 

So those are the "redeeming" apps I've been using. On top of those cash-back apps, I also have a couple other apps that are geat:

Flipp - so my half hour of research a week is basically on this app. There is an awesome "search" function that will search for a keyword amongst all active flyers in your area. So you need a bathroom cleaner this week, and you have a coupon for Lysol?.. Plug "Lysol" into the search area and it'll show you results of that search (where it's on sale), what flyer they're in and more. It even allows you to "clip" the offer to a shopping list, which I use religiously for price matching (freshCo and Walmart both will price match based on digital flyers). Great app, highly recommend. 

PC Plus - if you shop at any of the stores that accept this points program, then you need the app to "load offers to the card". Basically, it'll award you extra points for select purchases, which you can redeem later at checkout for cash (I think it's in $5 increments). Sobeys and a couple other stores have similar rewards cards, which take no time to sign up for and to beep through at checkout. It all adds up!

Hope that covers all the digital pieces. Even if you don't do the physical couponing, these apps are a nearly effortless way to get a couple bucks back on everyday purchases.  

Getting started - the coupon binder

So my god-send in couponing has been my binder. Yes, I might look like a total dork wandering the aisles with a big green binder, but after trial and error this has been my absolute best tool.

I start here, before even telling you where the physical coupons are, because this is for sure the thing that makes my couponing easy. I love using the line "oh, I have a coupon for that!", and knowing exactly where to go to get it. No more digging in the abyss of a purse or searching through an accordion mass of coupons while standing at the cashier. 

My binder is a holdover from school and from my Pokemon card collecting days. It's an inch thick, with as many pages as I could scrounge up of those 9-pocket hockey card plastic pages. Garage sales are great for these card sheets, but I've seen them on sale at places like Staples and Walmart too. Binders are cheap at a dollar store or again during school start up time in stores. 

I did buy and try an accordion binder, but found that I would need to file through every coupon in a section to find the one I wanted. I tried the envelope organizational method too, but it was the same idea. Try a couple yourself, but I personally love seeing all my coupons at a glance. 

Then, organize. I use a page (or 2) per section of the grocery store: food, snacks, dairy, cleaning, scents, pet etc. If you shop at one store the most, organize the coupons based on the aisles then. What this does is allow you to not plan as much, and if a great sale is on the shelf, you can quickly flip in your book to see if you have a coupon for it too (essentially doubling the deal). This makes it so my quick trip for milk ends up being an hour long "start the carrrrr!" success story because of a few great deals I found, haha!

Another thing to note with this binder.. Take it with you! Always. Leave it in the trunk of your car, as I'm always out and about and realizing I have a coupon for something somewhere I didn't plan on going to. It's heartbreaking to know there's a stack of fast food coupons sitting on your dining room table when you have that McDonalds craving at lunch! I understand if you don't have a car this might be a little impractical, but they do make mini binders with these same sheets too!  :P

I guess if you want to be technical, other tools you need are a pair of scissors, a smartphone or tablet (I have iPhone and iPad), and a computer with printer. This is the arsenal I have (along with a couple other bonuses I'll talk about) to save money easily. 

About Me

Hello all!  I've been asked how I get the deals I get and save the money I have, so I thought I'd start an easy blog about it.

I'm in my mid twenties, with a house, a car and 2 wonderful dogs. I don't make a lot of money, so I try to stretch it out as much as possible. I have multiple savings accounts (everyone who can do it should go get a high interest account), take advantage of work perks, and I coupon! I joke that I won't pay full price for anything, and if the coupons are there to use by the manufacturers, why not use them?

Everyone has seen the American couponing shows.. If only it was that easy here in Canada! To any newbie couponer, please note that our coupons and stores don't allow for stacking like in the states (using multiple coupons per product) which makes it nearly impossible to get the same impressive hauls here. And all of these people have entire rooms dedicated to their stockpile.. Which might not be practical if you are in an apartment or tiny house like mine. 

Stockpiling is a brilliant way to do things when you get them for a great price, but I have the smallest house ever and the only thing I actually stockpile is paper cleaning products (they fit in a small corner of my pantry). 

Plus if I were to buy 20 cans of soup, I would never be able to use them all before the expiry, right? I wanted to save money on my everyday purchases, what I needed to buy one or two of, but was a little overwhelmed in the beginning thinking about how much work couponing seemed.. After all, those people on tv spend a week planning their grocery trips, after spending hours on cutting and organizing their coupons!

Friends, you can make your own sale every grocery trip, without that drama! I spend maybe an hour a week actually doing any research or cutting or organizing for a trip, and on average I will end up with a couple totally free products and nearly every item on sale in each trip. I don't find it hard or tedious, and if a bit of planning means I save more than $20 on every trip of $60, I'm good with that!

Couponing for the everyday person is easy and possible, and I'm hoping my quick posts can show that to anyone hoping to save a bit of money. Consider me the beginners guide to easy couponing haha!