Free Sample Review: Happy Water

So I am on a bunch of "advisor" websites that will reward your reviews with free samples and free product coupons. 

I'll do a different blog post on the panels I'm on, but this one was through "Social Nature". So they sent me an offer via email asking if I would be willing to try and review this product, and I clicked on the I Want It button. 

After saying yes, they sent me these items in the mail, including the free product coupon. 

Now, I don't like water. The only way I can drink it is if it's ice cold or has mixed powder/squirt flavouring in it. BUT, I like free, and my roommate drinks a lot of water, so I figured it would be used one way or another. 

On the back of the coupon it lists the stores that carry this product, in Ontario and BC only right now it looks like. The only one near me was Sobeys, so that's where we headed. 

So walking into a store and asking the team if they had heard of "Happy Water" gave a few chuckles and raised eyebrows, but it was there in the water bottle section, as expected. However, they were sold out of the 5L cases. Long story short, and after waiting a long time a customer service, they let me use the max value on the coupon towards the purchase of a 10L case.  

Basically it's a big bag of water in a box. The spout design pops out from it easily, and doesn't drip. It's like a mini water cooler in a box. The taste is very smooth and I was surprised that I actually liked it. I've tried mixing it with cordials and drink mixes and they all mix well, with a clean taste. My review I posted is below:

Anyways, sharing here because it was part coupon/great deal and part good product. 

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.