Frugal Column January 8, 2012

I laughed when I watched the new show “2 Broke Girls” last week. The show is about a rich girl whose father is in jail for embezzling people’s money ultimately making her family broke. She is now a waitress trying to make ends meet last week she discovers coupons. At first she is ashamed to be seen using coupons but when she sees how much money she can save she is hooked. When I was growing up there was a stigma that if you used coupons you were poor. Now when shopping you will see many women and men walking around with their coupon binder or coupon folders in their shopping cart. Many of us have come to conclusion that not using coupons is really throwing your money away. My favorite place to find coupons is the Sunday paper but there are other avenues to get more coupons. Different stores have electronic coupons that you can load right on the store’s loyalty card and mobile coupons that load on your smartphone. To load digital coupons on your Kroger Plus card just go to www.kroger.com and register your card then you will be able to click on a coupon which will automatically be deducted from your total at the register when you purchase the qualifying product. There are two more sites that also let you load ecoupons onto your Kroger Plus card they are www.shortcuts.com and www.cellfire.com . I do want you to remember that you cannot use a paper coupon with an electronic coupon and the electronic coupon will be deducted first. One other downfall is an electronic coupon will not double. So load your coupons wisely. RiteAid just introduced their new program called load2card. This allows Rite Aid Wellness plus members to load, manage and redeem digital coupons via their wellness card. Just go to www.riteaid.com and register your wellness card and start adding savings right to your card. Now one of my favorite stores to use mobile coupons is Target. Get deals sent to you twice a month and redeem them at the register right from your phone’s screen. Send HELP to 827438 for information or STOP to 827438 to end. You could receive up to 5 messages per month. Message and data rates may apply. The internet has given us the opportunity to print coupons right from home. If you look at your Sunday paper’s inserts you will see that each insert has a website where you can also print off additional coupons. The inserts we usually get are www.redplum.com and www.smartsource.com. A couple of other websites for coupons are www.coupons.com and www.couponnetwork.com these are reputable coupon sites where you will not get a fraudulent coupon. When printing a coupon off the internet make sure it has a barcode, expiration date, says manufacturer coupon along with little dots in the expiration date box. Remember sometimes if it is too good to be true it probably is a fake. These sites will also only let you print two copies of a coupon. I always tell everyone coupons are everywhere if there is a product that you like go to their website 80% of the time they will offer a coupon for example www.kelloggs.com have many printable coupons available. Now into the next generation of couponing http://SavingStar.ojrq.net/c/21545/17146/758 Saving Star. Saving Star gives you the option of loading your stores loyalty cards for example: CVS Extracare card, Kroger Plus Card and Rite Aid Wellness card and linking ecoupons to your stores cards. When you use your loyalty card and purchase an item that you have loaded an ecoupon for, it will automatically add that coupon amount to your Saving Star account. When you have reached the minimum of $5 you can have that amount sent to a Pay Pal account, Amazon.com gift card, right to your bank, or American Forest.org charity account. You will not see a deduction to your bill. The plus to this is you will be able to use a paper coupon plus use your ecoupon from Saving Star. Come see me at The Fayette Mall on January 13 from 4pm to 8pm and January 14 from 10am to 3pm where I will be demonstrating SC Johnson’s new product All-In-One Cleaning System while giving away free refill samples.

January 14-16 our National Parks that usually charge an entrance fee are offering fee-free days. http://www.nps.gov/findapark/feefreeparks.htm

Visit Penquin Palooza during Winter Family Days – January 4 to February 29 when up to two kids get into The Newport Aquarium in Newport, KY for only $2 each with every adult who pays full price. www.newportaquarium.com

Watch Showtime for free today. See if your TV provider is participating. http://www.sho.com/site/freepreview/home.do

CVS Deals:
Listerine Total Care on sale for $3.99 receive $2 in extracare bucks use your $1 Sunday paper coupon making the final price just 99 cents.

Lady Mitchum Deodorant on sale for $1.99 use 75 cents coupon making the final price just $1.24
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Walgreens Deal:
Scrubbing Bubbles One Step Toilet Cleaner on sale for $8.99 use $4 Sunday paper coupon making the final price just $4.99.

Rite Aid Deal:
Visine $2 Store coupon in weekly sales flyer match with $2 manufacturer coupon in Sunday’s paper for a good deal.