From the category archives:
I sometimes get asked if it’s OK to stack a Video Values coupon with a manufacturer’s coupon at Rite Aid. While working on the Rite Aid matchups tonight, I came across this lovely illustration I thought I’d share with you.
Does that answer your question?
Walgreens has some similar illustrations in their ad this weekend. Clip these and store them in your coupon binder just in case you ever run into trouble at checkout. Then you can say, “but the ad told me to!”
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Some time ago now, I shared that blogger Bargain Briana launched The Frugal Map.
This is a map that helps connect you to awesome frugal bloggers in YOUR area. And I’m pleased to announce that today I got the word I’d been added to the map! Yipee!
I’m pleased to represent the greatest state in the country – Washington of course!
In all seriousness, if you’re looking to find deals for areas near you, give this a try. One thing I noticed – when you click on your state, make sure to click on the link in the pop-up that appears for the FULL blogger list for that state.
Thanks, Briana, for putting The Coupon Project on the map!
Just found me from The Frugal Map? Welcome! I encourage you to read my About this Blog and About Me pages to learn more about who I am and what you can expect from my blog.
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I mentioned last week that it appears there was a formula error on the Summary page of the Savings Tracker. I took some time to look at it today, and I really don't know why it was producing strange numbers! At any rate, I decided to modify the formula to clear things up.
To solve this problem, I have two possible solutions. First, you can download the corrected version:
(Edited at 10:05 pm to include fix to the "Coupons" column as well)
Download 2010SavingsTracker(for Excel 07)
Download 2010SavingsTracker2 (for Excel 97-03)
You will then need to move your data over into the new spreadsheet. The simplest way would be to copy and paste.
But perhaps an easier, faster way is to simply make the corrections yourself to the spreadsheet. You will need to have a little Excel know-how in order to do this (or at least, not be intimidated by Excel!).
On your Savings Tracker, open the tab named "Summary" - you'll find it way left on the bottom. Look for the column titled "Discounts" – I've highlighted it for you.
You will need to change each of the cells in this highlighted row. Start with January, which is cell D2. Go to the formula bar at the top of the Excel screen and type in this formula:
=January!D4-January!D3
Click enter. Then, move your cursor to February's cell, D3, and type this formula:
=February!D4-February!D3
The rest follow suit right down the column, making sure the formula corresponds to the correct month.
=March!D4-March!D3
=April!D4-April!D3
=May!D4-May!D3
And so forth.
EDITED to add: there was sadly an error also in the "Coupons" column – thanks to the readers who pointed that out. The downloadable versions have been corrected above. If you wish to make the correction yourself, please make sure that every formula in this column reads "month!D3" and NOT "D2." Such as:
=January!D3
=February!D3
=March!D3
I apologize for this these mistake mistakes. In looking at the way I wrote the original formula, I can't tell why it wasn't producing correct numbers. But this seems to clear up the problem.
Please let me know any additional improvements or suggestions you have for this tracker. Seeing how we are into mid-February, I probably won't release any more editions of the 2010 version. However, I would love to take your ideas and expand this into an even more useful tool for 2011. Thank you!!
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A couple days ago, Bargain Briana launched her Frugal Map. This interactive map helps you find bloggers that post deals for your neck of the woods.
Incidentally, you might notice that there are currently NO bloggers listed for the wonderful State of Washington. Yes, I have respectfully submitted my blog for consideration. I am anxiously awaiting Ms. Briana's acceptance (hint, hint Briana if you're reading this!).
I think this tool is a great resource to connect you to bloggers in your state! If you're looking to find deals for your state or area, you might also wish to check out The Grocery Gathering.
Thanks for all your time and effort, Briana!!
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I know many of you have downloaded and have been using my Savings Tracker tool. I decided to continue to illustrate how to use it, along with how I'm shaping up budget-wise for the month. Here's my results.
If you notice the "At-a-Glance" section, you'll see I've set a monthly budget of $300. Of this amount, I've spent only $67.43 after you account for the $2 rebate I have coming. If you prefer to see how you're doing BEFORE rebates, notice the figure on the top right-hand column called "Amount Paid (exc. Rebates)." So far, I've saved $172.16 this month, and $73.67 of that has been coupons. This includes any manufacturer or store coupons I've redeemed, including Catalinas and Register Rewards.
I had a reader request to see one of my receipts for further illustration. This is the Rite Aid transaction noted in my second line entry. (Which is a good thing actually, because I realized I had made a couple errors!)
I'm going to do my best to break this down for you. To arrive at the shelf cost, I simply tallied the ENTIRE cost of this transaction before sales, coupons, rebates, etc. I included tax. Basically, I'm trying to determine the cost of this transaction had I paid full retail. Adding up the regular prices plus tax, I get a total of $31.18.
Next, coupons. I had two "buy one, get one free" Stayfree coupons and two $1/1 GE coupons. Since the Stayfree would've been $3.99 each, my total coupon savings was $9.98 (this is also noted at the bottom of the receipt).
Next, discounts. Rite Aid was running a buy one, get one free sale on the Stayfree, so that saved me $7.98. They also noted on the receipt that the regular price for the wipes was $3.29 and the lightbulbs was $5.29. I tally the difference between that and what I paid. My total store discounts? $15.35.
Finally, I have a $2 rebate coming on the GE.
So I entered in the $23.81, $9.98, $15.35, and $2 figures where appropriate. The "amount paid" is a formula and generated a figure of $3.85. I know this is correct since I paid $5.85 and the difference is the rebate. My savings rate was 87% for this particular transaction.
I understand not all stores give you a "discount" total. For instance, if you bought the $1 bags of salad at Fred Meyer this week, you're not going to see anywhere on the receipt that you saved $x.xx from the regular price. One thing I do in this instance is just estimate what the normal cost would've been. Or you could just leave it alone. Your choice.
Incidentally, I enjoy seeing what dollar amount of my savings is coming from coupons. There are folks out there that still maintain you can't save much from coupons. Check it out – so far this month, I've actually saved more money on coupons than I've spent on groceries!
This is why I LOVE tracking my spending and savings. You can be encouraged with the progress you are making and the results you are achieving. You can also use your results as benchmarks to reach for new goals.
If you're just joining me, it's not too late to get started! Go here to download your FREE Savings Tracker - the same one I'm using above. And go here for tips to see how I'm currently keeping organized in 2010. Given the tremendous response on this tool, I'm going to be periodically showing you how I'm doing with it. Please let me know if there are other questions I can address.
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I wanted to bring to your attention that I’ve added a new resource to my site today: a link to Coupon Trunk. You’ll find it under “Additional Resources” in my right-hand sidebar.
Here are just a few things you’ll find at Coupon Trunk:
Be sure to check out Coupon Trunk- and remember, you’ll now find the link on my blog for handy future reference.
I am pleased to share this sponsored link with my readers. See my Disclosure Policy for more details.
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Good evening! I got a fair amount of questions and comments the other day about the free Savings Tracker spreadsheet. I made a few transactions today and entered them to illustrate how I’m personally making use of this tool. I thought I’d share it with you to give you an idea of how it can be used to work.
First, I made my line item entries just below the orange bar in “January Spending & Saving Details.” For each receipt, “Shelf Cost” is what I would’ve paid had the store offered no discount and had I presented no coupons. To keep things simple, I include tax since I figure either way, I’m paying it.
Coupons are both store and manufacturer coupons. Important note here: this is how I’m accounting for Register Rewards & Catalina coupons. Why? Essentially they’re treated and redeemed as coupons. Why make it more complicated than it needs to be? You’ll notice that in the ”Comments” section I mentioned that I earned a $10 OYNO coupon during my Albertsons trip today. That’s just for me to note that I have it. So let’s say I redeem it tomorrow on a $20 transaction. That line entry will include it as $10 in “coupons.” I would treat this the same for Walgreens Register Rewards. In the end, your overall savings is still correctly reflected in your “Savings Rate” in the At-a-Glance section.
You’ll also note that on my Rite Aid transaction, I have a $2 rebate. I should now be sure to enter the rebate into Rite Aid’s system. Additionally, I could note it on the “Rebate Tracker” of the spreadsheet if I care to track when I submitted it and when I received it.
Rebates are a tricky business and I like to keep my tally both before and after rebate. If you notice in the “January At-a-Glance” section, my “Amount Paid” includes my rebate savings. In the right-hand column there’s also an “Amount Paid” figure that excludes rebates. Here’s another important note: the variance figure is calculating your budget less amount paid that includes rebates.
Finally, sometimes I’ll have trips that may not necessarily include sales or coupons – I’m still counting them! Today I purchased some spice and bulk items at Winco. You’ll notice the shelf cost is also the cost I paid. I’m not overly concerned about calculating what I would’ve spent had I purchased spice bottles and not in bulk; I’m more concerned about coming in under my $300/monthly budget. That is the most important figure on the spreadsheet for me – even more so than savings rate.
I hope those that are using this tool are enjoying it! I hope you also take the time to make it your own. I understand everyone’s brain works different, so feel free to tweak formulas, shift columns, or add your own notes to make it work for you. Throughout 2010, my goal will be to do a better job of tracking my savings and spending and share those results with you.
Best wishes for 2010!
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UPDATE: Be sure to stop by this post to see how I've started using my Savings Tracker. I'm illustrating using my own, real-life transactions!
Some of you might have been using the Excel spreadsheet savings tracker I created last year. In order to start the New Year of right, I decided I wanted to make some modifications to this spreadsheet. As some of you know, I used to work as an Administrative Assistant to Senior Management for a local bank, so I got rather handy with Excel. 
With this spreadsheet you'll be able to:
I've worked hard to create this spreadsheet and make it as user-friendly as possible. My goal was to have you be able to enter only a few pieces of data from your receipts and let it do all the calculating for you.
To get started, download and save a copy of the spreadsheet to your computer. Then, open the Summary tab. This is where you can get a year-to-date view of your savings. All you need to do on this tab is set up your monthly budget for food and household items – one entry per month. Once you input that information, your monthly tabs will prefill with your goals. At any point, you can visit the Summary tab to keep an eye on the "bigger picture" of your spending and savings.
Each time you shop, come back and fill out the few pieces of information from your receipts onto the appropriate monthly tab. Again, I have formulas preset to keep your stats updated EVERY TIME new information is entered.
A couple last notes about this Savings Tracker. First, while I've worked to make it as user-friendly as possible, please note a basic understanding of Excel is essential. I've included a "Start Here" tab with a few basic instructions, but unfortunately, I can't offer Excel training to everyone. Sorry.
Lastly – and this should be common sense – this spreadsheet is intended for personal use ONLY. Please be considerate of copyright issues. If you are a blogger and wish to direct your readers to my Tracker, you are welcome and encouraged to link to this post. However, I request you not place the Tracker for download directly on your personal blog or website.
I hope this helps some of my nerdy Excel friends! I will be using this spreadsheet myself and will try to show you how I make use of it in the days and weeks ahead to illustrate how it works.
UPDATE: One commentor mentioned that the links weren't working from the Summary Page to the monthly tabs. When I took a look, I reazlied I'd hard entered $150 from Feb – Dec. I have uploaded the corrected versions below. I apologize for this!
Download 2010SavingsTracker (Excel 2007 Version)
Download 2010SavingsTracker2 (Excel1997 – 2003 Version; some formats may vary slightly)
Thoughts? Let me know!
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Like a lot of folks, I have a few resolutions. I don't want to bore you with my long personal list, but I do want to share with you my thoughts for this blog in 2010.
So, what can you expect to see this year?
Same great deals. I'm going to keep providing weekly drugstore and grocery store matchups, because these posts are the heart of my blog and what work to save you money. I'm also going to keep up the hot online deals and coupons I find. I want to help you save money in many areas of your budget.
Frugality focus. I've hinted at this before, but this year I'm going to open up more and share some of what my family is going to do to get aggressive about getting financially fit. One of the most exciting things? My husband and I are about to rip up a chunk of our sod and plant an extensive garden! I'm not a pro at gardening, but I'm going to do my best to share with you my efforts to grow our own food.
Vlog posts. I want my readers to feel personally connected to me. Sometimes it's hard when I'm sitting at my computer, because I seriously wish I could sit down with each of you over a cup of coffee and chat coupons. I think incorporating occasional video posts might help bridge the gap between blogger-reader. I need to acquire a working camera/video recorder first, but this should be coming soon.
Blog overhaul. I have been in contact with a blog designer and will also likely be migrating this blog to Wordpress in the next few months. My goal is to give you a site that's clean, sharp, and enoyable to read. Nothing flashy, nothing cluttered, and for pity's sake, nothing cutesy. I want to add features you can quickly go to for referencing about coupon usage, policies, and trends. I anticipate these changes to take place early spring.
Goals & results. Admittedly, I didn't do so well with this last year. You might recall in the early months I'd report on how much I was spending and saving. Then life happened and I simply stopped keeping up with recording this data. Tonight, I'm going to rework my Savings Tracker Spreadsheet for 2010. I will release it tonight in a post so you can download it onto your computer to track your own savings and spending and create goals. I want to get back to this important component of couponing. So watch tonight for your new & improved Savings Tracker!
Focus on health. As most of you know, I'm currently on a quest to get healthy, drop a few pounds, and run another marathon! (Incidentally, you can follow my other blog to see how I've currently lost 8 pounds in less than one month using a common sense approach!) Therefore, you're going to notice increased efforts to find deals on healthy, organic, and basics for home cooked meals because this is exactly the way my family is going to be eating in 2010.
Reader results. It's exceedingly important to me that YOU are seeing results in your budget. I want to feature YOUR trips, post YOUR stories, and YOUR success. I'm going to be pressing you to share this with me so I encourage all my readers that couponing, saving, and smart shopping pays off BIG.
Post series. I have plans for at least one more series (such as my Coupon Lessons and Myths & Misconceptions). It's gonna take a fair amount of research, but at the end of it, I am hoping to learn about coupons in a new and interesting way. What's the topic? Top secret. You'll just have to wait!
So these are my plans for 2010. If there are particular things you'd like to see more of, less of, or have other ideas, speak up. Your thoughts and opinions of my site are important to me.
Now everyone, enjoy a Happy New Year! I hope to help make yours a more prosperous one!
Blessings from,
Angela Russell
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Who were the winners and losers this year? 
I decided to do some reflecting on posts and deals I'd written about in the last year. Some stores and companies shined, while others failed to deliver or just plain annoyed. Of course these are based on my own personal experience and the stores in my region (Puget Sound, Washington). Your opinions may well differ.
Let's get the bad news out of the way first.
THE LOSERS
Kmart. Kmart started cutting back on their "double coupon" promotions, and particularly in my area (State of Washington). I actually contacted them about this and they told me Washington shoppers didn't make enough of the sales – really?! Wanna give us another try? Areas that continued receiving the promotions noticed a reduction in how many items could be doubled and towards the end of 2009, most areas noticed less promotions altogether. And some occurred entirely unannounced. Boo.
KFC. KFC had one of the WORST promotions this year with their free grilled chicken coupons. Remember these? They were announced on Oprah's show and people began printing the puppies off and overloading local franchises where stores were overwhelmed and out of stock. Mobs of angry customers formed impromptu sit ins in protest. What was intended as a positive, turned into a huge negative, and fast.
Safeway. While Safeway had a couple notable promotions throughout the year, they top the list as one of my least favorite local grocery stores to shop at. At the start of 2009, their in-ad coupons required a minimum of $10 additional purchase, but this was upped recently to a $20 minimum purchase. What's worse, most of these coupons offer no substantial savings in the first place. You might recall I dedicated an entire post to venting my frustration over these so called "Super Coupons."
Garlic Jims. I hate to do this because I love their pizza and we continue to order from them about once a month. Several months ago, they'd advertised that they'd accept competitor coupons so I called my local store. Not only did they claim to know nothing about it, they made no attempt to learn more or even head to their own website. What's worse, a rep contacted me apologizing and offering to send a free pizza for my hassle. But guess what? That never arrived either. Get your act together guys.
National Frozen Food Month. What a complete joke. Many of the prices splashed across store ads were really not that much better (if at all) from regular retail. But unaware consumers might well have taken the bait. Better frozen food prices were interestingly found in summer. Another instance where advertised price does not equate stock up price.
THE WINNERS
Amazon. This is the first year I'd paid any attention to Amazon, and all I have to say is WOW. They do an amazing job of slashing prices on quality items, offer cheap & free shipping, and their shipping/return policy is excellent. They consistently outpriced their competition throughout the holiday shopping season.
Facebook. Companies realize the power of Facebook advertising, and are willing to reward folks for signing up as fans. Some of the best offers and coupons came on Facebook this year. I imagine this trend will persist throughout 2010 as the next generation of couponers is being targeted.
Kraft. Starting in May, Kraft rocked the coupon scene with many hot printable and insert coupons. Stores obliged with sales, and the kicker was when Kraft offered a $20 rebate late summer. I imagine most of my readers still have Kraft cheese, BBQ sauce or mayo hanging around as a result of Kraft's promotions.
Fred Meyer. One of my very favorite places to shop, Fred Meyer offers wonderful in-store coupons and sales on basic pantry staples and nutritious selections. They also surprised me come holiday season by offering the best deals to pair with the Playskool printable coupons. THE JURY IS OUT
Albertsons.Thanks to Albertsons, I was able to stock my pantry and let my Costco membership expire. They especially made me smile when they offered double coupons along with hot Catalina promotions. While we mourned the loss of the competitor coupons in April, Albertsons, we understand you were losing profits. We're just glad you kept your doors open and gave us incredible deals all year long.
Rite Aid. I really thought Rite Aid was about to fizzle early on in 2009, but instead they made an awesome rally with rebates, coupons, and sales. They pepper their ads with illustrations how to use coupons with their sales and rebates. And who can forget the onslaught of $5-off-$25 printables? AdPerks brought high value coupons and Rite Aid ran not one, but two "gift of savings" programs this year. They have one of the best coupon policies and took the time to make their policy public (thanks to a lil' help from Deal Seeking Mom). Rite Aid, thumbs up. WAY up.
Payless Shoes. Probably one of my "top 10" coupons of 2009 was the Payless 50% off EVERYTHING coupon of a couple months ago. You might recall I nearly teared up at checkout. They launched a rather gutsy coupon, AND their stores were prepared and followed through. That is how it's done – KFC pay attention.
Old Navy. Old Navy ran heavy online coupon promotions all year – and some of them were particularly great. However, I have a couple bones to pick. 1) There were only a small handful of the super high value coupons each time and they involved staying up at odd hours of the night, constantly refreshing your computer, and scouring chat rooms for assistance. 2) Some of the clothes I bought at Old Navy with these coupons literally fell apart. The quality was so cheap on some of the shirts, I wonder if they were worth the $2 I paid for them plus the $2 in gas I used to retrieve them from the store. That being said, I did acquire a few pieces I still enjoy and use and undoubtedly Old Navy ran a smart marketing campaign that helped their business at a time when not many people were hitting the stores. (And incidentally, if you follow my blog at any length, you probably enjoyed snagging equally good if not better deals from online retailers – without having to hunt for coupons by clicking on a ridiculously fast bird that flies across your computer screen.)
Walgreens. I miss their Easy Saver Rebate program and prefer it to their overly complicated Register Reward system. While Register Rewards enable customers to acquire more "freebies," they also involve more transactions, more trips, more thought, and more fuss. And, they tend to go haywire easily. Walgreens partially redeemed themselves by reinstituting their monthly coupon book. As for me? While I'm still a regular Walgreens-goer, I find myself inclined to go there less since the death of the Easy Saver Rebate. RIP.
Agree? Disagree? Care to throw some other companies/stores/promotions into the ring? Be my guest!
Photo credit Kostya Kisleyko
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I'm a wife, mother of two, and freelance writer. I've learned to cut my grocery bill in half by combining coupons and sales! Join me as I share my real life money-saving adventures with you. I'm blogging out of the greater Seattle/Tacoma area. Read more about me and this blog here.
I do weekly deals and coupon matchups for each of the stores below. Click on a logo - and check it out!
