Not-So-Extreme Couponing

Yes. I admit it. I watch that 'Extreme Couponing' show. From the first show, the wheels starting turning in my head. 'What if I could do this for my family?' So I looked it up.

I found out that Canadian couponing is not the same as American. In the U.S., grocery stores have so much competition so it's not uncommon for the store to offer twice the value of the coupon you bring in. They also allow coupon stacking which means that you can use two different coupons for one product.

Luckily, getting great deals with coupons in Canada is easy. I combine sales with my coupons. So if I have a coupon for cheese that is $3 off and the cheese normally costs $6, I'll wait for that cheese to go on sale for $4. Cheese for $1 is a great deal. It's also helpful to know that sales happen in cycles of twelve weeks. So if you have several coupons for the same thing, it's a good idea to stock up until the next time.

So today, I took my $2 off coupon for M's favourite body spray, Axe, to Shopper's Drug Mart. They were offering Axe for $3.99 down from $5.99. I was so excited about this great deal that I didn't even notice that the cashier didn't give me my change from $10. So instead of spending $1.99 on the body spray, I spent $10. A bit of a bummer for my first couponing experience.

If you'd like to know more about couponing, visit this blog and watch her videos on how to coupon. On top of her great tips, I'd recommend looking up the websites of your favourite products. Some of them have free magazines or e-zines and you can often find coupons among the articles. For example, Kraft Canada has a magazine called 'What's Cooking' that comes out 4 times a year. Almost every issue has coupons.

Most of the coupons I have come from SmartSource and RedPlum. You can look up their schedules. I confess that after those coupon catalogues come out I go for a 'recycle bin walk' and dig for coupons. You can also ask friends and neighbours to keep them for you. Everyone has their secrets.