CVS Couponing Tutorial: FREE Honest Tea, Pringles and Twizzlers

So, okay. I know I said that Extreme Couponing takes too much effort, and I prefer Casual Couponing. But sometimes, very occasionally, the stars align and there are opportunities for even the mildest of couponers to obtain Extreme Coupon status, if just for one shopping trip.

That time has come.

Allow me to explain. See that picture? With all the tea and stuff? That's $16.92 worth of groceries from CVS that I got entirely for free. Now a couple of them aren't easy to duplicate - the Hershey's bar was a coupon from last week , and the Tostito's bag was free thanks to a manufacturer's coupon I received for writing to the company - but this week, even YOU, my coupon-clueless broke college student readers, can get 6 free Honest Teas, 1 Pringles can, and $2 worth of whatever you want for FREE from CVS.
Here's a quick tutorial.

1. Step one is the most time-consuming, but it's not too bad. First, join this site: Recyclebank. It's a site where you win points for learning about recycling and green, planet-friendly stuff and can cash in your points for goodies like coupons. In our case, we're cashing it in for free tea. You'll need to get 180 points. Go to "earn points" and start taking quizzes, doing pledges, etc. I earned 300 points in about an hour last night, so it shouldn't take super long.

2. Got those points? Time to cash them in! Go to "Get Rewards" and search for "Honest Tea." You'll need to buy 3 Honest Tea coupons with your points. Now, after checking out your coupons, COPY the URL of the coupon printing page, and PASTE it into a new browser. This will allow you to print your coupons twice - for a total of 6 coupons. Now you're all set!

3. Head to CVS. Make sure you have an Extra Care card. If you don't, sign up ASAP. Once inside CVS, head to the ~Magical Coupon Machine~ (Apparently this is actually what it's called, it's just a red scanny machine thingy that prints coupons) and scan your Extra Care card. It should print you out 3 coupons - one for Twizzlers, one for Dove, and one for Pringles on-the-go. If it doesn't print that for you, no big deal, you'll still get free tea and something else for $2.

4. Grab 6 Honest Teas. The Orange Mango ones weren't part of the deal at my local CVS, so make sure the ones you grabbed are marked "5/$5.00." Also if you got the Pringles coupon, go ahead and grab that can of Pringles On-The-Go. They're $1.00 this week!


5. When you go to purchase your Honest Tea, it will print you out a $2 "Extra Care Buck" that is just like getting $2 cash for anything in the store! Here's an idea: if you also got that Twizzler's coupon, stack your $2 ECB with your $1 off Twizzler's coupon for FREE Twizzlers! Or how about a couple 2-liters of Coke? They're only $.79 this week. Enjoy!

"Extreme Couponing," and a simpler alternative

Lately there has been a lot of buzz about "Extreme Couponing" - mostly thanks to the TLC program of the same name. Essentially, this refers to individuals who collect coupons like it is their job, using them to get massive quantities of food for free or for almost nothing at all - like, say, $800 worth of food for $30. It has faced an awful lot of criticism (because after all, who really NEEDS $800 of food? Doesn't keeping it all seem a little bit selfish?) Personally, I do not practice "extreme couponing" or even mildly extreme couponing, and I am of the opinion that a decent amount of "Extreme Couponers" actually donate or gift a lot of their free food to charity, shelters and the like (or at least I hope so). However, much can be said for casual couponing, which I do practice!

What is casual couponing (aside from a phrase that I just made up)? I'll explain it via comparison. Extreme Couponers collect coupons obsessively, running around town picking up Sunday papers and, in one extremely extreme case, fishing them out of dumpsters; casual couponers, on the other hand, only collect coupons that they happen to stumble across during a normal day. In the case of college students, many casual couponers find coupons in the daily school paper, plastered over bulletin boards or stacked upon "FREE TAKE ONE" tables in dorms. Extreme couponers stock up coupons for one item until they can get that item for free, without regard to what the item is exactly; casual couponers only use coupons for things that they were already intending to purchase, and ignore coupons for things that are not already on their grocery list. Extreme couponers save hundreds of dollars on massive purchases of grocery items; casual couponers save maybe $10 or so per grocery trip on a perfectly normal, average amount of groceries.

Both forms of couponng have their merits, and both can save you money. To read up on couponing in all forms, I recommend this awesome site: Grocery Coupon Guide/. But since I am a casual couponer, and I find that extreme couponing takes endless amounts of extra time, organization and effort (something which we college students are short on, let's face it) I highly recommend taking the casual route. So how do you coupon casually? It's easy! Here are some steps to get you started:

1. If you see a coupon for an item you need, clip it out and put it into a folder or container of some sort. Do this every time you see a relevant coupon.
2. When you need to go grocery shopping, take your little collection of coupons with you to the grocery store.
3. Make sure what you are purchasing matches up with the coupons (the right brands, the right amounts etc) if you want to use those coupons.
4. At the cash register, present your coupons to the cashier.
5. Watch your savings rack up! Score!

It hardly takes any extra effort, and because you're only collecting coupons for items you already purchase, you don't even have to think much about it. (Extreme couponing, on the other hand, involves math. Ew.) If you want to take it a step up, try collecting coupons online - there are tons! You can certaintly find coupons for items that you regularly purchase. Where can you find those coupons?

○ Try looking at your local grocery stores' website. Some, like Kroger, have coupons that you can load onto your shoppper's club card to be automatically used during your next purchase!

○ Some couponing websites have coupon databases, such as Coupons.com or SavingsLifestyle.com

○ Paid-To sites, such as MyPoints, SwagBucks, SendEarnings, and InboxDollars often have grocery coupons that you can print out - and as a bonus, you'll earn points/money on the site while you're saving money! (10 points per coupon at MyPoints and SwagBucks; $.10 at SendEarnings and InboxDollars). Please comment on the post with your email for an invite to MyPoints!

○ You can always write to your favorite food manufacturers to receive grocery coupons - that way you'll definitely have coupons for products you enjoy!

Have you had any success with couponing? Leave me a comment!

How I saved $11,700 in college (and you can too!)

You've heard the old cliche, "every little bit counts!" You might call the people who subscribe to that notion "penny-pinchers" in a none-too-kind way. Well, I happily count myself among that group of people. And to demonstrate that penny pinching does, indeed, add up into something significantly more than a few pennies. I present, for your enjoyment, a whole bunch of numbers. (Well, how else are you supposed to believe that I saved $9,600 since starting college??) As a reward for sitting through all the numbers, I took a bunch of pictures of some of the free stuff I had sitting around for a more visual demonstration. (There are more on facebook) The point of this post, essentially, is to prove to you that reading this blog is very much worth your time. You, too, can save this much, and by doing - let's face it - not a whole lot of extra work!

First I'll start with paid-to sites because they actually earn me physical, actual money, not just savings. I've been using paid-to sites since 2007 - aka freshman year - and have made roughly $600 total. So that's an extra $150 a year for simply clicking emails and links occasionally.

When it comes to free stuff (freebies, schwag, etc), I have also been actively getting free stuff since 2007. I get about $250-$300 per year (I figured a minimum of 10 free samples a month - each month varies - valued at $2 each on average, times 12) so a total of roughly $1100 minimum since I started college.

As for general savings I have accrued, there are a few main areas where I save significantly:

Groceries: I spend about $50 a month, the average person spends about $150 a month. that's $1200 savings/year. More on thrifty grocery shopping in this entry.

Textbooks, I save about $300 a semester selling back and buying carefully - read more on that here. The average college student spends probably $600. That's twice a year, so $600 savings/year.

Clothing, I spend a lot on clothing but I buy all of it at reduced prices! I'd say I save $800 each semester if you take the reduced price from what the full retail price would have been if I'd paid it. Read more on thrifty clothes shopping here and here. Savings: $1600/year.

Eating out, I use Restaurant.com coupons with emailed 80% off codes (making a $25 gift certificate cost only $2) and I also save with things like birthday freebies, email clubs that send free appetizer coupons and such, and finding coupons online before I go out anywhere. I'd say I save about $300 a semester, so $600/year.

Total savings: $4,000 a year

I've been consciously saving for only about 2.5 years though. So that's a total of $10,000. Adding in $600 for paid-to sites and $1100 of freebies, and I've saved $11,700 or so since I began college. Not bad! See what I mean about how every penny counts?

Now, onto the photos!

Lots of freebies! These come from all over, so ask me if you have any questions about where I got specific ones. The perfume samples are all awesome for travelling or putting in my purse or gym bag to carry around. Actually, so are all the little bath/beauty samples. I never have to buy travel-sized anything!

I get a lot of free magazine subscriptions. I stopped paying for magazines a long time ago!

Freebies from Hautelook.com, one of my favorite sites to shop at with free credits for referrals!

These were ALL 100% free!! On my last trip to the grocery store I got $40 worth of free groceries, thanks to coupons I got from writing to companies!

These are coupons I received from writing companies! The ones with that big, bold, FREE on them are obviously my favorites. They got me lots of free groceries!

I've received a couple of these gift cards from MyPoints.com (comment for an invite) and about $50 worth of e-gift cards to Amazon from Swagbucks. They're perfect for buying Christmas presents for everyone on my list!

Freebies I've recieved! Pictured here: Tangled Disney free tote bag from Earth Day (my boyfriend has the Mickey Mouse one!); free Origins cleanser from Earth Day; free Too Faced palette from Sephora Beauty Insider VIB 500 point perk; Free Beauty Bag from Target with Fredrick Fekkai shampoo/conditioner sample, Nivea lotion, Pantene shampoo, Neutrogena lip balm, and Revlon lipstick; 2 free comic books from Free Comic Book day last year (coming up on May 7th!); cup, cupholder, mints and pen from a free career day event; Free Hallmark cards from a free career day event; Free Bath & Body Works Into the Wild lotion and Signature Item lotion (free with purchase using coupon); Victoria's Secret Dream Angels Heavenly Perfume Sample. Whew!

You can see more pictures on the Broke Student Guide Facebook page, and be sure to "Like" us to receive daily status updates on free sample opportunities, new entries and more!

Eating Out Without Breaking the Bank

So, this is pretty late, what with the holidays already being over and everything. But I got pretty much everyone on my list the gift of eating out. Yup. At restaurants and everything. How the heck did I afford gift certificates to restaurants?? Don't they like.... cost money, you ask?

Well, yes. But, not much. See, all of my gift certificates cost only $2 each... and they were all worth $25. I know, I know, hard to believe. It's entirely thanks to the wonders of http://www.restaurant.com ! You just choose a gift certificate from the restauraunts available, use the 80% off coupon codes, and voila - $2 gift certificates worth $25. (Of course - I have tested these out just in case. 3 for 3, they were all completely legit!) How did I get the coupon codes? The website sends 'em out - and to make things even better, the site from my last entry has a deal with the site, and gives 5 points per dollar spent on the site.

Now, about those coupon codes. The current coupon code (1/20/11) is ENJOY

Happy restaurant gift certificate-ing!

Get Free Groceries by Writing Companies

Everyone knows that shopping with coupons saves money. But imagine how much money you could save if everything in your cart was free with a manufacturer's coupon? You'd save a lot! And you might get to try out some new products that you previously couldn't afford or weren't interested in. But how in earth would you go about getting free product manufacturer's coupons?

The answer is this: writing companies and giving them feedback. Companies are eager to keep loyal customers or expand the products within a line that customers already purchase. That's why they are happy to send out free coupons, and sometimes even samples, just for writing them and complimenting them. (You can write and complain too, just be honest about your complaint!)

I'll tell you my first experience writing to companies. I came across a list online of companies that had responded favorably to compliments, and decided to try it myself. I had a friend's birthday coming up that I wanted to make really special but, being a poor college student, couldn't afford to buy much. So I wrote companies telling them what I liked about their product, sharing memories and stories that involved their product, or just telling them to keep up the good work. The month of
my friend's birthday I got coupons for free items almost daily! I went and purchased them, and then gave them to my friend. He essentially got a birthday present each day for his entire birthday, at no cost to me! Sure, the presents were things like frozen meals and bottles of sauce, but hey, if you're anything like me, those things are welcome gifts in an apartment filled with pb&j and ramen. I also took him out for free meals at resteraunts - more on those birthday deals in a future post.
What do you have to lose? Give it a try yourself! Find a company you like, visit their website, and look for a little link that says "CONTACT US." It usually takes you to a form you can fill out, or you can even write the company by hand. Just be honest about the company you're writing to so that they can actually use your feedback. Here are some lists of companies to try:

- 5 A Day recap – Writing companies to receive coupons

- The $39 Expirament this one was done in 2006 so it's a little dated, but it's still a good account of what companies sent back products.

- How to Get Companies to Send Free Product Coupons this one has good tips for what to say, as well as a list of good companies to try.

- Coupon Forum Post this is a very long thread, but the first post has a long list of companies and what they sent.

Let me know what you receive! I'm writing a bunch for Christmas presents this year!!