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Extreme Couponing Tip: What Does MIR Mean?

Mar 5 2013 by Leave a Comment

what-does-mir-mean

Happy Tuesday! If you haven’t joined my private Coupon Gossip Facebook group yet, head over there and do it now! It’s a tight knit community of couponers, deal seekers and general cool chicks (and a couple cool dudes!).

Learning to extreme coupon, is like learning another language.  There are so many abbreviations and acronyms to learn…so I decided to bring you a weekly article about the meaning of those acronyms. Today we are going to find out what MIR means?

MIR means Mail In Rebate. You will usually see this in deal scenarios when a Mail In Rebate is used. For example, here’s a current Valvoline Rebate and deal scenario:

Advanced Auto Deal:

Buy (5) Quarts of NextGen Max Life Valvoline Motor Oil $2.99
Pay $14.95 & Submit for $10 Valvoline Rebate
Final Price = $4.95 after MIR

Filed Under: Extreme Couponing, Pro Tips

Extreme Couponing Tip: What Does “IP” Mean?

Feb 26 2013 by Leave a Comment

what-does-ip-mean

If you haven’t joined my private Coupon Gossip Facebook group yet, head over there and do it now! It’s a tight knit community of couponers, deal seekers and general cool chicks (and a couple cool dudes!).

Learning to coupon, is like learning another language.  There are so many abbreviations and acronyms to learn…so I decided to bring you a weekly article about the meaning of those acronyms.  Each week I’ll tackle one of the tougher couponing abbreviations. This week we are going to define: “IP”

IP means “internet printable”. You’ll often see this on deal blogs as they use it to separate ‘printable coupons & insert coupons’. Usually IP stands for the Internet Protocol address of your computer…but not in this case…it just means Internet Printable Coupon

Filed Under: Extreme Couponing, Pro Tips

Extreme Couponing Tip: What does ETS stand for?

Feb 19 2013 by Leave a Comment

ets-definition

Are you new to couponing and confused about all the couponing abbreviations and acronyms that are used on the coupon blogs? Well lucky for you, each Tuesday I define a couponing abbreviation and today we are going to figure out: What does ETS stand for?

ETS stands for “Excludes Trial Sizes”…very often you’ll see this size requirement on manufacturer’s coupons. If a coupon is ETS, you must use it on a full size product.

Tune in next week for a new couponing abbreviation!

Filed Under: Extreme Couponing, Pro Tips

5 Ways to Save at Walmart – Lesson #5 – Clearance Items

Feb 15 2013 by Leave a Comment

If you are just tuning into this How to Coupon Shop at Walmart series, here are the posts you may have missed:

One of the easiest ways to save money at Walmart is to be on the lookout for clearance items. Clearance items are especially hot right after a holiday or the end of the season…and no matter what anyone tell you, you CAN use coupons on clearance items at Walmart!

Walmart tends to put clearance items in a few places throughout the store, so knowing where those clearance spots are can definitely be an advantage.

Endcaps: You’ll definitely want to check out the ends of the aisles especially in the makeup & beauty department.

Seasonal/Holiday Sections: Once a holiday passes, you’ll usually find holiday items marked down in the designated holiday section or in the aisle closest to where the holiday section was in the store.

Garden Center: I can usually find an aisle or two of clearance items towards the Garden Center of the store.

 

Filed Under: Extreme Couponing, Pro Tips, Walmart

5 Ways to Save at Walmart – Lesson #4 – Mail-in Rebates

Feb 14 2013 by Leave a Comment

If you are just tuning into the How to Save Money at Walmart series, here are some posts you may have missed:

Long before I started couponing, I hated rebates. Thought they were a big fat waste of time and energy. I mean who really has time to fill out a rebate form, cut the UPC label & send in a receipt JUST to get money back? I hope you sensed a little sarcasm there…because um…the last time I checked…we could all use a little extra money!

Rebates come in a variety of forms. You can find rebates online (like this $10 Valvoline Rebate). Some rebates are found attached to the packages in the form of stickies or peelies and sometimes you find rebates on a tear pad in your grocery aisle. But my favorite type of rebate is the kind you find on beer (like this one)

Below are some of my favorite rebate tips:

1. Send it in immediately – The longer that you wait to send in the rebate, the more likely you will forget about it. It’s happened to me and I just want to kick myself for not sending it in right away.

2. Don’t throw away the packaging – Most times you will also need to send in the UPC label from the packaging, so be sure NOT to throw out the box before you get a chance to cut out the UPC label

3. Keep your receipts – The first thing I do when I get home with either a Rebate form or making a purchase at Staples, I take out the receipt and rebate form and put them aside near my computer, so the next time I sit down to work or surf the net, I’ll remember to do the rebate.

4. Make a list – If you are sending out a lot of rebates, you may want to keep a list of all the rebates you send out along with their expected delivery time (usually 4-8 weeks) and a contact email or phone number to inquire should your rebate never arrive.

5. Extra Savings – One thing I like to do with the rebate checks I receive…is deposit them into a special fund account like Christmas or Vacation. It’s money I’m not missing anyway, so I might as well stash it away as soon as it comes in. Because if it’s in my checking account…I WILL spend it!

Filed Under: Extreme Couponing, How To Save Money, Pro Tips, Walmart

5 Ways To Save Money at Walmart – Lesson #3 – Competitor’s Coupons

Feb 13 2013 by Leave a Comment

On Monday we kicked off this series with a discussion on Walmart’s Price Match policy, today I’d like to talk about Walmart’s policy on accepting competitors coupons. The good news is that YES, Walmart does accept competitors coupons…the bad news…there are several stipulations to this policy :)

If you are just tuning into the How to Save Money at Walmart series, here are some posts you may have missed:

Walmart will accept a local competitors coupon as long as it means the following criteria:

  • Competitors’ coupons
    • A specific item for a specified price, for example, $2.99
    • Buy one, get one free (BOGO) coupons for items with a specified price
    • Have a valid expiration date
    • Are acceptable in black and white

walgreens-coupon

So basically, Walmart only accepts coupons that have specific prices for items for example: Folgers Coffee 8oz for $4.99. A good example of these types of coupons are the ones you would find in a Walgreens Sales flyer. (Pictured above)

Walmart will NOT accept the following type of Competitors coupons:

  • Dollar/cents off at a specific retailer
  • Percentage off coupons
  • Double/triple coupons
  • BOGO offers without a specified price.

target-coupon

Under their policy, Walmart will not accept Target Web coupons (or others just like them) because they do not specify a price for a specific item.

In order to save money and make shopping as smooth as possible, always be acquainted with the policy of Walmart or any other stores because rules are rules. I hope you learned something from this. Please do share your thoughts about it. =)

Filed Under: Extreme Couponing, Pro Tips, Walmart

5 Ways To Save Money at Walmart – Lesson #2 – Coupon Overage

Feb 12 2013 by 2 Comments

Good Evening & welcome to a new I Love to Gossip Extreme couponing series: 5 Ways to Save Money at Walmart. Each day this week, I will discuss one of the methods I use to save big big big money at Walmart!

If you are just tuning into this How to Coupon Shop at Walmart series, here are the posts you may have missed:

Today we will talk about Coupon Overage at Walmart! First of all, let’s define what “Coupon Overage” is…It is when the value of a coupon exceeds the purchase price of the item. For example, you printed a coupon which is $1.00 off any brand x, and when you went to a store you coincidentally saw that particular brand on sale for $0.79. The $.21 cent difference is considered to be the overage.

Overage is one of the ways that extreme couponers are able to get items like meat and fruit for FREE!

According to Wal-Mart coupon policy regarding “overage”: If coupon value exceeds the price of the item, the excess may be given to the customer as cash or applied towards the basket purchase”. Yes you read that right, Walmart actually has to give you cash back if your coupons exceed the total of your purchase, or the overage will be used towards the rest of the items in your basket. I rarely get cash back, and opt to ‘spend’ my overage on items that I don’t have coupons for like meat, product, milk etc.

One of the Walmart deals that are giving overage right now are:

Buy (1) Purina Beneful Dog Food Pouch – $1
Use the $2/1 Purina Beneful Dog Food Coupon from the SS 2/10 isnert
Final Price = FREE + $1 overage!

So let’s say for example you had 5 Beneful coupons. You could go to Walmart & buy 5 bags at $1.00 each, use your (5) $2.00 coupons totalling $10 off and still have $5 to spend! You could probably pick up a package of chicken breast with the overage!

 

Filed Under: Extreme Couponing, Pro Tips, Walmart
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