Easy 3 Step Tutorial On How To Start Saving Money Couponing

You spend money in this world. So why not spend it the smart way couponing to save yourself money and earn some of it back.

As a not-so-rich recent college graduate, I wanted to find a way to save money on my everyday purchases without spending a lot of time researching and digging for discounts & coupons. My goal was to do all the research beforehand, test to see if my research would bring results, and then use what I learned to apply to my everyday shopping. It worked. And now I want to share it with you.

• A lot of these money saving tips aren’t new but a lot of people choose not to do it because they may think it is time consuming than it actually is. All of the tips I’m about to provide take a maximum of five minutes to set up before shopping.

• Some people may not want to give out their personal information (name, phone number, email). If consumer privacy is a concern, create a separate email dedicated for couponing and see how much information you can opt out of.

3 Step Tutorial To Start Couponing

1. Sign Up For Free Reward Programs

Almost every single business, whether it be a small mom and pop shop or a big retail chain store has a free rewards program. It’s made for you to utilize it – especially if you are a frequent shopper of their products/services.

All you need to do is take a couple minutes to register for the rewards program at check out or in app/online – and then use it to apply deals and redeem points (for store credit) when purchasing.

Some Of The Best Free Reward Programs:

• Target Circle
  Scan app in store for every purchase and to collect store credit.
  Redeem coupons/discounts in weekly offers.
  Tip: Combine coupons/discounts with Target Circle store credit to get extremely discounted or free items.

• CVS ExtraCare Card
  Weekly deals & rewards in apps.

• Walgreens Balance Rewards
  Weekly deals & rewards in app.
  Tip: Find the cheapest items with the highest coupon offer to get the best deal. Ex – There is a $5 off coupon on the app if you buy three or more toothpastes. Each toothpaste retails for $2.50 which is $7.50 total. With the $5 off coupon, your total comes out to $2.50, or 83 cents per toothpaste!

• Safeway Rewards
  Input phone number at checkout to collect points.
  1 Point = $1 Spent. 100 Points = 1 FREE Reward Item.
  Weekly deals & rewards in app.

• Michael’s
  Scan in-app or email coupons at checkout. (Some coupons are literally 50%-75% off!)
  Earn reward points to be redeemed as store credit.

• Ulta Beauty
  21 Days Of Beauty – seasonal promotions where select weekly products are 50% off.
  List of ALL sales & coupons.
  Ultimate Rewards – shop to redeem points for store credit.

• MyPanera Card
  Free dessert when you sign up + free coffee for one month! ($9.99 per month after)
  Earn rewards for purchases.

• My Starbucks Rewards
  Earn reward stars by purchasing on the app to redeem free drinks & food.
  Free drink on your birthday. 🙂

2. Download Free Couponing Apps

All you need aside from signing up is to start collecting all the receipts from your past and future purchases.

Free Couponing Apps/Websites & Their Capabilities:

• RetailMeNot
  List of deals and discount codes.
  Earn cash back from shopping directly on RetailMeNot.

• Ibotta
  Connect your online shopping accounts with Ibotta and get cashback for purchasing directly through the app.
  Scan receipts after purchases to get cashback if online shopping accounts are not connected.
  Sign up here using my referral code “rpbsdea”.

• Fetch Rewards
  Scan all receipts within the past two weeks and on future purchases to collect points. Redeem points into free gift cards up to $50 each (Amazon, Adidas, Best Buy, Chipotle, etc.)
  Use my referral code “2TDQ2” for FREE $2 worth of points!

3. Combine Your Free Reward Programs With Coupons

Stack free reward programs with gift cards and store credit from the coupon apps! And earn cashback all on top.

This is the holy grail.

The key is to start building a 5 minute habit of checking your free reward programs (a.k.a. the Target Circle app) on your phone for discounts before you shop and scanning receipts on coupon apps after. Scan some past purchase receipts beforehand to build up some points to redeem.

Some Examples Of How This Works:

• EX 1: You need a new razor. Check the Target Circles app, and there is a $2 off coupon for a single Venus Razor (retails $7.99). Now the razor is $5.99 with a coupon. Go to the Fetch Rewards app and redeem a $5 Target gift card with your points. The total cost for your razor is now 99 cents!

• EX 2: You need to buy groceries for the week. Make a list of the items needed directly on the Safeway app under “My List”. Press on each individual item on your list to check and apply “Related Offers” (coupons) to that item. Purchase your groceries and the coupons should apply at check out! Scan your receipt on the Ibotta app to get additional cash back for your items. You got your groceries utilizing all of Safeway’s discounts, while getting cash back just for shopping!

• Tip: Connect your online shopping accounts (Target, Walmart, etc.) directly in the Ibotta app to save time scanning receipts. Ibotta will automatically apply your free rewards programs to your purchase and give you cash back.

Saving money starts with you – so start building your habits today!

Use this beginner guide as reference and share with me below your money saving successes. Next week, I’ll be writing about how I used my couponing to redecorate my room – for free! I’ll link it here.

Other relevant reads:
How To Not Be a Financially Messy College Student
Is It Possible To Do Couponing To Be Debt Free?

As always,