Couponing for Real Life

istockphoto.com

Extreme I am not. I don't have stashes of elbow macaroni boxes and Windex. I have a much more moderate take on the subject. The key to successful couponing is balancing your time and effort with your savings. Here's how I have found my coupon Nirvana.

February - The Month of Pitfalls

People, last month wasn't pretty. As I shared, there was a unexpected things come up and some that we took on ourselves. All that added up to a negative savings rate.

February Savings:

-1%

Beyond pathetic for someone that is suppose to be so focused on savings. Here's what drove us over. 

An App that Pays

ibotta.com

So far I haven't found a lot of apps that are very useful for saving money, but ibotta is one that has worked well for me. It's pretty simple. Download it to your smartphone (or iPod Touch like me!). Browse for products that you would normally buy, or even better, items you have coupons for already. Select a product and watch a video. Answer a trivia question. Like the product on Facebook. Etc.. The more "tasks" you do, the more money you'll save. I've found all the tasks to be simple and fun.

After you shop at a store that is on their list. I shop at Target and that's one of the stores they recognize. Redeem your offers by taking a photo of your receipt. After they verify it, they will credit your account. 

Once you hit $5 in savings, you can cash out using PayPal. So far, I've earned $6. It's not a lot of money. It's like coupons – every dollar back in your pocket is a dollar you can spend somewhere else. Or better yet, save!

PROS: Simple, quick and there's products I would buy
CONS: The products can be somewhat monotonous

When the car starts smoking...

And a nicotine patch just won't work. (laughs?) 

It has been a month of surprises. The bad kind. The type that seems to come around the most often. The car needs a new serpentine belt. The dogs are due for their rabies shots. I thought I didn't take out my contacts, rub my eyes raw and had to go to the eye doctor the next day. Etc, etc, etc.

January Savings

Since this blog is to encourage us to save, I thought it might be motivating to record our saving progress at the end of each month. I'm going to share the percentage we saved from our monthly income along with what we did a good job with and what we could reign in.

Savings Percentage for January: 31.09%