A few weeks ago I posted the information below about fraudulent coupons below. I am still getting quite a few emails from readers that know people are using them and what should they do about it.

This is a hard one.

All you can really do is point them in the right direction. Show them this blog post or print off the CIC information sheet below.

After that if they choose to continue to steal from the store that is on them.

Now, here is another issue that I think needs to be addressed. A few people have said that they have been told the $6 Schick coupon from Coupons.com is fraudulent. They have even talked to corporate at Walmart and they said it was. This is a comment from a reader:

“I called customer service at the corporate headquarters who told me this coupon was fraudulent, they had flagged the coupon, and would no longer accept it. They cautioned me to be very careful when using Internet coupons as many are counterfeit or are a fraud.”

If I was to be told this at the register and embarrassed in front of people I would be furious. To be told it on the phone is bad enough, but they are not giving the entire story when they say things like this. Fraudulent is a word that is being tossed around a little too much. This coupon came from Coupons.com the MOST legit site to print coupons there is. I am sure they would not be happy to hear that they are being accused of fraud.

This is what I believe is going on.

This coupon is COMPLETELY legit, if YOU printed it off your computer from coupons.com. Someone decided to photo copy this coupon (which YOU CAN NOT DO!!!!) and once it is copied THAT particular bar code is what is fraudulent. Not the legit coupon YOU printed off! Because corporate and many store managers do not know anything about coupons, or the lingo, or how to read the reports from the CIC they assume falsely that ALL those coupons are fraudulent. Not the case.

What to do if they refuse your coupon saying it is fraudulent? Take a deep breath! Make sure you know where YOU got the coupon. Don’t take printable coupons from anyone and NEVER buy them. There is a phone number on the coupon that you can call and verify that it is legit. Call the manufacturer if you have to, to get confirmation that is is legit. Once you know that it is use it somewhere else. Never let anyone belittle you at a register. I would say, “Please do not accuse me of fraud or stealing, as I take that very personally. Let’s take a second to verify this coupon.” Be polite, step aside and call a manager. They will not want to spend the time to call and verify you will probably have to do that. Even if it is a $.25 coupon, I will take the time at this point in my life to feel better about a situation and to educate a cashier and manager if needed. Mostly because I don’t want the same thing to happen to you.

I have gotten a few emails this week regarding the above coupons. For some reason these are really making the email rounds right now. There are a few clues that should let you know that these are likely fraudulent coupons:

• They are “high value” – $3 off Oscar Mayer deli meat will likely make it free, at the most you might see $1 off.
• They are sent in a PDF format and do not come from the manufacturer.
• They just don’t “look” right.
• There are multiple coupons in the PDF from different manufacturers.

If you ever have any questions about coupons please go to the CIC (coupon information center) and look at the fraudulent coupon list and see if they are on there.

Here is the direct link to the Nestle coupon CIC info.

Thank you Lisa and everyone else that sent over these coupons this week!

**THIS DEAL IS ENDING SOON… CALL NOW IF YOU WANT IT!

After a very long and frustrating ordeal, I have been in contact with management who is able to help us with this deal. You can get the Houston Chronicle delivered to your home for $.50 each paper UNTIL September 26th. After that, the price goes up to $.75- $1.

YOU MUST FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS

These are the details:

• Up to 5 Sunday papers delivered each week.
• Must pay for each subscription for the entire year in advance (so $26 each or $130 for all 5 a year)
• If you already have a subscription, you can ADD to the one you have. If you get 3 now, you can add 2 at the $.50.

To get this deal you need to call  1-855-753-8265 (toll free).

This is not the Chronicle. This number is to a service that is hired to handle phone calls.

** DO NOT call the 713 number you must call the 855 number and TELL them that you want the multiple subscriptions delivered Sunday each.

IF you call the 855 number and they tell you they con’t do this deal. Hang up and call back to get someone else.

** If you have a problem with your subscription, DO NOT call the 713 number they will not be able to help you. You will  need to email doug.windsor@chron.com to get your order straightened out.

I get emails often asking if I sell coupon binders. I don’t because I would have to charge too much to make it worth the time to put together. Plus, we are all frugal ladies/men here and I figure you want to save some money and do it yourself! I have had a few different binders but I almost always have the same things on the inside.

You can watch a video HERE of how organize my binder.

Places to buy supplies. I would estimate it to cost about $40 to put together a good binder.

Binders:
I use a Case It Dual ring Binder. It has 2 sets of rings inside. In one side I put all my coupons for everything I would find in the grocery store and on the other side I put everything I would find at the drug stores. You can find a Case It binder HERE for $16.33 (this is a good price!)

Baseball Card Pages:
I use baseball card holder pages to store my coupons. I might have to fold them a little bit to get them to fit but I love being able to see everything that I have, and it makes it easy to pull out the expired ones! I get mine on Amazon because I need the thicker plastic to hold up longer. You can get them at Walmart, they are about 35 for $5.98. These pages at Walmart are cheaper quality and you will have to replace them after a while. They are located in the front of the store by the baseball and Pokemon cards. Target has a bigger pack for about $15 but they are always sold out. Go HERE to see the Pro Series for $14.99 on Amazon.

Page Dividers:
Use heavy duty ones, if they are the paper kind they will just tear, you need to use plastic.
Avery 8 Tab Write on Plastic $5.47
Avery Big Tab pastic dividers $2.99

I used a label maker to label mine so they look nice 🙂

Page Dividers (another method):
If you would like FREE binder divider pages, you can go HERE and get some I made. The file is very big and will take a minute to download, but they are really cute! If you do it this way, slip these pages into sheet protectors and use these as your dividers!

Finally, I ALWAYS have copies of all the coupon policies of the stores in my area. Your stores will be different then mine. To find the ones that you need, just Google your store name and add “coupon policy” at the end. That should bring them up.

• Walmart Coupon Policy
• Target Coupon Policy
• CVS Coupon Policy
• Walgreens Coupon Policy
• Kroger Southwest Coupon Policy
• Randalls Coupon Policy

Last but not least I always keep a pair of scissors and a small calculator in my binder

I have a favorite blog that I followed when I first started couponing. I almost quit following them because she always posted deals for King Soopers and Dominick’s. I loved her other deals but I needed someone who had deals for stores in my area.

Then one day I realized that many stores are affiliates of 1 main store or company! I also realized that although she was posting King Soopers deals, there were really the same as my Kroger deals!

Take a look at the images above, those are all Kroger affiliate stores. You might have 1 of those stores but can look at the ad for any of the other stores and see the same deals.

**Of course, prices can vary from state to state.

These images illustrate all the Safeway affiliate stores. I have Randalls here in Houston, Dallas has Tom Thumb and so on. Also, some regions ads come out on Sunday with a new ad and some are Wednesday. For example, Safeway ads usually come out on Sunday, my Randalls new ad comes out on Wednesday, so from Wednesday to Saturday we have the same ad.

Why are they not all called Kroger or Safeway? When these larger companies buy smaller chains, many times they keep the same names so people are comfortable shopping there.  (The buyout of Randall’s marked Safeway’s return to Texas ten years after the original stores in Houston were sold to AppleTree.)

Here are the Deep Discounted Stores:

• Aldi – U.S. operations of a German group
• Cash & Carry (Chicago)
• Food 4 Less (Los Angeles area and northern California; Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada)
• Grocery Outlet (West)
• Marc’s (Ohio)
  • Xpect Discounts (Connecticut)
• Sharp Shopper (Pennsylvania, Virginia)
• ShopRite (New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Pennsylvania) – affiliates owned and operated by Wakefern Food Corporation
  • PriceRite (Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Maryland, California) – owned by Wakefern
• Smart & Final (West), also owns Henry’s Farmers Market and Sun Harvest
• Supervalu (Midwest, mixed franchisee-and directly-owned stores, also owns banners including Cub Foods, Save-A-Lot, Acme)
• WinCo Foods (West)

Here are the National Chains:

• Aldi

• Costco Wholesale

• Delhaize Group
  • Bloom
  • Bottom Dollar Food (Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia)
  • Food Lion
  • Hannaford
  • Harveys
  • Sweetbay Supermarket

• Kroger
  • Baker’s
  • City Market
  • Dillons
  • Food 4 Less
  • Foods Co.
  • Fred Meyer
  • Fry’s Food and Drug
  • Gerbes
  • Hilander
  • JayC Food
  • King Soopers
  • Pay Less Food
  • QFC
  • Ralphs
  • Smith’s Food and Drug
  • Scott’s Food & Pharmacy

• Piggly Wiggly

• Safeway
  • Carrs
  • Dominick’s
  • Genuardi’s
  • Pavilions
  • Randalls
  • Tom Thumb
  • Vons

• Sam’s Club

• Sears Holdings Corporation
  • Kmart Supercenters

• SuperValu
  • Acme Markets
  • Albertsons
  • Cub Foods
  • Farm Fresh Food & Pharmacy
  • Hornbacher’s
  • Jewel-Osco
  • Lucky
  • Save-A-Lot
  • Shaw’s
  • Shop ‘n Save
  • Shoppers Food & Pharmacy
  • Star Market

• SuperTarget

• Walmart Supercenters

• Whole Foods Market

Thanks to Wikipedia!

Some readers are having trouble finding the coupons they want because they are not sure where to put that zip code to get the same ones that everyone else is getting.

When I post a deal or matchup and there is a printable coupon associated with that deal, usually from Coupons.com, many times you will need to use a certain zip code to find that coupon. All you do is click on the link I provide and when you get to the Coupons.com page (above picture) you will need to look in the left hand corner.

You can see above where I used 77380 ( spring, TX) as the zip code. Many times we suggest 90210, or 77477 and this is where you would type the zip code to get the different coupons. Hope that helps!

This is the magical time of year that you can find coupon binders for a good price. Walmart currently has the Case It double rings for $14.97. Any other time of the year and these bad boys are $25 on Amazon if you can find them!

If you are looking to get a binder, get one now. If you want to live on the edge, you can wait a few weeks and see if you can pick one up on clearance or marked down after school has started.

You can watch a video HERE of how I do my binder.

This is how I organize my binder:
These are the categories that I have in my binder.

First section:

Second Section:

Places to buy supplies. I would estimate it to cost about $40 to put together a good binder.

I really wish I had not gone with the 5 things, this could really be a list of about 100. For all the wonderful deals I get at a warehouse store there are so many that are not a good deal. Unfortunately, buying in bulk doesn’t always mean that you get the best deal. The most important thing to do when shopping at a Sam’s club or other store is to price everything out BY THE OUNCE. This will let you know if you are getting something cheaper then at the grocery store with or without coupons. Of course this means that you need to have an idea of what you are paying at the grocery store, that is your homework! Start keeping a list, or paying attention to it!

These are the top 5 things that I think are the worst deals at a warehouse store:

1. Razors! Hands down! This was what I would GO to Sam’s for. A refill for mens razors last time I looked was almost $50. That was for 15 cartridges, I won’t pay more then about $1.50 for a new razor that has 2 blades in it. I am looking at about $20, worst case for the same thing plus all the new razor handles.

2. Toothbrushes and Toothpaste – A pack of toothbrushes at Sams is $13.88 for a 6 pack. People pay for toothbrushes?!! They pay $2.25 for one? My price point for a toothbrush is FREE, if I am paying more then that I don’t feel like it is a good deal OR it better be a pretty dang nice toothbrush and cost me $1! 🙂 Toothpaste, is also pricey, at over $2 a tube as well. We are getting it free again this week at Kroger.

3. Gum and Candy – First, I don’t really want a bulk amount of candy around my house, I don’t want anyone eating that much sugar. Second, there are too many coupons out for single packs to pay $9.88 for a bag of M&M’s. Even if I really like the Peanut Butter kind! If I wait I know that I can get the single serve bags and packs for as little as free to $.25 a bag. Gum should also be one of those things where you get close to free, not $5 for a 3 pack for Trident, when Walgreens had them $.12 each last week.

4. Photos – Now, I have purchased 100’s of photos at Sam’s club in the past, and if I need them asap same day, I would have to go back. They charge $.13 a print. I can get 100 prints for $.02 a photo if I order online to one of the 20 different places that myself and other bloggers post regularly. When you get a bunch at a time that is the difference between paying $13 for 100 or paying $2.

5. Cereal! This makes me sick to think of how much cereal I have bought in the past at Sams without even looking at the price. They have bags and boxes of cereal priced as much as $4-$5 dollars a regular box! That same box I can get at the store with coupons for $1 – $1.25.

I could easily keep going… tuna, soup, spaghetti sauce, pasta, cookie and brownie mix, yogurt, etc. are all much cheaper at the grocery store with coupons.

Although you can get them cheaper at the grocery store, it means that you still need to shop smart. If you are prepared with or with out coupons you will know when you see a good price and maybe the best price IS at a warehouse store. The most important thing to do is start paying attention to the prices of the things that your family uses everyday, some things break down to price per ounce, so you can even compare that from grocery store to grocery store. OR grocery store to Walmart.

Here are some free printable sheets to help you get started:

• Price Book Sheet – Track you prices by date, store, item, price etc.
• Shopping List – You spend 40% less when you have a list!

If you missed my 5 things I WILL buy at Sams Club you can go HERE.

People ask all the time if I shop at Sams Club or Costco. The answer is…. sometimes. The first few kids we had we shopped at Sams club all the time. I always bought in bulk just like my Mom had with my large family growing up. But after I started couponing and paying attention the cost per ounce on items, I quickly found that I was paying less at the grocery stores with coupons. For 5 years we didn’t have a membership. My parents still had theirs and occasionally I would tag along to see what I was missing, especially on Saturdays to get the samples. 🙂

These are the things that I buy personally at Sams Club because I think they are cheaper.

1. Gas. At our Sams Club here the gas is a good $.10 cheaper. This would be my #1 reason to have a card again.

2. Twin Mattresses. Weird I know, but in our experience we have gotten the best deals consistently at Sams on mattresses for our kids. If you figure a mattress and box spring for 7 kids we have bought a few! I always do my research and we always find the best deal at Sams Club. We paid $119 for a nice pillow top twin in June.

3. Honey. We use A LOT of honey around here. Price per ounce Sams has the best deal. Plus, there is not always coupons for honey and when there is, they are the more expensive brands.

4. Dinner Rolls. I buy the big bags of 25 for around $2.50. We use these all year long for school lunches. They are the perfect size for sandwiches for the kids. Probably not worth the membership alone, but I always grab a bag when we are in.

5. Tilapia Fillets. Price per pound I can’t beat the price for the individually wrapped frozen tilapia fillets. We eat a lot of fish so I watch for it to go on sale, I can’t beat the everyday price at Sams.

Do you shop at the warehouse stores? What do you buy?

Stay tuned for the 5 things I will NOT buy….