• Quick and easy changes you can make today to have more money in your pocket.
• It is NOT about depriving yourself and making depressing cut backs.
• It IS about making sure you're not wasting money, enjoying what you have, and looking for ways to have more fun!
• Be sure to check your email for the bonus surprise freebie!
We sometimes use affiliate links in our content. This won't cost you anything, but helps us to offset the costs of maintaining this website. Thanks for your support!
If it's your first time here, be sure to read our Introduction To Couponing article!
Everyone has to start somewhere, and casual couponing can save you a lot of money *without* taking up a lot of time.
By ‘casual couponing’, I mean using a few fast tricks that can add up quickly, even if you aren’t pulling off triple coupon money maker stacking hat tricks.
If you’re going to dip your toe in the water and do a little couponing, here’s where I’d start.
Online Shopping
If you shop online AT ALL, download Honey. Right now. This is the single laziest money saver EVER. I shouldn’t even call it couponing, since it takes literally no work after you set it up. All you do is install a browser extension, and then shop.
You shop at your preferred online retailer(s), and when you get to the shopping cart checkout page, if Honey has any coupons, it pops up a window with a little dancing money guy. Then you click a button and it tries all of the working coupon codes they have, and tells you which is best. Sometimes you already have the best price. Sometimes they give you a percentage back (later on, as a gift card). And sometimes they find an amazing coupon code that saves you a bunch of money, and then you either take the win, or go add more things to the cart (not that I would ever do that.) If you’re not already using it you’re leaving money laying around for no good reason.
By using my link, you’ll get a 500 point bonus after completing you first transaction. One more time – go download Honey right now!!
Brick and Mortar Shopping
Do you shop in real physical stores, too? Do you have a decent smartphone? Then download Ibotta. Sign up with my code: gnfpqay and you’ll usually get a bonus right at signup.
To get started does take some time. Begin by adding all of the “any store, any brand” offers. Don’t eat granola? It doesn’t matter. Add it, you might end up using it. Then you’ll want to browse through the offers at stores you shop, and add things to your list that you might want to buy. This can take a while, depending on how many places you shop. But once it’s done, then maintenance gets quicker. You can jump right to the ‘new offers’ for each store, and add anything new that you might want.
When you get to the store, pull up your list of saved deals, and look around for them. Sometimes products will be *FREE* after the Ibotta bonus, so keep an eye out for those. Not sure if you have the right thing for the deal? Click the deal, then use the built in barcode scanning function to confirm.
And then, the most important part. IF YOU BUY A PRODUCT FOR A DEAL, KEEP YOUR RECEIPT. Guard it with your life until you’ve submitted it. And at the first chance you get, submit it.
To submit a receipt, choose the store, then click “submit a receipt” and it will guide you though photographing your receipt. It will only look for bonuses that you added to your list. From most stores it will find them automatically, but sometimes you have to do a little manual adding. It’s not hard. And when you hit $20 you can either have it deposited in your paypal, or redeem it as a gift card.
When you set up your account be ready to shop. At least as I’m writing this, you can get a $20 Ibotta bonus if you complete enough offers in the first two weeks. I used my first two weeks to stock up on healthy snacks and basic household goods, and after offers + bonus my purchases were nearly free.
Loyalty Programs
If a store has a loyalty program, sign up for it! And then use it! I can hear some of you thinking “but my privacy” and I totally get you. I am you. But really, they’re tracking you with or without your consent. Facebook has information on massive numbers of people who have never had a Facebook account. Unless you are literally living off grid with no smart phone, bank account, credit card, debit card, etc.; then the man probably already knows all about you (and is profiting off that knowledge), so you might as well use your own data to save some money, too.
Stores like Walgreens, CVS, Target, and Ace Hardware have discounts that are only available to members. Walgreens, CVS, and Ace, as well as Ulta, Sephora, and more will allow you to rack up points that can be used for discounts or extra product later. These are some REALLY effortless ways to save some cash.
For a bonus extra discount, Walgreens and CVS have online coupons that you can add to your account through the website, that will give you a discount automatically when you check out, without having to keep track of a single piece of paper.
There you go, three ways to use casual couponing to save a significant amount of money without doing a whole lot of work! And when you’re confident about your couponing and ready to level up, check out our article on more advanced couponing techniques!
• Quick and easy changes you can make today to have more money in your pocket.
• It is NOT about depriving yourself and making depressing cut backs.
• It IS about making sure you're not wasting money, enjoying what you have, and looking for ways to have more fun!
• Be sure to check your email for the bonus surprise freebie!
