News to us! Trader Joe's accepts coupons. Trader Joe's in West Hartford, CT. Photo: Ragesoss/Wikipedia Commons Public Domain

So, ya learn something new every day.

I thought Trader Joe’s did not accept manufacturer’s coupons. It turns out…they do….?

After someone from my coupon class came up to me after the session and recommended the website, Living Rich With Coupons, I dipped into it, and lo-and-behold, match-ups for Trader Joe’s! So, the list isn’t long, because of TJ’s own products. And, it turns out there are many other sites that match up TJ with coupons, too, such as faithfulprovisions.com, forthemommas.com, and probably more local blogs, as well.

The ingredients to making amazing furniture polish for pennies--olive oil, vinegar, essential oils for fragrance.

A little goes a long way when it comes to making this low-cost homemade furniture polish that smells great, and shines up your wood.

I came across a furniture polish recipe I really, really like, cheap and easy to make, and all you need is a dab to buff on the furniture. To make this amazing non-toxic wood furniture polish, take a look at this recipe adapted from the Do It Gorgeously book by Sophie Uliano. I made some up in a little bowl at first just to test it out and I could not believe my eyes. So, I whipped up a small batch and used it again on the same worn table. I just love the sheen.

The lower half of my worn console table is buffed with diy polish, the upper half is not. Enlarge the photo to see the difference--it's very subtle at this size. But...in person, the sheen is so wonderful, so is the fragrance. Thank you, Sophie Uliano!

Here’s the recipe:

Mix in a bowl the following: (I make 1/2 of this recipe because you really don’t need much to polish/buff a table.)

-1 cup inexpensive olive oil (don’t use extra virgin)

-1/4 cup white vinegar

-1/4 tsp of each essential oil (I like to mix orange/tangerine with lemon which is what Sophie suggests, but you can use your favorite essential oil fragrance; also add more essential oil if you’d like. Or, if you’re out of essential oil, by all means, use a bit of lemon juice.)

-Put in a bottle (empty shampoo bottle or small glass container, that sort of thing). Use a tiny bit (dime-size dollup) on a dry rag and buff into wood.

Store the mixture covered in a cool dry place.

 Your furniture will thank you!

If you have any favorite furniture polish recipes, please let TFF know!

Coupon exchanging and giveaways!

Registration Required at the Fairfield Woods Branch Library

• Monday, 1/23 & 1/30, 2012 at the Fairfield Woods Branch Library
• 11:00 a.m.- 1:00 p.m. (bring a lunch if you’d like)

Marilyn Zelinsky-Syarto, consumer expert and founder of Two Frugal Fairfielderslocal blog, will facilitate this group and will bring boxes of coupons for giveaways!

Jaime Lee McIntyre, RD CD-N, Grade A ShopRite Dietitian,brings giveaways and talks about healthy couponing during the first session.

What you will learn:

• Why coupon?
• How to successfully coupon.
• Myths about couponing.
• Savings potential.
• Where to find coupons.
• Affording organics and couponing.

Registration required

Supplies needed to create your own coupon stash:

• Pen
• Small scissors
• Any size sticky notes
• Any coupons you already have
• For a bin, bring in a small empty photo box plus a box of white 3×6 (approx.) envelopes that fit upright into the box.
• For a binder, a 2” or 3” binder plus a handful of baseball card holder sleeves (found at Walmart, Toys RUs,), and binder dividers.

All programs are free and open to the public. Limited seating. Register online at http://www2.fairfieldpubliclibrary.org, or call 203-255-7308.

Fairfield Woods Branch

1147 Fairfield Woods Road

Fairfield, CT 06825

ShopRite in Fairfield now accepts competitor's coupons, per this sign in the entryway of the store. This is welcoming news, but watch the limits on the coupons! Next step: see if Stop & Shop takes ShopRite coupons. I also wonder -- does sister store PriceRite take ShopRite coupons? Doubt it, but I'll ask... Photo: TFF

After getting in trouble last month at our new ShopRite for using a competitor’s coupon (I really did NOT know it was a competitor’s coupon because it came from the manufacturer, not from a store flyer…and it was a bit confusing)…well, ShopRite now accepts competitor’s coupons. Yippee! Well, hold on, there’s a catch, of course. I thought I’d test out the new policy and here are the results:

Today, November 9th: Stop & Shop‘s recent in-house coupon flyer (which you pick up from the front of the store) has a great coupon for $1 off of one Near East Couscous that expires 12/2/11. ShopRite has a sale this week for three Near East Couscous boxes for $5 (making each box $1.67). I figured I could get four boxes (the store limit) for .66 cents each. I took my four coupons in, confirmed with the cashier that they now accept competitor’s coupons, and we began check out. But the Stop & Shop coupon said “limit one coupon per specified item purchased.” Phooey! There goes my great deal to get four boxes of couscous for .66 cents each.

Anyhow, the bottom line is that I really need to read the fine print of every coupon! But, this new policy is still great news for us penny-pinching Fairfield, CT shoppers! For non-Fairfielders reading this — check the policy on competitor’s coupons with your local store, it could be different in each ShopRite location.

~TFF

I bought nine packages of antibiotic-free chicken drumsticks at Whole Foods because they were affordable at .99 cents a pound thanks to a 70% off sale. Good to know that even Whole Foods has super sales! Photo: TFF

TFF Takes a Value Tour at Whole Foods Market in Fairfield, CT. Surprise! If you have the right strategy, you can shop frugal here.

We’ve heard it thousands of times: Whole Paycheck. But Whole Foods Market also has good sales and good coupons. Who knew!! I sure didn’t until my TFF partner told me. If you are at least semi-concerned about where you buy your meat, fruit, and veggies, listen up!

Directly from the mouth of one of the down-to-earth check-out associates: “If you shop the sales, you can clean up this place.” She is right. (And by the way, the Fairfield store’s check-out associates are extremely nice, approachable, and they totally understand the frugal mindset.)

For example, the Fairfield store has chicken drumsticks on sale for .99 cents a pound. Okay–you can get the same deal at the other grocery stores, but well, you know the yuck factor when it comes to buying mainstream chicken that may have wallowed in waste and been fed a diet of unhealthy feed and antibiotics. Whole Foods’ drumsticks on sale are what the store calls a “level 2″ product and these chickens are supposed to have been raised in an “enriched environment” on a 100 percent vegetarian diet without antibiotics. (I sure hope so!) Usually, these particular drumsticks go for $3.39 a pound – so I bought them for 70 percent off the original cost.  

I also bought Stoneyfield organic strawberry yogurt cups that were on sale: 3 packages (4 cups per pack–small cups, though) for $5. Not great until you add in the coupon of $1.00 off each pack! So, for .66 cents each pack, I had good organic strawberry yogurt for the kids–.17 cents a cup.

And, since my purchase was just a bit over $25, I was able to take advantage of the freebie package of organic baby carrots that would have cost $2.99.

If you’re interested in learning more, take a Value Tour at any Whole Foods in the country. The tours are meant to show customers that the store has healthy brands, meats, etc. that fit every budget. Even if the product isn’t necessarily organic, it is still supposed to be held to extremely high quality standards, said my tour guide and Fairfield store manager, Troy, so we shouldn’t have to worry about buying tainted or unhealthy food.

Troy said that generally ever week, there is a great sale on meat, fish, fruits, and vegetables. The bottom line is this: It can be expensive to do a lot of shopping there, but Whole Foods has pretty good sales, and if you can match the sale with one of their own coupons, or a manufacturer’s coupon, you can get some notable deals.

I plan to go back next week to see what meat is on sale…

~Marilyn, TFF

We loved Erin from the new Extreme Couponing show on Wednesday night. Her heart is absolutely in the right place and we learned a lot from her couponing skills. But if you are like many viewers, you probably don't have a stockpile like Erin's. It's OKAY to be an average couponer and love the show. Photo: Courtesy TLC

Retailers worry that every couponer will turn extreme, but that’s not the case. In fact, Coupons.com released an educational program called Real Life Savings–it’ll puts coupon savings into perspective and shows that most people do not typically save 99 percent at the store. Scroll down for link and details.

Wednesday debuted the second season of TLC’s Extreme Couponing show, and it ushered in a new wave of fears from retailers who say they are afraid couponers will empty their shelves, use fake coupons at self-checkouts, and steal newspaper inserts. Evidently all of this has been done, but I’m sure it’s been done way before Extreme Couponing was even a glimmer in TLC’s eye.

The reality is this: most of us couponers average 40 to 60 percent off of our grocery bills–mostly the lower end of the scale and we are overjoyed if we ever hit 60 percent savings. Most of us get one darn newspaper a week, use Coupons.com and Couponmom.com, and hope our friends remember to give us unwanted Catalinas and inserts. Most of us do not, hear me…DO NOT have one or two years of toilet paper stashed in the basement. Nor would we want that much toilet paper, anyhow! (What if the basement flooded? Yuck!)

TFF is happy to show you a fantastic link we stumbled across. The link brings you to Real Life Savings, a series of Facebook videos from Coupons.com that shows and educates others about how real life coupon savings works. This is more like what really happens in the world of couponing. (We especially like Suzy and Sherri’s video.)

And does TFF think the folks on Extreme Couponing are a bit…weird? Heck yes! But we are happy to learn new ideas from the show, too.

~TFF

Prices are always attractive when a new grocery store opens–but then they slowly edge up. Let’s hope Fairfield’s new ShopRite will remain a great destination for years to come. Photo: TFF

Fairfielders are genuinely happy to see ShopRite open today in the former Shaw’s space. Though we have Trader Joe’s, Stop & Shop, and for those willing to pay the price—we have a new Whole Foods—in Fairfield, what a relief to have ShopRite (whose parent company also owns TFF favorite PriceRite in Bridgeport) in the neighborhood.

Yes, there was a minor crowd of 100 or so anxious shoppers and press at 9:00 a.m.to witness the ribbon cutting and speeches by town and store officials. Yes, there was minor trampling when the doors opened (shoppers rammed carts into my backside and stepped on my sandaled feet numerous times! Folks–it’s only a grocery store for heaven’s sake!). No, there were no giveaways or free coffee (much to my surprise) so you didn’t miss much if you weren’t there.

In a whirlwind walk-through, TFF managed to get some decent deals (grapes .99 cents a pound, frozen ravioli for $1.33 a bag), snagged a few coupons that were being handed out (though I asked for a dozen, the store associate gave me only three), surveyed some prices (some good, some not), and asked about coupon policies which stumped a couple of associates. All in all, it seems like a decent place, utilitarian, and clean (if you want atmosphere and chic design, head to Whole Foods).

The courtesy desk associate said that sometimes there will be triple coupon vouchers in the store flyers—nice perk, but let’s see how often they show up.

One word of warning – the price signage under products can be misleading (see above). The signage emphasizes what you save, not what the actual item costs, which can throw most shoppers for a loop especially when in a rush.

TFF will continue reporting on any good deals at the new ShopRite!

Go to this link (Social Living) to get the deal. Find your city (TFF found Southern Connecticut to use) and go from there.

~

Couponers don't care about the dirty looks we get at check out. We still love to get our coupons (especially those P&G newspaper inserts!) To find out when your next P&G newspaper insert is coming your way, click on this photo. Photo: Courtesy of P&G/PRNewswire

Never did I think that couponers would be criticized for their actions. There are certainly more extreme problems in the world than extreme couponers. After reading way too many long and scathing articles about how awful couponers act, you’d think we were a bunch of Bernie Madoffs. C’mon, folks, we’re just trying to cut our grocery bills, not swindle people out of peanut butter.

Now, I’m not an extreme couponer, but I do coupon, and I see the benefits of saving 50 to 60 percent off my groceries at check out, and I will continue to coupon to feed my hungry crew.

I have seen some strange reactions to my coupons, though—from positive to downright rude. I’ve had a handful of people at check out comment that I know how to shop right, to a handful of people at check out give me the once over, tell me they think TLC’s EC show is dumb (I am a fan of the show because I learn a lot from it), then ask me if my family really needs ten boxes of typically expensive cereal and thirteen boxes of juice packs (uh…yes!).

The benefits of couponing became crystal clear the day before school started when I was running ragged through Target, picking up groceries willy-nilly without thinking about cost or coupons. My thought process went something like this: paying this much for single packet Pringles is crazy, but I will get back to couponing once the kids are back in school… I wonder why other people are willing to pay these prices without coupons…how is it that the woman down the aisle can just throw groceries in her cart without coupons or looking at the price?

After the sticker shock of that little shopping spree, I vowed to get back to couponing asap. Happily, I used my Catalina coupons at Stop & Shop yesterday and walked away with my free toothpaste, $1.00 boxes of Keebler fudge granola bars, and paid pennies for Pantene shampoo and conditioner.

Ahhh, it’s good to be back in the couponing business. I can’t wait for the second season of EC to start. And, I couldn’t care less who gives me the evil eye at check out. ~TFF