CONGRATULATIONS CLYDE-SAVANNAH GRADUATES!

Congratulations Clyde-Savannah graduating class 2011!!!  We are so proud of all you have accomplished and look forward to seeing you succeed in your future endeavors :D

Save money at the grocery/drug store

The way most experienced couponers or smart shoppers save a bundle of money at the grocery or drug store is by combining deals.  First you look at the store sales, see if there are additional savings with store loyalty cards or store coupons, then match manufacturer coupons with those deals.  It is important to read the fine print on the coupons to make sure you match it with the exact same product and make sure you follow the store coupon policy.  Sometimes a store has a limit of how many products of the same type you can buy at the promotional price.

As I mentioned in one of my last posts, I save a lot of time and effort following these bloggers blogs on Facebook.  They combine the deals and all I have to do is match the coupons.  Oftentimes, you can get everyday products free or at a substantial discount.

Ever wonder how bottle redemption works?

At least once a day, a customer comes in and asks "how do you make money doing this"?   Basically, container redemption works like this...   A customer brings in a container which has .05 cent NYS deposit which is marked either on the top of the bottle/can or by the UPC code.  I make sure it is a redeemable container and I refund the customer's .05 cent deposit.  Every week a recycling company picks up the containers that I have paid for.  Approximately, 2 weeks after pick up, I receive a check that includes the .05 cent deposit plus a handling fee of .035 cents per container for sorting, bagging, and returning the container to the manufacturer via the recycling company.

Any containers that are not redeemed is credited back to the manufacturer.  On a periodic basis, the manufacturer pays the State of New York 80% of any uncollected deposit funds, which believe me, amounts to MILLIONS of dollars!  So if you are like me and feel as though you pay enough for your beverages or pay enough out to NYS in taxes, you will RETURN your redeemable containers and get your nickel back!

Coupon Crazy??

Are you amazed by the new show on Lifetime Television called "Extreme Couponing"?  I certainly am!  While I have issues with some of the methods used in obtaining mass quantities of coupons and when it shows the participants clearing products off the shelves, it definitely has some great tips on saving money on groceries!

I have found the most efficient way to make use of coupons is to subscribe to several of the coupon blogs.  The people who run these blogs post regularly on local store sales and deals.  They do your homework for you!  Some of these sites I use are:
http://www.livingrichwithcoupons.com/
http://wildforwags.com/
http://www.momsneedtoknow.com/
http://www.commonsensewithmoney.com/
http://www.facebook.com/CouponGeek
http://www.facebook.com/iamthatlady
http://www.facebook.com/couponer

These are some of my favorites which I follow mostly on Facebook, although most of them have email update feeds you can sign up for.  If you have others or comments on these, feel free to share!

Closed on Saturday, June 25, 2011

My apologies for the unscheduled closing of the bottle center on Saturday, 6/25/11.  Unfortunately, Tomra Recycling is our main recycle company.  They have state wide contracts, therefore, I have no option of going through a different recycle company.  They apparently were not able to get their reimbursement checks out to the recycling centers.  Being a small redemption center, I cannot pay out in excess of $500 per day without being reimbursed on a regular basis.

Once again, my sincere apologies to my customers.