Secrets to Shopping at Jo-ann Fabrics.

I like to shop.  I mean, seriously, what person honestly can say they don't?  Male, female, young, old, everyone has their own personal interests, and buying new items towards those interests will always makes you feel a little giddy.

I like to shop for yarn.  My favorite store: Jo-ann Fabrics..or Jo-ann's...or as my children say...the yarn store! Because sure, I may look around at all the other crafty fun stuff the store has, or peruse the holiday aisles to decorate the house, but come on, we all know why I'm there.  I go for the yarn!  I should seriously have some stock in that store I go so often.  Don't even ask me how much I go when it's the holiday season!  😳  Let's just say, when the employees start to add you on Facebook, you know you have problems!  I'm not joking!  LOL.  I got a friend request from an employee there and when I told my husband he just laughed, shook his head, and said that I was in too deep.

Anyways, I go there so often that I've learned a few things along the way about shopping at Jo-ann's.

COUPONS...aka...free money!

• Do not go to the store without coupons.  Let me repeat that.  DO NOT go to the store WITHOUT coupons.  There are so many coupons that you can use that you better not pay full price on anything!
• Unlike some other stores, I won't name any names, you can use as many coupons as you have in one order!  
• Most of the time the coupons you will get are 40%, 50% and at some rare times, 60% off regular priced items.  They also have the coveted 20-25% ALL items, including items already on sale! These both work great for yarn.  Other coupons usually include: a percentage of fabrics, and beads/notions and other random ones.  
• Unless you have one of the 20% off sale-priced item coupons, I would wait to buy anything that is only on sale for 20-30% off.  If you can wait, it will most likely go back to regular price in a week or so, and then you can use your 40-60% off coupons.  

Where you can find coupons: 

1. You can sign up for emails from them that include coupons.  Weather you print them out at home, or you just show them on the phone, they will send you some usually weekly. 
2. Download the Jo-ann's app.  Do it now, I'll wait......  Good.   Now open it.  It should look like the picture below.  It has some okay features on it that are useful (shop, find a store etc) but the first item on the bottom left is what you want.  COUPONS!  It's on your phone, which most people have with them at all times these days, so you can't forget them at home!  Usually they are the same coupons in the emails, but if they have different barcode numbers, which they often do, you can use both!  They will usually have between 4-8 coupons at once on the app.  
   
3. Another app you can download is Ibotta.  This app is great for many stores, and works as a rebate.  Often times they have a rebate for Jo-anns in the form of "spend $35 and get $5 back" type deal.  This is great because after you've used all your coupons, you can then use this on top of it!
4. After you buy items from this fabulous store, they will usually give you a sheet of coupons to use at a later date.  Save these in your car, wallet, or wherever you won't forget about them.  
5. Jo-ann's also accepts one competitor's coupon per order.  Since I always have my phone with me, I usually just type into google "hobby lobby coupon" and the first thing that comes up is a 40% off coupon.  The cashier just needs to see it, since there is nothing to scan.  

Some other fun things you should know:

• If an item is out of stock, you can ask an employee about it.  They will be able to tell you if they have any more coming in the next order, how many, and when the truck is being delivered.  They can also check other Jo-ann's in the area and let you know if they have any in stock.  They can do this all on their little hand held device they carry around. 
• Get to know the employees, or at the least, just be very friendly to them.  Often times I wanted to make sure that I got certain yarn when it came in and, although they have no set protocol for this, they would take down my name and number and call me when it was in.  I'm not sure if it's because I'm a regular there or not, but they would put it aside for me also.  
• They have a clearance wall with quite a bit of random stuff.  It's always worth it to check it out because a lot of the deals are really good.  I find the clearance wall (usually a bigger one) in the back of most stores.  
• They really do have a good selection of all things craft.  The fabric section takes up almost one third of the store!  There's tons of jewelry making materials as well.  My kids are always looking through all the art supplies they have!  My oldest loves perler beads, and they have a good selection of those, as well as even having American Girl doll clothing and accessories.  Finally, as mentioned earlier, they have holiday decor as well.  My children love looking through these aisles with me, during each new season.  

There you have it.  Some great tips and tricks when shopping at Jo-ann Fabrics.  Are there any ways that you save at this store that I haven't mentioned?