Thanks to Michelle at Saving Some Green for nominating me for a Lemonade Award! How sweet.
1. Make sure you organize everything before you go. Don't think you can run to the store and remember where those coupons are in your folder. Get out all the coupons you are planning to use on that particular trip and clip them to your list. Know where they are! It will go much quicker at checkout. I do mine this way:
2. The second part is to understand the deals you are getting. If something rings up wrong at the register, you need to know about the deal you are trying to get so you can explain it to the cashier. Speak up! If the item rings up at a different price, speak up. If the coupon doesn't ring up correctly, speak up.
It is important to know and understand the store's individual coupon policy. Know whether or not they accept printable coupons, competitor coupons, and such. I will tell you right now that you CAN combine manufacturer coupons (the ones from the newspaper and online...they say "manufacturer coupons" at the top) and store coupons together for double the savings. Store coupons are put out by the store, and are not reimbursed by manufacturers. Some cashiers just don't know you can do this. Don't be afraid to talk to a manager about it if the cashier gives you grief. You are doing nothing wrong!
3. Always take all your coupons with you to the store. I cannot emphasize this one enough. You will always run into unexpected clearance items and bargains. And it will kill you if you see shampoo on clearance for $1.25 and you know you have a $1/1 coupon at home. Ahhh! Always take your coupons with you! It has happened to me and I haven't made that mistake again! I keep my coupons in a large accordion folder that fits neatly into my large purse. I take it everywhere I go. I clip the coupons that I:
I basically clip about 90% of the coupon inserts. Also, save, save, save EVERY coupon you get in the mail! You never know when a sale will come up and you can use it. Diaper coupons, shampoo coupons, all those mailers you throw away! Save those coupons. I can't even tell you how many of those coupons I have used on sales to get things free or nearly free. It pays to take 10 seconds to clip and file away.
The more you watch the sales and coupon, you will notice a pattern. Certain things always go on sale and clearance at particular stores. Some stores even have a schedule. I won't pay for some things at full price at Walmart (like my hubby's favorite deodorant) because I know every few months they go on sale at Walgreens and when I use a coupon with it I can get it much cheaper. Noticing these things also will be helpful knowing which coupons you want to clip.
Some people don't like to clip the coupons, they like to keep them in their inserts. Do what is best for you! I have found this other way is much more beneficial to me.
4. There are many other small tips. One good tip I have heard is to print off the store's coupon policy and take it with you in your purse in case you have problems. They can usually be found on their websites. Another good tip that I practice all the time is making sure you go at a good time of day. If you are shopping with a lot of coupons go at a time of day that is not as busy. Other shoppers will thank you!
As you coupon more and more, you will find what works for you the best. You might even find a favorite checker to help you! At the Albertson's store I shop at for deals, there is one particular checker I LOVE. I will wait in a long line just to have her check me out....sound crazy, but I know she loves helping me and she loves seeing me get a good deal!
5. There will always be another sale. Items always go on clearance, stores always have sales. If you miss a sale, can't get to a sale, or forget your coupons, don't fret. There will always be another sale! I can't make it to every sale or get every deal. I have a lot of family, church, and other responsibilities that I have to do. I do make an effort, but you just can't get to every one. So that's okay!
Here are some general coupon rules you need to know. And many more questions can be answered by reading this coupon 101 at Pinching Your Pennies.
If you have any more questions, please ask!
As we begin 2009, lets remember some things that will help us all live more frugally (and better, actually). Here is to a more prosperous new year!
Ways to get free stuff and get paid
Yes, they are expensive....HOWEVER.....Vanilla Joy is having a giveaway on her blog for this consolidator!!! Go to her blog and enter for a chance to win....3 winners will be announced next week! Yay!
(thanks
PYP!)
Get 6 free digital Valentines Day cards and free shipping! Offer ends Feb 1, 2009.
Scrapbooksetc.com
Enter code valentine at checkout.
These are super cute!
Thanks Tonya for letting me know about this awesome website! StockupFood.com is a FREE resource for you to keep track of your food storage! All you do is enter how many people are in your family, what you have, and how many months you want storage for. It tells you where you are at immediately!
It literally took me just minutes to find out how much storage we have. I am currently working towards a year's worth of food storage for my family. I found out I am 61% there! Whoo Hoo! I have been tallying my food the past few weeks so I already knew my amounts. That's why it didn't take me long.
Check out StockupFood.com! It's really easy to use and you will have a free resource to keep track of your storage.
Eric Carle Chunky Book Assortment
Welcome to Frugal Living Friday! Each week I will feature a tip that can help us stretch our budget and live more frugally! If you have a tip that you want shared on Frugal Living Friday, let me know and you could become a guest blogger for a day.
So now that I have such a large stockpile of cereal, oatmeal, granola bars, etc. many of you have emailed me asking how I keep my kids out of it all! It is exciting for the kids to go out to the garage (unfortunately, I don't have a pantry) and go "shopping" when we are out of something in the house. But if I let them have free reign my good deals will be gone in no time.
I have set up a few rules for making our food last. I explained to my kids that although the food was super cheap (and often free!) that doesn't mean we can go crazy with it. I only stock up like this when the deals are really good and I won't replenish at full price. After I explained this I told them how things would work:
Now I know these rules will probably be broken at some point, but I like having them in place. Here is a loose breakfast schedule I have in place so the kids know they will still have something to eat in place of cold cereal. I don't have specific days for each type of food, because my food desires or schedule may change. Like I said, it's a loose schedule! And we mix up all the options to form all sorts of combinations to fit our tastes for the day.
BREAKFAST OPTIONS (besides cold cereal)
Oatmeal & fruit/yogurt
Pancakes or Waffles
Muffins & breakfast smoothies
Biscuits & poached eggs
Omelets/Eggs and toast
Breakfast Burritos (tortillas w/scrambled eggs & spices, hashbrowns, ham, etc)
Homemade "Egg McMuffins" (my hubby loves these)
So I am at least trying to make my food last as long as possible! So far the kids have been really good about sticking to the rules. They know I won't go out and just buy lots more.
How do you make your stockpile last?
Welcome to Frugal Living Friday! Each week I will feature a tip that can help us stretch our budget and live more frugally! If you have a tip that you want shared on Frugal Living Friday, let me know and you could become a guest blogger for a day.
Sometimes convenience is worth it when it comes to baking, don't you agree? Making everything from scratch can be time consuming and just plain tiring sometimes. However, did you know you can make your own homemade convenience mixes to keep on hand? The majority of the time it would be more economical and healthier to use homemade mixes than boxes from the store.
Many times you can find box mixes on great sales where they are super cheap. But just remember: They are processed. They have hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors and flavors, etc. You skip all this by spending a few extra minutes making homemade mixes yourself. It really doesn't take long. Yesterday I made a homemade brownie mix, and it took me about 15 minutes. It will keep for up to 6 months in a cool, dry place.
Brownie Mix
8 cups sugar (I do less, but that is just me)
4 cups all-purpose flour
4 tsp. baking powder
4 tsp. salt
2 1/2 c. baking cocoa
2 cups shortening
In a large bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Cut in shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs, like this:
Store in an airtight container in a cool dry place for up to 6 months. I put mine in Tupperware, label it like so and stick it in my fridge in the garage. Yield: 18 cups.
I got this recipe from Quick Cooking magazine a few years ago and clipped it. With this brownie mix, you can make fudge sauce, walnut brownies, brownie snack cake, and brownie crinkle cookies. Pretty nifty! I took a photo of the page, hopefully you can click on the picture and it will be large enough for you to see the recipes and photos.
With one recipe of this homemade mix, I figure it is like having about 4-5 box mixes from the store. You can make several batches of things with one mix recipe. I made the brownie crinkle cookies yesterday and got 3 dozen cookies. With the cost of the ingredients figured in, I estimate the cost for a batch of brownies with this mix to be approximately about .30 cents . Not too bad, eh?
Plus, like I said before you are getting the satisfaction of knowing you are making something that you feel good about. You know what goes in there. There is so much crap in those box mixes, so much stuff that is really bad for us.
Here are some websites with ideas for making your own homemade mixes.
Recipe Gold Mine Homemade Mixes
Hillbilly Housewife Homemade Convenience Foods
My friend Holly's Mix Recipes
Do you make your own mixes? Do you have any recipes to share? Oh, and don't forget to do THIS with your pancake mixes! :)
(I did a post on cooking from scratch awhile ago you may want to look at)
Many stores do things differently than others so I suggest calling your local store before making a special trip to see how deep their discounts are. Happy shopping!
In the five years I have been couponing and deal shopping I don't think I have ever had a sale this BIG! Albertson's is having a tremendous sale this week! You can double up to 6 coupons, plus you get Catalina's (coupons to use on your next purchase) back too. I will explain this all in a minute. First, here is a pic of everything I got this morning:
9 packages swaddlers (I am so excited to stock up on newborn diapers for cheap!)Wonder how much I paid for all this? Would you believe I only paid $132.44 out of pocket? But wait....there is more....I also have $40 worth of Catalina's to use on future purchases....so I really only spent $92.44 on everything listed above!!!!!!! Just the diapers alone should have been $90 at regular price.
It worked out that I spent only $18.62 on just the 9 packs diapers....is that amazing or what? The Pantene was only .17 a bottle! WOW!
How did I do it? Let me explain how this sale works.
You purchase items in the sale in groups of $30. For every $30 you spend, you get $15 worth of catalina's back to use on a future purchase. For the diaper deal, if you spend $25 on any baby products, you get a $5 catalina back to use on a future purchase.
Are you still with me?
So the diapers are included in BOTH deals (at least the swaddlers and cruisers are). So I purchased 3 packs of diapers for $10 each, totaling $30. So I got both the $5 catalina AND the $15 catalinas too. Awesome! PLUS...I had manufacturer coupons to use as well to save me even more! I had 4 coupons I was able to use and I doubled 3 of them.
PLUS, Albertson's is letting you double up to 6 coupons at once this week. You have to use their special in-ad coupon to do that, so make sure you grab an ad if you don't have one. AWESOME!!!
Go to Albertson's website to look up the weekly ad if you don't get it in the newspaper.
HERE is the link to the printable shopping list on Pinching Your Pennies. They spell it all out for you...where to find your coupons, where to print them out, etc. Really easy. (This list is for Idaho so there might be a few changes where you are, I don't know.)
PYP also has an Excel Spreadsheet that spells it all out for you. It is on the same link I listed above, just scroll down a little to find it. This spreadsheet is AMAZING and I highly recommend you using it to be your shopping list. It's what I use when I go shopping on sales like these.
ADVICE: When you go to this sale, have it all spelled out before you get to the store. Know what coupons you are using with each grouping or you will get confused. It also helps because if you don't know how much you should be spending you won't know if they make a mistake. So take the Excel spreadsheet with you. I paper clip my coupons together in groupings. I made 7 transactions today of the $30 groups...you HAVE to do them separately to get the $15 back each time.....and I had all of my coupons grouped together for each group. That way you can just hand the coupons to the cashier each time you are ringing up a grouping. Make sense?
This sale is the perfect example of why you should SAVE (and organize) every coupon you get, even ones in the mail. You might think you will never use them, but you will be surprised....when sales like this happen you will be sad you don't have them. Refer to the coupon organizing posts I made below last week to get you started on organizing coupons. Because I saved all those Pampers coupons I get in the mail, I was able to save an additional $6 today! It IS worth it!
If you have any questions, please post here. This is a great week to build up your 3 month supply of food storage!
******************************************************
UPDATE: Here are my Albertson's Sale Results! (as of 1/13/09 after my last trip on this sale!)
So the past few days I have spent a good portion of my day organizing my garage to fit everything I bought at the Albertson's sale this week! I am happy that I have plenty of diapers & wipes for my new baby for several months at least. We are well-stocked again on cereal, toilet paper, and popcorn among lots of other stuff. Yay! Here are the numbers:
(keep in mind on a few of these transactions I bought regular things I needed like butter, milk, eggs, chicken, etc. There were AWESOME prices last week on lots of things that are not on the $15 back promo)
Total out of pocket expense: $342.03
Manufacturer coupon savings (with some doubling): $99.27
Catalina's used: $345
Total Dollar Savings: $1,472.71
My total savings was 81%! WOW!
Everything I purchased should have cost me $1,814.74 !!! Holy cow. In case you are super curious, here is a list of everything I bought for only $342. Tell me what you think! I think I did pretty sweet. :)
Albertson's Sale: Items Purchased (all items below total price came to $342.03!)
Jolly Time Popcorn...17 boxes (all were free after coupons)
Powerade (packs of 10 each)...5 packs
Cereal... 38 boxes (no box was more than .50 after coupons)
Bounty (packs of 8 BIG rolls) ...2 packs
Charmin (packs of 9 jumbo rolls)... 14 packs
Pampers Diapers... 18 packs (averaged out to be about $3 per pack)
Baby Refill Wipes...16 packs
Pantene...2 bottles (only .17 each after coupons)
Crest Toothpaste...1 tube
Cascade...2 packages
Always Infinity...1 package
Dawn Dishwashing...1 bottle
Magic Eraser... 3 packages
Gogurts... 9 boxes
Yo Plus Yogurt... 2 packages
Fiber One Granola Bars... 11 boxes
Muffin mix... 3 boxes
Chex Mix... 4 packages
Warm Delights... 2 packages
Frosting...2 containers
Stuff purchased not on the $15 back sale:
Milk... 2 gallons
Fresh Chicken... 8 lbs (price was $1.24 lb after $5 promo discount)
Rice A Roni... 8 boxes
Butter... 2 lbs
Mtn High Yogurt... 2 containers
Eggs... 2 dozen
Bread... 1 loaf
Cheese... 4 lbs
Newspaper...1
Note that even though my coupon and catalina savings totals more than my out-of-pocket expense, this doesn't mean I got everything for free. It means I got everything stinkin' cheap!
See what coupon shopping can do for you? Don't knock it until you try it! :)
Free Potty Training Kit from Pampers!
Kit includes:
A free sample of Easy Ups Trainers
Valuable coupons ($5 worth)
Fun stickers and coloring pages
Step-by-step potty training tips
Progress Chart
Dora or Diego training trophy
Limit one per household
Download Suze Orman's 2009 Action plan book! This FREE download is only available until January 15, 11:59 pm CT so hurry!
Suze has some great information on getting your finances in order for 2009. This is the year!
Welcome to Frugal Living Friday! Each week I will feature a tip that can help us stretch our budget and live more frugally! If you have a tip that you want shared on Frugal Living Friday, let me know and you could become a guest blogger for a day.
Check out Judy Stark's "Big To-Do List for 2009." I love this article. She has lots of great advice to follow.
Every time I have had a baby I always sign up with different companies for freebies and samples. It has saved me a ton of money! I normally breastfeed my babies for about 6 months. When my other 3 kids were babies, I had enough formula samples to last me several months....so I really didn't need to buy that much formula before they turned a year old! It was fantastic. I hope to do the same this time around...I only have 4 1/2 months until my newest little one enters this world.
There are so many coupons, samples, and freebies out there. I am starting to compile a list. If you know of one that I don't have listed, let me know and I will add it.
Note: I have signed up for all of these offers before, and gotten them. I also signed up with many of them again. I will only list legitimate offers that come. Most of these offers are for the US only.
FORMULA
Parent's Choice Formula sample
Nestle Good Start baby formula coupons
Enfamil Family Beginnings
Similac Welcome Addition---call 1800 BABYLINE (press #1) automated call
Bright Beginnings Customer Club
DIAPERS & FOOD
LUVS Welcome Pack
Huggies diapers
Pampers Gifts to Grow
Gerber baby food coupons
Beechnut Baby Food
MISC
Free Playtex BPA free bottle with liners
Free sippy cup
Diaper Bag Tag
MAGAZINES
Baby Talk Magazine
American Baby Magazine
There is a great stockup sale on vitamins and cold medicine at Walgreens this week. When you purchase $20 or participating products you get $10 Register Rewards back.
Plus, there is a rebate for the same products in yesterday's newspaper (1/4/09) you can combine with it! I bought 2 packages of Alka-Seltzer Cold, 1 bottle of men's One-A-Day vitamins and 1 bottle of Flintstone's vitamins. I had $4 worth of coupons from Sunday's paper that I used as well. I should get back $10 from the rebate in the newspaper so I will come ahead on this deal! This is a great time to stock up on these items. The expiration date was a year and a half away, so plenty of time to use them.
Also, there is a $1.50 rebate for Electrosol this month. Use the $2.50/1 coupon in Sunday's paper yesterday and you will get paid to buy it this week! My store was already out this morning, so don't wait long for this deal.
Garnier shampoo/conditioner is also on sale. Combine the Easy Saver coupon with the manufacturer coupon (if your local area got this coupon) and get it free!
Oh, and this would be a good week to purchase an additional Sunday paper (or two). There are 5 inserts this week with lots of great coupons, including Quaker items. And Albertson's always has a BIG Quaker sale in the next few months. :) hint, hint.
So when it come to starting your grocery list and you want to use coupons, where do you begin? It could take hours to go over all the ads, see if you have coupons that match up with the sales, etc. Who has time for that?
There are some fabulous resources on the Internet that offer this very service! Some are free, some cost money. Many of these places have printable shopping lists that match up the item, the sale price, the coupon that goes with the item (and where to find it) and your final price at the register. Can't get much better than that!
Unfortunately, I live in an area that does not have double coupons. If you do utilize those sales! Doubling a coupon means that the face value of the coupon is doubled at checkout. For example, if you have a coupon for $1 off Skippy Peanut Butter, it would double to $2 off! See how your savings can add up? Since I don't have this luxury, I combine coupons with really good sales & clearance items to stock up. It's the best I can do. These websites can help you do just that!
Pinching Your Pennies
This is a website with hundreds of resources for the frugal shopper, and it's all FREE! Registering gives you optimal benefits. There are individual state forums with deals specific to each state. There are weekly printable shopping lists (like the ones I explained above) for many stores like Albertsons, Walgreens, and Rite Aid. Here is an example. There are many, many forums with different topics on saving money, living frugally, emergency preparedness, meal planning, and MORE!
Grocery Smarts
Grocery Smarts has many of the same resources as Pinching Your Pennies. Here is an example of what their shopping lists look like. This particular list is for Albertson's in Utah. See how they spell it all out for you? So easy! You can also print coupons from Grocery Smarts.
Notice on these shopping lists that the coupons are listed like this:
Fresh Express Salad Blend, any .55/1 DND (12-31-08) SS-12/7
Here is what it means. The coupon is for Fresh Express Salad Blends, any type. The value of the coupon is .55 off 1 bag. DND means the coupon is a Do Not Double. The expiration date is 12-31-08, and the coupon is found in the Smart Source insert from the 12/7/08 Sunday newspaper. Got it? As soon as you understand the lingo you can find your coupons VERY quickly.
The Grocery Game
This one finds local sales and deals in your area, but it does cost money. I recommend trying the free websites first, only because I am cheap and want to save every buck I can!
There are many, many blogs and websites out there that list the deals weekly for Walgreens, Rite Aid, CVS, and more! I cannot list every deal I find or know about. I do try to share as much as I can. I have listed some of my favorites on my sidebar under the category "Must Places to Visit."
Kick off the day with a beautiful freebie! I haven't posted about the monthly free digital desktops from Shabby Princess for awhile...I keep forgetting to post about it! She creates one every month, and they are so adorable.
Just download onto your computer (free) and then edit with your photos in any photo editing software program. I just did mine.
Download HERE
