Over It!

I've moved on and I'm over the loss of my old coupon binder.

 I got a new binder and pages and set up shop the other day.  I cut out all the coupons I had at home and, like a madwoman, I also printed out a ton of coupons off the internet. I spent several hours cutting and organizing and making divider pages. It's filling up nicely!

It occurred to me the other day, that while I may have lost my coupon binder, I did not lose my knowledge on how to get more coupons and how to use them to their maximum potential. Upon realizing this, I instantly felt better about losing the old coupon binder. While it still hurts, financially, to have lost all the store credit and gift cards, I can easily start over and eventually, I'll build up my store credit and gift cards again. It took me several months to learn how to coupon to the extent that I do-- the tricks and the secret of using store and manufacturer's coupons at the same time. Now that I have that knowledge, I can never lose it. What a difference that made, in helping me get past the loss.

The other good thing is the papers have coupons every week so it's comforting knowing that. Speaking of newspapers, this Sunday's paper is supposed to be loaded with coupons, so if there are any couponers that read this, plan on getting at least two papers. I'll probably get two of each paper for a total of four. We have a local paper that only gets about half of the coupons the big paper gets, but the value of the coupons are often different. It's a regional issue, but sometimes the values in the smaller, cheaper paper are better than the bigger, more costly paper. I have been known to buy up to 8 copies of the smaller paper, just for a certain coupon!

In any case, this will be the last post I write about my lost binder. It's not the only thing I think about anymore and I'm moving on to other things. Like, snow! And the cold! Brrr! 18 degrees today with about 3 inches of snow so far out there! The way it's coming down, I wouldn't be surprised if we get at least 5 inches or more. Stay warm!

Starting Over...

I had a very upsetting thing happen to me the other day. I lost my big coupon binder. I am a big coupon user, often getting my purchases down to very low or free and it has been the biggest way we have managed to live on our small income. We can make $100 stretch with me using my coupons the way I do, and so I organized all my coupons into a big 3-ring zippered binder.  It was my shopping bible.  I am devastated that I lost it!

 I have no explanation for why I lost it except I wasn't feeling well, I had all the family with me, and I was in a hurry-- a big triple combination for disaster, I suppose. I never even realized I had lost it until we received a phone call late at night asking if I had lost my WIC folder (a supplement program for low income families for children's health for up to the age of 5).  What?  No, it's in my coupon book!  I go and look for it and it's not where I usually put it! Maybe I left it in the car, nope, nothing! Panic sets in!! I lost my book?!? We arrange a meeting with the caller and Andrew comes back home with just a few papers that were inside my coupon binder. No coupons, no binder, nothing, just a few pieces of scrap paper, my WIC folder, and some random items I had in there.

I cried. I felt disgusted with myself for losing it in the first place. I was horrified thinking about someone pawing through it and finding such a valuable money-saving tool. I got upset when I did the math and realized I had over $100 in store gift cards and credit in there, all gone! All my hard work cutting out and organizing those coupons! Then I started to think about what else I had in there with personal information on it! Oh no! Do I have to worry about identity theft now? Do I need to call the bank? Will someone do harm to my family now that they have my address? What a roller coaster of emotions!

After a night of tossing and turning, I woke up with a very stiff neck. We called the bank to see if there was anything to be concerned about and they put a notice up on our account for any suspicious activity, just in case. We called the store where I lost it to see if anyone turned in a big binder-- nothing. When Andrew met with the person that found some of my papers, he went back to the parking lot to look around, check the trash bins, but didn't find anything.

What can I do? I did my crying.  I vented my grief and frustration to friends and on Facebook. And now?  I just have to start over. I'm pretty sure I'll never get it back. No amount of tears and anger at the person that found it and kept it will not bring it back. Kicking myself in the butt will not bring it back and just leave me with a sore behind. So, I'll start again.

I need to buy a new binder. I'll need to get new baseball card pages. And then I'll start cutting out coupons again. No use crying over the good ones I had, I'll get more good ones. Losing all those gift cards and store credit slips really hurts, though. I had been saving some of them to buy a big ticket item, and the others were being saved for different gifts I planned to buy when I had enough credit saved up. Nothing else to do but move on. Get past losing the old one and start working on making the new one better.

I'll definitely find a new spot for the receipts I had in there--next time I'll pull them out and save them in a folder I leave at home. The gift cards will be kept somewhere else, too, not in my wallet because it's tiny and cannot hold 20 gift cards. Not sure where I'll keep them, but I will figure something out.

My children were so sweet, they all came and hugged me and tried their best to console me after they saw me crying and found out I lost my coupon book.  Evelyn made me a small paper folder and wrote, "My Mom's Coupon Folder" on it and then in small print below it, "Don't lose it now!" She also included a hand made coupon for a FREE HUG that never expires. Bless their hearts. I told them that it was sad that I lost my book, but the more important thing is that we have each other and that we are all alright and full of love for each other. I'm trying to keep my chin up for them, to let them see that it's ok to be sad about something and then it's time to move past it and keep going.

I'm not 100% over it, but I will be. Once I get my new binder, I'll have something to do with the new coupons I'll get in tomorrow's Sunday paper. The possibilities will open up and I'll find new deals and bargains. Starting over...

Saving Money At The Grocery Store

I fell off the coupon wagon a few months ago, somewhere in the middle of the garden harvest when we were enjoying meals of fresh fruits and vegetables and had no desire for anything store-bought.  Then I kind of got sick of couponing, the weekly sit-down of cutting out coupons and organizing them and pulling out expired ones. Going online to check for deals and sales and printing online coupons were starting to annoy me. I was experiencing coupon burn-out!

Of course, falling off the coupon wagon means money isn't being saved.  Not that I stopped shopping the sales, but I wasn't searching out the best deals and my coupon inserts were piling up, waiting to be cut. Couponing is a lot of work, equivalent to a part-time job, at least, when you factor in all the time it takes to cut, sort, organize, search, find, and match up deals to coupons.

After awhile, I got tired of my grocery budget not going as far as it could be and sometime around November, I hopped back on the wagon. A break was just what I needed, to come back refreshed and eager to start making my dollars stretch again! Just in time, too, because I found a lot of deals for Christmas gifts and other items, and I'm pretty pleased to say that the majority of the gifts under the tree this year were bargains. I think there were only a few things we paid full price for and I'm happy with what we were able to give to others and not feel like we came out broke at the end of it all.

Now that a new year has begun, I've started off on the right foot and really stretched the food budget today while I was out shopping.  I try not to buy too much processed foods, but sometimes, and especially with a big family, buying a box or two of macaroni and cheese really helps stretch the budget and the meals. In this case, I bought 18 boxes of Kraft macaroni and cheese!!  Here's why: The local store advertised it as being on sale 3 for $1.25.  That's a cheap price for a brand name!  An added bonus is that I have 6 coupons for $1 off 3, which combined with the sale makes it 25 cents for 3 boxes!! No doubt, that's a stock-up price!! After sales, coupons, and taxes, I paid $1.75 for 18 boxes of macaroni and cheese!!

I can now take a box and then add to it to make a meal-- I might add a pound of ground beef, a jar of my home-canned tomatoes, a chopped onion and green pepper, some spices, and I've just made a home version of hamburger helper.  Add a side of vegetables and a salad and it's enough for the seven of us to get filled up on. It's a little bit processed, but in general, it's a healthy meal, I'm not complaining.

Here's where going online helps to make a sale become a better deal: Target's ad states that when you buy 2 boxes of Digiorno pizza for $5 each, you get a free box of Edy's fruit bars. Pretty good.  But going online to coupon websites, I discover there's an online coupon you can print to get 1 Digiorno pizza free when you buy 2.  Even better!  Now here's the best deal, print -2- of those coupons, buy 6 pizzas for $5 each, get 3 free boxes of fruit bars for $30 total before coupons. The coupon states it will give you a free pizza up to $7.01 and some stores will let you get the full value of the coupon, even if the pizza only cost $5.  I was able to get the full value of the coupon twice, which means, after coupons, I paid $16 for 6 pizzas and 3 boxes of fruit bars!

Frozen pizza is not as good as eating out, but with this large family of mine, eating out often is not an option. Not as good as home made pizza, but that requires planning ahead and I usually come up with dinner ideas on the fly, meaning something gets whipped up at the last minute. I'll be saving those pizzas for those really crazy days, when we're all frazzled and tired and hungry and too pooped to cook.

I keep telling myself to keep track of how much I spent versus how much I should have spent, but after a week or two, I lose stamina and receipts get scattered. The easier way for me to know I'm saving money is when we continually stay under the grocery budget.  I've been running out before the end of the month and that's a truly awful feeling to know I've spent the entire budget already. It's nice to get back on track again and I'm looking forward to seeing our budget carry over to the next month!

Evil Cashiers

As we all know, I coupon.  I have a big ol' coupon binder. I buy 2-4 newspapers every Sunday. I spend  at least 2 hours every week cutting out and organizing my coupons. I do my "homework" to find the best deals and matching up coupons with sales to get the most of my money. I spend about an hour every day on the internets checking coupon websites and blogs for the latest hot coupons or notifications on unadvertised deals. I do pretty well for the small town I live in and the limited stores I have access to. I go to the next big town over for the bigger stores, like Target, Walmart and the big grocery store that doubles coupons.  In my little town, I only have CVS, Rite Aid, Food Lion and a family-owned food store.

That said, I know most of the people that work at my small town stores. I know which cashiers are easy-going about coupons and which ones to avoid like the plague. One of the stores has a woman that I call the 'coupon nazi' because she is an absolute hard nose when it comes to coupons and often hands some of them back to me, refusing to take them. I don't do anything illegal when I use my coupons. I make sure they are for the right item, the right size, not expired...  Some stores allow you to use both the store coupon and the manufacturer's coupon on the same item. This store does, but coupon nazi won't let me. She won't even scan it to see if the machine takes it or not.  If the machine beeps, then it won't take, but trust me when I say the machine won't beep, but she won't take it.  So I have learned not to go to her when I have a lot of coupons to use.

I am on a first name basis with some of the cashiers and managers and it's a really nice thing, too.  They know me and I know them.  They'll sometimes go the extra mile for me and I always have a smile and say nice things. I know better than to behave rudely and like I said, I do my homework so that when I get to the store, I know exactly what to get and which coupons to use to pay the least amount of money possible.

There's a particular lady that works at CVS. Whenever I walk in and see her behind the counter, I scream inside my head, "Noooooooooo!"  I smile and wave hello, and hope that maybe this time, there will be no problem. Every single time I get her, she gives me attitude about my coupons. She won't take something, or she shakes her head the whole time she scans my coupons. She won't scan my bag tag because I don't have a bag, but I am not using the store's bag, so scan the bag tag! She often has to call the manager over because she has issues with what I am buying or my coupons, or my extra care bucks. She punches the computer screen so hard it shakes. One time she even sneered at me and said, "I never use coupons!"  Well good for you lady, but I have 4 children, a husband out of work and I need to make every penny go as far as I can get it! Maybe if she used coupons, she wouldn't have to work at her old age now.

I went to CVS today. She was there. *sigh*  I wasn't going to get much, so I hoped there would be no problems. No coupons to use, but I did have some extra care bucks and a gift card, so no money comes out of my pocket. I smiled, waved, and said, "How are you today?" as I walked in the store. I browsed a bit, checked the clearances, picked up my items and then went up to her to pay. First thing she did was hand me a piece of paper with a handwritten note on it: We cannot take any expired coupons (not word for word, but that's what she meant). I read it and looked up at her and said, "I never use expired coupons."

"Oh, I just wanted to make sure you knew that. Some people try to use them and we can't take them." She pooh-poohed her hands at me and nodded as if she was just telling me something important.

So what is she trying to tell me? "Well, I don't use expired coupons so you don't have to worry," I tell her. Then I get her to scan my items and I hand over $10 in extra care bucks and a gift card that has a $10 value on it. She looks at them and says she can't take the card, it's too much money. I tell her she takes the extra care bucks, then use the gift card to pay the remaining balance and I take the gift card back with what's left on it.  She tells me I can't do that. I say I can, to just treat it like a gift card. She gives me a look, like "Ok, but I don't think it will work."

Sure enough, she takes the $10 extra care bucks, then uses the $10 gift card and treats it like a gift card and ta-dah! The machine takes out the remaining balance and I keep the card and whats left on it.  She's dumbfounded and I tell her, "Now you know!"

I swear, every. single. time. If I get her, she has issues with me. It makes my husband mad that I come home and tell him, "I got the old lady at CVS today," because whenever I say that, he knows I had a problem with her. It's getting to the point when there is a hot sale at CVS, I choose to go to the bigger town farther away just so I don't have to deal with her. She might not be there that day, but I don't have her schedule, I don't know which days she's there or not. It's just easier to go to the other CVS where all the people treat me nicely.

I know there are some people who don't use coupons at all, others that use them a little bit, and others, like me, who use them to bring a grocery bill down from $65.00 to $10.00.  Just because I shop this way: take the extra time to sit down, do my homework, check the internets for unadvertised bargains, plan my shopping trip, print or cut out coupons, does not make me evil. It does not mean I am breaking the law. I am not illegally using fraudulent coupons or scratching off bar codes or wiping out the shelves. I am simply a consumer that has figured out how to get the maximum value out of coupons and sales. My husband likes to put it this way: The money I save is like a paycheck for all the hours I put into couponing. Well said.

I don't know what her beef is, maybe she is just jealous that I save all this money and walk out with a full shopping cart without having to take out my wallet.  Maybe she's mad that she has to work instead of being at home playing with the grandkids. Maybe she tried couponing once and she didn't like all the work involved or it didn't save her the kind of money she thought it would.  Maybe she buys the wrong newspaper that carries no coupons. Whatever the reason, I wish she'd snap out of it and stop taking it out on me. Maybe I'll have Andrew come with me next time and if she's the cashier, I'll send him and see if she gives him a hard time. Then I'll know if she treats everyone like that or is it just me.

Random Tidbits

It's nearly mid-February and I have hardly done any crafting this new year. I'm itching to do something, but haven't figured out what it is yet.  The flower embroidery I haven't finished is calling my name, as is the rag rug I started, um, 2 years ago. But I don't feel like doing them. I'm looking for something quick and easy, the sort of project that, hopefully, will give me a jump-start into crafting again.

Andrew broke out our old nintendo and super nintendo games a couple of weeks ago, while I was out for the day and he stayed home with the kiddos.  What a flashback it's been seeing games I haven't played in years! I remember many days of my youth spent playing Super Mario 3, Donkey Kong Country, and Zelda. I'm surprised at how much I remember and the girls are awed at my mad nintendo skillz. Actually, playing some of those games remind me of the frustrations I had back then, when my best friend could whiz through some of those levels and I failed over and over at the same stinkin' level, unable to move on. I was playing a round of Donkey Kong Country after the kids went to bed, stocked up on 99 lives at an easy level, then, I kid you not, I died 99 times trying to complete ONE lousy stop on the next highest level. I actually wished for my best friend to be by my side and handing over the controls saying, "here, you do it!"

Crazy, freakin' weather here. One day it's a balmy 50 and the next it's 17 degrees and we're freezing our butts off! Now that my little greenhouse is up, I need to set up a thermometer in there and check it daily, recording the temperature, deciding when is a good time to get my seeds started. Andrew and I are determined to make this year's garden the best yet, and we are planning to buy a new tiller with our tax refund money.  Fingers crossed we get back a nice amount.

Our current tiller is the kind that gets hooked up to the back of the tractor and tills 4 foot rows. Nice to start and end the garden soil with, but lousy to till between rows during the growing season. We had a little pipsqueak tiller, but it went kaput and research tells us that to get it repaired, the parts will cost as much as buying a new one. So we are opting for a medium-sized tiller, not too big for me to handle, but big enough to till between rows and keep the weeds down.

Previously, we used an old carpet as weed block between rows, which worked great the first couple of years, but now weed seeds have buried themselves in the rug pile and when pulling up the carpet at the end of the season last fall, it was quite an effort to yank them off the soil.  Weeds grew on top and their roots held fast underneath the carpet. I was sore the next few days from all that yanking. Plus, much of the carpet just deteriorated in my hands, which made it harder to pull up in some places. Going to start saving newspapers for weed block and along with the tiller, should do a good job in keeping weeds at bay.

Couponing has been good for us lately, our pantry is full, the freezer is packed, the bathroom closet is over-flowing with toiletries... Sure came in handy when we got a call from a friend, asking if we could help out a family when their new house burned down yesterday. Lost everything. They needed clothes for their 2 boys, 1 year and 4 years old.  I didn't have very much baby clothes left, but I managed to dig up some 18 month sizes and some clothes for the 4 year old. Some toys our kids no longer played with went to them also.  We also gathered up a box full of shampoo, body washes, toothpaste, and some other things they might need. My heart goes out to them and I count my blessings that we were able to help out just a little bit.

Valentine's day is tomorrow. We don't normally make a big deal about Valentine's Day, but I happened to have some left over valentine's candy after making goody bags for the birthday party last week, so we're going to make a scavenger hunt for the kids tomorrow.  After they go to bed tonight, Andrew and I will make maps and clues and hide little treats around the house.

Have you seen this? I made one for Andrew for Valentine's. Nothing fancy, nice and simple and we could always use matches around the house, so when I saw it, I knew I'd make one. I had enough to make two, so one for him as a surprise, and one I'll keep near the wood stove, for those few times when I have to start my own fire.

Oh look-- it's bedtime for the kids! Time to go!

Extreme Couponer For A Day

When I shop with coupons, I save an average of $25 to $30 each trip.  My savings run about 50-60%.  Sometimes, I only save $10 off $70, but hey, every little bit helps.

Once in awhile, I save big and it makes me feel like I'm one of those crazy coupon ladies that walk out of the store with $300 worth of groceries and only paying $5.

I had one of those days recently! I have to share:

 Martin's food stores was running a special-- Buy 5 Quaker Oatmeal bars at $2 each, and recieve a $5 catalina to use on your next shopping trip. (A catalina is a coupon that prints out with your reciept, to be used later) They happened to have coupons on the display for 75 cents off 1 box. I grabbed 15 coupons and made 3 trips. Here's what I did:

1st trip: Bought 5 boxes = $10  Used 5- $.75/1 coupons (the first gets doubled to $1) for a total of $4 off. Pay $6 and get a $5 catalina.

2nd trip: Bought 5 boxes = $10  Used 5- $.75/1 coupons for a total of $4 off AND the $5 catalina.
Pay $1 and get a $5 catalina.

3rd trip: Repeat #2, pay $1 and get a $5 catalina.

That makes $30 worth of Quaker Oat bars for only $3 after subtracting the catalina! That equals to .20 cents a box!!   Nice!  A round of applause please!  Thank you, thank you! 

Next, I went to Target.  They will price match any store's current ad, so I took a Food Lion ad which had a sale on 12 oz boxes of Rice Krispies for $1.50.  That alone is cheap, but there was also a manufacturer's coupon for $1 off 2 kellogg's cereal AND a Target coupon for $1 off 2 Kellogg's cereal-- nice! Instead of paying $2.94 a box, I price-match and save $1.44 per box. After price-match, buy 2 boxes for $3, use both Target AND manufacturer's coupon and pay $1 for BOTH boxes! I got lucky today, though, because the clerk made an error and entered $1.25 eight separate times for eight separate boxes! So I ended up getting 8 boxes for 50 cents each after coupons! Sweet!

I also had my eye on a large picture frame that suddenly went on clearance and with a birthday gift certificate burning a hole in my pocket, it was the perfect time to pick it up. It was marked down 50% off, $24.99 down to $12.48. A twin-size sheet set in a boy theme I had my eye on was also on clearance, and I was waiting for it to come down lower, but since there were only 2 left, I had to grab it-- marked down 50% off, $17.99 down to $8.98.

Picked up the new Velveeta Cheesy dinner kit, too, for $2.04 and 2 toy cars, priced at $3.29 each. Lucky for me, there was a coupon on the Rice Krispies box that stated: Free car with purchase of 3 boxes of cereal! With 8 boxes of cereal, I had more than enough, and I found 2 coupons, which means 2 free cars! The cars will be put away for Christmas.

Here's the breakdown:
8 boxes Rice Krispies- $1.25 each
2 toy cars- $3.29 each
1 Velveeta Cheesy dinner $2.04
1 Frame $12.48
1 sheet set $8.98
Grand total: $40.08 (Total value is $75.12)
Used 4- $1/2 Kellogg's cereal Target coupons
         2- $1/2 Kellogg's cereal manu. coupons
         1- $1/1 Velveeta coupon
         1- $.50/1 Velveeta Target coupon
         2- FREE car wyb 3 boxes Rice Krispies coupons

Paid: $27.28!!  Had I not bought the frame and the sheets, my total would have been only $5.82 for 8 boxes of cereal, 2 cars, and the velveeta dinner!!  Pretty good to me!!

Any good couponing trip for you lately??  Do tell! :o)

Frugal Friday : Frugal Finds

I had a great trip to the stores today. I made a trip to Best Buy and CVS for a grand total of $128.19 in merchandise and only paid $11.29 out of pocket!

If you aren't aware already, Best Buy has an awards program in which you earn points from every purchase you make. Just apply for the free store card, then every time you shop, scan the card before you pay. They'll track your purchases and when you accumulate so many points, they'll notify you by email, then you print out the awards certificate and take it to the store for money off your next purchase.

A couple months ago, my mom and I both got new laptops from Best Buy. I put both purchases on my Best Buy store card, even though she paid for her own laptop. It made my points jump quick and they sent me a notice that I earned a $30 rewards certificate. Great! We've been wanting one of those disc repair/cleaner thingys to clean up the dvd movies the kids scratched up. Now would be the perfect time to get one!

Did I mention how awesome Best Buy is?? The disc repair thingy was $29.99 or at least I thought it was. I also picked up something else, which isn't pictured because it's a surprise for the husband for Father's Day, but anyway, the total came to $64.98. Huh?? That isn't right. Turns out the disc repair thingy was actually $44.99 and when I asked the clerk about it, she asked me to show her where I got it, and though *I* was wrong-- I looked at the wrong price ticket (but in my defense, there was no price ticket to be found for it), she gave me the $29.99 price anyway! So she knocked off $15!! Sweet!

So my total for Best Buy went from $64.98 to $44.68 minus the $30 awards certificate to a final total of $14.68. Nice!! And my purchases today will go to future points later!


My next stop was at CVS. Here, I purchased $77.89 worth of goods and they paid me to shop!!
I bought:

• 2) Whitman's Sampler candy boxes- $19.99 on clearance for $4.99 each



• 6) Hershey's candy bars- buy 2 for $1.19 get 3rd for $.01 (3 got eaten by the kids before I could get a picture of all 6!)



• 2) Zyrtec allergy medicine- 5.99 each



• 1) Motrin PM- $4.oo



• 2) Hershey's Drops candy bags- buy 1 for $4.59 get 2nd for $.01
  

My grand total was $77.89, minus coupons and CVS extra care bucks, I paid $11.59 out of pocket and then they gave me $14.98 extra care bucks to make my final total $3.39 profit!

So minus the +$3.39 from the Best Buy total of $14.68, I paid $11.29 for everything today! Not bad at all! I got a nice surprise gift for Andrew plus an unexpected bonus box of Whitman's chocolate for Father's Day. I have an extra box for a quickie gift if I need one, too!

This makes couponing totally worth it!! :o)

~

Bragging Rights: Couponing Edition

I had an extremely good shopping trip at the food and drug stores recently and I just have to share! But first, I wanted to explain something for those of you not familiar with couponing and the area where I live:

We live in the mountains and the closest 'big' food store is Food Lion 18 miles away. That's also where CVS and Rite Aid are located. Other big food stores are in a larger town 45 minutes away and if I go there, I try to consolidate errands so we are not running down there for just one store or one thing. Many couponers like to frequent stores that double coupons, price match competitors ads and/or accept other stores' coupons. The stores down south must be really nice because the coupon website I go to, people are consistently saving 80 - 90% of their totals while shopping.

The Food Lion where I shop at is just a plain, old, regular grocery store. They don't double coupons or price match because they don't have any competition from any other stores. They know that a lot of people in town go there because they have no other place to go. But still, there are deals to be found if you know what to look for and the coupon website I frequent says that if you learn when your store has their sales, anyone can turn any store into a good store. This such trip was one of those sales.

Because of the Super Bowl, a lot of the 'party foods' and snack foods are on sale. There were several special deals and lots of coupons and I was able to pick up all of the above for a good price. It's my best shopping trip at Food Lion and I'm really pleased with that. There are some items here that I don't ever buy, like the Otis Spunkmeyer cookie dough, the pasta mixes and TGIFriday's appetizer, but by combining coupons, sales, and deals, made it too good to pass up and will come in handy for those occasional meals I don't have time to cook from scratch.

• 2- Red Baron pizzas
• 3- Stouffer's French Bread pizzas
• 1- Gallon Milk
• 6- Ragu sauce
• 4- Minute Maid O.J.
• 6- Knorr Pastas
• 1- TGIFridays appetizer
• 2- NY Texas Toast
• 1- Farm Rich Mozzarella Sticks
• 1- Otis Spunkmeyer Cookie Dough
• 2- Jose Ole Taquitos

Before sales and coupons: $87.52 Final Cost: $31.80! That's a savings of over $55.00!!

This next set of food was from CVS and Rite Aid-- drugstores. Before coupons, you'd never see me grocery shopping at drugstores. They're overpriced to begin with and why go there when I can usually get what I need with more choices at the food stores? But since learning how to extreme coupon, I just love drugstores! With the exception of the Vitaminwater, this is stuff we usually always have in the pantry.

• 2- V-8 Juice
• 4- Lipton 100 count Tea bags
• 4- Ocean Spray Cran-Raspberry juice
• 3- Ragu Sauce
• 4- Planters Cashews
• 2- Vitamin waters

Total retail (drugstore) value: $78.86 After sales and coupons: FREE! Yes, free. Actually, I made a profit of $4.96. They paid me! Sweet!

If you total up the two: $166.38 before sales and coupons; Actual out of pocket costs: $26.84!

That's money that stays in the bank account! I have to work a little bit:: cut out coupons and match them up with the sales, maybe save receipts and UPCs to submit for a rebate, but in the long run, I am saving us money and we are eating well. If it was not for coupons, I honestly think we'd be on food stamps by now, because we actually do qualify for food stamps. I see a lot of people here in our town on food stamps and I wish I could teach them to make their money go farther by using coupons and sales. I take it as a challenge sometimes to see how much I can get for the least amount of money possible.

Ok, I'm done with the bragging. I'm just so pleased and it's good to look in my pantry and my freezer and know that my family won't go hungry.

-

Shopping Smart in 2011

I didn't really make any set in stone resolutions for this new year, just a few desires expressed to improve upon. Like learning to shoot a .22 and shoot it well. As always, improving the garden and harvesting. Nothing extreme like wanting to visit 50 countries or losing 100 pounds or some such goal.

I do want to do better on our financial situation, though. We have some home improvement projects we'd like to see accomplished, but we never have the money for it. Our Hall Bath is in desperate need of being redone and I think the most costly part of it will be the plumbing-- hiring a plumber to reroute the septic line and water line so we can relocate the toilet and shift the sink over. I like to imagine that we can do most of the work ourselves, but in reality, both of us are not carpenters and other than helping my dad, we don't know much about framing. So that's another job we'll need to hire out. I hope we can keep the budget for redoing the bathroom to under $1,000-- preferably in the $700 range.

Anyway, I'm going to step up on using coupons while I shop. I've made a good start this year and keeping track of receipt totals and actual out-of-pocket costs in a notebook. We sort of lived paycheck to paycheck last year, and more than a few times, we've had to go to the Bank of Mom and borrow a little bit to make it to the next paycheck. We've always paid her back, but I'd like to put an end to that this year. We want to start putting aside a little nest money for emergencies, and though Andrew still works part-time, I can see it happening if we tighten up our belts a bit more.

As of today, my total purchases from the beginning of the year is $545.73. That's a lot for only the first 2 weeks, but with coupons, I've managed to pay out-of-pocket only $150.41! That's over $395 saved! I told Andrew that my goal was to spend only $75 per week on groceries, including diapers. Peter should be out of diapers soon, so once that happens, our weekly total should come down a little bit.

In case you're wondering what I am buying with coupons, here's sampling of items I bought in the first 2 weeks: Diapers, wipes, toothpaste, toothbrushes, 20 boxes of macaroni and cheese, 24 cans (case) tomato soup, Christmas clearance chocolate candy (used for baking and ok, snacking!), cereal, oatmeal, laundry soap, and cough medicine. This is just a fraction of my purchases, but I am very pleased with what I have gotten for the prices I've paid.

The pantry is full; the bathroom closet is stocked; Peter has diapers to use; the cats and dogs are eating well; we're eating well. It's not easy to save and use coupons like this--it is work. I have to sit down at least an hour every day and search for deals and coupons to match, check internet postings from coupon sites and get multiple Sunday papers for coupons, not to mention cutting out coupons and sorting through them. In order to reduce my grocery bill from $57.20 to paying only $1.99 out-of-pocket, I have to do my homework.

Another thing I want to do this year is not buying clothing for any of us. I have gone through all our drawers and closets and we all have plenty of both warm and cold weather clothing; the kids all got new underwear and socks for Christmas; and so we should not need any more clothing at least until next year. They even have enough shoes, barring any growth spurts. We already shop thrift stores and yard sales, so it's not like we pay a lot for clothes, but still, we have more than enough clothes to wear. I have boxes set aside for the next size up for each child, plus we practice the hand-me-down ritual and thankfully, the girls don't mind.

A friend of mine gave me a stack of coupons yesterday that she doesn't want, so I cut and sorted through them last night. I found a few coupons that are money makers for me if I can get to the store tomorrow before the sale ends. Did you know that there are also several stores that give you a sneak peek at the next week's sales? So you can even decide not to buy this week when you know next week will be cheaper! I know one store is having a sale on mouthwash, which after coupons would cost me $1, but if I wait until next week, I can get the same mouthwash for free after coupons! I think I'll wait.

Any of you set up financial goals this year? Any money saving tricks or tips up your sleeves? I'd love to hear them! :o)
-

Good Day for All

It's been a real pleasant day for all of us. I needed to run into the big town for some banking, and since Mom needed to do some banking, too, we took the kids along. Andrew was at work this morning, so it was just us.

Usually, in the van, Peter starts to fuss and protest at being in the car seat, but today, he went right to sleep. The girls all brought little activities to do in the van, so it was quiet from them, too. After stops at the banks, I needed to stop into the drugstore. This particular chain gives me trouble in my hometown when I break out the coupons and do my extreme coupon shopping. I shop there in spurts, inspired by a good sale, then swear off going back after a failed trip, only to repeat a couple months later. They almost never have what I need, the store is messy with stock in bins along the aisles that need to be shelved, the diagonal arrangement of their shelves is confusing even years later, staff argue with me about my coupons and the total I need to pay never matches what I figured beforehand. Andrew has even asked me why I keep going there when I leave so frustrated and pissed. I can only think that when I have read from other websites that people love shopping there and when they tell their success stories, I get a little frustrated-- why can't I figure this place out?? I have CVS figured out, why not here??

I decided to give the drugstore (yet) another chance only because they had certain cold medicines on sale and 3 out of 4 kids are sick. This time, I'd try the one in big town, hoping for better results. Just walking in the door of the drugstore and I could already see the difference! Their store was so neat and the shelves were not arranged in that weird diagonal way like the one I usually go to. Sale items were clearly marked and not sold out (gasp!) and I was able to find everything on my list without any trouble. Even the cashier was ready for me, spotting the coupons I had in my hand and asking if I was doing separate transactions (I was). Clearly, this was a cashier used to coupons. Finally, a pleasant transaction without one hiccup and I walked out feeling pretty good and not one ounce of frustration.

I bought $73 worth of stuff and paid only $1.98. Keep in mind, drugstores are overpriced to begin with, and I would normally never shop there unless there was a sale, and every single item I bought was on sale. Combined with coupons, it all makes for a really good deal. I bought mostly pharmacy items-- several cold and cough medicines for children and adults, cough drops, lip balms, and excedrin. Non-pharmacy was 4 bottles of body washes. My medicine cabinet is good to go for the next few months, barring any major health issues. ~knock on wood~ Anyway, I'll definitely go back to this drugstore and stay away from the one that gives me a headache.

After that, we had lunch at taco bell. I had coupons for free drinks, so lunch was pretty cheap for 6 people. There was a nice old guy with his wife handing out tootsie pops to the kids, and they gave mine 2 each. The kids were pretty happy about the lollipops. Then while getting the food, the guys in the cook area gave each of the kids free cinnamon twists! What a day for them! They ate quietly and even Peter seemed to be on his best behavior, instead of climbing over the partition between booths. He must not be feeling 100%.

It doesn't take much to make me happy, and it certainly is nice when things go smoothly and unexpected surprises pop up. I was in such a good mood that even when the 'check engine' light came on in the van on the way home, it didn't dampen my spirits. Hopefully it's just the sensor, it's given us problems before.

Andrew had a good day, too. He got a card at his regular spot at the mall. The boss recently let a co-worker go, so he'll be getting more hours until a replacement is hired. He got a little raise, and with the extra hours, it'll add up.

I'll end the day with 'Good Night' and hopefully I'll have some sweet dreams. :o)
-

Couponing

(This is in response to Keri's comment on my previous post about using coupons)

Before we had our first child, Andrew and I were changing our eating habits which meant less "convenience" foods and more cooking from scratch. We were noticing that certain foods were giving us heartburn or indigestion, or we'd get headaches or some sort of physical reaction to the foods we were eating. Something had to change, so we decided to stop buying all the ready-made mixes and after we used up what we had in the pantry, we'd go natural and start our garden. We got rid of the microwave, too, since we hardly used it. This was also the year we quit smoking (2001) and decided that sometime that year, I'd stop taking birth control and we'd try for a baby.

I found that a lot of the coupons I used at the time were for the foods we were no longer buying. That sucked. It made it a lot harder to save money on the grocery bill, but I could still use coupons for the toiletry items and cleaning supplies. We weren't saving a whole lot, but every little bit helped.

Meanwhile, in our quest to eat better, we started having less symptoms and no longer dreaded certain meals, knowing at the end we were going to have heartburn. I made and canned my very first batch of salsa and strawberry-rhubarb jam that year. I learned to make and can pickles. Our first garden did so well, that I have yet to repeat that success! Talk about beginners luck!

Fast-forward 9 years and we still make the majority of our meals from scratch, though the microwave has snuck back in for quick re-heating of leftovers. I learned how to make a lot of my own pasta and rice dishes, and have eliminated a lot of those packets for making chinese foods or gravies or other sauces.

9 years later, the coupon world has also changed-- a lot! There are more organic foods and health food stores available and many of them offer online coupons. Where we live, there are no major health food stores like Trader Joes or Whole Foods, so I am unable to shop there, but we do try to buy from local farm stands when they are open. I never did switch to cloth diapers or try "green" diapers because I am too lazy for the first and there are none available here for the second. With the coupons available for national brand diapers, I can get them for almost free, so it's cheaper for me to use them, though I do feel guilty for not doing my part in keeping diapers out of the landfills.

The majority of the coupons we use now are for scratch pantry items, toiletries and cleaning supplies. A while back, one of the coupon websites I follow posted the pros and cons of making your own or buying ready-made cleaning supplies and the cost value came out the same when you factor in coupons. Personally, I use a home-made vinegar cleaning solution for all-purpose cleaning of the tables and messes on the floors, but use store-bought laundry soap for our clothes. Not too long ago, I was able to get Arm and Hammer Laundry soap for $1.50 a bottle and Wisk Laundry soap for $1 a bottle. I use paper towels for cleaning up pet messes, vomit and poop but cloth towels for human messes (spilled milk, Peter running around without a diaper, etc). I made our own cloth napkins and stopped buying paper napkins.

Coupons are great for getting brand-name toiletries for cheap! There are also a lot of coupons available for natural brands, too, like Tom's of Maine and Burt's Bees, to name a couple. You can go to the brand's website and search for coupons, or even contact them and ask if they have any coupons. Many times, they will send you some or give you a link where to find some. I have not had to pay for toothpaste or floss since I've been extreme couponing!

I have not ventured into making my own shampoo, though I have wanted to, but with 4 young children to bathe and clean, sometimes it's easier to just grab a bottle of baby shampoo and wash 'em down. I can pick up a medium sized bottle of Johnson & Johnson's baby wash for under $1 when I wait for a sale and use a J&J coupon plus a store coupon. This week, at CVS, they have Aveeno shampoo on sale and combined with coupons, store coupons, and CVS bucks, I got 4 bottles for free PLUS there is a $10 rebate that I can send away for which ends up giving me $10 profit. With deals like that, it makes it hard for me to give that up to make my own shampoo.

Our kids drink a lot of juice, so we use coupons for getting 100% juice products. There are a lot of coupons out there for juices-- everything from orange juice to cranberry to fruit/vegetable mixes. They can be big money savers when it comes to 4 kids drinking several glasses of juice a day. I can tell you personally that several juice brands offer coupons on their websites. We also drink a lot of iced tea, and there are coupons out for several different brands. My personal favorite is Lipton, and there is a coupon for them every couple of months, and when it's out, I get several papers and stock up when there is a sale.

Feminine products-- I have been wanting to make my own cloth pads, but until I get around to making them, there are tons of coupons out there for many different brands. This week, I was able to pick up two packs of pads for free because they were buy one, get one free and I had 2 coupons, which made them free plus overage (3.69 for 2, I had 2- $2 off 1 coupons=$4 which means I paid nothing plus I got 31 cents extra off my total bill).

We like ice cream (yum! who doesn't?!) and last week there was a sale on Edy's for $2 a carton and when combined with a coupon, I can get them for as little as $1 a carton. This week Food Lion has a sale on frozen dessert items and it's an extremely good sale-- buy any 5 items and get $5 knocked of the total which basically means $1 off each item. Cool Whip is included in that deal and it's on sale for $1 which means what?? Buy 5, get $5 off = FREE! Add in a $1 off 4 coupon and you've got overage that will come out of the total bill. Cool Whip is my guilty pleasure, so it's not something I buy often, but with a sale like this, it's worth stocking up on a few containers, since they freeze well. If I dole it out carefully, I can still have some in the freezer for apple and pumpkin pie season in the Fall.

So, even if you don't buy a lot of convenience foods, you can still save a lot of money with coupons in other ways. Contact your favorite brands and see if they have coupons to offer, check with your local grocer's and see if they have coupons for loyal shoppers, they may even have coupons at the service desk, which I always check for. Search online for rebates and even more coupons. There are hundreds of coupon blogs for the many different stores in your areas, just do a little search for them.

Hope this helps! :o)
-

We went into the "Big City" on Friday to visit family and friends and make a couple stops here and there. We got caught in rush hour and it took us 40 minutes to go 11 miles on the beltway. Living in the mountains made us forget how to plan ahead and leave early to get to our destination on time in traffic. It was hot and humid and all the exhaust from the cars made my eyes water and gasp for air. You couldn't pay us to move back to the Big City!

It was a good trip, though, and we enjoyed our visits with everybody. We didn't return home until after midnight and it was so good to be home again, in the quiet, cool mountains, away from all the hustle and bustle of cars and smog and crowded homes.

We have our moments, sometimes, when we wonder why we moved more than 2 hours away from all our friends and family and all we need to do is visit them to be reminded why we love it where we are. We live where people go away to for the weekends.

The fourth of July is coming up and we may go back to the Big City for that day, depending on if Andrew has to work or not. Looking forward to being with friends, not so much the traffic. Wait and see what happens at work-- The Boss fired someone, so Andrew and his co-worker need to pick up the slack and work more hours. Good for the bank account, so I'm not complaining.

Speaking of the bank account, I've been doing really well with the couponing. People that save huge amounts and pay little are called 'extreme couponers' and I think I can join the ranks now. Sunday was a very good day for me at CVS (a drugstore). I sat down with the sales papers and my coupons and worked out a plan on Saturday night (no more partying for me on Saturday nights!) and then Sunday morning I went to CVS. My grand total came to $82 and I paid only $6 plus I got $11 back in CVS bucks! Whoo-hoo! I got stuff we needed, too:: paper towels, diapers, pads, razors and shaving cream. It's a thrill to see the cash register total go down, down, down as I hand over coupons and CVS bucks to pay only small amounts and get approving nods from the cashiers.

I was telling my friends about it and I was thinking of maybe hosting a workshop for other deaf people to show them how to use coupons to the extreme. It doesn't take a lot of time to use coupons, only a couple of hours a week to cut them out and match them up with sales and then comes the fun part-- shopping!

We used to struggle with the grocery bill every month and a lot of times we had to go without because our budget just couldn't allow it. Since I've been extreme couponing, the pantry has been consistently stocked and I find myself spending way less than we used to, even though we have more mouths to feed (Grandma moved in and Peter now eats regular foods). Even the bathroom cabinet is nearly overflowing with extra toiletries we use; like shampoo and soap, toothpaste, razors, body washes and band aids.

I get diapers for cheap, too. The other night, I didn't pack enough diapers for our trip to the Big City, so I made a last minute run to CVS for a big box of diapers. Usually, last minute purchases are expensive, but lucky me, I had my coupon book, so I bought a box of 54 diapers that normally cost $25, on sale for $19.99, used a $3 off $15 store coupon, a $3 manufacturer's coupon, a $3 store coupon, and $2 CVS bucks so I paid $9 plus tax and got back $10 in CVS bucks for my next shopping trip, so I ended up getting it for FREE! Sweet!

Then Sunday, airhead me forgot to pack more diapers in the diaper bag, so I needed to buy diapers, again, when Peter took a dump while we were in the store. I managed to get an 8-pack of paper towels, 2 packs of pads, and a pack of diapers and after using coupons and CVS bucks, I paid? 77 cents! Yes, 77 cents! How can you not enjoy shopping when you don't even have to touch the bank account??

Andrew used to get a little grumpy at me when I said I was heading out to the store for what seemed like the 18th time that week. It only looks like I am shopping a lot more, when in reality, I am spending a lot less, just making more purchases to spread out the coupon love. Some stores limit how many coupons I can use, like multiples of the same coupon are not allowed at one store; or another store will not take internet coupons that have 'buy one get one free' on it. So I have to get smart and spread 'em out a little bit. When Andrew checks the bank balance and sees that we still have money in there at the end of the month, in fact, more than he expected, he feels alright about my shopping practices. He likes to hear how much I saved or how much I paid for a certain item.

Target, this week, has Oscar Mayer hotdogs on sale for $1.39! That's the cheapest I've ever seen them, then add a $1 off 2 coupon and that makes it 89 cents each!! Good time to stock up and throw some in the freezer! That's really what extreme couponing is about: stocking up when the price and the coupons are right and then when you need it, you have it, instead of paying full price for it later on. I happened to have 6 coupons, so I bought 12 packages of hotdogs. Now for the summer, I won't need to buy any more hotdogs and I can focus my attention to other good buys and coupon matches. Oh, and to go with those hotdogs, Heinz 40oz ketchup is on sale at Target for $1!! Good deal! An even better deal is Hunt's ketchup for $1 at Food Lion and there is a $1 off 2 coupon which makes it 50 cents a bottle! My family prefers Heinz, but I bought Hunt's for cooking with-- like when I make sloppy joes or meatloaf.

Anyone interested in a couponing workshop?? Let me know and I'll see what I can do! :o)
-