A New Week of Savings

Okay, everybody--did you get your Sunday paper?  Have you had a chance to clip the coupons and look over the ads a bit?** I got mine this morning, when I normally would be at church, except I have two sickies here at home today, neither of which was fit to look after the other.  So, I put the minimum acceptable amount of effort into hair and makeup, drove to the nearest gas station (I'm SO not a gas station shopper--I felt totally out of my element--but it was convenient for my needs this morning) and picked up a paper (never grab the top paper--someone may have stolen the coupons out of it! lol) and stocked up on more Gatorade (so as to keep the 2 sickies' electrolytes in check) and quickly made my exit.

Back home, I made sure the sickies were adequately hydrated and resting, and then retreated to the living room floor, where there's plenty of room to separate the ads and cut coupons.  One thing I would love to know is who thinks of all those crazy products they use, seemingly anyway, as "filler" for the coupon inserts?  Wow, no one should ever have to feel an ache or pain if they buy these products.  Some of them are hilarious-looking!

Well, okay, I suppose I should get down to business.  Before I give an example of an actual purchase, let me say a little more about coupons in general.

Please don't purposely try to use an expired coupon!  Probably everyone has accidentally done that, or might in the future, but let's be above-board and not give each other a bad name by trying to be sneaky.  I have actually seen money-saving blogs where the blogger purposely buys a product with the intention of taking advantage of a money-back guarantee refund.  Then he or she has the product to use AND the refund.  I've seen all kinds of justifications, including filling in the complaint box with "It was too expensive for what I got."  So, try exercising some self-control and don't buy the product if it's too expensive!  Please!  I'm a reasonably tolerant person, but I don't have ANY tolerance for such shady tactics!  We need to think about our every move in light of what is honoring to the Lord--He's the one we will answer to after all is said and done!

Don't disregard Catalinas!  What's a Catalina, you might ask.  I must laugh when I remember the first time I heard my sister Amy, who recently moved to Arizona, use that term.  It was Catalina this and Catalina that.  "Um, Amy?  Isn't Catalina a salad dressing?"  Apparently, according to Amy, a Catalina is a coupon you receive with your receipt at a store like Meijer.  It took my observant husband to find out why it's called that (Amy didn't know why but, as the new girl in town, went along with the seasoned southern Arizona shoppers).  One fateful day, I had no time to redeem some Register Rewards from Walgreens on the day they were to expire, so I made a detailed list, explaining how to use said Register Rewards and sent them with my brave husband, who was willing (not thrilled, but willingly willing) to go to Walgreens for me that day.  While waiting for the cashier to take care of whatever detail I had forgotten to write down, Kevin noticed the machine beside the cash register had the name "Catalina" on it, as the brand name.  Then, when my "Catalinas" came out of that machine, the mystery was solved.  I was a little proud to tell my sister that I knew why they were called Catalinas before she did.  All that to say you should always look over those Catalinas before just tossing them to the bottom of your purse.  I have saved a great deal of money with some of those things! :)

More sources of coupons:
Red Plum
Smart Source
Valu Pak
Coupon Surfer
Store websites

Now, I haven't yet figured out many awesome grocery deals for this week, between making Gatorade popsicles for Little Mister and making sure everyone has a clean wastebasket nearby in case a bathroom is too far away, but one that jumped out at me right away as a good example is this:

At Meijer, they have 16 oz. Coffee Mate on sale.  It's kinda weird that it caught my eye, since I don't even drink coffee, but I'm going to take advantage of this one because I know people who do drink plenty of coffee (and I like the coconut creme flavor in my chai tea from time to time).  Anyway, their sale price is $.99.  That may or may not be a good deal on its own.  I'm not the person to ask.  But I can tell you how to get 4 of them for free, plus make a dollar profit!  This, of course, will only work if you're buying more than just the creamer.  They aren't going to hand you a dollar, but if you're doing your weekly shopping, you can save an extra buck!

Go here, and print out two $1.50 off 2 coupons.  Then go to the Meijer Mealbox (go to the box at the right and click on the "specials" tab.  This is where you find Meijer coupons) and print two of the $1.00 of 2 coupons.

Most stores will allow you to use 1 manufacturer coupon AND 1 of their store's coupons for each item. Also, most coupons can only be printed 2 times per computer.  For this scenario, each manufacturer coupon and each Meijer coupon is to be used on 2 items.  If you want to print them the max of 2 times each, you will be able to use them on 4 bottles of Coffee Mate.

4 bottles, $.99 each = $3.96

subtract $3.00 (2 coupons of $1.50 each) = $.96

subtract $2.00 (2 Meijer coupons, $1 each) = free, + $1.04 profit!

Or, here's another really simple scenario (again, it's really weird that I would notice this one--Mentos is not one of my fave brands, ever since the incident where I thought I was buying candy for my 2-year-old nephew who wasn't allowed to have gum and, not really being current on the Mentos changeover to gum, corrupted him with his first piece of gum).  At Kroger this week, they have many items priced at 10/$10.  One thing to remember about these sales is that you don't have to buy 10 items to get that price, unless it states that somewhere in the ad.  Anyway, Mentos gum is on sale for $1 and I remember seeing a coupon in today's paper for $.55 off 1 Mentos.  If you're a gum-chewer, you can get gum for $.45! :)

These two specific examples will not apply to everyone.  Different parts of the country have different stores and maybe even different coupons.  Maybe, like me, you're not even likely to buy Coffee Mate or Mentos.  But the idea is the same.  Look for the best ways to use your coupons on items that are already on sale. Research your own favorite grocery stores.

I REALLY want to tell you about Walgreens and CVS, but I simply must end this now and make my shopping list for tomorrow.  I will do my best to get as much money-saving info on this blog in the most timely manner I'm capable of managing! :)

**If you didn't have a chance to read my post from yesterday, Coupons and Ads 101, click here! :)

Happy Savings!

Coupons and Ads 101

Let's talk about two of the most basic components of saving money in stores:  Coupons and Ads.  For the longest time, I didn't clip coupons or pay much attention to store ads, mainly because I thought if I used coupons, I would end up buying things I wouldn't ordinarily buy and just end up spending more money.  I was actually right on the first count--I do buy brands I didn't buy before, but I'm getting good brand names for less money than I was paying for the store brands.  The trick is to use the coupons in the best possible way!

COUPONS

First of all, where can you find coupons?  If you're willing to put in a little time (or, I must admit, quite a bit of time sometimes!), you can find many, many coupons.  The easiest, handiest way to collect coupons is to buy your Sunday newspaper.  I began this process in January, and so far there has never been a Sunday paper without coupons, though some weeks are more slim than others.  But I've always been able to save far more than the $1.50 cost of the paper.  (I've heard rumors that some "dollar stores" sell the Sunday paper for $1, but I don't know if that's true around here.)

Find the coupons and clip them all!  Even if  you think you'd never use it, you might know someone who will! Well, okay, I have thrown away coupons before--true confessions! :)  I shouldn't advertise that, though.  I might start getting hate mail.  But, I'm sure I'm supposed to tell you to never skip over a coupon! :)

Another awesome source of coupons is the internet.  Just Google "online coupons" or something like that, and you will find many options.  Make sure "Manufacturer Coupon" is printed somewhere on the coupon or it may not be legit.  I had an embarrassing incident involving a faux coupon, and I would NOT want to repeat a humiliating experience like that again!

You can sign up with different websites to receive e-mail notifications of new coupons or deals. One of the main ones I use is Coupon Surfer.

"All You" is a magazine that I've heard has tons of coupons, though I haven't tried that one yet.

I will give you the links to some of my favorite sites in future posts.

What should you do with all those coupons, once you have them?  That's another thing you can Google for different ideas, but I'll share with you what I do.  I created a coupon organizer using just a plain old 3-ring binder I had already (though I'm tempted to buy something prettier--pretty things are just more fun!), tabbed dividers and my son's extra pages from his sports card binder.  This way I can see each coupon individually.  Sometimes I have to fold the coupon in strange shapes to make it fit, but I like this system.

My sister and her friends in her part of the country :) use page protectors, instead of the sports card holders.  You can use as many tab dividers and categories as you wish.  Also, in the front pocket of the binder (or you could use a 3-ring pencil holder thingy), I have a pen, scissors, and some other things I'll talk about in another post.  A highlighter is good to have when you're looking at ads.

Now, I must admit that when I first started all this, I was too embarrassed to take my coupon organizer with me into stores.  Can you imagine?  I was actually self-conscious about that!  I would just plan everything out and bring only the coupons I knew I would use.  My sister kept exclaiming, "You DON'T take your coupon binder into the stores?!!!!"  It was foolish of me, of course, because when there were unadvertised specials, I couldn't take advantage of extra savings.  A couple months into my money-saving venture, I decided to bite the bullet and I walked with my head held high into Meijer, planted my organizer down in its rightful place at the front of the cart, and was able to save more money than I planned!  Only once did I notice anyone looking at me "funny," but when I was closer to the woman, I noticed she had scads of coupons in her hands and I just KNEW she wished she had a groovy coupon organizer, too! :)

Now, here's the secret to using coupons:  Don't use them unless the item is already on sale!!  I mean, if you absolutely HAVE to have something and it HAS to be that brand, and you HAVE to have it right now for some reason, then, yes, at least you get to save a little bit.  But if it's not something you NEED right now, or if you can get by just as well with a store brand, DON'T DO IT!!!  You won't believe the deals you can get if you just wait for the right time to use that coupon!

Another hint is to check out the store's website to see if they either have printable store coupons (Meijer, Kroger, Target) or e-coupons (Kroger).  I don't have much experience with the e-coupons yet, but most stores will allow you to use 1 of their store coupons for a particular product AND a manufacturer coupon for the same item.  If the item is on sale AND you have the use of two coupons, you can save a bundle.

Here is an example:

I look at the Meijer ad and see that a box of Cheerios is on sale for $1.99.  I have a $.50 off coupon for Cheerios AND I print a $.50 off coupon from the Meijer website (the coupon will have the Meijer logo on it and I can only use it on Cheerios AT Meijer).  The Meijer coupons usually can't be doubled but they will double manufacturer coupons up to 50 cents.  So, my $.50 manufacturer coupon is now worth a dollar and I can also use the $.50 Meijer coupon, saving $1.50 off the already-reduced sale price of $1.99, making the final price $.49 for a box of Cheerios.  That's far less than you can get the Aldi brand!

ADS

Also enclosed in the Sunday paper are many, many store ads.  These ads, or the stores' websites, are essential in planning how to make the most of your coupons and cash.  Don't get rid of them until you have made your purchases and are satisfied that you got the deal they promised.

I think this is enough to chew on for now.  I have much more to say about ads and other ways to save lots of money, but let's just leave it at this, and hopefully tomorrow, when the ads come out, I can give you some real-life scenarios of how this works before we go on to some of my favorite stores to talk about--Walgreens and CVS! :)

Happy Saving! :)

Introduction to Lovin' the $avings

I've been on a quest, since the beginning of this year, to learn all I can about how to save money and to share that information with anyone who wants to know.  I've learned many great secrets to paying very little for a lot!  After people asked me for information, I began a blog at another blog site, but have decided to switch over to blogspot because of the garbage my readers and I were subjected to--totally beyond my control!

Would you like to know how to pay 12 cents out of pocket for this much merchandise at CVS?

How about $4.44 for these items at Walgreens?

Hubby loves Snickers and sometimes we take one along with us when we're out and about, just in case it takes longer than we expect and somebody gets hungry.  We split one between the three of us (isn't it sweet of my wonderful husband to share one of his favorite treats?) and it tides us over until we get home to our healthier food! :) All the toothbrushes?  No, we don't need that many, but it's nice to have extras around and we also can give things like that to the food bank.  In fact, when you're "stockpiling" all these free or inexpensive, non-perishable and hygiene items, it's a good thing to think of those who may be in need and can benefit from your surplus!

I've learned to save money on food items, too, though I rarely think to take photos of those.  I have purchased name-brand cereal for 19 cents or 39 cents a box, and usually don't pay any more than $1.10 per box.  If you buy cereal, you know how expensive it can be!  I will eventually share with you the best way to use coupons.

Anyway, that's what this site is all about.  Saving money takes some effort and time, and it's beneficial for us all to help each other!  In the coming days, weeks and months, I will share with you what I know, and if you have ideas or tips, please feel free to offer them! :)