My husband shared a link with me that was shared with him from someone at work. It is amazing how many people are looking for ways to save money in today's economy. I read in Newsweek or Time that the amount of coupons being used has increased from previous years. I am not surprised by this fact as I know many of my readers are reverting back to using coupons again. We had given them up before and now we are trying to find the best way to use them and how to not forget them at home!!! :)
I wanted to share this with all of my readers as well.
The article is from Readers Digest. It has great links and information in it. Many of the links they reference and strategies, I also reference in my blog but it is great to have it in one document.
http://www.rd.com/advice-and-know-how/best-deals-and-bargains-on-gas-cars-and-more/article99717.html
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Sunday, May 3, 2009
April Grocery Savings
Well, the month is over and we are now into May. Boy does time fly!!!
I have been really excited about all of my new coupon friends that are beginning their coupon journey. I love it when others can save money!
Some of my coupon friends beat themselves up and feel that they are doing a terrible job saving money. Please know that everyone's savings is different. As you begin your journey, your savings won't be as large. As you learn the ins and outs you will save even more money, but don't compare your savings to others.
Even though I have some knowledge on how to save money at the grocery store, I am no expert. There are also a lot of other factors that impact how much a family may save. For example, both of my daughters eat lunch at school in the school cafeteria so my "grocery bill" is less because I sent them to school with lunch money. Also, when savings are posted either by me on this blog or on other coupon blogs you don't know how much they spent on fast food. If you eat out 2-3 times a week, your grocery bill should be less than a family that is eating every meal at home.
Our family doesn't eat out very much, however I have noticed that we have hit the drive thru a little more frequently this past month since my daughters have 3 sports that are overlapping until the end of the school year...
So, don't feel that you can compare your savings to anyone else's but you can can always apply new strategies and pay attention to your weekly/monthly expenditures to find out how much you are saving.
April Savings
4/15 Aldi $40
4/19 Meijer Spent 51/Saved 20
4/24 Sam's Club $72
4/25 Meijer Spent 67/Saved 36
Total month spent $230 and saved $56
Average weekly grocery budget was $56.50!!! I believe this was my lowest weekly average since I began couponing a year ago!!! Yippee!!
Honestly, I am sure that I should look at my fast food expenses as this was a crazy month with sports and training for the 1/2 Marathon.
I have been really excited about all of my new coupon friends that are beginning their coupon journey. I love it when others can save money!
Some of my coupon friends beat themselves up and feel that they are doing a terrible job saving money. Please know that everyone's savings is different. As you begin your journey, your savings won't be as large. As you learn the ins and outs you will save even more money, but don't compare your savings to others.
Even though I have some knowledge on how to save money at the grocery store, I am no expert. There are also a lot of other factors that impact how much a family may save. For example, both of my daughters eat lunch at school in the school cafeteria so my "grocery bill" is less because I sent them to school with lunch money. Also, when savings are posted either by me on this blog or on other coupon blogs you don't know how much they spent on fast food. If you eat out 2-3 times a week, your grocery bill should be less than a family that is eating every meal at home.
Our family doesn't eat out very much, however I have noticed that we have hit the drive thru a little more frequently this past month since my daughters have 3 sports that are overlapping until the end of the school year...
So, don't feel that you can compare your savings to anyone else's but you can can always apply new strategies and pay attention to your weekly/monthly expenditures to find out how much you are saving.
April Savings
4/15 Aldi $40
4/19 Meijer Spent 51/Saved 20
4/24 Sam's Club $72
4/25 Meijer Spent 67/Saved 36
Total month spent $230 and saved $56
Average weekly grocery budget was $56.50!!! I believe this was my lowest weekly average since I began couponing a year ago!!! Yippee!!
Honestly, I am sure that I should look at my fast food expenses as this was a crazy month with sports and training for the 1/2 Marathon.
Ebates!!! Send me the money!!!
We have recently done some online shopping and went through ebates first. We have bought items that we needed, shopped around for the best price, and then also received cash back from ebates.
We have bought the following items recently...
Eastbay (4 pairs of running shoes for the entire family) $17.50 cash back
Ann Taylor Loft (pants for me - I had a gift card so almost FREE!) $1.04 cash back
Ebay (shoes my daughter had to get with her birthday money) .90 cents cash back
Ebay (a part to fix my daughter's scooter) .27 cents cash back
Apple store (refurbished ipod for me, the last one in the family to get one) .79 cents cash back
Apple store (Nike Plus Ipod software for my daughter to monitor their miles) .29 cents cash back
Apple store (New Nike Plus sensor for me) .19 cents cash back
$20.98 cash back will be coming to me this month!!!
My total I have received back in a years time from Ebates is $124.30. So, don't forget to sign up and shop through ebates. See my link on the side of my page.
We have bought the following items recently...
Eastbay (4 pairs of running shoes for the entire family) $17.50 cash back
Ann Taylor Loft (pants for me - I had a gift card so almost FREE!) $1.04 cash back
Ebay (shoes my daughter had to get with her birthday money) .90 cents cash back
Ebay (a part to fix my daughter's scooter) .27 cents cash back
Apple store (refurbished ipod for me, the last one in the family to get one) .79 cents cash back
Apple store (Nike Plus Ipod software for my daughter to monitor their miles) .29 cents cash back
Apple store (New Nike Plus sensor for me) .19 cents cash back
$20.98 cash back will be coming to me this month!!!
My total I have received back in a years time from Ebates is $124.30. So, don't forget to sign up and shop through ebates. See my link on the side of my page.
5/3 Grocery Shop at Kroger and Aldi
Today was such a beautiful day that I really didn't want to go to the grocery store. It was a quick one today because I have some items in my stockpile that I am going to use to get us through the week so I didn't need to get a ton of items. It took me less than an hour to hit both of these stores and arrive back home.
Today I hit Kroger and saved 48%. I love it when I hit this percentage. I was able to load e coupons to my Kroger card from shortcuts and p&g. I also used manufacturers coupons.
Total shop at Kroger
MFG coupon savings $6.75
Bonus coupon savings (ecoupons) $2.35
Kroger savings (buying it on sale) $24.24
Total savings....$33 = 48% savings
I also needed to hit Aldi for some essentials.
I bought waffles, chewy granola bars, splenda, parmesean cheese, salmon, baby carrots, and gummy bears.
These are items that I almost always get for less at Aldi. There are a few rare occasions when I get these items for less, but they are also staples in our house and sometimes I underestimate our stockpile and fall short.
Spent 28 at Aldi
Total weekly grocery budget: $65
Today I hit Kroger and saved 48%. I love it when I hit this percentage. I was able to load e coupons to my Kroger card from shortcuts and p&g. I also used manufacturers coupons.
Total shop at Kroger
MFG coupon savings $6.75
Bonus coupon savings (ecoupons) $2.35
Kroger savings (buying it on sale) $24.24
Total savings....$33 = 48% savings
I also needed to hit Aldi for some essentials.
I bought waffles, chewy granola bars, splenda, parmesean cheese, salmon, baby carrots, and gummy bears.
These are items that I almost always get for less at Aldi. There are a few rare occasions when I get these items for less, but they are also staples in our house and sometimes I underestimate our stockpile and fall short.
Spent 28 at Aldi
Total weekly grocery budget: $65
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Do you really need it just because it is on sale?
I found that with my coupon journey that I got into the thinking that it was a good deal so I had to buy it. I know we all love to get good deals, but what I have found that helps is to stick to a budget. As I have mentioned before, I have a notecard that I write all my grocery purchases and this helps remind me of what I already spent and encourages me to think about what I buy.
Now many of my friends are now on this coupon journey and I am also going to encourage you to think about items/products that you don't need that you consider buying it to donate to charity. Each week, I would say 3-5 dollars worth of my purchases support our church's food pantry. When I can get a good deal on something, I do consider that I can donate this to my church and I also get the thrill of finding a great item on sale. Every month or so, I gather up all of these items and drop them off.
Something to think about!!!
Now many of my friends are now on this coupon journey and I am also going to encourage you to think about items/products that you don't need that you consider buying it to donate to charity. Each week, I would say 3-5 dollars worth of my purchases support our church's food pantry. When I can get a good deal on something, I do consider that I can donate this to my church and I also get the thrill of finding a great item on sale. Every month or so, I gather up all of these items and drop them off.
Something to think about!!!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
A Visit to the Mall....
Look for the deals everywhere!!!!
Well, we made a quick run into the mall today to get a last minute birthday gift and to find a swimsuit for one of my daughters. Every store that we went to we used a coupon or a rewards card!!! My daughters are now creatures of couponing!!!
We went to Justice to get a swimsuit and I had forgotten (hard to believe :) ) my 30% off coupon. Luckily, the wonderful cashier there took the 30% off for my daughter's swimsuit. I had decided that if she didn't I would put the swimsuit on hold, drive home to get the coupon, and then bring the swimsuit to her at the birthday party. I can't bear to pay full price for anything.
Then we went to Bath and Body works to buy the birthday gift and got the birthday girl some wonderful perfume and soap. It smelled yummy. Buying 2 of these items gave us a cheaper price and I had a coupon for a free fragrance item so I was able to get 2 wallflower refills for my home!!!
Off to the Hallmark store....I have a stash of cute cards (from the $ store that were only .50) that I keep at home in my present closet to give for all different occasions but I wasn't going to be able to run home before I dropped her off at her party so I used my Hallmark rewards card and earned some reward points for the $1 cards that I bought.
Then on our way out of the mall, one of my daughters decided she wanted a drink at Gloria Jean's so she got out her mall gift card that she had gotten for her birthday and ordered a delicious carmel beverage. One taste of this delicious drink and I was in heaven. Yummy!!! As she paid, I watched her whip out her Gloria Jean's reward card to earn her a free drink. I have taught her well!!
I am sure many of you have some stories about your savings to share!!! Feel free to post them as a comment. We can learn so much from each other!!!
Well, we made a quick run into the mall today to get a last minute birthday gift and to find a swimsuit for one of my daughters. Every store that we went to we used a coupon or a rewards card!!! My daughters are now creatures of couponing!!!
We went to Justice to get a swimsuit and I had forgotten (hard to believe :) ) my 30% off coupon. Luckily, the wonderful cashier there took the 30% off for my daughter's swimsuit. I had decided that if she didn't I would put the swimsuit on hold, drive home to get the coupon, and then bring the swimsuit to her at the birthday party. I can't bear to pay full price for anything.
Then we went to Bath and Body works to buy the birthday gift and got the birthday girl some wonderful perfume and soap. It smelled yummy. Buying 2 of these items gave us a cheaper price and I had a coupon for a free fragrance item so I was able to get 2 wallflower refills for my home!!!
Off to the Hallmark store....I have a stash of cute cards (from the $ store that were only .50) that I keep at home in my present closet to give for all different occasions but I wasn't going to be able to run home before I dropped her off at her party so I used my Hallmark rewards card and earned some reward points for the $1 cards that I bought.
Then on our way out of the mall, one of my daughters decided she wanted a drink at Gloria Jean's so she got out her mall gift card that she had gotten for her birthday and ordered a delicious carmel beverage. One taste of this delicious drink and I was in heaven. Yummy!!! As she paid, I watched her whip out her Gloria Jean's reward card to earn her a free drink. I have taught her well!!
I am sure many of you have some stories about your savings to share!!! Feel free to post them as a comment. We can learn so much from each other!!!
Shop at Meijer on 4/25 Spent 67 and Saved 36
Today was a quick shop at Meijer.
I was in and out of the store within 20 minutes (I did stop and talk to a friend for a short bit!).
I spent 67 (with tax) and saved 36.
I had almost 14 dollars in coupons.
I saved 22 dollars by buying items that were on sale.
My husband made a Sam's run on Friday. For my friends that follow my blog, they know how much this makes me cringe. I know that there are some items that are a good value. There are also quite a few things that our family loves that we can't find at other stores. So on the weeks that he shops at Sam's I try to keep my Meijer/Aldi/Kroger bills lower to offset the Sam's bill. I haven't seen the reciept yet, but have a feeling that I will need to be creative with my cooking and shopping this week.
Our biggest expenses is sports beverages. All four of us are very active. My husband and I have developed a love for running and my daughters are now up to 3 sports during this spring season. We can't seem to keep the propel or gatorade in the house. If anyone has any suggestions about how to get this for cheaper, I would love some suggestions. Occasionally, I will get the sport drink that Aldi sells. Otherwise, it seems like we go through gallons of this stuff. It seems like it NEVER goes on sale!
Enjoy this beautiful weather and I think spring is finally here!!!
I was in and out of the store within 20 minutes (I did stop and talk to a friend for a short bit!).
I spent 67 (with tax) and saved 36.
I had almost 14 dollars in coupons.
I saved 22 dollars by buying items that were on sale.
My husband made a Sam's run on Friday. For my friends that follow my blog, they know how much this makes me cringe. I know that there are some items that are a good value. There are also quite a few things that our family loves that we can't find at other stores. So on the weeks that he shops at Sam's I try to keep my Meijer/Aldi/Kroger bills lower to offset the Sam's bill. I haven't seen the reciept yet, but have a feeling that I will need to be creative with my cooking and shopping this week.
Our biggest expenses is sports beverages. All four of us are very active. My husband and I have developed a love for running and my daughters are now up to 3 sports during this spring season. We can't seem to keep the propel or gatorade in the house. If anyone has any suggestions about how to get this for cheaper, I would love some suggestions. Occasionally, I will get the sport drink that Aldi sells. Otherwise, it seems like we go through gallons of this stuff. It seems like it NEVER goes on sale!
Enjoy this beautiful weather and I think spring is finally here!!!
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