I am a savvy little lady.
I've been working really hard on cost conservation ever since the hubby and I decided that I would stay home with Oscar and give up my job at the library. Since then, I've gotten a somewhat part time job at another library picking up weekend hours, we've cut back on lots of extraneous things, and I've been cutting coupons. Oh yes. I've been coupon cutting. And it is really starting to make a difference! (I'm very proud of myself, if you can't already tell...) We saved about $15 bucks off our last grocery bill.
Since buying a Sunday paper and cutting coupons out of it is not really my style, I've found other ways of exploring savings. I've been reading a couple of good freebie blogs that have really made a difference in how I shop. Here are my favorites that I've got on RSS feed...
The Freebie Blogger - So good. I'm waiting on a couple of great samples coming my way - everything from Sephora nail polish to a fancy bag of tea every month. I also enter lots of giveaways. Every Wednesday there is a whole assortment. Unfortunately, I never win things so whatever with that. But maybe, just maybe I'll win that cute pair of kiddie shoes, so I enter anyway. I'm a glutton for punishment, I guess.
STL Mommy - This is the cutest blog. This chic is awesome, too. She saves so much money that it is almost ridiculous. I love her weekly "Goodie Bag" posts with all kinds of free samples and whatnot. She's based in St. Louis so she gets way better deals at her grocery stores and whatnot, so those posts don't apply to me, but she has opened my eyes to the goodness of Walgreens. I have joined the cult of pharmacy markets. CVS is next. (I NEVER thought I'd say that or type that. Wow.)
Mummy Deals - She says "there's a difference in living and living well..." Quite right. This chick is so great. She has a series of posts lately designed for "newbies" to the frugal living that are so informative and helpful. I think I remember her writing that she spends about $50 bucks a week for her family of 3. If I could do that up here in NY, I'd deserve a medal. Even though there is no way (short of food stamps) that I'd ever get our weekly grocery bill that low, she has fabulous tips in how to limit spending and get free fun stuff. Did you know that Redbox (the DVD kiosk at the grocery store) has free movie Mondays? And that you can call 1-800-free411 instead of the regular 411 and not get charged? Oh yeah. I'm a fan of Mummy Deals.
So, today Tim and I went shopping with a mission. We went in to Walgreens armed with a pile of printed out coupons from coupons.com and a list of the specific deals we were going in to buy. We ended up saving about $50 bucks off our immediate total with $12 dollars coming back in rebates and getting a $10 off "Register Reward" for the next time we shop. Boo yah. And we got more than $155 dollars worth of merch. (I only plan on getting better at this...) One of the savings I'm particularly proud of is getting three bags of really good Huggies diapers for basically $5 dollars. That is 120 diapers or about three weeks worth. That right there was completely worth the time spent coupon cutting. (The bags were $10 bucks each, with a $10 "Register Reward" for buying three and I had 3 coupons for $5 off.) So are you impressed? See, I haven't been blogging, but I've certainly kept busy!
4 comments:
You go girl....I'll make a mink for your Barbies this christmas.
Hey Suzy! I've been doing the coupon thing for several months now and usually save b/w $15 and $45 a week. Totally worth the time. Here is what I do. I make a list of the meals I plan on cooking, then I go through that list and make a list of the ingredients I need, plus whatever other stuff like coffee or toothpaste. And then I go through my coupons, only pulling out ones for something already on my list. Then I write a little (c) next to the item so that in the store, I will remember what I had a coupon for it so I don't end up buying the wrong quantity or size or something. Doing it this way has really helped keep me from buying stuff I don't need. It's so tempting sometimes to be like, Oh, well I have a coupon for this so I will buy it. But if you don't need it, it's just a waste of money. So anyway, that's what I do. It's worked out great for me. One other thing I do, which might sound crazy, is I divide my list into sections of the store. Like frozen, dairy, meat, produce and dry. It's really simply and saves me a lot of time once I'm actually at the grocery store since I never have to back track. Anyway, just passing on my wisdom!
I also have a list of meals that I make often and that both Brian and I like in the back of my "grocery notebook". It helps to flip to that when I'm making my list of meals for the week. Okay, I'm done now!
Suzy, I know I said wow on f/book but since I have looked into the mummy deals blog and am in shock at what I have found!
We love both CVS and Menards (simply as they are both the nearest to our house) so I am off to both to check this out!
Thank you!!
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