Maximizing Savings

RnCnB asked: How do you save so much? please help!!

First, let me say that I am no expert or guru. I get better every week, but I still have a lot to learn.

But, here are some of the best ways to save money:

Sign up for the loyalty card programs for your local stores. Grocery stores, drugstores...any stores that you regularly shop at, and even those you don't! I have a loyalty card for every grocery store in my area, even for ones that I've never shopped at because they don't have locations that are all that convenient to me. However, I still keep an eye out for spectacular deals at these stores, just in case. Most stores with loyalty programs will only honor their sales prices for card holders; other loyalty programs entitle you to a certain percentage of savings with every purchase, special coupons, etc.

Learn about other programs that those stores run, or programs that stores without cards run. For example, Rite Aid and Walgreens do not have loyalty cards, but Rite Aid has their Single Check Rebate (SCR) program, and Walgreens has a Register Rewards (RR) program. CVS has their ExtraCare card, and with that comes the ExtraCare Bucks (ECBs) program.

Comparison shop! Your favorite store may not always have the best deal available for a particular product. For example, the Gillette Fusion razors I mentioned in my CVS deals for the week. CVS has these razors on sale for $9.99, and you'll earn $5 in ECBs. There was a $4 coupon in Sunday's paper, so you'd pay $5.99 for the razor (unless you already have some ECBs to roll into the deal). But wait! Rite Aid also has the Fusion razors on sale this week - but for $9. It's also a rebate item this week, with a rebate value of $5. Why spend an extra $0.99 on the razor at CVS when you can get it completely free after rebate (FAR) at Rite Aid? Or here's an example from my grocery shopping this week: I needed to purchase some of the Dole fruit bowls for Noah. They're $2.69 each at Harris Teeter, and $2.57 each at Food Lion. Now, if I had had a coupon whose value would be doubled at Harris Teeter, the deal would have been better there, but the coupon I had was for $1 off of three - so my better deal was at Food Lion.

If you have the time and/or inclination, make a spreadsheet to keep track of the prices of items you routinely buy. Note the prices at different stores, and keep an eye on the prices during sales. Eventually, you'll notice a pattern and will know when and where you'll be able to get the best price possible for those items. Alternatively, you can join The Grocery Game and let them do the hard work for you - their system is color coded to let you know when something is on sale for the best price possible.

Combine coupons with sales as often as possible. This works even better if you have lots of storage space in your house, so that you can stock up on items when the sale and coupons are really great. I, unfortunately, do NOT have a lot of storage space, so I take advantage of what I can, when I can.

Don't be afraid to try a different brand or even a new product. A few weeks ago, Food Lion had the Bird's Eye Voila! meals on sale for $1.99. I had a couple of $1.00 coupons, so I got two of them for $0.99 each. We liked one of the meals and didn't like the other very much, but they were so cheap that I didn't mind the fact that we ended up not liking one of them. At least now I know something not to buy in the future.

For that matter, sometimes you'll end up buying things you don't necessarily need or want. As I mentioned in a previous post, I have eighteen tubes of unopened toothpaste in my house right now. Why? Because I either got them completely free or the store actually paid me to take them. I have the option to either not buy another tube of toothpaste for a couple of years, or to donate some of them. There are plenty of other deals like this; you may even find deals for items that you yourself may not want, but hey, Uncle Joe really likes product XYZ, so let's set it aside for Christmas! There are also tons of items that various shelters or other organizations in your area could use - if you're getting the item for free or are getting paid for it, why not do some good in your community and donate it?

Know where to find coupons! The Sunday paper is always a good place to start - and don't be afraid to buy multiple copies of the paper if the coupons that week are good ones for you. Write to companies whose products you enjoy; sometimes a simple email or letter complimenting their products is enough to score you some coupons, sometimes you'll need to ask outright if they can add you to any coupon mailing lists they may have. Join a site like Hot Coupon World (you can find me on there as stacym) and trade with other members. You can often find good coupons on eBay, and there are coupon clipping sites out there as well - I like The Coupon Clippers. Keep an eye out in the stores for blinkies (you know, the little machines that blink and spit out coupons LOL), tearpads, booklets, etc. Don't ignore the ads in your magazines - sometimes there are coupons there! All You magazine has some great coupons usually. Check the packaging on the products you buy - sometimes there will be coupons on the packaging itself, or contained within the packaging (for example, the Sargento Salad Finishers currently have $0.55/2 coupons inside the bags).

Have a method for organizing your coupons. I use the binder method, but that may not work for everyone. Find out what does work for you - you want to be able to find what you have quickly.

There's a lot more to the art of saving money, but it's late and the baby is actually asleep right now, so I'm going to go catch a few zzz's myself. Keep an eye out for more money saving tips in the future, and don't hesitate to let me know if there's something in particular you'd like to see me cover or if you have questions on anything. Happy shopping!

CVS deals of the week

So, I decided to try my hand at posting some of the CVS deals for the week. Please let me know if you enjoy this and would like for me to continue!

Dawn dish soap is on sale for $0.99. If you still have some of the $1.00 coupons for Dawn Plus Hand Renewal from the 9/9 P&G insert, get to CVS today or tomorrow (coupon expires 9/30) - the Hand Renewal soap is included in this deal, so you'll get it for free! Otherwise, use one of the $0.50 coupons that came with yesterday's inserts to get the soap for $0.49.

Febreze Air Effects are on sale 2/$5. Use the $1 coupon from yesterday's inserts to get them for $1.50 each.

Febreze Noticeables starter kits are $6.99. Use the $5 coupon from yesterday's inserts to get it for $1.99.

Febreze fabric refresher is on sale for $3.99 each. Use the buy one get one free coupon from yesterday's inserts to get two for that price.

Gillette Fusion razors are $9.99. Use the $4 coupon to pay $5.99, and you'll get $5 in ECBs, which makes the price $0.99 after ECBs. However, if you have a Rite Aid nearby, the deal for these is better there this week, as they're only $9.00 there with a $5.00 rebate, making them free.

Coke products are 4 for $13 and will get you $3 in ECBs.

Pampers jumbo packs of diapers are $9.99. Use the $1.50 coupons that were in yesterday's inserts to get them for $8.49.

CoverGirl Clean foundation is on sale for $5.49. Use a $1 coupon from yesterday's inserts. They're also generating ECBs - I actually got $5.79 in ECBs, but they may have already corrected this error. Either way, it's still a moneymaker. Use one of the buy one get one free coupons with this to make the deal even better - but note that the ECB deal is a limit of one, so pick out some powder or blush. Make sure you hand over the BOGO coupon first!

There are some other decent deals in there, but these are the better ones. Some of the other stuff in the ad, like the Colgate deals, aren't the best deals available - wait for a week where you can get the toothpaste for free.

Well, it's lunchtime, so I've got to end this anyway. Again, please let me know if you enjoyed me doing this, if you'd like to see it again, and/or if there are any other stores you'd like to see me cover!

You know you have an addiction when...

...You have 18 tubes of toothpaste in your house. Well, actually, we have 21, but eighteen of them are unopened. It would be 23 total, but I sent my mom home with a couple of tubes when she was here for Noah's birthday party last weekend. But there have been so dang many good toothpaste deals lately. I didn't pay a penny for any of those tubes. In fact, I got paid to take most of them. Ah, the art of couponing.

I think a lot of people will be getting some toothpaste for Christmas this year.

Arnold's Pizza Shop

I don't know what made me think of this thing today...but it cracks me up. I found it years ago, and for a long time, if Jake's brother called when one of us was on the computer, we'd quick pull up the page with this and hold the phone up to the speakers before we'd actually say anything. Yeah, we're dorks.

Warning: contains language that some may find offensive.

Recent Deals

Yeah, it's time for me to share some of the awesome deals I've gotten recently. Complete with pictures, this time!

I paid $1.05 for all six of those plug ins. They're normally $4.79 each, which totals $28.74 before tax. Walgreens recently had these on sale as buy one, get one free. They were all out when I went, so I got a raincheck. Finally had a chance to use it, in conjunction with the buy one get one free coupons I had. They were rather rude about it, but they finally entered it in correctly and all I paid was tax.

These were on sale at Harris Teeter for 2/$3. I had two $0.75 coupons, and since my Harris Teeter doubles coupons every day (for values up to $0.99, anyway), I got these....for free.

Got these from CVS. Normal price for all three is $17.97; they were on sale for $3.99 each. I also had three $2 coupons to use, so after tax, I paid $6.84. However, I also got back $9 in Extra Care Bucks, so they essentially paid me $2.16 to take the polish.

These are also from CVS. Normally $2.39 there, but they were on sale for $0.99 each. I had four $1 off coupons, so I got those for free.

Also CVS scores. Normally, the products pictured would have cost me $108.86 before tax. But after sales and coupons, I paid $18.44, and earned $15.99 in ECBs, effectively only paying $2.45.

The Colgate toothpaste is from CVS. Normally $3.49 each; after sales and coupons, I paid $2.98 for both. I also earned $4 in ECBs, so they basically paid me $1.02 to take the toothpaste.

The Crest and pens are from Rite Aid. The Crest is normally $3.29; it was on sale for $2.49 and I had a $0.75 coupon, so I paid $1.74 for it. However, it was on rebate when I bought it, and the rebate amount is for...$1.74. So more free toothpaste for me! The pens are normally $3.39 each, but were on an amazing sale - three for $0.99. I had a $1 coupon, so they were free.

These are from another Rite Aid trip. The Shout is normally $3.49 each, the Pledge $4.49, and the Pert Plus $4.19 - a total of $15.66. After deducting sales and coupons, and adding taxes, I paid $5.20. However, all of those were on rebate, and I'll be getting a $5 rebate check for those. So I essentially only paid $0.20 for all of that.

And last but not least in my little show and tell...the jar of belly butter in the front there was absolutely free. I had purchased some Baby's Bliss Gripe Water for Maddy; inside the box was a form to get any Baby's Bliss or Mommy's Bliss product for free. I filled it out and chose the belly butter...got that in the mail a few days ago.

The Sunsilk and Johnson's Buddies bars were purchased at Harris Teeter. The Sunsilk would normally cost $3.99; it was marked down to $1.36. I had a coupon for $1.50, so they paid me $0.14 to take it. The soap bars are normally $0.99 each; they were on sale for $0.64 each. I had two $1 coupons, so they paid me $0.72 to take those.

To break it all down: I spent $35.39 for everything you see up there. If you deduct the ECBs and rebates I earned, I only paid $1.40 for all of that. Well, ok, plus whatever I paid in taxes that I didn't already figure in - I only listed totals after taxes when those were the only items purchased in that trip. And the retail value of everything you see is $232.57. Pretty good if I do say so myself.

That's all for tonight. More will be coming soon, though, as Harris Teeter has a triple coupon weekend coming up.

Domesticating it up.

So, I promised a domestic goddess type entry, and so you shall have one.

Today's topic is my coupon binder. Yes, I have an entire binder for coupons. It's an addicting habit, ya know.

So. Let's start with the front of my binder. That front pocket there is used for miscellaneous coupons (the ones you see there are for McDonald's and a local diner); I also often toss my wallet, cell phone, and keys in there so that I don't have to carry my purse as well. There's another pocket there in the front where I keep envelopes to mail out coupons I'm trading.

Open up the binder and this is what you see. To the left is a built in accordion file with three pockets; I keep copies of rebate forms and the receipts I used for them in one pocket, ads in another, and receipts in the third. In the pencil case, I keep pens, extra address labels and stamps, scissors, and the calculator you see. You can't see it very well, but there's also a sheet protector there that I cut in half - I put coupons in there that I plan to use during that trip. You'll notice that I have dividers; I have different sections for different types of coupons. I won't go into my categories, because they're simply what makes sense to me and may not work for everyone.

I keep the coupons in baseball card sheets. If I have multiple coupons for the same product, that are worth the same value, I place them in the same sleeve. If they have different expiration dates, I place the ones that will expire first on top, so I'm sure to use it first.

For coupons that are too big to fit in the sleeves, I keep regular sheet protectors at the back of each section. I also keep another sheet protector in each section for the coupons I want to trade - it makes it easier to locate them this way, rather than keeping them all in one big stack.

And last, but certainly not least, I keep loose leaf paper in the back. I write my lists here, and jot down random notes. Easier than carrying around a separate notepad. Also in the back of my binder, but not pictured, are baseball card sleeves containing my store loyalty cards; I also keep copies of store coupon policies back here.



So, there you have it. If you have any questions, feel free to ask! And if anyone would like to trade coupons with me, come find me on Hot Coupon World - I'm stacym.

Moving right along...

Whoops...guess I'm still not doing so great on keeping this thing updated. *blush*

We're all just chugging along here. I got a new sewing machine for my birthday, though I didn't actually get it until the 17th. I finally had a chance to sit down and play with it this weekend - I wanted to wait until I had a desk just for sewing at so I didn't have all of my stuff spread out on the dining room table. So far, I love it!

We got baby girl's room painted this week and it's beautiful! My mom came down to visit and brought her carpet cleaning system, so she cleaned the carpet in the baby's room and our living room. We went out and bought the baby's crib this weekend as well, and hopefully I'll be able to get the hubby to help me put it together this week so I can decide how I want to actually arrange the room.

I also got a new laptop this weekend. Sadly, my old laptop has met an untimely end. Oh, it's still functional, but using it is no longer practical. The plastic was cracking near the lid hinges, and finally cracked off enough so that the lid had to either be held or propped up on something. I'd been planning on getting a new laptop in a few months anyway, though, so it's all good.

There's really not a whole heck of a lot else going on in our little household. The baby is due in a little over six weeks, so we're mostly just preparing for that. It seems like there's still so much I want to accomplish before that time, but it's mostly just the whole nesting thing kicking in and most of what I want to do isn't that big of a deal and can just as easily be done after the baby is born.

Growing Up.

*Sniff*

My little boy is growing up so fast!

Jake and I took him to get his very first haircut today. So bittersweet...he definitely needed it, but it's amazing to think that he's already old enough for haircuts! He looks so much older already. We were so proud of him, though. We were definitely anticipating some fussing and general uncooperativeness, but he barely paid attention to what was going on! The stylist gave him a hair clip to play with and that was all he needed...he simply paid no mind to her turning his head this way and that or to her messing with his hair in general. I was amazed - he rarely ever sits still long enough for me to brush his hair.

Afterwards, we went to Wal Mart and got Noah a couple of new toys for being such a trooper. We also picked out a color to paint the baby's room. It's a really pretty shade of purple.

Not much else to say right now, really. Just wanted to say how proud I am of my boy!

A fresh start.

I started this blog a long time ago....but I never really kept up with it. It was intended as a companion to my website, but that didn't end up working out the way I wanted.

After four years, I made the decision a few weeks ago to shut down my website. Kind of a painful decision, because I really liked having it, but I just no longer have the time to keep up with it the way I wanted....the way I did when I first started it back in 2004.

So, I'm making a fresh attempt at this blog thing. I'm not really sure what direction it will take, or if it will take any sort of specific direction at all. But I still feel a need to have some little corner of the web that I can claim as all mine, so, here I am.

So, I deleted the few entries I did have on here in an effort to keep things streamlined.

And with that, I suppose I should introduce myself a bit. As you can see to the right, I'm Stacy. I'm 24, but that'll change in a week. Yup, 25 is quickly approaching! I live in Charlotte, NC, with my little family, which consists of my husband, Jake; our son, Noah; and our two cats, Riley and Kasey.

Jake and I have been married for five years now, and what a crazy five years they've been! We were both in the military (Air Force for me, Army for him) when we met and got married. We both separated from our respective branches in 2005 and moved here to Charlotte so that Jake could pursue his dream of being a police officer. He graduated from the police academy in July 2006 and has been loving the job ever since.

In January 2006, we learned we were expecting our first child. Noah was born on September 16, 2006, and he has been such a joy to us. He's such a curious little boy, and VERY active! He constantly brings a smile to our faces and we just love him to pieces.

Just after Noah's first birthday, we learned that, oops, baby #2 was on the way! It looks like we're having a little girl this time around, and I'm thrilled. I've always wanted to have a boy and a girl, so I think it's pretty cool that I'm actually getting what I wanted! Baby girl is due in a little less than ten weeks, and we still don't have a name picked out for her....but we're making some progress in that department. I'm nervous at the prospect of having two children under the age of two, but I'm sure I'll manage.

Let's see here, what else? I'm a stay at home mom currently. In a couple of years, I'm hoping to continue my college education so that by the time the kiddos are both in school, I can at least be close to have some sort of degree. I love being a stay at home mom, but I think once the kids are in school, I'll want something more to do with my day while they're gone!

I'm a fairly simple person. I enjoy spending time on the internet, watching my favorite TV shows, reading, playing World of Warcraft and The Sims 2, and sewing. Sadly, I haven't been able to sew lately because my current machine is a piece of crap, but I'm holding out hope that Jake will follow through on his promise to get me a new machine for my birthday. Oh, and of course I love just doing whatever with Jake and Noah.

Well, I suppose that's all for now. If there's anything in particular you'd like to see me blog about, don't be bashful, leave a comment! I love feedback!