Category: Home Life

This is from the Vietnam Memorial. It’s a volunteer making a rubbing of Mike’s dad’s name.

I hope that everyone took a moment today to be grateful to all our military has done for us. For those still serving and for those who have now retired, we are grateful. To those families who have lost loved ones like we have, I wish for God’s comfort in your life today.

This photo is from the top of the Washington Monument with the WWII memorial in the foreground.

Based on feedback from the last post I am going to go over some of my coupon routine and favorite deal sites.

• I get a double Sunday paper for $1.99. I like to check the deal sites on Sunday and then clip the appropriate coupons for the coming weeks deals and any other coupons I might be interested in.
• If there are really good coupons I might also get another double paper.
• Coupons do NOT come out on holiday weekends like Thanksgiving and Christmas, so don’t waste your money on newspapers.
• My aunt and uncle give me their coupons each week, so I always get another set.
• Please note that I don’t clip and file all the coupons each week. That is way too time consuming and tedious.
• Then I try to get to the stores in one shot on Monday after Nadia’s nap. If we go when she is fresh, she can get in and out of the stores with me quickly.
• I have a 3 ring binder with baseball card inserts. I use dividers to sort the categories and then I put the coupons in the baseball card inserts. The binder zips closed and then nothing falls out.
• I think the choice of categories is a personal decision. Everyone has a method they prefer, so go with what will work best for you.
• I use a Sharpie to place the date the insert came out on the front cover, then I place them on a shelf in my pantry in chronological order.
• This helps when you are on a deal site and someone says, “Free Fructis Shampoo by going to CVS and using the $1 coupon in the 10/19 SS”
• SS stands for Smart Source, RP stands for Red Plum and P&G is for the once a month proctor and gamble insert. Almost every deal site uses these initials and dates to reference coupons.
• You can also buy coupons from coupon clipping sites. Please note that it’s illegal to ‘buy’ coupons, so you are paying them for the ‘clipping service.’ Don’t ask me why, it’s just the way it works.
• I like to use The Coupon Clippers for this, but there are a lot of other places that do it. They have rules on minimum orders and limits on some coupons, but for the really good deals it is worth it.

Now to the deal sites. I have been using Refund Cents  since 2005, but it’s been around much longer. I pay for the Internet only access (she offers a magazine also, but this isn’t the best way to start for a newbie). It’s $12 a year when you pay in advance. You can also get a trial 3 months for $4. This site has a lot of information!! If you are new to this whole thing you need to start by reading the information on Walgreens, CVS and/or Rite Aid depending on what’s available in your area. Then you can check the Centsible Chit Chat page for deals that are posted as people find them.

If you are local to me you can let me know that you want an invite to our local yahoo group called MomSaves.

I also like A Full Cup. This is a free site and there are some great forums and tips on there too. My favorite part is the Target Coupon generator. That way you can print just the coupons you want and not waste ink. And you can use Manufactures Coupons and Target coupons on the same item. Awesome!

This same rule applies at Walgreen’s and CVS. It’s really great when you can combine coupons. This is how you can get a lot of items free during sales.

The main thing to remember here is not to let couponing overwhelm you. If you are just starting out and building your coupon stash, you aren’t going to be able to work the deals that list a coupon from 2 months ago. In those cases, let it go and remind yourself that you will quickly have all the coupons you need for the deals. Don’t be surprised when you go to a store and they are out of an item that is a good deal. Everyone is trying to save money and take care of their family. If you are going to make a special trip, make sure you go at the start of a sale or it’s unlikely that the product will be available if it’s free.

Now if any of you have any recommended sites, feel free to list them here for everyone else to learn from.

With the mania of September and October I didn’t really have time to do any coupon shopping that leads to super deals and stockpiling. I still clipped coupons and used them on items we would buy anyway and of course went to A Full Cup to get the super target coupons. Now we are down to 2 packs of diapers and I don’t have any conditioner. Oh the horror, right?

So while Nadia was napping yesterday I took some time to clean out my coupon binder, recycle the expired ones and to check out my favorite deal sites to see what was happening this week. I matched up all the coupons out my pile of inserts and later Miss Nadia and I headed out for a coupon adventure. Here is what we ended up with after going to two Walgreen’s, Target and Kroger.

The total retail cost would have been $205.31. The total I paid was $43.97 (including tax). The cost for the 12 jumbo packs of diapers was $32.47 (that’s 2.50 a jumbo pack). So the cost for the balance of the stuff was $11.50!! If you can’t make it out in the photo, here is the list:

• 2 toothpastes
• 4 Almay One coat mascaras
• 1 Loreal Pure Radiance mositurizer
• 3 bottles worchechire sauce
• 1 bottle syrup
• 4 boxes cereal
• 2 bags cookie mix
• 1 bag chocolate chips
• 2 glade Wisp candles
• 2 boxes Celestial Seasonings tea
• 1 Quaker oatmeal
• 1 dial hand soap

Now would I have bought 4 mascaras in one day? No, but they were completely free. I can use one and give the rest away. (PS If you are local and want one, let me know) The Loreal says it’s for “mature skin”, so I will pass that along too, but everything else can and will be used by my family. The regular price of cereal alone would have been at least $10.

My friend Stephanie and I have been talking about this because she is just getting into the whole coupon world. But she is starting to hear some of the same things I have heard in the past about why people choose not to coupon. My personal favorite is that they are just for poor people!! This cracks me up. Do you have a clue how much I contribute to our family income by using coupons? Do you have any idea how many friends, family and charities I am able to help by couponing? A LOT!!!

Less than 1% of the Sunday coupon inserts are ever used in America. That is because they are in every single paper and of course manufacturers look at them as advertising with the hopes that you will be loyal to their product. But do you know how I look at them? As free money! And you don’t have to do all the research on the weekly deals. There are plenty of internet sites where people are more than happy to share their coupon deals.

I know couponing isn’t for everyone, but the number one issue facing the country that people claimed was the reason they voted for Obama was that they were worried about the economy. Doesn’t it make sense to save yourself money on items you would already buy like shampoo, conditioner, tissue, toilet paper, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap and more? And isn’t it even better to get a lot of them for free and put that money toward something else?

*edit* I will do a future post about all the websites that I use and what I like best about them.