Being a wife, a mother, a working mother, the list goes on and on. What doesn't change is HOW BUSY WE ARE! It just seems the to-do list never ends. Part of this is because I will admit, I am type A, anal retentive, and over the top on some things. But I can't help that I just want my family to have the fullest life ever but on a budget!
I get asked a lot how I coupon, how do I get all the savings. Well.. Bottom line- it is a LOT of work. But it is work that pays off and pays us back!
It starts with LOTS of coupons.
My suggestion is to print your coupons off the Internet every week even if the items aren't on sale at the time. Normally the coupons do not expire for some time. I even print for items I may not normally buy because if I can get them free it is a great opportunity to try a new product or even get the products for free and donate them..
There are different websites I use to get coupons. Since I most shop at Fry's I also hit the blogs that give the details to the sales each week. I do try to link them up to my blog so you can visit the blogs as well. Here are a few I visit. Many of the blogs don't just highlight the stores I use, or stores on the West Coast - so make sure you check them out!
These are just a few of the sites I visit. Again, I print every week because often time the coupons you get this week will be something that goes on sale in a few weeks.
I also buy a Sunday paper every week. I have read that the rule of thumb is to buy one paper for each person in your house.
Make sure you print out and know your stores coupon policy. For instance Fry's is really special. Right now they make all manufacturer coupons a dollar. They also will accept competitor coupons and they will let you stack one competitor coupon on top of a manufactorer coupon. This can create really big savings!
Here's a tip - If you have a buy one get one free (BOGO) coupon and a store is having a BOGO sale - both items end of being FREE!!
OK here's another little dirty secret. Sometimes I go coupon shopping! I know I am insane. If I am in town and pass a grocery store and I have a few minutes I will go in and walk the aisles and if I see any peely coupons or tear off coupons I will go ahead and get some of the coupons to build my grocery shopping list.
Start organizing those coupons!
I took a BIG binder and bought business card holders (my mom suggested baseball card holders, may be better!) and then I organized them into sheets of relevant items. I tried to make it where I could at least see a picture to make it quicker to get through while I am at the store.
It is Madness I know!
I went shopping with my list - I detail it to the cents. I try to have it as accurate as possible. I bought $296.99 worth of groceries and paid $88.02! Just a little of what I bought was 16 bags of potato chips, 10 Vitamin waters, 2 Boxes rice krispies, bananas, bread, milk, 4 - 6pk Diet Coke bottles, Kitty litter, cat food,, dog food, 5 boxes of pasta, 2 Ragu, 2 packages of sandwhich meat, 18 Power bar, 2 boxes granola bars and MORE!
Well I have covered couponing and part of our madness! I will post another post soon about cleaning!
One thing I have done is switched all of my cleaning products and my laundry and dish cleaners over to Safe, Non-Toxic Shaklee! I love it! The products are so concentrated that it isn't expensive to switch over and it is healthier for your home and for our environment! Right now till May 20th if you buy $30 worth of products at member price you will get a free membership with No minimums to buy ever! I promise once you try it you will love it! Check out my site at http://lawsonshealthyliving.myshaklee.com/
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