A Great Read: Coupon Burnout

OK, I admit it. I get coupon burnout sometimes. In fact, I burned out last week with coupons. That is one reason I decided to shop at Aldi this week. If you feel burned out, this article at Southern Savers will help you to put it all into perspective. Read and enjoy.

Saving Money on Groceries: Using Rainchecks to Your Advantage

When you are shopping for groceries or household supplies, are you disappointed when you find the shelf bare? Well, I maybe do a little, if I were planning to use the item right away, but often times, I do a little happy dance (at least on the inside.)

Ask your cashier or customer service person for a raincheck! Here's why.

If I am buying Yoplait Yo-Plus for example, on sale for $1.25 each. I have a small stash of awesome $1 off coupons, making the yogurt 25c each. They are in-stock of some flavors, but our favorite vanilla is out of stock. I choose the in-stock flavors that I like (using my coupons), and ask for a raincheck on the vanilla. Half the time, the raincheck will not specify the flavor, but if it does, that's okay, too.

Now I go home, wait, and look for more coupons. Guess what! There are new printables out the next week. I receive some more through trades. My mom or MIL sends me some more! I can trade for more on my trading forums. Now I have cheap yogurt in the short-term from the yogurt I did buy, and I can come back in a couple of weeks and buy more yogurt for 25c per pack!

Another tip: If you have to specify a quantity on your raincheck, ask for way more than you think you think you will need. You are never obligated to buy that many. Asking for a larger quantity gives you the flexibility to buy more if you find a big quantity of coupons.

Happy dance indeed!

(BTW, I'm buying yogurt this week with my Publix raincheck. They were out of vanilla.)

Saving Money on Groceries: How to Get Free Eggs

A Little Lesson About Overage

One of the great things about shopping with sales and coupons is that sometimes you can "buy" your grocery necessities for free! I'm talking about things like milk, eggs, fruits & veggies. These are the types of staples for which you rarely can find coupons, and almost never get for free.

The key to this success is looking for "overage." Overage, in frugal shopping lingo, occurs when you have more money taken off your bill from your coupon savings than the item actually costs. Accumulate enough overage, and you apply the credit toward your non-coupon staples. Overage can be a great tool to bring down the net cost of your groceries, even on bigger trips. I usually have enough grocery purchases to absorb my overage credit, although I did actually walk out of a store with a gift card credit one time because of overage!

My example today is that I needed eggs. These are on sale at Publix this week for 99 cents. I also have a big stash of Yakisoba 50c/1 coupons. The cost of the Yakisoba noodle bowl is 89 cents. My 50 c coupon doubles to $1. So, the overage given to me on the purchase of every one of my noodle bowls is $1.00 - 89 c or 11 cents. A little grade school math tells me that 9 x 11c = 99c, so I picked up 9 noodle bowls along with my 99 c eggs. My total cost to the cashier was 14c, which was the tax due (which is calculated before coupon discounts in Georgia.) In retrospect, I might could have bought one more noodle bowl to cover some of the tax!

Here are some ways to find overage.

* The cost of the item is less than the value of the coupon

* The cost of the item is less than the value of a coupon doubled.

* The cost of the item is less than the combined value of a manufacturer coupon stacked with a store coupon.

* You qualify for a rebate that is greater than the cost of the items. You might reduce the cost of your rebate items by using coupons.

Overage can be tricky to find sometimes. Some stores will not allow it, but I can usually get overage at Publix these days.

Blessings, and happy shopping

Saving Money on Groceries: How to Increase Your Coupon Stash

When I first stared coupon shopping I was befuddled at the number of coupons that people had for a single item that they could find deals on. Sure, I found the deals, but I only had one of the coupon, so I couldn't really stockpile my finds, and they were soon eaten or used up. The big question was: how do I increase my stash of coupons without spending a fortune on Sunday newspapers. (Those newspapers are $2 a pop in these parts!)

* I do subscribe to the Sunday paper, so I always have that as a standby. I receive one copy in my driveway, and I don't have to stop somewhere after church to pick one up. I subscribed for a year, and received a somewhat discounted price, so it's not quite the $2 each.

* If it's a really good week in coupons, I will buy some extra papers. If I buy the double pack in the Atlanta area, I can get two for $2.50, instead of $2 each.

* Ask your friends and relatives to give you their unwanted circulars. My mother-in-law saves two sets for me each week, but I only can pick them up from her every three or four weeks. My mom (out of state) mails some to me, too.

* Look for great coupon savings in the stores where you shop. Publix is always putting out numerous great coupon books, so I pick up a few each time I visit. Keep your eyes open for blinkie machines which spit out coupons at you. There are frequently tearpad coupons on the bread aisle, cracker aisle, and other places too. These are always free coupons. Free is good.

* Print coupons from the internet. The big three coupon sites are coupons.com, smartsource.com, and redplum.com, but there are so many others, too. Manufacturer's also post printable coupons on their websites, too. For a great list of available printable coupons, you can check the alphabetical listing at Slick Deals.net. These are free except for the cost of paper and printer ink. You can usually print two of each coupon per computer.

* Join an internet coupon trading group. I belong to one here. Each week I receive an envelope full of coupons from the person in my trading group before me, and send an envelope to the person after me. I find this an effective use of money, as I spend less on postage than I would buying more papers.

* Start a coupon trading group with your friends. I organized a coupon trading group with many of the ladies from my church. We share our unwanted coupons with each other in a round-robin fashion, and this greatly increases my stash of desired coupons. It also allows my unwanted coupons to circulate to other group members who might be able to use them. This has been a huge blessing. This also is free!

* Buy extra coupons on the internet from eBay or The Coupon Clippers. I have only done this occasionally when there have been some especially good coupons that I really, really wanted. The cost is a little higher, but you can save some big dollars in the long run. Okay, technically you cannot legally sell or buy coupons, but you pay the person for their clipping and mailing service.

* Visit a great coupon forum. Another one of my favorite ways to find more coupons is to trade for them at A Full Cup Forum. I found lots and lots of Yakisoba 50c/1 coupons by trading with people there, all for the cost of one stamp. It's also fun!

I hope these tips help you increase your coupon stash and multiply your savings. Have fun!

Thrifty Tip: Printing Target Coupons

I really like using Internet Printable Coupons when I shop (IP for short). These are almost free. No need to buy a Sunday newspaper. No need to trade with friends. All that is required is a little paper and ink. I'm very fortunate to have a SuperTarget one mile from my neighborhood. I'm also blessed to have a Publix one mile in the other direction, so this Publix will accept Target and SuperTarget IP coupons.

The original source for Target IPs, is of course the Target or SuperTarget website. Target issues a new batch of IPs about every two weeks, sometimes more frequently, sometimes less. You can print these out here, but there are a couple of drawbacks. When the company posts a new set of coupons, the old ones are no longer available. If you didn't print them last week, you can't get them from Target's website any longer.

I prefer to print my Target IPs from one of the Coupon Forums out there. My faves are

Hot Coupon World and A Full Cup

These forums are free to join and both support Target Coupon Generators. Target permits them to supply all unexpired coupons on the forums to coupon users, even if they are no longer available on Target's website. No more wasting ink to print Target IPs that you will not use. No more missing out on deals with Target IPs because you didn't print them. Just go to the forum, click on "Target Coupon Generator." You can see coupon images, enter the number of each coupon that you need, and print multiple coupons on each page. Isn't technology grand?

On a side note about Target IPs, each Target IP usually states "Limit one offer per transaction." My Target cashiers will allow me to use multiples of these in one transaction. I have read that many coupon users will split their order up into multiple transactions, using one like coupon per order, if the cashiers require it. Fortunately I have not had to do this ;D).

Blessings, and happy coupon shopping.

Saving Money on Groceries 101: Meal Planning!

People ask me to tell them how to save money on groceries. Yes, shopping with coupons is fun, especially when you can "buy" several things for cheap or free. However, I have to say that the first and most important step in saving money on groceries is learning how to plan meals effectively. It's one of the most important jobs we have as moms, wives, keepers of the home, and for our own bodies. How do you plan interesting, nutritious foods that offer variety and are pleasing to the members of your household? Add to all that, how do we do that at an economical price, too?

When I first got married, I was mostly focused on my career. I barely knew how to cook a few things. Microwaved baked potatoes, spaghetti, and fish sticks were some of my "specialties." After 17 years of marriage, experience and practice add a lot. Here are a few more practical suggestions.

* Start by planning all your evening meals for the week.

In addition to the main protein source, include all the side items, veggies, fruit, grains and dessert if you are serving dessert. If you plan to go out to eat, include that event in your weekly meal plan. I find that having all my meals planned out ahead of the time GREATLY reduces my stress in the late afternoon. No fretting about "what are we going to have for dinner." It also helps me to work out that we have balance nutrition and ample variety during the week.

* Plan your meals based on what you have in your pantry and freezer.

At least half of my weekly meals are based on what I already have in my freezer and pantry. If you have a tough time thinking of what to plan, you can make a list of all the chicken dishes your family likes, all the beef dishes, all the pork dishes, etc.

* Plan your other meals around what is on sale this week.

Between using what is in my freezer & pantry, and perusing the sale flyers, I can usually fill up my meal plan for the week. Of course, when chicken breasts are on sale for 99c/lb, I buy up extra to stash in the freezer for following weeks. For ideas on how to use what is in your pantry or what is on sale this week at the stores, I recommend using web tools such as Allrecipes.com or DinnerTool.com. These web sites allow you to search for recipes based on your desired ingredients. Who needs to buy a cookbook anymore? The most exhaustive cookbook is at our fingertips: the internet!

* Consider adding vegetarian meals to your menu plan.

Vegetarian meals are usually low in saturated fat and high in plant-based nutrition. Plant-based meals are often lower cost than meat-based meals. Although I have a meat-loving husband, we have added vegetarian fare, or at least low-meat meals to our rotation, and he loves my veggie lasagna! For some ideas on veggie cooking once per week, you can visit www.meatlessmonday.com.

* Add a breakfast meal for dinner.

Here is something that helps add variety for dinner. We don't regularly cook big breakfasts in the morning, so having this for dinner usually pleases the crowd. You can't tell me that thinking about bacon, eggs or omelets, biscuits, fruit salad, smoothies, sausage, bacon, waffles, pancakes, and scones doesn't make your mouth water!

* Have an alternate meal idea, just in case.

Sometimes best-laid plans still run awry. It's always a good idea to have a backup plan. Sometimes you get home later in the afternoon due to unexpected delays. Sometimes someone gets sick and your time should be focused on helping your sick one. Sometimes you get sick. Having a quick meal in the freezer helps avoid the temptation to "run out and pick something up." Or, you can have sandwiches, an easy pasta dish, or some other alternative plan. We all know that home cooking tastes better and is better for you than take out. (LOL!)

* Add more meals into your meal plan.

Once you have mastered planning seven evening meals, begin adding more meals to your plan. Add in a special weekend breakfast. Plan ahead a few meals for the following week. Do you have a special meal on Sunday after church? Some frugal home keepers plan out each meal and snacks every day. (I confess that I do not meal plan to this level.)

* Check out some meal planning blogs.

I'm always keeping my eyes open for fresh, nutritious, frugal meals. There are a lot to be had around the blogging world. You can check out these wonderful sites to glean some new ideas.

www.orgjunkie.com hosts menu planning Monday. Find out what's on her menu and the menus of others.

www.5dollardinners.com has some interesting low-cost meals based on what is on sale in your area.

www.lifeasmom.com hosts an "Ultimate Recipe Swap" every Thursday on a different topic. I have found some great recipes there, too.

Blessings to you and to your meal planning efforts!