Latest couponing

I have fallen into a good swing with what I’m realistically able to do when it comes to couponing.  There is a new CVS a few blocks from us, so besides taking coupons with me to get groceries, this is my only other stop most weeks.  I plan my run on Saturday nights since most coupon blogs have the sales up on Friday or Saturday for the next week.  I grab my paper (i.e. coupons) at church and then usually go on Sunday afternoons during naptime.  If you’re wanting to take some baby steps in the “drug store game”, check out a few of these links to different stores and how to start. 

• Mojo Savings
• Money Saving Mom
• Hip to Save

Here’s just 2 of my latest CVS runs.  I focus my couponing on toiletry and baby items to help free up more money in my grocery budget for more fresh fruits and veggies that get pricey.  I really try and only buy things that we really use or things that I know we can give away like school supplies for our upcoming church back-to-school outreach. Total: $76.06

-sales and coupons $58.83

-extra care bucks to use in the future $10

=$7.23 for a savings of 95% (one of my best runs yet!)

Total: $77.73

-sales and coupons $33.20

-extra care bucks to use in the future $20

=$24.53 for a savings of 68.5%

couponing

I’ve been a pretty bad couponer since Ellie was born.  I print out coupons for my grocery trips, but haven’t done the whole “drugstore game” at all.  But I still need to pinch off a bit more in our grocery/household budget, so it’s time to start reading up on my money saving blogs.  The great news is that a new CVS just opened up about 4-5 minutes away.  I will probably make this my one extra stop each week and get back in the game.  Here was my haul from today:
Regular price for everything: $92.39
minus sales: -$30.81
minus coupons: -$5.25
minus Extra Care bucks ($ that I can spend on future purchase): -$19
Grand total: $37.33

For a savings of about 60%.  Not bad for just getting back into this.  It takes a little while with CVS to really start seeing great deals as you can stack your extra care bucks and eventually not pay anything out of pocket and still leave with more extra care bucks to spend in the future.  But I’m excited about trying to be better about this to help our bottom line.  Jenny – I have not forgotten about your request for a post on why we use a cash system.  Hoping to get that posted this week! :)

Christmas Cards 2012!

I love Christmas cards!!  I love receiving them and giving them.  (see here for how I display them and keep them after the holiday is over).  I was pretty sad that I didn’t think our budget would allow for nice cards this year.  But enter: Cardstore.    Since many people have started to get them, here’s our card for this year.  And yes, the full photo shoot will be up soon.This place isn’t quite as nice as Shutterfly or my favorite, Tiny Prints, but it does have a pretty good selection.  But here’s the best deal, I got them 75% off and THEY PUT THE STAMP ON THEM FOR FREE.  Seriously folks, I didn’t use all caps for nothing.  I entered in every person’s address (ok, kinda annoying but we’re talking cheap here folks) and had them mail them to everyone.   Talk about no work. Here’s the actual screen shot of my order.  I ordered 65 cards.  My total went from $122.85 to $30.74.  But then THEY STAMPED THEM FOR ME.  That would have been another $29.25 for me that I got for free.  Here’s the one I sent to myself just to be sure everything was legit.  They printed the addresses and even used a real {cow} stamp.  This deal is still going on if you haven’t done your cards yet due to the money.  Pick out your card and enter THANKS4U or CCP2470 as your coupon code and you’ll get the amazing discount.  And make sure to send one to me. :)

And no, I didn’t get paid to write this.  Just a pleasantly surprised customer.

saving money

Along with couponing and watching sales closely, I'm always on the lookout for other ways to generate a little money. My Etsy store is up and running slowly, but in the next week or so, I'll be launching the blog and facebook page for it. So stay tuned for that! And let me know if there's a knit item (or hair bow) that you'd love to see in the store.  I'm trying to add new items frantically to it!

I have a new Iphone app to recommend for those of you looking to get the best prices on groceries.  It's called Provisions.  One of the first things the coupon people tell you to do is know the "rock-bottom" or "stock-up" price on items at the store.  They recommend making a price book where you store this info.  I'm too lazy and didn't really want to spend hours going through the stores I visit writing down every price.  So I love this new app.  I type in the item and it tells me the best price I should be getting it for with or without coupons.  Now I can figure out if the price deems it necessary to stock up on that item.  Love it.

Another way that I've been making a little "money" is through Swagbucks. I'd never heard of them before my old roomie Jonell used them, but even then I didn't believe it. But almost all of the couponing blogs I follow use it. So I thought I'd try it out. In the last 3 or so months, I've earned 3, $5 gift cards to Amazon! I'm hoping to buy one of Owen's bigger presents with just gift cards I've earned from there. How does it work you ask?  The basics are are you do things that earn you points, such as searching the web, taking a daily poll, finding swag codes, etc.  Then you redeem those points for giftcards or other prizes! 

FIRST……SIGN UP FOR SWAGBUCKS HERE:

1. Download the Swagbucks Toolbar – This is the easiest way to earn more Swagbucks, download the Swagbucks Toolbar and search from your browser.
2. Swagbucks Blog – The Swagbucks blog offers free codes daily. 
3. Follow Swagbucks on Twitter and Facebook – You can find extra codes by following Swagbucks on Twitter and Facebook.
4. Codes on my blog (or lots of other blogs)– In the bottom right sidebar of the my blog, you will find a Swagbucks image like below. Click on the “Swag Codes” button to see what new codes are available.  I know it doesn't fit very well.  I'm working on that. 
5. Print coupons from their site.  You'll get points when they're redeemed at the store.
6. I earn 4 easy points every day by taking the daily poll, just visiting the survey page, and browsing the special offers page.  I also take the surveys when I can, which can add tons of points to your total! :)

Let me know if you have any questions about it!

CVS deal of the week!

 

So I promise I won't bore you each week with the deals I get with this whole couponing thing, but I just couldn't NOT brag about this one.  And Summer, you'll notice there are no bottles of Maalox or actually, anything that we won't use. :) If I had paid full price for all these items at CVS, it would have totaled $128.65.  With my ECB's, careful sale matching, and coupons, my total was . . .$26.12.  That's a savings of 80%!!

Thanks to mojosavings and moneysavingmom for the weekly list of deals and printable coupons!

saving money

I'm still very new at learning about how to effectively use coupons and play the drugstore game with CVS and Walgreens.  But I can see how this could get addicting (hopefully in a save lots of money, good kind of way).  This past week I scored these things in the picture completely FREE and today at Walmart, I saved us about $15 using coupons.  Not tons, but a great start for only being at this for a few weeks.  If you get the paper and don't use your coupon inserts. . .I'd love to pick them up from you every week!

Here's a few more money saving websites I'm liking (along with the other ones I posted about here):

• www.hip2save.com
• www.jillcataldo.com
• www.totallytarget.com
• www.givemeneither.com
• www.thecoupontrainer.com