Fancy That!

Since last year I've been doing things a little differently. I have been saving lots of money at the grocery store. I'd like to share my strategies for stocking up the pantry. . . slowly and frugally.

Get a coupon organizer. I think it's easier to organize coupons by brand name alphabetically
You can find little plastic file folders at any office supply area of Walmart or Staples or Target or KMart.

Buy at least 2 newspapers every Sunday. This way you will have at least 2 of each coupon. This comes in handy when a store has a buy one get one free deal. You can use a coupon for each item. You can also buy coupons from ebay or trade with a friend.

Know your local grocery store and when they will double coupons. When my local grocery store doubles coupons they apply to those that say 60cents off or less. They will accept up to 10 of the same coupon for each shopping trip. Sometimes K Mart has run advertisements where they will double coupons $2 or less. I had a $2 off coupon doubled to $4 off!!!

Research, research, research!!!
Every Sunday when I've got my coupons in hand, I log on to www.thecouponmom.com , log in, and go to drug store deals. I pull up the lists from the stores, and choose the option to display them from the most savings to the least savings. I'll use my coupons to coorelate with what's on sale already. That way, I'm getting the most amount off. I do consider what could be doubled at the grocery store and bought cheaper vs. what has a bigger sale amount at the drug store. The drug stores don't usually double coupons, but they do often provide register rewards or care bucks which are printed out at the register when you buy the items they designate for that week. They will be a slip of paper saying the dollar amount that can be used at the store later.

Note that most drug stores have rebate programs that cycle monthly. The rebates can be combined with coupons also. If you have a coupon for each item, you can stock up on most items quickly. It's nice to know you've bought enough to last you for that month or until that particular item goes on sale again 4-6 weeks later. You will want to make sure you've purchased all of the rebate program items you need before submitting the forms to get your check. They can even be submitted online, and then mailed to you in a few weeks.

The idea of shopping with coupons doesn't mean waiting until you've run out of something. You should pay attention to what you use frequently, and watch for those item to go on sale and buy them then.

The best part about shopping this way is that it's easy to give food to the church's food bank. When you see that you've bought 8 boxes of cereal and only paid a dollar a box - give 2-4 boxes to the church.

The day to shop for meat is Monday. Keep your eyes open for peel off stickers on meat that may expire soon. This is a great thing to buy to add marinade and freeze for a later date.

There are several sites that sell coupons. Look for one that is close to your area, so you can order what you need and get them before the sale ends for the week. Don't take a lot of time to print internet coupons. Some stores will not accept them, and sometimes they won't scan into the register. Walmart won't accept internet coupons.

I hope some of these strategies help, but if you want to know more about anything mentioned here post a comment/ question.

I don't know if you are where I am, but Jared is about to turn 3 and we are still battling tantrums on a daily basis. I've decided to take a different approach to how I handle my shopping times out with him. I need to not be in a hurry when I take him to the store. I'm going to intentionally make it a learning experience for Him and me. My last few trips to the store with him have been a challenge. Last week we went to pick up an item and have it loaded in the car. We had to wait in line behind a few people, and Jared decided to have a meltdown because he was told to not hang onto a litle crowd separater.

I've changed the way I do time-outs with him. I used to sit him down, and then go about my business while he simmered down. What is working better is to sit with him in the time out, and put my arm around him. I tell him he can get up when he stops crying. the last time he was so mad about me sitting there, he cried longer. After 3 of these new time outs, I saw him laying on the floor crying and kicking about not getting something. I said,"Did you need a time out?" He got up and went along, "No, Mamma, I don't want it." I hope we are on the mend from some of this.

I know I've taken some time off from blogging because of hectic schedules and Christmas. Is it all really over? I'm back and I hope to do a few more articles soon during naptimes and off times. Here in our house we were lucky enough to find a leak in the bathroom had gotten underneath the floorboard. We had the bathroom floor tiled and the walls painted. The kitchen floor was buckling and not too pretty for a while. Finally it is looking better, after some boards were replaced. I couldn't help but feel like holding my breath while all this was going on. Some say that your home is a reflection of how your entire life feels. If something in your house is tore up, you have the feeling that your life is out of wack too. I can totally relate to this concept now. I'd really like to find a friend who is good at picking out colors. My dilemna? What color matches a sunset orange kitchen? Why? I want my livingroom painted sometime in 2009. We moved into the house in 2001, and I just got the green light to pick a color instead of white for the walls. After 8 yrs. the walls seem like they need to be repainted A color or repainted.
http://www.behr.com/Behr/home#vgnextoid=8328ea6621ca5110VgnVCM1000008119fea9RCRD;channel=EXPLORE;view=26
This is a website I found to help pick paint colors. You can go into a function called ColorSmart, choose the color you need to coordinate w/ an adjoining room and then it will automatically assign you coordinating color palates. You can choose from their pictures of rooms and click on the colors to virtually paint the walls the coordinating colors to see what it might look like together. Then when you've got the colors you like, go back into the program and write down the color names and order numbers, take them to Home Depot and get your samples/ and or paint. You are ready to go!! You could even upload a real picture of your own house and do the virtual painting function for a subscription fee of $5/ yr. I found the add in a Country Living magazine at my sister's house last week. I think this is the coolest!