Building a Coupon Stash

I have couponed off and on for over 30 years. There were times I had coupons in my stash and then I would put them aside and not coupon. I am back at it heavy trying to save as much as possible on the groceries I need.
Never before has there been so many ways for me to get coupons. Here is how I have built my stash to the size it is. I want to share this with you so for those who are new to couponing you also can build your own stash of coupons.

Subscribe to the Sunday paper. There are anywhere between 1-4 inserts each Sunday. After a few weeks, you will have built up good start to your stash.
The typical inserts include Smart Source (SS), Red Plum (RP), and P&G. There is usually a big P&G insert at the beginning of the month. You can usually get a deal with the newspaper company to get the Sunday paper and a couple of other days for less than buying at the store.

Ask your friends, family, or neighbors that don’t use coupons for theirs. My sister does not use coupons so I get theirs every Sunday. Also if you have a recycling check that out.

Use Printable Coupons. There are multiple places to get printable coupons. I offer direct links to some of the coupon sites on my blog. You can usually print each coupon twice. New coupons come out each month.
Other places to get printable coupons include:
CoolSavings
MySavings
Pillsbury
Betty Crocker

Check out the web site of a product you want. You just may find a coupon there to print.

Check your grocery store for those little machines on the isles that have coupons. Many times the coupon will match with an item already on sale, but if it doesn’t I just hold on to it until that sale comes up. And since they are manufacturer coupons, you can use them at any store that takes coupons. Some days when I am just stopping for milk I will walk the aisles. Not only is it good excerise but I will find some coupons to add to my stash. I just grab two so there is coupons for other shoppers.

Check the products you buy for coupons inside packaging. I have seen packages on the shelf one will have coupon while another will not. Grab the one that has the coupon of course.

Sign up for Samples. I try to post any freebie I see. Not only will you get what the companies are offering, but they usually will send you a coupon. I have just received in the last week 2 different freebies with coupons.

Sign up for e-coupons. These sites allow you to load coupons onto your shopping card. Nice service so you don’t have to clip or carry any of the coupons. I tend to forget what I loaded on my card so I have to write it down. I prefer paper coupons so I can see what I have

Many stores also have printable coupons on their websites, too. Some duplicate each other, but if it is an item you need/want then that is a good thing!
Walgreens
CVS
Safeway
Target Printable Coupons at Target, Hot Coupon World, and A Full Cup

After you check out, you will probably get coupons or “catalinas” printed with your receipt. This will happen when you have used coupons for your purchase. These usually can only be used at the store you just shopped at, but if you frequent the store, you will most likely use it.

Check resources. Hot Coupon World has a coupon database that lists coupons from the Sunday inserts, as well as, any grocery internet printable coupon links. It is a great place to look if you know what you want, but don’t know where to start.

One more thought. If you have several coupons expiring in a day or two leave them by the product if you do not plan to use them. You never know when you will find a coupon left for you.

How are you building your stash? I would love to hear your ideas.

Coupon Lingo

As you read posts here and other sites there is a strange lingo used. Thought I should do a post to explain some of it. .

2/$5: This means 2 items are $5 (or $2.50 each). This is just an example of course.

$1/2: This means that the coupon will take $1 off 2 items

B1G1: Buy One, Get One Free

OOP: Out of Pocket, what is actually paid by you

ECB: Extra Care Bucks used at CVS, which is printed on your receipt when you check out. Use these on your next transaction as “money”. Watch your dates of expiring. This coupon is money to you at CVS


Exp: Expires, listed with date to indicate how long the coupon is valid .. watch your dates.


RR: Register Reward used at Walgreens, which is printed on your receipt when you check out. Use these on your next transaction as “money”.


SCR: Single check rebates offered at Rite Aid (monthly). You must sign up for the SCR program first, make the purchases, then enter information from your receipt to receive the rebate. It can take 5-7 days to receive your rebate. View Rite Aid SCR list.


SS: Smart Source coupon insert in newspaper

RP: RedPlum coupon insert in newspaper

P&G: Proctor & Gamble coupon insert in newspaper (usually only comes once a month)

WYB: When you Buy

MIR: Mail in Rebate

hope this helps you that are new.

10 Ways to Cut Your Restaurant Bill

My hubby and I like to eat out as my faithful readers know. I was wandering around the Internet and found this article that I thought would be perfect to share with all of you. Many of these suggestions my hubby I do on a regular basis..


10 Ways to Cut Your Restaurant Bill Big Time Money Smart Life

A common piece of money saving advice is to cut back on eating out. My wife and I eat in much more than out but like to hit the restaurants on Friday or Saturday nights. Below are 10 ways that we keep our food bill to a reasonable size.

Split It
We have a few favorite restaurants where we know they serve huge portions. Sharing a meal still fills us up and is easier on the wallet.

Fill Up On Freebies
I love restaurants that bring out free stuff before you get your food. If you load up on free chips and salsa or bread sticks
and salad you can easily split a meal and cut your bill in half.

Avoid Appetizers
As mentioned above, there are many restaurants that offer free food prior to your meal. Since appetizers can cost half or two thirds the cost of your main dish, I always go for the free food instead of paying for an appetizer.

Keep it Simple
Often the simplest things on the menu are the cheapest. Look for your basic burrito, spaghetti marinara, club sandwich, or other simple standby and you’ll likely score the best deal.

Skip the Booze
Alcohol has a huge markup, what else do I have to say? If you really need a drink, stay away from the fancy $9 fru-fru drink. Instead, stick with the basic bottled beer, drafts usually cost more.

Spend Less, Tip Less
If you tip as a percentage of your total bill then lowering your meal cost will save you on the tip as well. If you buy simpler meals, avoid appetizers, and don’t pay for alcohol then you can also save yourself some money on the tip.

Take Leftovers
I’m amazed at the number of people that throw away their left over food. Taking home your leftovers won’t save you money on the meal you’re eating but it might on the one you don’t have to buy tomorrow night.

Deal of the Day
Many restaurants offer specials on the weeknights to help bring people in during their slower times. Since we typically only eat out on the weekends we don’t take advantage of this technique but my in-laws eat out a lot and save money by always knowing which establishment in town is offering the deal of the day.

Use Your Gift Cards
If you’re like us you’ll always have several restaurant gift cards floating around the house from work or family gift exchanges. Our problem is that we often forget to use them. To help take advantage of the savings, keep them in your purse or wallet for easy access.
We’ll choose a restaurant because we have a gift card but by the end of the meal we’ve forgotten and don’t use it when the server brings the bill. The tip here is to put your gift card on the table when you arrive so you remember to use it.

Complain
One restaurant visit I had a rock in my burrito. On another I had the plastic top of the salad dressing in my salad. These are pretty much automatic free meals. Of course, luckily, things like this don’t happen all the time.

However, you know that guy that comes around and asks how your meal was? Let him know and it might get you a free or discounted dinner. You don’t have to make things up, just mention what you weren’t pleased with. The food was slow coming out, it wasn’t warm, it wasn’t what I ordered, I didn’t like it, or the meal wasn’t what I expected. It doesn’t hurt to try!
Bonus Tip – Eat on Your Birthday Take advantage of the restaurants that offer a free meal on your birthday, see “Free Stuff For Your Birthday” on the Personal Finance Advice site.


We do many of the above ideas. We try to eat out at lunch the menu prices are lower. We usually drink water with lemon. And of course we look for coupons for buy 1 get 1 free. Last Sunday I printed the coupon for TGIF I had posted about. We went to lunch after church. My meal was normal price but we got $5.00 off my hubby, sister and brother in laws meals. That was a total of $15.00 price cut on our bill. We split the savings $7.50 each couple so worked out pretty good for all of us.

David Ramsey Baby Step One and Grocery/ Gas budget

One more way I am saving is ... When we moved here to Texas we had to find a bank. The bank that was closest was a Bank of America. They offer a checking account that puts the change from debit card payments into a savings account. Yes it is just pennies but pennies do add up.
Every time I use my debit card for groceries, eating out or what ever the change goes into my savings account.


I have been listening to Dave Ramsey on the radio. His first baby step is to have a thousand dollars in the bank. He also suggest budgeting with envelopes. One envelope for groceries, one for gas and so on. This checking account is my grocery / food envelope. When I get my pay check I deposit it into this checking account. The part that is to pay bills is transferred to my husbands checking account and my food money is left here. I take half of it the first week and the second half the next week to spend on our food and eating out. Our Gas money goes into an envelope that I carry in my purse. For the first time in my life I am budgeting . No more using credit cards for what ever I want. May not be as exciting as before, but feels good to be living within a budget , and I sleep better that is for sure. So far we do not have a thousand dollars in the bank but I am working on it. My plan is to work more hours if possible and try to sell some of the the things I have here that are just collecting dust.
Would love to hear from any Dave Ramsey fans and how you budget

How-to Feed Your Family for $5 " Whats for Dinner Tonight? "

What is the point of all this bargain grocery shopping anyway? For Erin Chase, of $5 Dinners, it is to feed her family of four for $5 or less every single night. Her kids had to eat a Gluten Free, Casein Free, Soy Free diet earlier this year and she still managed to feed them for less than $5.
Check out http://www.5dollardinners.com/ Once you start reading Erin’s blog you’ll find yourself calculating the cost of your meals, well I do anyway, and I’ll share what we had tonight:

Easy Cheesy Hamburger Pasta served with green beans, Lime Jello and bread and butter


1 pound of hamburger 99 cents from Randalls sale
1 package of Velveeta Shells and Cheese Original $1.42 from Walmart
1 can of Tomato Soup 50 cent from a CVS sale
store brand jello 50 cents
store brand green beens 75 cents
bread and butter for dinner 25 cents

Brown hamburger into small pieces and drain grease add tomato soup. Prepare Velveeta Dinner add hamburger to the pasta. Let simmer till all is hot and combined.

Cost of ingrediants was $4.41, so for the us tonights dinner was only $2.33
We will take the left over cheesy hamburger pasta and have it for lunch or another easy does it dinner later this week.

What's for Dinner Chicken Jambalaya

Tonight is left over chicken from our Rotisserie chicken and a package of Chicken Helper Jambalaya with peas. Chicken was bought at Randall's for $4.99. This gives us several meals and the cat is spoiled and loves her share. The Chicken helper was bought some time ago on sale. Quite tasty meal , easy and did not need the oven in this hot weather.

Garage Sales can Save You Money or even Make You Money

I love garage sales also know as yard sales, moving sales, rummage sales or tag sales. I have been a garage sale junkie for over 30 years. I have held them and I have been to thousands of them.
The main reason I go is to hunt for treasures to sell on eBay. I have sold on eBay for years. I read other blogs and see people complain of the cost to sell on eBay. Yes the costs have gone up but just think of it. When you put up something you want to sell it can possibly be viewed by people all over the United States or world wide. And of course you can also find things that may interest you from around the US. ( Just watch the shipping costs )
Of course we also love the thrift stores and that is a way we spend part of many days.
We deal in mainly books ( even owned a used book store in Minnesota for 12 + years) Those are some of my favorite memories. My store and my customers. I also am interested in vintage postcards, photos and other items of interest.
Well back to garage sales.. this is a great way to find treasures and even what you need for daily life. You can find clean Blue Jeans hardly worn, designer clothes and purses. dishes, furniture and of course the collectible.

First you need to find them. Look in your daily paper, check out Craigs list. Craigs list has a tab under items for sale for garage sales. Craigs list can be good and is free and sometimes the poster does not follow through with their sale and this can be a waste of time and gas. And then just driving around and looking for signs is a fun way.

Go early, the best things can go first but then you can sometimes get a better price later in the day or the second day.

Bring small bills and coins. No one wants your twenty dollar bill.

Do not be afraid to ask if they are open to a lower price. Last Saturday we stopped at a sale. It is hot in Texas and they have been there for a couple of hours already. They have about 8 nice cookbooks that I can sell on eBay, amazon and other sites I sell on. They have a price of $2.00 and $3.00 each. That is not a bad price considering they are fairly new, clean and hard covers but I need to buy at a better price to sell. I nicely ask are you open to offers. I can give you a dollar a piece for the hard covers and then offer a dollar for 2 or 3 soft cover cook books. They say yes. I am happy and so are they. They do not have to bring these cook books back into the house and I have something to offer some one on the Internet who wants this cook book and even with the shipping cost may be the only way for them to buy.

Wear comfortable shoes , clothes and keep your purse close to you. Better yet wear a belly pack.

Bring your own bottle of water. Some sellers offer water but they want a dollar a bottle.

One thing I will buy is lemonade from some cute little kid. And if the glass is large I will give them an extra quarter as a tip and tell them I want that part to go into their savings bank. That excites them and their mother and makes me smile. Three or four smiles for a quarter is well worth it.

Of course you need to take gas into account so try to find neighborhood, block, multi-family or even city sales so that you can visit many sales in the same area. My hubby and I love to garage sale so this is entertainment to us and of course part of our business.

There are some things you do not want to buy at a garage sale. First thought is a used mattress. Others say shoes but I have found great shoes barely used for myself or to sell on eBay. Check items over really careful. Look for stains, tears and in books I also look through it. I do not want books underlined, highlighted or moldy.

If you looking for items for children be sure it is not a recalled item. You can go to check out http://www.recalls.gov/ for the most recent recalls issued.

If you are searching for furniture know your measurements and take a small tape measure with you. If something is electric ask to plug it in. If I am buying Cd's I bother to look inside to make sure CD is in there. People forget them in machines and do not check before selling.

So have fun stopping at garage sales and not only are you saving money, you are helping someone else declutter and you may even find some sweet treasure.

If you are in need of a cook book or whatever visit me at http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/turnabout01_W0QQ_nkwZQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZ

Well this is some of my ideas and tips. Happy hunting and be safe