As a reminder, when I list the number of newspapers that I will be buying, I take in to account that I am able to get them at the Dollar Tree for only $1/copy. To find a Dollar Tree near you, click here. Don’t have a Dollar Tree? Check out your local dollar store. Many supermarkets even discount the Sunday paper. I also live in an area where all of the stores double up to $.99 (so a $.75 coupon is actually worth $1.50). If your newspapers are more expensive or you live where they don’t double coupons, you may not find the inserts of the same value as I do! In addition, the value of the coupons vary by area, but I hope that this will serve as a good guideline!

Click here to see what coupons there are this week.  There are 2 inserts:  a SmartSource and a RedPlum

Coupons of Note

A1 Steak Sauce or Marinade $2:  I can’t remember the last time I saw this high of a value coupon on A1!

Claussen Pickles $.75:  these go BOGO and at a drastically reduced price fairly often and should be on sale more often now that it is getting close to “cookout season”

French’s Mustard $.50:  these go on sale for $1 all the time, making them free after doubling

Kraft Salad Dressing $1.50:  use this to get the smaller size bottles free or close-to-free

Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs $1/2:  hold on to this for a BOGO sale.  There was also a Target coupon for OM hot dogs that came out in the inserts a few weeks ago that can be stacked with this

Ronzoni Bistro Item $1:  I see these 3 for $5 all the time

Sweet Baby Ray’s $1:  last summer these went on sale for $1-$1.25 very regularly

Harvest Selections Microwaveable Meal $1 and $3/5:  these are fairly new and should be part of some good sales

Nivea Body Wash FREE wyb Nivea My Silhouette or Sun-Kissed Beautiful Legs (2 coupons):  these will probably be part of some good deals at CVS/RiteAid/Wags

SuperPretzel $.75:  these go on sale for $2 all the time, making them $.50 after doubling

So how many copies of the paper would I buy?

If I were building a stockpile:  4-6

Now that I am in stockpile-maintenance mode:  3-4

Request a Moms Need To Know Coupon Class in your area!

Now I have quite a few friends who upon hearing this would think “1st Generation Nano?  I LONG ago upgraded from that!”.  But if you are like me, you still have your “old” Nano because it works and don’t see a reason to replace something that still works! 

Anyway – if you are the owner of a 1st generation iPod nano (first sold in September 2005 and they have a black or white plastic front and stainless steel back), you may be eligible for a $15 or $25 payment as part of a class action lawsuit against Apple, Inc.

Please note:  not all 1st generation iPod nanos are part of the suit.  It seems to only include the ones that were made in the very beginning. 

Click here for more information, including an easy serial code lookup to see if your iPod nano is included in the class action lawsuit. (note:  I know that the website is pretty basic, but I did a bit of searching on the Interwebs before posting this and it is 100% legitimate!)

Request a Moms Need To Know Coupon Class in your area!

People don’t seem to realize how different coupon policies can be from store to store.  Quite frankly, it is the coupon policy that is often the deciding factor in where I shop.

Most grocery chains give individual managers a bit of latitude to tweak the policy for their store.  If your store is different from what I have listed, please feel free to leave a comment letting us know how your store differs (go ahead and make up a fake email like spam@yahoo.com if you want to protect your privacy!).  I will also be adding the link to this post the the New?  Start Here! page and will update this post with more local stores as I get information on them!

In all cases, the stated store policy is that no overages will be given.  If the value (or doubled valued) of the coupon exceeds the item price, the value of the coupon should be adjusted down.

All stores require the use of a loyalty card in order to get advertised savings and double coupons.  Loyalty cards can be obtained at the Customer Service desk.

The policies at the stores that I currently cover on this site are:

Acme

Sale ads run Friday through Thursday

Doubles coupons up to $.99.  A $.75 coupon has a value of $1.50.  No limit on the number of coupons that they will double.

Accepts Internet Printablecoupons up to a value of $5.  Does not accept Internet Printables for free items.

Frequently puts store coupons in their circular that can be stacked with a manufacturers coupon.  A store coupon is most recognizable by the lack of numbers under the bar code and no “Remit To” address (they also put manufacturers coupons in their circular)

Most stores ask that you have your coupons pre-approved when using self-checkout.

Many stores will honor “$X off $XX” coupons from other local stores.

Has an Avenu program where store coupons can be loaded on to your card.  These savings can be used in addition to manufacturers coupons.  Coupon selection changes daily.

Genuardi’s

Sale ads run Friday through Thursday

Doubles coupons up to $.99.  A $.75 coupon has a value of $1.50.  No limit on the number of coupons they will double

Accepts Internet Coupons with a limit of 1-like IP per customer per day.

Frequently puts store coupons in their circular that can be stacked with a manufacturers coupon.  A store coupon is most recognizable by the lack of numbers under the bar code and no “Remit To” address.

Participates in the Proctor & Gamble eSaver program which will load P&G coupons directly on to your card

Giant of PA

Sale ads run Sunday to Saturday.

Doubles coupons up to $.99.  A $.75 coupon has a value of $1.50 (although this seems to vary by area)

Only doubles 1 like-coupon per transaction.  If you are buying 4 boxes of Cheerios and have 4 identical $.75 Cheerios coupons, only 1 of the coupons will double.

Accepts Internet Printable coupons up to a value of $5.  Does not accept Internet Printables for free items.

Frequently has “Dollar Doubler” coupons in the insert.  These can be used with any $1 coupons that you have.  There is minimum purchase to use them (usually $15), although this minimum purchase is not “per coupon” (in other words, if you want to use 4 $1-Doublers, you don’t need to spend $60…$15 is enough.)

It is to your benefit to sign up for their email list.  You will receive 1 weekly email and 1 monthly email.  The monthly email typically includes store coupons.

SuperFresh

Sale ads run Friday through Thursday

Doubles coupons up to $.99.  A $.75 coupon has a value of $1.50 (although this seems to vary by area)

Corporate policy is that they will only double 4 like-coupons per transaction.  This limit has been lifted at many stores.

Does not accept Internet Printable coupons.

Frequently has Triple Coupon weeks or weekends.

If you would like to help update this list with the policies from other Philadelphia-area grocery stores, please feel free to email me or leave the info in the comments!

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One of the problems many couponers have is when they end up with $175 in groceries for -$3.00. People think that we are scammers, gypsies, tramps and thieves.  Believe me, I have deleted more comments than you can imagine from people calling me every name in the book (note:  we may have free speech in this country, but this is the United Sites of Mindi and I don’t let comments calling me a beyotch or worse names stay up)

So this seems like a good time to have an open and honest discussion about using coupons.  I am going to lay out a few scenarios and please let me know your feelings on them.  If I miss any scenarios, let me know in the comments and we can revisit that in a Part 2 (if necessary).  Please try to confine your arguments/thoughts/debate on the posted scenarios! 

Please be respectful of each other.  Different opinions are what made this country great!

Scenario #1

You are at a store and see a peelie or a hangtag or a tearpad or a blinkie for a product that isn’t on sale.  Do you take it and save it for another week when the product will be on sale?    How many do you take?

Scenario #2

A certan local store occasionally had Triple Coupons.  Although their stated policy is that they will not give overages, the store is notorious for not updating their registers for the first few days of the sale, which means that if you get in early you will get overages.  Do you rush in to take advantage of the overages before the programmers at corporate catch up to the glitch?  Do you point out to the cashier  the potential overages so that she can adjust and give you your items for free without overage?  Do you say nothing and use the overages towards the rest of your groceries?

Scenario #3

You have Internet Printable coupons that say “Do Not Double” on the top of them, but the bar code on the coupon starts with a “5″ (which means that when scanned, they will double).  Do you go to the self-checkout in the hopes that nobody will catch it and that your coupons will double?

Scenario #4

There is a Catalina deal going on at a store and you hear that it is working on “shelf prices”, not on “sale prices”.  Do you calculate your deals based on shelf prices (which is usually a programming glitch with the registers) or on sale prices as the deal is meant to be done?

What do you do?  (and remember, please be respectful of differing opinions.  I am going to assume that my readers are not looking to purposely defraud companies, but there can be a certain amount of “grey area” in couponing)

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Every day I sit here and post whatever tips or tidbits pop in to my head.  I try to explain things as fully as I can, but I know that I can’t cover everything!

Many of you have realized by now that I am absolutely HORRIBLE when it comes to replying to emails (sorry – love ya!  Really I do!).

So let’s play a little game:  Ask me anything (although in theory, it should be about couponing, but I’m flexible) . I’ll either answer your question as a direct reply in the comments, or as a completely separate post if the answer is a bit more complicated.

The following exceptions apply:

1.  You aren’t getting my full name, Social Secrity Number and mother’s maiden name….sorry!

2.  No – I don’t know what the numbers mean on Lost or if Ben is finally good now either.

3.  The woodchuck would chuck the appropriate amount of wood if the woodchuck could chuck wood.

4.  My true hair color (mainly because I have no idea!)

5.  Anything I deem too personal of a question.

So ask away!

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Sorry Folks!  There are no coupons this week due to the Presidents Day weekend.

Use the week to catch up on your clipping  and organizing!

Request a Moms Need To Know Coupon Class in your area!

New to this series?  Check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4

You know – every time I sit down to write one of these installments, I swear that it is going to be the last one.  Then I actually start to write and realize how much there is to say…..looks like there is going to be a Part 6!

There is really only way to be successful at feeding a family on only $50 per week..and that is through menu planning.

I know that you have heard of menu planning before.  I know that it sounds hard.  I know that it sounds boring.  I know that it sounds like something only a person with OCD would do.  You may be right, you may be wrong.  I don’t really care what people think about menu planning.  It works, and that is enough for me!

First let me say that there is no “right” way to menu plan.  If you are still building your stockpile, it will be harder to do, as you will be at the mercy of what you have on hand combined with what you can get at the stores (on sale, of course).  As your stockpile gets larger, you will find meals easier and easier to plan. 

Let me also say that menu plans don’t have to be set in stone.  I typically don’t like to assign days to each meal.  I plan my meals on the weekend, usually shop on Sunday or Monday and I then know that I have all the ingredients that I need for the week.  I also like to give myself some flexibility by scheduling a “who cares if we don’t do it?” night (usually one of our pasta nights).  That way if I am having a bad day and the kids are driving me nuts and I would rather firebomb my kitchen than cook dinner, I can just shelve that one night and tell my husband to pick up pizza on the way home (note:  does not apply with my current Month of No Spending).

So how do you get started?

For most people, breakfasts and lunches are the easiest to plan.  If you are using coupons wisely, you can get a nice stockpile of cereal.  One thing that I like to do is make pancakes, french toast or waffles on the weekends…but then I make a quadruple batch of each and freeze them.  By alternating days (waffles on Saturday, pancakes on Sunday, an entire loaf of French Toast the following Saturday), we always have them in the freezer for an easy breakfast that my children love.  Considering the cost of these (and syrup isn’t that expensive), you can create an entire week of breakfasts for just a few dollars.  Lunches can be just leftovers, sandwiches, soups and salads.  We don’t get fancy for lunch.

It’s dinner that gives people the most problems.

One of the first thing you need to do is to take an inventory of your refrigerator, freezer and pantry.  Do you have any cooked chicken left over from the other night?  Some produce or dairy that needs to be used up?  Make a list of those items.  Did you get a good deal on a roast or chicken that you have in the freezer?  Make a list of potential meals based on what you have on hand.  Check out AllRecipes, Food Network, $5 Dollar Dinners or A Year of Crockpotting for some ideas for new recipes.  Another great source of recipes?  The back of the box or can!  Take a look many of the canned tomatoes, broths and pastas in your cupboards…most of them will have a recipe on them!

Look for recipes that you can double or triple.  Are you planning on making a lasagna or casserole this week?  What about doubling or tripling the recipe and making some extras for another week?  Not only will this save you time that week, but if money is tight one week because of unexpected expenses, you will have one less thing to worry about!  I even like to have Baking Days and (what I call) “Mama Leone Day”, when I make muffins, breads,cookies, lasagnas, pasta sauce and baked ziti and just freeze it all!

Grab your circulars (if you are lucky like me, they will come with your regular mail each week.  If not, many grocery stores now have their circulars online) and check out what is on sale.  Every week most stores have what they call a “loss leader”.  Is chicken on sale at a ridiculously low price?  Pork Roast?  Look for recipes that use these items.  Are strawberries on a BOGO sale?  Then it’s a perfect week to have strawberry smoothies for breakfast!

Now grab a sheet of paper and list your meal ideas. 

On a separate sheet of paper, make a grocery list of the items that you are going to need to complete the recipes.  While you are at it, make a list of anything that you noticed that you are running low on when you were taking your inventory (eggs, ketchup, jelly, etc) and add that to your grocery list!

I know that this seems like an awful lot of work.  I don’t want to lie to you…it is in the beginning.  But please believe me when I say that it gets easier the more you do it.  I am now at the point where I have enough recipe ideas in my head and enough of a stockpile that I can devote no more than 30 minutes per week to menu planning…and it’s usually done while I am sitting on the sofa catching up on my Tivo!

Next in the series?  With your menu plan and your grocery list, we are going shopping the smart way!

Request a Moms Need To Know Coupon Class in your area!

This is starting to be one of my favorite posts of the week (especially now that I figured out that little “Star this post” thing on my Google FeedReader…makes it SO much easier to go back and find them!  Go ahead – you can laugh at me for being so late to the party on the beauty that is Google Feedreader!)

Some of my favorite posts this week were:

Rachel at Mashup Mom wrote “Gain Some Perspective, Girlfriend!”.  There is some debate as to whether the “Dating A Banker Anonymous” site is meant to be satire, but even if the site is meant to be a joke, I imagine that there are real women who feel that way these days….those women need to be smacked!

Jenn at Frugal Upstate listed some great low-cost  Valentines Day Craft and Printables

I was so glad when Jennifer at iMommies came back to blogging.  Check out this recipe for a wonderful version of IHOP pancakes!

Mercedes at Common Sense with Money posted some wonderful ideas for having a Fancy Dinner On a Budget

Trent at The Simple Dollar wrote about his thoughts on being Accused of Being a Cheapskate

Marcy at Stretching a Buck gave some great ideas on how to throw a birthday party on a budget!

Kacie at Sense to Save breaks it down for you…If you want control of your life, take control of your money!

And lastly – I don’t care of this recipe is frugal or low-fat….just LOOK at Amy’s recipe for Cream Cheese Apple Pie!

If you know of a post that should be featured in the my next “Around The Blogosphere” (including one of your own), just email me a link!

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So a few months ago I posted a not-so-glowing review of Aldi.  It wasn’t pretty.  It was definitely a minority opinion (judging by the number of comments that I had to delete), but I stood by my opinion that I would only shop at Aldi for a few select items.

Today I found myself near the store and in need of milk (I was “doing reasearch”, which basically means that I was bored out of my mind and we went for a drive in search of blog fodder quality family time…and milk).  I thought it would be a great idea to grab it at Aldi!  Given how I was so adamant that I would only shop there for a few select items, I knew it would be easy to stick to my “Month of No Spending”

I found out why everyone was so upset with me before!

I walked in and was immediately hit with the scent of Lysol.  Some women are turned on by the smell of roses, some love Drakar Noir (most of those women went to high school in the mid-1980s).  The smell of bleach and/or Lysol is my “Spanish Fly” (well – that and this song).  Not only did it smell clean…it was clean!

Unlike the last time I went, the aisles were fully stocked and the selection was twice what it was before.  Was it because the last time that I went, there was a disproportionate amount of space for gift-y items?  Could be!

Grab milk ($3.15 per gallon?  Did PA lower the minimum price and only Aldi lowered their price with them?).  Grab cream cheese ($.99 – hey!  now I don’t have to go to Genuardi’s!). 

Breeze past the produce because I know that it is really rotten and disgusti…..wait a minute!  What’s this?  Could it be?

This time the produce looked great!  The cucumbers were firm and the baby carrots weren’t slimy!  It even looks like someone came in and taught them that piling 300 bags of bananas on top of each other isn’t the best idea.  Not a smashed/rotten bag in sight.  The grape tomatoes were starting to get a little “puckery”, but they would be fine if they were eaten in the next 24 hours!

If I didn’t have my GPS, I would have swore that I was not in the same store as last time.

And then the pessimist in me came out….

Yeah – you know they are being mystery shopped right now….you just skipped over a self-schedule job for them last week!  They probably know it too and are making sure that they look good for the mystery shoppers!

But then the optimist in me poured the pessimist a big imaginary glass of Pinot Grigio and said:

If the employees are keeping the store in better shape just because they don’t want a bad shop, then why should you care?  If they treat every customer that walks in the door as a possible mystery shopper, then every single customer benefits!

Yeah – the pessimist in me is pretty easy to squash….

Once I realized that I didn’t need to run screaming from the store before I was attacked by bad produce, I started looking around a bit more (Hey – Brad was waiting in the car watching a Pokemon video with the kids…this was the closest thing to “alone time” I had in 2 weeks!). 

Apple Juice:  $1.49   (I get excited when I can get it 3 for $5 at the supermarket)

Mac & Cheese:  still $.34/box.  (Yep – whenever I want to be lazy make my kids happy, they are still cheaper than Target brand).

Tortillas:  still cheaper than Mission tortillas with a coupon.  (It would be nice if they had a light/high fiber four tortilla).

Dried Beans:  still cheaper for a 2 lb bag than the grocery stores are for a 1 lb bag (I just wish they had more than pintos and split pea…black beans and/or kidney beans would be nice.  Jellybeans too!)

Bread:  $1.39  (Hey – that’s only $.09 more than the bread outlet I visited an hour earlier.  And unlike the bread outlet, this bread doesn’t expire today!)

Cereal:  $1.89 per box (ok – when you get used to never paying more than $.80 per box for cereal, this can seem like an outrageous price for off-brand.  If you haven’t yet figured out how to get a box of cereal for cheaper than a cup of coffee at Wawa, this is a good price!)

So in the interest of fairness, I would like to officially reverse my unfavorable opinion of Aldi’s.  While I can still get many of the items cheaper than at the grocery store with a good sale and double coupons, I can now see why so many people love that store…especially those who live where the stores don’t double coupons!

And hey Aldi Peeps:   the next time I visit, things better be as good as this time or you’ll be hearing from me again!

Request a Moms Need To Know Coupon Class in your area!

As a reminder, when I list the number of newspapers that I will be buying, I take in to account that I am able to get them at the Dollar Tree for only $1/copy. To find a Dollar Tree near you, click here. Don’t have a Dollar Tree? Check out your local dollar store. Many supermarkets even discount the Sunday paper. I also live in an area where all of the stores double up to $.99 (so a $.75 coupon is actually worth $1.50). If your newspapers are more expensive or you live where they don’t double coupons, you may not find the inserts of the same value as I do!

Make sure that you check your papers before buying extra copies!  There should be 2 SmartSource, 1 RedPlum and a Proctor & Gamble!

 Click here and here to see what the coupons are this week!  Hot Coupon World seems to be becoming my new regular source. 

Coupons of Note

Progresso Light Soups:  $.25 wait for a 10 for $10 sale

Yoplait Yogurt Cups:  $.40/6 Acme has a sale Buy 10 Get 10 Free this week.  Get 20, use 3 coupons and pay only $7.60 for 20 yogurts!

Totinos Rolls Snacks:  $.40/2   not as good as the last coupon ($.35/1).  Wait for another 10 for $10 sale to use it

Warm Delights Bowls:  $.50  these go on & off sale at 3 for $5 which makes them $.66 after doubling

Betty Crocker Cookie Mix:  $.40  these go 3 for $5 as well and are often part of a Catalina deal!

Betty Crocker Frosting:  $.50  goes as low as 10 for $10 (but more frequently 3 for $5 or 4 for $5).

Huggies Diapers:  $1.50 watch for the next time Kmart has their Double coupons, because this should double (they have special weeks when they double $2 & $3 coupons – varies by region)

Mentos Gum:  $.55 you should be able to use this to pick it up for free, after doubling

Crush (2 liter):  $1/2  I’ve seen this 10 for $10 fairly often

Ronzoni Bistro Item:  BOGO (depending on your store and the mood of your cashier, you should be able to combine this with a BOGO sale to get both free.)

Glass Plus:  $.50  it’s 1/2 off at Acme this week, making it a great time to use it!

Campbell’s Soup Coupons:  we are still deep in the middle of “soup season” and I’ve seen the Select Harvest Soups at 10 for $10

Schick Disposable Razor:  $2  there is a package at WalMart that is $1.97, making them free with coupon

Freschetta Pizzas:  $1.25/2  these are a little pricey, but they go BOGO all the time

Olay Coupons:  CVS has ECB deals on Olay all the time

Crest:  $1  wait for a “free after ECB” deal at CVS to turn this in to a moneymaker

Crest Kids Toothpaste:  BOGO  this is much better than the typical $.50 coupon!

Gillette Fusion Razor:  $4  CVS has an ECB deal starting on Sunday that makes this razor free after ECB & this coupon

Crsico Olive Oil $1  there should be a sale on this as we get closer to Easter (it’s a “Holiday Cooking” sale item)

Del Monte No Salt Added Diced Tomatoes:  $.40  I think it’s great that Del Monte came out with and are really promoting their no-salt version (another coupons can be found here).  These should go 10 for $10 soon and all you need to do is add a few spices, warm them up and toss them with some whole wheat pasta for a nice dinner!

Garnier Hair Care:  $1  if you’ve been cutting coupons for a while, you probably have a ton of these already.  However, Rite Aid has a Single Check Rebate Deal where you get it for free after SCR.  This coupon turns it in to a $1 moneymaker

L’Oreal & Maybelline Coupons:  not as good as recent ones, but save them for a BOGO sale at CVS/Rite Aid/Wags

Purina coupons:  a whole bunch of them!

Quaker Instant or Quick  or Old Fashioned Oats:  $1/2  good deals will continue on these as long as it is cold out.  I’m not a big fan of the instant versions (too much added sugar), but the Old Fashioned variety can be used for so many things (breakfast, baking, ground up in the food processor and used in place of store-bought bread crumbs)

Zatarain’s Rice & Pasta Mixes:  $.75/2  If your area actually gets this a coupon with this value (last time we got a $1.50/4), then it will be a good one after doubling.  These don’t go on sale that often.  (Just get the reduced sodium version because the “regular” version is pretty high in sodium!

So How many Copies of The Newspaper Would I Buy?

If I were building a stockpile:  3-4

Now that I am in stockpile maintenance mode:  2-3

Why so few?  While the General Mills coupons are pretty good, the rest of the insert is fairly boring (and the P&G insert borders on the pathetic).  There are a few coupons that can turn a purchase in to a moneymaker at CVS/Rite Aid, but those stores have been limiting people to 1 per customer.  It’s just not that exciting of a week!

Note:  it’s now been about 5 weeks since I have seen an insert schedule where I could say “Run out and get a whole bunch!”.  I’m hoping that the lack of good coupons isn’t yet another side effect of our problem economy!

Request a Moms Need To Know Coupon Class in your area!

It used to be that people who used coupons were given dirty looks or looks of pity in the stores.  We were seen as “the po’ folk” (and some of us are and were) because they were under the impression that we were going to quite a bit of trouble to save “two or three dollars” (how little they know!).

“For the time they spend cutting coupons they could just work a few more hours and bring home more money”

and so on (to see my previous rants on this mindset, click here here and here) 

Then the economy tanked….and frugal became all the rage.  The magazines, newspapers and television have been full of tips on cutting back on your expenses.

And the mocking has begun.  But this time, it is a “reverse mocking”

“Oh – poor baby had to cut back on her $10 per day Starbucks habit!  I’ve never even been to a Starbucks!”

“Are they kidding?  Save money by skipping the manicures and pedicures?  Who ever had the money for that in the first place?”

“They really think that buying a 3-year old car instead of a brand-new one is the key to not losing their home?  My car is 20 years old!”

“These people don’t know what it means to be frugal.  I know what it means”

and so on….

Now that being frugal is “in” there seems to be a rush to secure one’s place as Frugaler-than-Thou (no – I don’t think “frugaler” is a word…it just flowed better than “more frugal”).  It’s almost as if people are gloating that the formerly better-off (financially) now find themselves needing to tighten their belts.  It’s “payback time”.

It’s a very unattractive quality in a person.

Shouldn’t they be applauded for being Perfectly Frugal?  Can you be Perfectly Frugal if you don’t practice Perfect Frugality?

What is a difference between Perfect Frugality and being Perfectly Frugal?

• Perfect Frugality makes their own laundry detergent and washes only in cold water to save energy costs.
• Perfectly Frugal looks for a BOGO sale on laundry detergent and pairs it with a coupon (and maybe even a Catalina deal).
• Perfect Frugality would never dream of stepping foot in a Starbucks and spending $3 for a latte.
• Perfectly Frugal starts making more coffee at home yet still indulges in the occasional latte or Dunkin Donuts coffee.
• Perfect Frugality will make any sacrifice necessary to spend less money.
• Perfectly Frugal is making changes in their spending that are both significant and that they are willing to sustain.

Frugality is not a zero-sum game.  It isn’t all or nothing. 

Being Perfectly Frugal is all about making changes that benefit your financial situation AND still allow you to enjoy life.  What good is our time on this planet if we are miserable? 

Yes – I spend a very small amount at the grocery store and am always actively searching out freebies.  I stay home as much as possible to avoid wasting gas and I would rather throw a blanket on my lap while watching TV (or typing this post) than turn up the thermostat.  I also continue to pay WAY too much for my skin care and makeup and have a serious Coldwater Creek addiction.  I don’t want to practice Perfect Frugality in all areas of my life.  I am content with being Perfectly Frugal.   Perfectly Frugal is whatever works for your family in more ways than saving money.

It’s not a competition.  Any person that is trying to come over to the Frugal Side of The Force deserves encouragement and support.

Request a Moms Need To Know Coupon Class in your area!

New to this series?  Don’t forget to read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3!

This was originally set to be the final part of this series…until I started typing and realized that it would be way too long of a post (and I’ve been sick since Tuesday afternoon and that part of the post requires more thinking than I can do right now).  Part 5 should go up tomorrow!  Sorry!

This part of the series takes you to the supermarket with me.  When I say that I spend $50 per week, I only include the cash that I pull out of my wallet.  As a reminder, I am in what I call “stockpile maintenance mode” and as I have said several time before (including in Part 3), I did not build my stockpile on $50 per week.  In the span of 1 year, I went from about $150-$175 per week with a mostly empty pantry to $50 per week with a pantry and freezer that is so full that I put myself on a spending freeze for the month of February.

Here’s an approximate breakdown of where the $50 goes each week:

Milk:  $7-$10.50  unfortunately, there is no getting around this cost or reducing it.  We go through 2-3 gallons of milk per week and Pennsylvania sets minimum milk prices.  A gallon of 1% is approximately $3.50.  I am able to stretch it and only go through 2 gallons per week when I can get good deals on soymilk (for baking and my coffee) or evaporated milk (diluted and used for baking only.  many recipes call for undiluted evaporated milk anyway, since it gives the recipe extra creaminess/body).  I know that some people suggest powdered milk, but I can never bring myself to try it (it just skeeves me out).  I envy people in other states where they allow sales on milk…in PA, a “sale” is selling it at the state minimum.

Bread:  $2-3  I can usually get whole wheat sandwich bread on sale for $1-$1.50 per loaf.  We go through approximately 2 loaves per week. I make “dinner breads” and muffins from scratch.

Eggs and Dairy:  $5  I typically alternate these, as both will keep for 2 weeks or longer (seriously – check the expiration dates).  One week I may get 3 dozen eggs for $4-5 (depending on sales and if those sales include Egglands, since I usually have coupons for Egglands).  The next week I may get 15-20 Yoplait Yogurts for the same $4-5 after sales & coupons.  Sour cream can usually be had for $.66 a pint (Daisy brand after sale & coupon).  “Regular” cheese are purchased at stock-up prices and frozen and are not part of the normal dairy spending.

Fresh Produce:  $12-15  whatever is in-season and cheapest.  Right now, it is bananas (about $5 per week), apples (usually a 5lb bag will last 2 weeks and they have been $.99/lb lately), bagged salad when I can get it for free (Fresh Express on a 10 for $10 sale with a $.75 coupon that is doubled up to $1) or a head of Romaine.  Baby carrots can always be found for $1-$1.50/1lb bag.  A pint of grape tomatoes for $2.50.   Potatoes & onions are always on sale for about $4/bag and will each last 2 weeks (alternate weeks with buying them).

Everything else/the stockpile:  $17-20 per week + any Catalinas and Extra Care Bucks and gift cards.  This includes frozen fruit & veggies, chicken broth, meats, cereals, cheeses, pastas, baking mixes, flour; toiletries and cleaning products at CVS, etc. 

The $17-$20 goes to deals like this or this.  In the weeks where I am unable to do these kinds of deals I will usually just carry the some or all of the balance over until the next week.  For an example of a shopping trip where I just get a few stockpile items and don’t carry over a balance, click here.

As for cleaning items and toiletries?  I have been rolling the same $40 Extra Care Bucks at CVS + about $1-2 cash per week for over a year now.  I haven’t paid money out-of-pocket for toothpaste (except 1 certain one that only my older son uses), shampoo, conditioner, body wash, deodorant, shaving cream, razors, pain reliever or cold/allergy medicine since about a month after I started “CVSing“.  The same is true for Rite Aid.  The first month I did about $30 in deals, paid about $25 in cash (after coupons) and got a $30 Single Check Rebate.  I simply took that check to RiteAid and converted it in to a Gift Card and I use that gift card to do more SCR deals.  By repeating this process each month, I haven’t pulled a dime out of my wallet at Rite Aid in more than 6 months and have walked out with a whole bunch of products!

I take advantage of the $10-25 Gift cards for transferred prescriptions all the time (we just have a flouride prescription that we don’t have to pay for anyway)…every month I “make” $10-$25 at Rite Aid, CVS or a grocery store by “prescription surfing” for the gift cards (note:  if you are going to do this and have multiple prescriptions and are put on a new and different one, you must tell the pharmacist about any other prescriptions you are taking!).  Those gift cards go towards things that I need, but for which I sometimes can’t get a good deal (like toilet paper, paper towels, etc).

But by thinking ahead, I can always find good deals.  For instance, back in June/July I purchased 70 boxes of Kleenex for $12.50 by combining a Catalina deal with coupons and doing the deal several times.  People thought I was nuts for buying that many especially in the summer….but it’s February and that stockpile of Kleenex is still going strong (although I’ve put a serious dent in it this week!).  I am down to about 30 boxes which means that I will actively start looking for the next Kleenex/Puffs deal to start replenishing. Dishwasher detergent?  I have a 2-year supply of Electrasol by combining a $2.50 coupon with it being on sale for $2.99-$3.25 (the $2.50 coupon has come out twice in the last few months). 

The bottom line? 

It is very rare that I buy something that isn’t on sale (a real sale, not one of those “let’s knock $.09 off an item and call it a sale).  It is also rare that I don’t use a coupon for those sale items (even rice, butter, sugar and flour have coupons that can be combined with a sale if you look hard enough).

Learn to live off your stockpile, replenishing when you get the deals.  Meats freeze – so do cheeses, breads, etc.

Respect the stockpile by rotating it.  Frozen bread is no good if it has freezer burn.  Pancake mix is no good if it has been sitting in your pantry for a year.  Use a “First In, First Out” system to avoid any waste and make your stockpile work for you.

Learn that food is nourishment, not emotional fulfillment.  I don’t look for my food to give me happiness (well – except Snickers bars).  When I want the “indulgent” food, we budget for it accordingly.  When I want to give my family tasty food to give their bodies fuel for the day, I look online for recipes using what I have in the house.  Believe me – grab almost any 3 items out of your pantry/freezer and Google the 3 of them in 1 search….you’ll find a recipe that uses them!

The next and final installment?  A few weekly menus for our house with plenty of links to recipes and resources.

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I know I just did one 6 days ago, but there have been some real gems!

Besides, this will give you something to read while I am drinking Iron City beer (although just 1 before I switch to something that doesn’t taste like sewer water), eating pierogis and BenBurgers and watching the Steelers trounce the Cardinals! GO STEELERS!

By the way – see the BlogHerAd directly to your right?  Just under the ad is usually 4 or 5 posts that you can click on.  I highly encourage you to check out the posts that look interesting to you…it’s where I found some of these!

Brad at Enemy of Debt wrote “MYTH:  I Don’t Make Enough to Do a Total Money Makeover” .  While he and I agree on very little (REALLY glad the election is over), we are both Dave Ramsey fanatics and can agree that everyone can improve their financial situation!  

GroceryMama wrote “I Don’t Need Any More Toothpaste”.  If you are new to couponing and getting the great deals, this is a must-read.  We all go through this phase and you will too!

Marcy at Stretching a Buck:  “Dressing Well For Less”.   As a former and current Coldwater Creek & Chicos addict, I loved this post.

My entire family hails from about 45 minutes north of Indianapolis.  One of my favorite things to eat whenever I go there to visit family is tenderloins.  Jenn at Frugal Upstate shared her recipe for German Shnitzel that is pretty much the same (except in Indiana they skip the lemon and whatever gravy she is showing & put it on a hamburger roll with pickles, onion, and mayo or ketchup….and never with cheese).  My mouth was watering just reading it!

And to get your SuperBowl laugh, check out the horrible SuperBowl cakes featured on Cake Wrecks.  I love that site because it gives me my daily chuckle in my feedreader!

If you know of a post that should be featured in the my next “Around The Blogosphere” (including one of your own), just email me a link!

Oh and by the way…..

Request a Moms Need To Know Coupon Class in your area!

As a reminder, when I list the number of newspapers that I will be buying, I take in to account that I am able to get them at the Dollar Tree for only $1/copy. To find a Dollar Tree near you, click here. Don’t have a Dollar Tree? Check out your local dollar store. Many supermarkets even discount the Sunday paper. I also live in an area where all of the stores double up to $.99 (so a $.75 coupon is actually worth $1.50). If your newspapers are more expensive or you live where they don’t double coupons, you may not find the inserts of the same value as I do!

It’s not a very exciting week for coupons….but there are a few good ones!

My regular source for the preview still isn’t up yet, so click here and scroll down to the 5th message in the thread to see a complete listing of coupons this week!

Coupons of Note

Colgate Toothpaste:  $.75   it’s a short expiration date (2/21/09), but you can usually find it on sale for $2 or cheaper somewhere each week

Softsoap Liquid Hand Soap:  $.35   these go 10 for $10 all the time (including at Acme this week), making them $.30 after doubling

Betty Crocker Fruit Roll-Ups:  $.50   these are on sale for $2 all the time and are often part of a Catalina deal

Lime-Away Cleaner:  $1   I can’t remember the last time that I saw a coupon for this.  I have really hard water where I live (even with an installed water softener) and this stuff is great for getting the water spots off the shower door!  It’s one of those things that doesn’t go on sale often, so any coupon for it is a bonus!

Egglands Best Eggs:  $.35   I have to say – it’s not hype.  These eggs really do taste better (in my never-to-be-humble opinion).  Once this coupon is doubled, it makes the eggs the same price as store-brand eggs in my area…..or better if they are on sale!

Lysol coupons:  pair them with a BOGO sale

Healthy Ones Lunchmeat:  $.75   the prepackaged ones come in 2 sizes (8 oz and 5oz).  the 5 oz size has been going on & off sale at 3 for $5 all month and the 8oz size have been about $3 each.  The pre-packaged ones are vacuum-sealed inside the package, which means that you can stock up on them on a sale and freeze them!  Even better – the 8oz size comes in a tub that is the same things as a Ziploc container and can be easily re-used (yes – I am exactly that much of a cheapskate!)

Sucrets product:  $1.50   this is another item for which you rarely see coupons (or sales). 

Breeze or Contour Meter:  $30  by the time this coupon expires in November, CVS should have another ECB deal on this which will make it a moneymaker (you can donate the meter).

Bayer Aspirin:  $1   another item that you can find on an ECB deal as a freebie.  This coupon will make it a moneymaker!

L’Oreal Coupons:  CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid are always having great deals on these.  Coupons just make the deal sweeter!

Smart Balance coupons:  I am not a fan of the popcorn, but all of the others are pretty good (even the peanut butter – go figure!).  These go on sale fairly frequently. 

So how many copies of the paper would I buy?

If I was building a stockpile:  3-4

Now that I am in stockpile maintenance mode:  1-3

Why so few?  The coupons that provide the best savings and potential for great deals (Colgate, Egglands and Healthy Ones) have been all over the recent inserts and come out fairly regularly (I think that this is the 3rd time that there have been $.75 Healthy Ones coupons in the past 5 weeks).  There are some nice savings this week, but nothing spectacular!

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Are you new to this series?  Don’t forget to read Part 1 and Part 2!

As I have mentioned before, I did not get to my current weekly budget overnight.  When I started my journey to (what I like to call) Psychotic Couponing, I was spending approximately $150 per week.  At the time, I was pretty proud of myself because that total was after sale prices and about $30 in coupons each week.

That was just over a year ago. 

There’s a few things that I need to mention as they are a huge part of how I am able to keep my grocery bill so low:

1.  We have no food allergies in our house (other than the allergy my husband seems to have to healthy food)

2.  I live in an area where all grocery stores double coupons up to $.99.  A $.75 coupon has an actual value of $1.50.  This fact alone makes it much easier for me to keep my grocery spending so low

3.  I am a stay-at-home mom who lives less than 5 miles from 4 major grocery stores, a Rite Aid, 2 CVS stores and (soon) a Walgreen’s.  While I don’t visit all of them each week (typically 1-3 per week), I do have the flexibility of just “popping in” to one if I am on my way home from a playdate or appointment.

In Part 1 I spoke about the importance of using your freezer and pantry to hold your stockpile.  The question is, how do you create your stockpile with a minimum amount of money?

1. Find the coupons
2. Get them organized
3. Either create a price book or find a site that details the best deals at your area grocery store.

The first, second and third are easy.  I could take up space here going over them, but just by clicking on the links you will get all the information you need.  Let’s skip right to #4 & 5!

4.  Look for items that you can get for free or close-to-free each week with a sale and coupon (and that you will use, not that you need right now) and stock up on those items as much as you can. 

Almost every week, there is something that you can get for free (if your store has double coupons) or close to free. Occasionally it will be your favorite products, but very often it is a new-to-the-market product.  Sales at the store are often subsidized by the company, especially in the beginning as companies hope to to hook you on their new product.  The best recent example I can give is Green Giant Valley Steamers.  Since they came out there have been lots of $.50 coupons and just as many 10 for $10 and 4 for $5 sales…..and I haven’t paid a penny for one of them.  If you have a CVS, Walgreens or Rite Aid near you, there is almost always shampoo, toothpaste or something similar that is free after Extra Care Bucks, Register Rewards or Single Check Rebate.  Get in the habit of scouting out those deals until you have a nice little stockpile! (still not convinced on the value of stockpiling?  Click here )

One of the reasons that my weekly budget is so low is because I no longer pay for shampoo, conditioner, body wash, toothpaste, toothbrushes, baby wipes and many other toiletries.  I have stocked up on these items when there was an amazing deal at the drug stores and now I don’t even have to think about buying those things.  I just keep an eye out for the next deal (and the good thing?  They come with enough frequency that I either skip a bunch or get them for free and donate them!)

5.  Look for Catalina/ECB deals.  Roll your Catalinas/ECBs for as long as you have coupons or storage space.

When I say that my grocery budget is $50/$57 (depending on if I am counting in my diaper budget) per week, I don’t include Catalinas and ECBs.  My budget is based on the money that I physically pull out of my wallet, not the total at the register.  Almost all stores (I believe that WalMart is an exception…shocking, I know!) offer Catalina deals and when you can combine a Catalina deal with double coupons, you can seriously clean up!  Check out this post, this post and this post to see some examples of how Catalina Deals have helped me to stock up on an obscene amount of groceries for an average of 95% off.  Incredible stock-up opportunities like that happen about once every 4-6 weeks and I take full advantage of them.  They help to make up for the weeks where I “only” save 50%!

Repeat #4 & #5 the following week and every week until you hit the lottery and hire a personal chef and shopper with your $624 million(and don’t forget to invite your friend Mindi to your mansion.  I’ll bring Bisquick!).

The next post (and possibly final) post in the series?  You get to go shopping with me, see how my $50/week breaks down and what I feed my family!

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You know what happens when another site links to me?  It pops up on my WordPress Dashboard  and I click through the link to make sure nobody is calling me names.  So far, so good (on the name calling part). 

Guess what also happens?  I go poking around your site and usually find some gems!

Some of my favorite posts from the past few weeks include:

I think my absolute favorite for the past few weeks was a guest post on Wide Open Wallet written by Saver in the City:  Grocery Store Mind Games

 Mercedes (I think I’m developing a full-blown “girl crush” on her)posted a great article entitled “Would You Do This If you Didn’t Have To?”  It’s a great topic!  I know that if money was no object, I would have a hard time switching to “non-frugal mode”!

My New 30 popped up on my Dashboard just the other day and when I clicked through I found a site full of recipes that my husband will LOVE.  As you may remember, I have Bisquick coming out of my ears and her Bisquick Biscuits with Chorizo Sausage Gravy looks wonderful (as do the other Bisquick recipes in the post).  The recipes may not all be frugal and they may not be diet-friendly…but they sure do look good!  Make sure you check out her Healthy & Delicious High Fiber Pancakes (made with Bisquick!) 

If you’ve been couponing for more than 2 months, you probably have more crescent roll coupons than you know what to do with!  TidyMom posted a recipe for Chocolate Crescents that is wonderful!  I’m thinking that I can stock up with the next sale, make these and freeze them until I’m ready to bake!

I’ve been meaning to post this for over a week, but Kendra at Shopping For Two has updated her Budget Spreadsheet and I just LOVE the tweaks that she made!    This is the same spreadsheet that we use each month to create our Family Budget.  To get the spreadsheet, simply sign up for her email list.  Don’t worry – she only sends a few emails a month and they are packed with valuable information (and she’s a sweetie!)! 

Did you see any other great posts or would you like me to read one of yours?  Send me the link!

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Click here to read the first post in this series.

I know you were probably hoping that I would give you the magic cure for your grocery woes in this post, but there is something more important that needs to be discussed first.

(never fear – this is going to be a fast-moving series and should be wrapped up by Friday!)

You need to change the way you look at family meals and grocery shopping.  If you were hoping that I would let you in on the secret to having crown roasts, veal chops, filet mignon and gouda each week for $50, then you are going to be very disappointed.  Being frugal is about being able to embrace simplicity.  The good news is, after a decade of playing Keeping Up With The Jones’, frugalness and ”getting back to basics” is becoming more popular in this country!  You won’t be alone!

Look for things that you can eliminate or at least where you can cut back.  I love Diet Pepsi as much as the next person, but water (from the tap or a Brita pitcher) is much cheaper and I can get tea bags dirt cheap and make iced tea.  We still have soda in the house…we are just much more mindful of the cost and limit our consumption accordingly. 

Realize that it isn’t necessarily about making big changes, but little ones that add up to big savings.  Juice boxes are convenient, but a half-gallon of apple juice and a cup are cheaper.  Look at the cost per pound between buying a box of 100-calorie packs of Wheat Thins (for which you can rarely find coupons or Catalina deals) and a box of Reduced Fat Wheat Thins and some Ziploc bags (both of which you can get much cheaper!).

Get together with your family and figure out your “non-negotiables”.  By that I mean those items which  you wouldn’t switch brands even if they were giving the other stuff away for free.  For mothers of infants, this often means Pampers.  It may be your brand of coffee or your favorite creamed spinach.  In our house, we can only use Downy Fabric Softener or Bounce, as every other brand makes my middle child break out in hives.  The list will probably be longer in the beginning and that’s ok!  You will find the list getting shorter and shorter as time goes on and you realize that your hair WON’T fall out if you use Sunsilk Extra Moisturizing instead of Pantene Daily Moisture Renewal (although it won’t be long until you figure out how to get both brands for free!)

Become Betty Crocker and stop trying to be Giada & Ina.  The Betty Crocker Cookbook is one book that no home should be without.  It has undergone several revisions over the years, but the basics are still the same.  Look at the recipes in the book:  most of them can be made for very little money (especially if you are in the habit of stockpiling the ingredients).  The popularity of The Food Network has made us think that we need to cook like the TV chefs every night of the week.  While I have more Food Network on my Tivo than anything else and am usually the first in line at Williams-Sonoma when those chefs are having a book signing, I save most of their recipes for special occasions and parties (although Rachael Ray tends to have more everyday recipes that can be made for less money).  Your family won’t love you more just because you serve them lobster risotto instead of chicken and herbed rice.  Check out the $5 Dinner website for more low-cost and yummy recipes than you can ever possibly make!  The mark of a good cook is the ability to take the least expensive cuts of meat and turn them in to something extraordinary.

And don’t tell me that you can’t cook.  The old saying is:  “If you can read then you can cook!”.  And since you are reading this……

Keep your produce purchases to in-season, low-cost items.  We have many weeks where the extent of our fruits are bananas & apples (the 2 least expensive fruits right now) and whatever frozen berries I have managed to stockpile on the cheap.  The veggies may be frozen steam-in-the-bag veggies (that I can get free-to-cheap), along with lettuce, carrots, tomatoes and cucumbers. 

(this would probably be a good time to mention that I am the only person in my house who will eat vegetables other than corn & peas….although my kids are in for a very rude awakening as soon as I get the energy and desire to become MeanestMomInTheWorld and force the issue!  Once I get my kids eating veggies, I will happily increase my food budget by $5-10 per week)

The benefit of keeping your produce selection simple is that you have less waste because you had to have 8 different kinds of fruit that week and didn’t eat all of it before it spoiled.   Stores have been practically giving frozen veggies away the last few months.  If you can stockpile a nice selection of frozen berries (I’m not a fan of frozen melon, but that’s just me), then you can buy the fresh stuff when it is at it’s cheapest and still have a few of your favorites without paying through the nose because it is out of season!

Your family needs to be on board with the changes that are going to be made in the refrigerator, pantry and around the house.  A $50 per week budget doesn’t leave much room for Boboli, Ben & Jerry’s and Brie (unless you can find really good coupons and an equally good sale).   Get together and talk about the changes that you are making and WHY you are making them.  The family needs to work together as a team or you are doomed to failure. 

The bottom line?  You need to K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple…uh…Silly!)

Simple is good.  Simple has worked for generations.  Simple is frugal.

Simple is the first place to start.

(click here for part 3)

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One of the drawbacks of what I do with this site is that I now seem to live in my own “frugal bubble”.  I hear or read someone talking about a program or organization and just assume that everyone else in the world knows about it.

Today I was talking to a woman from the St. Vincent DePaul chapter at my church and I mentioned Angel Food Ministries and was shocked that she hadn’t heard about it…..because I live in my little bubble!  Time to pop the bubble!

So what is Angel Food Ministries?

Simply put, it is a place where you can go and get enough food to help feed a family of 4 for a week for only $30.  You can even pay for your box of food using Food Stamps.  The estimated retail value of each box is $60 and you do have the ability to add on other packages (more produce, more meat, etc).   Box pickups are once a month.  Orders are taken at the beginning of each month, with pickup being towards the end of the month.  Check with your local pickup site for exact dates.

To help you stretch the value of your box, please visit Hillbilly Housewife, where she provides recipes and an additional shopping list to help you stretch your box out to a full month of dinners!  Hillbilly Housewife is very frugal, so rest assured that her recipes and shopping list are designed to give you the most bang for your buck!

If you need to drastically reduce your costs, Angel Food Ministries may be a good place to help you get started! Click here to find a pickup location near you.  Orders for the end-of-February pickup are being taken now

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As a reminder, when I list the number of newspapers that I will be buying, I take in to account that I am able to get them at the Dollar Tree for only $1/copy. To find a Dollar Tree near you, click here. Don’t have a Dollar Tree? Check out your local dollar store. Many supermarkets even discount the Sunday paper. I also live in an area where all of the stores double up to $.99 (so a $.75 coupon is actually worth $1.50). If your newspapers are more expensive or you live where they don’t double coupons, you may not find the inserts of the same value as I do!

The coupons this week aren’t that exciting.  A few good ones, but not anything that has me making sure I am at the Dollar Tree when they unlock the doors! 

Click here for a list of the coupons scheduled to be in the inserts this week (please note that the values of coupons tend to vary by region)

Coupons of Note

Butterball Pre-Sliced Deli Lunchmeat:  $.65 combined with a BOGO sale or Triples at Superfresh, this can get me some inexpensive Turkey

Carnation Evaporated Milk:  $.50/2 these go 10 for $10 or cheaper all the time.  I use this for baking all the time and will even mix it with equal parts water when I am making things like pancakes instead of “regular milk”. 

Carvel Cake coupons:  we always get a Carvel cake for Valentines Day.  My husband can (and will) eat an entire cake by himself in 3 days (and yet he never seems to gain any weight….grrrrrrrr!)

Cheerios or Chex Mix:  $.50 these go 10 for 10 and 3 for $5 all the time, making them really-cheap-to-free

Chock Full O Nuts:  $.75 I gave up my expensive “put hair on your chest” brand of coffee about 4 months ago.  This coffee is one of the few that I have found that is a good substitute and goes BOGO all the time and will double to $1.50 off

Fiber One Chewy Bars:  $.50 I am in love with the people at Fiber One for managing to make such wonderful products…many with chocolate!  I have seen these as low as 3 for $5, but more often 2 for $4.  They are a part of almost every General Mills Catalina Deal.

Hersheys coupons:  CVS has been running pretty frequent ECB deals on Hershey and these will help with those.  Hold on to the $2/2 coupon for a BOGO deal (and don’t forget – chocolate freezes very easily!)

Lysol Coupons:  I am pretty loyal to Lysol and these go BOGO and half-price pretty frequently.  There should be some pretty good sales close to the expiration dates (3/23/09) as stores start promoting Spring Cleaning deals

Pert coupons:  there is a good chance that CVS, Rite Aid or Walgreen’s will have a deal that makes it free after ECB/SCR/RR.  This coupons will turn it in to a moneymaker.

Pilgrims Pride:  $.75 I finally found this the other day.  I’ve seen it at both Target and Walmart.  I have no idea how their chicken nuggets compare with other brands

Pillsbury Coupons:  if you have been using coupons for more than a month or so, you probably have Pillsbury coupons coming out of your ears!  However, the $.35 crescent roll coupon is always a good one if you wait for a 10 for $10 sale.  By the way – you can freeze these by either putting them directly in the freezer (put them in your kitchen freezer for a few hours before you put them in your deep freezer.  They will freeze slower and you will have less of a chance of them popping open) or by opening them up, rolling them in to the crescent shapes and laying them on a cookie sheet to freeze.  Once frozen, just throw them in a Ziploc bag.  This is also great if you typically won’t go through an entire tube in 1 meal because you can just grab as many as you need for dinner!

Pop Secret:  $.50/2 wait for a BOGO sale

Post Cereals:  $1/2 there have been some good deals on Post Cereals lately…I have seen get $4 off instantly wyb 4 as well as free milk wyb 4

Ritz, Wheat Thins or Triscuit:  $2/2 almost all the stores have these on sale this week for about $2 (Ritz are a little higher).  If you are an Acme Shopper, you can get 4 boxes, use 2 of these coupons and get free cheese all for only $4 ($6 if you get all Ritz Crackers) after coupons and the deal.

Science Diet coupons:  although I don’t pay attention to pet food prices, I do know that I can’t remember the last time I saw coupons for this brand

Simply Orange w/Pineapple or Mango:  $.55 these go on sale fairly frequently

Stacy’s Pita Chips:  $1.50 I don’t see these on sale that often, but these are really delicious and coupons are rare!

Totinos Pizza Rolls Snacks:  $.35 we don’t see nearly as many 10 for $10 sales on these as we used to, but they do go 4 for $5 and 3 for $5 frequently

Wanchai Ferry Dinner Kit:  $1  everyone seems to have dropped their price on these by about $1.50.  I haven’t tried these yet, but might now that they aren’t so expensive!

Advil Coupons:  CVS will probably have a “free after ECB deal” on this between now and the expiration date.  These coupons will turn it in to a small moneymaker

Breakstones Sour Cream:  $.55 stores put this on sale at 3 for $5 all the time, making for $.56 sour cream after doubling

Hillshire Farms Cocktail Links:  $1/2 stores should be having good sales this week and (for the stores that start their sales on Friday) next week in honor of Super Bowl.  These are a little pricey, so I would save it for a BOGO sale

One Touch Blood Glucose Monitoring System:  $20 I don’t have diabetes and I always save these for when CVS is offering an ECB deal on them.  Between the rebates that the company offers, the ECB deal and the coupon, it makes for an easy moneymaker of at least $5 (if you don’t have diabetes, donate the monitor to a local retirement home or ambulance corp.  I save mine to give to my sister-in-law who works in a hospital)

Pampers Easy Ups:  $2 (deals on Easy Ups are more frequent than deals on regular diapers)

So how many copies of the paper would I buy?

If I were building a stockpile:  4-6

Now that I am in stockpile maintenance mode: 4-6

Why so many?  My children love Wheat Thins and the $2/2 coupon “pays” for the paper all by itself (because i only pay $1 for my newspapers).  The Totinos coupons are a bonus, as are the Chex Mix and especially the Chock Full O Nuts!

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We all love free stuff.  Walk in to any Costco or Sams Club on a Saturday afternoon and see how people completely lose their minds over the chance to sample 1/12 of a Hot Pocket if you need proof!

The Internets are full of freebies as well…they are out there for the taking as long as you follow a few simple rules:

Be Sane

Get an email address that you use exclusively for freebies (Yahoo and Hotmail are great for this). While some companies will only send the occasional email, others will send you an email every 4 minutes! In many cases, the “unsubscribe” button will be honored. In far too many others – it won’t and your email may even be sold. The last thing you want is to have your “regular” email filled up with even more ads for “male stuff” and notifications that you won the Irish National Lottery! You are basically setting up an email to collect the spam that comes from being a Freebie Hunter.

Be Cautious.

Never ever give a credit card number for your freebie. Heck – I typically refuse to give my phone number!  Free Samples are supposed to be FREE samples!

As for those Free Trials that say that your credit card won’t be billed as long as you cancel within the first 14 days?  From what I understand, you may as well start dialing the phone as soon as you hit “submit”, because it will take you that long to get hold of someone.  Unless you like disputing credit card charges, pass right on by these!

Be Aware

Look at the website before you sign up for the freebie. Are there a ton of Google ads on it? Any other ads other than for other products by that company (for instance, if the Chex Mix freebie had an ad for Yoplait…they are both General Mills Products and that’s “ok”). The presence of “outside ads” is often an indication that there will be no freebie in your mailbox, and someone is just hoping to get a ton of traffic by saying that they are giving one out. (another exception to this would be the ads that are on well-known sites, such as walmart.com, etc)

As for the ones that say you will get a free item upon completion of a “short” survey? Skip ‘em! Chances are that after you have completed the so-called “short” survey (all 27 pages of it), and you have given them all the info they wanted, you will be suddenly “disqualified” from the survey….no freebie for you!   

Be fair and reasonable.

There really is no need to get every freebie just because you can. This isn’t a game of “she who dies with the most trial sizes wins”. Companies give out freebies because they are hoping to turn you in to a new customer. If you don’t have a dog, do you really need a sample of dog food?   If your “baby” is 22 years old, do you need a free sample of Huggies?

Along the same lines, pay attention to the companies and to whom they intend to give the freebies and please respect that.  If the freebie is for a hair-care product being marketed to Beauty Salon owners, don’t sign up under Mindi’s House of Beauty and think that the daily brushing of your children’s hair “counts”.  Once freebies like this pop up on the Internets and the company finds themselves suddenly with 1200 requests per hour, they figure it out anyway…you won’t be gettting the freebie! 

These are just the rules that I use for myself.  You are free to conduct your freebie hunting in any way that you want.  If you want to decorate your house with free cattle industry and horse vitamin posters… have at it!

What advice can you give to the beginning freebie hunter?  Post them in the comments!

To keep up with the freebies I list, just click here!

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I’ve been asked several times how I can possibly feed a family of five on only $50 per week ($57, if you include my weekly diaper budget).  If you are like most people and spending $150 per week for a family of 4 (although from talking to people, I think that amount may be low), the idea of cutting your bill by 66-75% may seem like a pipe dream.

So how do I do it?

To be honest, there are two things without which I would be unable to spend so little:  my extra freezer and my pantry.  Without these, I couldn’t stockpile as well as I do.  Take away my stockpile and I would be spending so much more each week!

The extra freezer has been wonderful and has allowed me to stock up on all sorts of things that I couldn’t  without it.  I can take 15 $.50 coupons to the store when veggies are on sale for $1 and walk out with 15 bags for free without worrying where to store them.  When Acme had the best price I had seen in a year on cheese, I bought 20 bags and threw them in the freezer.  And when Superfresh had chicken for $1.68/lb I bought 15 pounds, divided it in to 1-pound Ziplocs, labeled them and put them in the freezer.  If I had to rely on the freezer in my kitchen, I wouldn’t be able to buy 1/4 of what I do.  By having my extra freezer, I can stock up on items at their rock-bottom prices and have enough of a stash to hold me until the next time prices dip that low.  Check out this guest post from November full of great tips on how a freezer can save you money (thanks again Marcy!)

If you don’t have an extra freezer (we keep ours in the garage), you don’t have to spend a ton of money to get one.  Check out Lowes and Home Depot.  They always have returned items, scratch & dent or floor models that they will sell you at a discount.  It may take a few trips to the store to get one at the right price, but it shouldn’t take long! (Edited to add:  don’t forget to check out Craigs List and FreeCycle as well!  Thanks for reminding me!)

I highly recommend either getting a chest freezer or an extra “top & bottom” refrigerator.  You want something that gives you room to stock up on larger items (like a turkey or ham) or even to stack up homemade lasagna & casseroles!

As for the pantry…

I was lucky enough that my husband built me a pantry when we were finishing the basement, but a pantry doesn’t have to be a separate room.  It could be something as simple as a metal shelving unit in the basement or even a bunch of Rubbermaid tubs stacked up in the garage.  You just need somewhere to catch the overflow from the cabinets.  With my pantry I can stock up on cereal when I get it for $.80 per box, Muir Glen Tomatoes at $.29 per can and so much more!  It even goes beyond food!  If you have the room to “clean up” on these kinds of deals, you will get to the point where you think “Wait – you want me to PAY for toothpaste?  Are you kidding?”.  Did you find a deal where you can get a year’s worth of toothpaste and shampoo for free (like at SuperFresh when they are having Triples or a CVS ECB deal or a great deal at Wags)?  Have no fear! You’ve got somewhere to store it and can replenish your stockpile as you need to!

So how does the freezer and pantry help in the Grand Scheme of Things?

By having my own little store, I am able to plan my meals around what I have, not based on what is on sale that week, rounding out with fresh fruit and veggies, dairy products and bread (although I do buy bread when I can get it super-cheap and freeze that as well!)

Each weekend, I simply think of and double check what I have in my freezer and pantry and with the help of the millions of online recipes out there, I can plan varied menus for the week with a minimum amount of money.  I can even go to the Weight Watchers website or FoodNetwork.com, plug in a few ingredients and a list of recipes that use those ingredients will pop up! 

I can even stock up on certain items with the idea of a Once A Month Cooking Day in mind.  For instance, I now have a bunch of mozzarella, organic crushed tomatoes and pasta that I got dirt cheap.  As soon as I hit a good price on ricotta I’m making a bunch of baked zitis and lasagnas with homemade tomato sauce and freezing them!

If you haven’t yet created a pantry, look around your house and see where you can create one.  Once you have that, you can really start to maximize your savings!

(click here  for part 2 of this series)

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As a reminder, when I list the number of newspapers that I will be buying, I take in to account that I am able to get them at the Dollar Tree for only $1/copy.  To find a Dollar Tree near you, click here.  Don’t have a Dollar Tree?  Check out your local dollar store.  Many supermarkets even discount the Sunday paper.  I also live in an area where all of the stores double up to $.99 (so a $.75 coupon is actually worth $1.50).  If your newspapers are more expensive or you live where they don’t double coupons, you may not find the inserts of the same value as I do!

A fairly decent week.  We have  a Proctor & Gamble insert and there are some matchups with local sales that are decent!

Here’s the link to the coupons this week. 

Coupons of Note:

Bic Coupons:  $2 These are all for the disposable ones that run about $4 each.  Paired with an ECB deal at CVS, it could make for some nice savings!

Blue Diamond  Almonds:  these are all “off 2″ which makes them great to pair up with a BOGO deal.  I just hope that our area gets the $.75 one so that it can double to $1.50

Blue Diamond Chilled Almond Breeze (half-gallon):  I love the shelf-stable Almond Breeze for cooking and my coffee (Hungry Girl turned me on to it) so I am looking forward to trying the chilled version.

Campbell’s Chunky Soup:  $.75/4.  Most stores are having BOGO sales on these now.  Buy 4, pay for 2 and use this coupon!

Colgate Adult or Kids Toothpaste:  $.75 combined with triple coupons at SuperFresh or even just doubles at most stores, this makes for some cheap-to-free toothpaste

Daisy Sour Cream:  $.50 this goes 3 for $5 all the time which makes it $.66 after doubling

Dreamfields Pasta:  $1/2 I’m pretty sure that I saw this 10 for $10 lately.  While $.50/box is more than I will usually pay for pasta, it is a good deal (and it’s a high-fiber pasta)

Healthy Ones Lunchmeat:  $.75 With this coupon and the last triples at Superfresh, I walked out with 8 pounds of ham for $12.  The 5oz packages go 3 for $5 and 2 for $4 all the time, making it very cheap after doubling!

Helluva Good Dip:  $.40 perhaps the best French Onion Dip on the planet (even the Fat free version is good).  Great coupon if you get it (unfortunately, we always seem to get the $1/2, which won’t double

Orville Redenbacher’s Popcorn:  $1/2  ConAgra Catalina/Instant Savings deals were last week, but there should be another by the time this expires at the end of February

Totinos:  $.35 10 for $10 sales are as frequent as they once were, but if we can get one before this expires, it makes for $.30 Totinos!

Yo-Plus 4-pack $1 I love this yogurt and it goes as low as $2 each (this week at Acme) and can be counted on to be included in most General Mills Catalina deals

I can’t believe It’s Not Butter:  $.40  The coupon says “any” and Acme has the quarters on sale at 10 for $10 this week and the tubs are BOGO.

Kelloggs coupons:  are all listed as “off 2″, but the last time that we got them, Philadelphia ended up with “off 1″.  If they are “off 2″, use them for a BOGO sale

Knorr Pasta Side Dishes:  $.75/2 we usually end up with a $.50/2, but these go 10 for $10 all the time!

Country Crock coupons:  these go 3 for $5 and 10 for $10 with some frequency and margarine is very easy to freeze

Skippy Peanut Butter:  $.60 (if we actually get a $.60 coupon, I will do a Yippy Skippy Dance right in the middle of my living room.  Hold on to it until it is on sale at 3 for $5 to get cheap peanut butter after doubling)

Wisk 2x Laundry Detergent:  $1.50/2 (this goes BOGO all the time)

The Proctor & Gamble insert is pretty boring…although if you use Clairol Natural Instinct, there is a $5/2 coupon!  You will get better coupons with a longer expiration date here

So how many papers would I buy?

If I were building a stockpile:  7-10

Now that I am in stockpile maintenance mode:  7-10

Why so many?  The coupons for Healthy Ones are good, and chances are I will be able to do another deal with Triples before they expire.  The I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter coupons will fit in with great deals at Acme…and there are a few coupons (Orville, Skippy, Knorr) that only show up about every 4-6 weeks

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I admit that I am late to jump on the Upromise bandwagon…..mainly because I always thought that you had to use a credit card to qualify and we try to never use credit cards.  I was also under the impression that only one of the local chains participated in the program.  Oh – and I thought “how much could it really add up?” (turns out, from talking to other people…it DOES!)

So when my sister emailed me asking if I knew that Upromise will now load your grocery card with coupons, I decided to check it out again.

Turns out – you only need to register your grocery card to get the savings (and the 1-3% cash back for college).  Of course, you can still link it to your credit card (or debit MasterCard, I assume) if you want your online shopping and dining out dollars to count towards your college savings!

AND

All the major Philadelphia-area grocery stores are now participating(Acme, Giant, Genuardi’s, Redners, SuperFresh, ShopRite, Weis, Wegman’s, etc)

AND

If you join and activate your membership in January, they will give you a $10 Gift Certificate from Restaurant.com

So here’s the deal:

1.  Go to Upromise and register (it’s free, of course)

2.  Register your grocery cards (note: even  if your stores allow you to also use your phone number to get your store savings, you still need the actual numbers off the back of your card)

3.  Navigate to the eCoupons section.

4.  Click on the coupons you want and they will be automatically loaded on to your card!

5.  Your $10 Gift Certificate will be emailed to you (it might not be instantly, since they say you will get it by 2/28/09)

I’m curious….do you already use Upromise?  Do you make it a point to buy participating products?  Or do you just register your grocery cards and shop as normal and see what turns up in your account?

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Some mornings I wake up and think “what in the world am I going to write about today?”.  Then God says “you want something to write about?  I’ll GIVE you something to write about!”

You can be the most ethical couponer ever to walk the face of the Earth.  You could walk in to every store with a smile on your face. 

Sooner or later, you are going to have a problem. 

It could be the cashier who gives you an attitude.  It could be the manager who is always limiting your purchases (as they do have the right to do in most companies) or following you around the store or giving you dirty looks when you are  there. It could be an unreasonable or inconvenient coupon policy.

I frequent a few coupon message boards and one of the things I see written all the time is “He made me feel like I was committing coupon fraud!” or “I was so humiliated!” or the worst (in my never-to-be-humble opinion) “I have to fly under the radar because I don’t want them to give me a problem”.

This may not come as a shock to my regular readers, but I refuse to fly under the radar.  I fly smack-dab-in-the-middle-of-the-radar….with a big bullseye on my back.  And when there is a problem, I do not feel humilated nor do I let anyone treat me poorly.  I strike back.

Does that mean that I create a scene in the store?  Of course not.

But what I will do is express my displeasure in two ways:  with my words and with my feet.

So what should you do when things go wrong?

The first thing to do is to keep your cool.  I know that you may have spent time gathering your coupons, creating your shopping list, printing off IPs, etc, but this is business, not personal.  You may feel like the cashier hates you, but don’t let that bother you.  Unless you were hoping to make the cashier your BFF, her opinion of you has nothing to do with it.  You are simply conducting a business transaction and have every right to be treated the same as any other customer.

The second thing:  never pay for anything unless it is at the price you planned to pay for it (unless it was your mistake and/or you must have that item that day).  If you are trying to stock up on canned tomatoes and have a bunch of $1 Muir Glen coupons and the cashier will only accept 1, simply tell her to give you back the rest of your coupons and take the other cans off your order.  Yes – it is a pain for the cashier, but unless you knew walking in that they might only accept 1 of the coupons, it’s not your fault.

The third:  NEVER allow yourself to be talked to as if you were anything other than a valued customer.  The fact that you are paying with coupons does not make you less worthy of respect.  If a cashier is giving you problems, speak to the manager.  If the manager is giving you problems, call or write to corporate. 

Finally – if it has come to the point where you are simply “done” with a store, do not go quietly.  Let the store manager and corporate know why you are taking your business elsewhere.  If you have received shoddy treatment, perhaps they can use this as training so that other customers don’t have the same experience as you.  If it is the coupon policy that it is driving you away, let them know that (especially if there are other stores in the area who will welcome you and your coupons with open arms and no attitude).  Do not let yourself be driven from a store.  You are leaving for a good reason and they should know why.

I realize that all of this advice is easier for some people than others.  Different personalities react to different situations in different ways.  Some people may find it easier to walk to the moon than to speak up when they feel slighted.  Other people may live in a 1-store town and not have any alternative.  And some may not be able to conceive of anything worse than having people angry at them.

If you learn nothing else from me, learn this:  using coupons requires using your backbone as well.

There are 2 famous quotes that I try remember whenever I am in a difficult situation:

“Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent” (Eleanor Roosevelt)

and

“Never grow a wishbone where your backbone ought to be.”(Clementine Paddleford)

Try to think of them next time you have a problem!  They can change your whole outlook on life!

And now – I have a letter to write!

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The coupons are not that exciting this week, but I could just be saying that because I am well-stocked on most of these items.  If you are a newbie to couponing (yes – it’s a verb!), this can be a good week!

As a reminder, when I list how many papers I will be buying, I take in to consideration that I am able to get them for $1/copy at Dollar Tree.  To find a Dollar Tree near you, click here (and if there isn’t one near you, check out other local dollar stores and supermarkets…many of them do carry the Sunday paper at a discount).  I also live in an area where all the stores double up to $.99 (so a $.75 coupon is worth $1.50). 

My regular source for the coupon insert listing isn’t up yet, so click here and scroll down to the second message to see the coupons that should be in the paper this week.

Coupons of Note

Ken’s Lite Accents Salad Dressings $1:  these go as low as 3 for $5 which makes them pretty cheap after coupon

Ken’s Marinade $1:  I’ve seen these as low as 10 for $10 which makes them free

Halls $.50:  these go 10 for $10 and have been part of recent CVS ECB deals

Dole Fruit Parfait & Bowls $.75/2:  wait for a BOGO sale or triple coupons at SuperFresh to get these very cheap!

Totinos $.40/2:  these go 10 for $10 and 4 for $5 fairly often, which makes them pretty cheap after doubling

Cream of Wheat $.75:  I haven’t seen a coupon for this in a long time….wait for a sale to get this pretty cheap)

Red Baron Pizza $1/2:  wait for a BOGO sale

Johnsonville Coupons:  it seems like every week some local store is having a BOGO sale on Johnsonville

SmartMouth MouthWash $4:  I have no clue what the shelf price is on this, but how much can mouthwash be?  Unless the mouthwash is ridiculously expensive, this should be a good one

Viva Towels $.75:  I hold on to these until SuperFresh has triples and get $.24 paper towels

Lysol Neutra Air Freshmatic Starter Kit $5:  these go as low as $4.99 at Walmart & Target

Purina Beggin BOGO:  I don’t pay that much attention to prices on these, but I’m fairly sure that I have seen plenty of BOGO sales on them.  Combine a BOGO sale with a BOGO coupon to get them both free

Pledge Furniture Care Product $.55:  wait for a sale on the aerosol or the wipes to get them cheap after doubling

Windex Wipes or Antibacterial Trigger Mail-in-rebate:  who doesn’t like getting money back?

Ziploc coupons:  can always use these and when Superfresh has triples, these are great (or even just combined with a BOGO or otherwise good sale)

Glade coupons:  I don’t know if there are any more Catalina deals coming up on these, but Glade products go on sale very cheap all the time

Suave Hair Care $.50/2:  these go 10 for $10 or cheaper all the time. 

Ocean Spray $1:  the grapefruit juice is on sale 2 for $4 this week at Acme

Hostess 100-calorie packs $.75:  Rarely see coupons for these and they go BOGO all the time

So how many papers would I buy?

If I were building a stockpile: 3-4

Now that I am in stockpile maintenance mode:  2-3

Note:  the most exciting thing to me is the Viva coupon because I can use that at SuperFresh with Triples, but the rest of the coupons aren’t the best.  If I had a dog I might buy more, as the BOGO coupon for the Beggin Strips is more than worth the cost of the paper all by itself.

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I thought about creating a whole new post for each of these, but then I thought…”I’ve already done the work? Why retype them?”

So here are a few of my favorite past posts:

Baby Steps to Saving On Groceries

Creating a Price Book

Why I Stockpile

Baby Steps to Creating a Stockpile

Why Buy Things You Don’t Need?

These are all aimed at Beginner Couponers and I hope you will find them helpful!!  Of course, please feel free to ask me ANY questions!

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Happy New Year!  Here are some of my favorite posts from the week:

One Frugal Girl wrote a great article about “What Is the Definition of Living Beyond Your Means?”

Andrea at MommySnacks shared her great spreadsheet for tracking your savings.  I think I’m going to start using it myself!

Living Well On Less reflected on her first year of frugality.

Northern Cheapskate wrote about her budget failures in the month of December.  Call me crazy, but I just love when Frugal Bloggers admit their mistakes! 

And just because it’s one of my favorite sites, check out these abominations that some call cakes for New Years Eve!  I just love CakeWrecks and it is a funny addition to my Google FeedReader!

Have you seen or written a great post that you would like included next week?  Email me the link!

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Wow!  After 2 weeks with no coupons (and spending yesterday pulling out all my coupons that expired 12/31/08), they are coming back with a vengeance!  There are FIVE inserts this week! So grab a cup of tea and sit back!

As a reminder, when I list how many papers I am buying, I take in to consideration that I am able to get them at The Dollar Tree for only $1/copy (as opposed to the $1.75 cover price for our area).  To find a Dollar Tree near you, just click here.  I strongly suggest flipping through the papers before you buy them to make sure all the inserts are there.  Many times I have found copies with missing inserts.  Don’t worry if they give you funny looks while you are doing this.  I once had an employee come up to me and ask what I was doing and I simply said “making sure that everything that I am paying for is in here” (and don’t try to be sneaky about it or it may look like you are snagging inserts out of papers that you aren’t paying for!)

As another reminder, I also take in to account that I live in an area of stores with wonderful coupon policies.  Only 1 store limits the number of like-coupons they will double and they all double up to $1 (so a $.99 coupon would have a value of $1.98)

Here’s a link to the coupons this week:

Coupons of Note:

Airwick coupons:  $1/2 and B1G1 (there have been lots of Catalina deals with both Airwick and Glade products lately)

Aquafresh Coupons:  while I can’t guarantee it, we are due for an ECB deal on Aquafresh at CVS

Bayer coupons:  $1 coupons and half-off mail-in rebate:  if CVS, RiteAid or Walgreens runs a ECB/SCR/RR deal on this, the combination of coupon, rebate and store reward can turn this in to a moneymaker (edited to add:  CVS has a “Buy $15, get $5 deal starting Sunday, so this WILL make it in to a moneymaker)

Boost Coupons:  there should be plenty of sales on these in the next month.  Grocery stores trying to catch all of the New Years Resolution dieters often include Boost & Glucerna products

Campbell’s coupons:  Winter is “soup season” and is when the sales are best.  Stock up on soup now to last you through Spring and Summer when there are very few soup coupons/sales

Finish/Electrasol PowerBall Tabs:  $2.50 (WOOHOO!)  This can be found at Target and Walmart for about $3.50, more or less depending on area.  It expires pretty quickly (2/1/09), so I will hold on to it until right up to the expiration to see if I can combine it with a sale or Catalina deal before the expiration.  If not, it still makes for some really cheap dishwashing detergent

Gerber coupons:  rare, so get ‘em while you can!

Laughing Cow Cheese Wedges:  $.55 (these go on sale for just under $2, which makes them super cheap, after doubling.  If you are joining me in the Frugal Fat Fighters, the wedges are only 1 Point each!)

Lysol Coupons:  New Years Resolutions include promises to keep a cleaner house and supermarkets know this!  Acme is having a pretty good sale on Lysol products and I’m sure many other stores are as well!

Muellers Pasta:  $.55 coupons:  by watching the sales, you can often find pasta for $1-$1.25/box.  While these coupons do say “Do Not Double”, if the UPC code on them starts with a “5″, they WILL double unless the cashier overrides it!

Nestle Coffee-mate Liquid or Powder:  it’s listed as a $.50 coupon (which will double), but the last time they put one out in my area it was a $1/2 (which won’t double)

Nestle Juicy Juice Product:  $.50/2 (wait for this to go BOGO and then get 2 and it will double to $1 off!)

Nicorette, NicoDerm CQ or Commit:  $15 (I think these are only about $23, so this makes it pretty cheap!)

Pop Secret microwave popcorn:  $.50/2 (wait for it to go BOGO, get 2 and it will double to $1 off.  Pop Secret is also often part of a General Mills Catalina Deal!)

Atkins Single Bar:  $1/2 (these are BOGO at CVS starting Sunday and will likely be part of good sales in the next month as stores try to cash in on “New Years Resolution” dieters)

Barilla Plus Pasta:  $1/2 (these go $10 for $10 all the time)

Colgate Total Advanced:  $1 (CVS is always running ECB deals on Total.  With a $1 coupon, you get it free or close to free after ECBs)

Fuze coupon:  $.25 (these go 10 for $10 all the time and are part of the Catalina deal at Acme this week.)

Garnier Nutritioniste:  $1 (there is a deal at CVS starting Sunday where you get a free facial cleaning cloth pack wyb 1 Granier Nutritioniste.  use this coupon to bring down the cost.)

Glucerna coupons:  these are high-value and will come in handy for an ECB deal at CVS

Powerade:  $.40 (these go 10 for $10 all the time, which makes them $.20 after doubling)

SoftSoap:  $.35 (these go 10 for $10 all the time)

Total Cereal:  $.75 (wait for a Catalina deal and this will get you some seriously cheap cereal after doubling)

Welch’s Squeezable Jam:  $.55 (wait for it to go 3 for $5 and use this to get it for $.56, after doubling)

 Betty Crocker Potatoes:  $.25 (these go 10 for $10 all the time)

Fiber One Chewy Bars and Nature Valley Granola Bars:  $.50 (these go 3 for $5 and 2 for $4 all the time and are usually part of a GM Catalina deal)

Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers:  $.50 (these go 10 for $10, making them free after doubling)

Pillsbury Toaster Strudel:  $.35 (these go on sale for as low as 3 for $5, making them VERY cheap – and the Hubs LOVES them!)

Garnier Fructis Shampoo, Conditioner, Treatment; Styling Product:  2 $1 coupons (CVS has an ECB deal starting Sunday and with this coupon it will be free after ECBs and this coupon)

Johnson’s Buddies:  $1 (use it for the bars of soap that are about $.97 at most stores to get them free!)

Kellogg’s Special K products:  on sale almost everywhere this week and next!

KY, Tucks or Soothing Care:  $3 (CVS frequently runs good deals on KY & Tucks)

Ludens Throat Drops:  $1 (seeing as it is cold & flu season, there should be good sales!)

One Touch Ultra Smart Blood Glucose Montoring System:  $30 (when CVS runs an ECB deal on this, it turns it on to a moneymaker)

Tylenol coupons:  I can almost guarantee that before they expire at the end of March, there will be an ECB deal at CVS, making them free or a moneymaker

All laundry detergent coupons:  these go BOGO all the time

Blink Eye Drops:  $4 (not sure what the price of these is, but I see them listed as on sale or part of an ECB deal at CVS all the time!)

Captain Crunch Cereal:  $.50 (because who doesn’t like Crunchberries?)

Hillshire Farms Deli Select Lunchmeat:  $.55 (these go on sale all the time….FYI – if you stock up at a good price, they freeze beautifully!)

L’Oreal Cosmetic coupons:  CVS, RiteAid and Walgreens have deals on these all the time!

L’Oreal Vive Pro Shampoo, Conditioner:  Not as good as the BOGO coupon that was out in September, but CVS & RiteAid do like to run good deals on this!

Perdue Short Cuts:  $1 (wait for a BOGO sale, because these are a little pricey.  They freeze well!)

 Quaker coupons:  we are due for a Catalina Deal on these!

Rice A Roni or Pasta Roni:  $1/4 (not that great of a coupon, but if you are an Acme Shopper, there is a deal where you get $5 off meat wyb 8 Rice or Pasta Roni.  Since that coupon is actually for meat, you can use this coupon to reduce the OOP costs of your “Ronis”

So how many papers would I buy?

If I were building a Stockpile:  12-20

Now that I am in Stockpile Maintenance Mode:  12-20

Why so many?  Because it is weeks like this that help you to maintain your stockpile.  With the holidays being over, it seems that all the stores are kicking off 2009 with huge sales and these coupons are going to help me get a buttload of food at Acme super-cheap by rolling my Catalinas!

I’ll race you to the Dollar Tree!

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Since I started this site, I’ve had many people say to me, both online and in real life that they just don’t get it.    I throw words around all the time like “Catalina”, ECBs and “IPs” and assume that everyone understands what I’m saying.  I’ve had several friends asking me to teach them some sort of “Coupon Class”.

So welcome to Coupon 101!

Today we will talk about the Lingo of Coupons!

The inserts:  there are 3/4 different kinds of inserts to be found in your Sunday paper

SS: The SmartSource insert.  Among other things, this is where you find the General Mills coupons, which have been the best deals lately

RP: the RedPlum Insert.  In many areas, the RP & the V are one and the same

V: the Valassis insert.  In many areas, the RP & the V are one and the same

P&G: the Proctor & Gamble insert.  This comes out once a month (typically the 1st Sunday of each month, but P&G follows their own schedule) and is the only place where you can get coupons for Tide, Pantene, Pampers and many other products.

Couponer: I don’t care how many times my spell-check flags this word, it has now become the descriptive for those of us who use coupons as if our survival depends on it!

IPs: shorthand for “Internet Printable”.  IPs are the coupons that you can find online.  Printing IPs require the installation of a “Coupon Printer” on your computer.  Please don’t fear installing this program.  The tracking cookie that it contains is in order to limit your printing of each coupon to 2 times per computer (which means if you have several computers in your house……).  IPs have become a bit of an issue in the last 6 months because people with way too much time on their hands and without an iota of conscience have taken to using their Photoshop to alter them.  I spoke more about them here and will revisit it in this series.

WYB: shorthand for “When You Buy”

OYNO: shorthand for “On Your Next Order”

Catalina: These generally cause the most excitement among couponers.  When you see a sale worded something like “Save $10 on your next order when you buy $20 in participating products”, it means that you receive a coupon for $10 at checkout.  The coupon is printed not from the register, but from that little white machine sitting next to the register.  That machine is made by the Catalina company and the coupons themselves have come to be called a “Catalina”.  There are very few grocery stores that don’t participate in the Catalina program (I think Walmart is one of them…anyone know?  I stay out of that store whenever possible!).  Some people also refer to a Catalina as a “Cat”

Rolling the Catalina: the ability to do this is why couponers get so excited about Catalinas.  It simply means that you split your transactions in order to minimize your out-of-pocket costs.  Let’s say that you are looking at a deal listed as “Save $10 OYNO WYB $20 and you have enough coupons to to that deal several times.   There are two reasons that you want to split your transactions in to 3 $20 transactions.  The first reason is that, in most cases, if you buy $60 in one transaction you will still only get a $10 Catalina (it depends on the deal, not the store).  But if you split your transaction, you can minimize your out-of pocket costs by using the Catalina generated in one transaction to pay for the next.  Check out this post to see how I rolled Catalinas to get $174 worth of groceries for only $12 out-of-pocket (or you could say they paid me $3 to take the groceries, since I still walked out of the store with a $15 Catalina)

OOP:  shorthand for “out of pocket”.  This is the cash that you physically pull out of your wallet.  It is the cost of your purchase after all coupons, Catalinas, ECBs and RRs have been subtracted.

ECBs:  stands for “Extra Care Bucks” and is specific to CVS.  CVS’s Extra Care Buck program is a great way to get most of your toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo and many cosmetics for free.  More on CVS to come!

The CVS “Boyfriend”: this is the price scanner that many newer CVS stores have (sniff – the closest one to me that has one is about 15 minutes away).  It looks like any other free-standing price-checker that you see at Target, etc.  The reason people like it is because if you scan your CVS card at the scanner, very often it will print out extra CVS coupons for name-brand products.  If you have a manufacturers coupon for that item as well, you can use both of them at the same time to further reduce your costs! (added 1/3/09)

RRs:  Walgreens version of an ECB program and it stands for “Register Rewards”.  Walgreens 101 is coming soon!

BOGO, B1G1, B1G2F: different ways to say “Buy One Get One Free” or “Buy 1 Get 2 Free”

MIR:  shorthand for “Mail In Rebate”

PSA: shorthand for “Prices Start At”

Blinkie: sometimes you will find a little machine hanging on the shelf in the supermarket aisles that dispenses coupons.  These are called Blinkies because the machine usually has a little red blinking light on it

Peelies:  these are coupons that you can often find stuck to the product itself.

Hangtag/Winetag: these are usually found on bottles (salad dressing, beverages, oils, etc)

Tearpad: can be found anywhere.  they are simply pads of coupons found near the product display

Land of No Doubles: those horrible places in the country where grocery stores do not double coupons.  The 3rd circle of Hell

Did I miss any?  Just let me know in the comments and I will answer your question and update the post!

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So it’s the New Year and like I said, I’m getting caught in the trap of making New Years Resolutions.  But I like to think of these as Goals, not Resolutions!

1.  Finish paying off all debt.  Barring any disasters, this should be completed with our tax return, leaving us debt-free, except the house.

2.  Fully fund our emergency fund.  This is likely going to take the entire year, although about half of it should be effortless.  Brad currently socks away 10% of his income in the employeee stock plan and has for the past several years.  We have always taken that money every 6 months and used it to pay the credit card debt that we accumulated from living beyond our means.  Now that we have learned to stick to a budget, we should be able to just hold on to that money (note:  I realize that this is not what Dave Ramsey would consider “liquid” because it isn’t just sitting in a bank account.  However, if we need to access it, it has never taken us more than a week to get to it).

3.  Save money to buy Brad a new car with as little financing as possible.  Brad’s car should last at least another year, but it is already a “beater”.  He’s going to need another one soon.  If we have to, we can just use the money from the emergency fund that we will be building.  I would rather be back to “square one” with the Emergency Fund than take on another debt!

 4.  Set up an IRA.  We currently contribute 6% of Brad’s income to his 401K.  I have an old 401K from my old job.  I want to roll that over to an IRA so that once our Emergency Fund is full funded, we can start to throw money at that.  We don’t intend to increase Brad’s 401K contribution, as he is maxxed out with the Employer Match.  Better to put it somewhere where we will have more control. 

5.  Increase my streams of income.  One way I can do this is to get more exposure for this site.  I just have to figure out how to do it without becoming a total AnnoyingMomsNeedToKnowPimp

Those are my goals.  I will be revisiting these on the first of each month and hope to be able to deliver good news on each.

In case you are wondering, I do realize that some of these are out of order from the Baby Steps.  Brad never agreed with the idea of suspending his 401K contributions while we worked on our Debt Snowball and by continuing to contribute 10% of his income to the Stock Purchase Plan, we made an easy 10% on his contributions (which we cashed in immediately and used to pay debt).  It may not be perfect, but it works for us!

What are your goals for 2009?

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