by Claire
I’m looking forward to Friday night! 20 years ago that would have had an entirely different meaning…but THIS Friday night will be spent at a coupon class! After a post on meal making and grocery shopping, A reader suggested the $5 Dinner Mom website and so I stopped by to check it out a few weeks ago. I took it as a sign that right there on the welcome page there was a San Antonio offering! The thought of couponing stresses me out BUT I really think I could get into it! My fear–quite honestly–is that I will get TOO into it! I tend to do things in extremes. 🙂 My friend from work who was doing great with her couponing but has fallen off a bit in recent weeks is joining me and you would think we were going to some crazy “girls’ night out” with the way we are talking about this thing! I’m looking forward to learning a lot and then putting the new skills to work. I’m already seeing major dents in my grocery spending just with the little bit of thought I’m putting into things. I DO think that I’m going to have to become proficient at stockpiling laundry detergent bc the homemade brand is not getting rave reviews from the fam. Actually, that’s not correct…I notice no problems with it, the kids haven’t said a word but the husband is saying a lot WITHOUT a lot of words. Have I mentioned that he’s slow to accept change? 🙂 Love that guy! I think I saw him sneak in a bottle of Tide the other day and he might be hiding it for his personal use only!
Here’s the link to what we are doing on Friday night. If you live in the Atlanta, GA area there’s one there next week. I’ll report back with details.
http://www.5dollardinners.com/2012/03/san-antonio-coupon-class.html
Born and raised in Texas. I’ve at least driven through every state in the US courtesy of a roadtrip loving Dad.
I’m single with two children and a good parenting relationship with their father.
I am a “life is just half full of funny” kinda gal. Humor is my saving grace and I am thankful for it every single day. I have a strong Catholic faith and am thankful for that foundation.
I read a lot for a living but still enjoy a good book. I love biographies but in recent years have found the need for fun fictional books–sadly, for a long time I just didn’t enjoy fiction!
I love live theatre of any kind–from local productions to Broadway.
I love to scrapbook and pride myself in my kids’ albums.
I love being a mom but also love my career. I’m blessed to have found a balance allowing me to be at everything my kids need and want me to be at–while also having a career.
Favorite Quotes: Well behaved women rarely make history.
Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out. -James Bryant Conant
Be very careful with coupons. They “save” on expensive brands most of the time. Since I go for generic and in-store brands I have never wanted to use a coupon although I do sometimes look at the newspaper supplements that roll through our mailbox, just in case…
Internet coupons can sometimes be a good deal if you check these sites. Usually for more expensive items again though.
Chantal is right. Coupons are for manufacturers brands that are often quite a bit higher than generics. Even after the coupon, they are still higher most of the time. Now if you can catch something that’s on sale at the same time there is a great coupon for it, have at it. And remember, it’s only a good deal if you really need it. 🙂
I am glad you are so excited. I am not a big fan of couponing for groceries, mainly because it’s a lot of processed foods and mostly junk. As you learn to cut corners, keep in mind that you health is important too. I use a green laundry detergent (Ecos Free and Clear) that is more expensive but gets laundry clean and has no fragrance. Tide is one of the most toxic brands of laundry detergent. To save money, I use baking soda, salt, lemon and white vinegar for most cleaning and disinfecting jobs. You can use straight white vinegar for disinfecting countertops, toilets, etc and dilute it with water for windows, mirrors. Get a steam cleaner to clean floors and you’ll save money on floor cleaners plus they’ll be disinfected. The Eureka Enviro Steamer is a great one and it heats the water over 200 degrees for disinfecting.
For groceries, to save money, I make most things from scratch, buy real foods instead of processed foods and find one grocery store that offers low prices as well as organics. Baking my own bread with a breadmaker, means I can make a loaf of bread for $.44 instead of purchasing a loaf for $3.00; that’s over $2.50 in savings on one item. I make my own pizza dough and when it’s done, cut it in half and put one in the freezer and the other half in a ziploc bag in the refrigerator and then when I want pizza, I take it out, flatten it out, add olive oil, sauce (my own), vegetables, spice and cheese. I just started making my own sauce this year and when I first started making my own pizza, I bought store bought crusts (Mama Mary is a good brand with lots of flavor.) so it’s a process but any of those ways is better than store bought in terms of health and price. Adding vegetables to beef stretches it so if you are purchasing ground beef for burgers, toss in some onion, zucchini and carrots and you’ve added some nutrition and stretched the beef. Ditto for meatloaf, use ground beef, add in two slices of homemade bread (ground into breadcrumbs) as well as some vegetables and you’ve stretched that as well. Frozen spinach is a way to save over fresh spinach, etc.
If shopping to save money, as opposed to health, then what I recommend, is to take the 20 most common items you buy and go to four stores in your area and get the prices for each of the items at those stores and total them. The store with the lowest cost for the items you buy the most, becomes your main store. That way, you are always saving on items you buy the most. Next, never buy items on the ends of the aisles or middle of the shelves. Best deals are on the bottom shelves. There are lots ways to save at the grocery store, but I’d rather see you make more items instead of buying processed foods.
When I was married, I shopped with coupons saving 30-50% off of my grocery bill; now I shop more for health-buying organics and real food, hardly any processed food and save money in other ways.
Where I do use coupons though is on internet purchases. I rarely if ever buy anything without comparing prices on bizrate or shop savvy and then finding coupons (retail me not) to use. I thoroughly research everything. Recently, I bought a laptop (6 GB, Quad Core, 2.5 GHz, 750GB hard drive, brushed aluminum finish with Beats Audio for $550). There are deals out there.
You’ll get there Claire. The class will be good and will teach you things to look for so please don’t get discouraged. We’ll help you.
I do not use coupons unless it is something I would already buy. There fore I do not use coupons. I cherry pick instead. Look at the loss leaders in every grocery store close to your home and only buy those things. Then stockpile and work your menu around those items. Eventually it will take a few months you will have a pantry to things you use all the time so your grocery bill will only include necessities. Make a menu of your favorite 15-20 meals. This is what you will cook anyway.
Dream Mom your entry i really important. I don’t know if Claire has time to bake and cook from scratch but the more she can do so the happier and healthier she and her husband will be.
Claire–the simplest and nicest bread recipes I know of are on The Frugal Girl website and if you google
Frugal girl bread recipes
you can turn them all up. I bake one loaf twice a week for the two of us for only pennies and never want to have to eat revolting-tasting commercial bread again! It is a pastime and only takes minutes.
Coupons are great! If you saw a $1 bill sitting on the ground, would you pick it up? Of course you would! So why is a $1 coupon off my Colgate toothpaste not worthy of my time?
I am tired of people saying coupons are only good for processed, unhealthy, name brand stuff – some of it is, but use common sense people!
I save a lot of money on toiletries (haven’t spent more that 25 cents on toothpaste in 2 years), paper products, and staple food (canned goods, cereal, yogurt, cheese, etc) AND just this morning saved $8.50 on a $17 toy that I was going to buy anyway for my niece!
So – what I’m trying to say is that coupons are great when you use them with common sense and in a way that works for you and your family.
Good luck!
I agree! I have saved a ton of money using coupons to buy toiletries. As far as them only being available for processed foods, I have used them on ketchup, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, cereal, peanut butter, pasta, herbal tea. All “processed foods” but ones that are very commonly found in people’s cupboards. I have also used them on chicken, spices, oranges, eggs, and frozen vegetables.
With couponing and just bargain shopping in general I have found that it pays to know what a good deal is- the best price per pound, per ounce or per item. ESP> if you shop at Costco or a Sam’s club.
Good luck!
I really had to rethink my use of coupons…now I only coupon for things I know I will use or things I really want. Yesterday, I was able to score two bottles of Maybelline Fit Me Foundation for $2 each after coupon at Walmart.
Coupons are definitely good for toiletries, especially when applied to stuff on sale (there’s always some kind of toothbrush and shampoo on sale). For actual food I echo everyone but Den. Coupons take SO much time from your extremely busy life (esp. with working parents and 5 kids!), and require buying an actual newspaper which cuts into the cost. We save buy not being stuck on brands and buying what’s on sale, and freezing (berries, meat, butter).
Cool1 I’m decent at couponing though here in Canada we can’t get quite the deals you guys can get in the States. I just found the $5 dinner site a few weeks ago when meal planning. Great site eh? I’ve used some recipes from the site and so far all but one recipe has been great!!
I agree with Den and the other Theresa 🙂 If you know how to do coupons, they are great. When you combine a sale with a coupon, it is very often cheaper than the store brand. And even if you just did cleaning products and toiletries it would be worth your time; but the food deals are definitely not all processed and junk food. That is a myth. I regularly get hair color for $3.99, shampoo for $1 or sometimes free, free toothpaste and deodorant, peanut butter for $1, yesterday I got 4 Febreze Air effects for 50 cents – regularly $3.89. Your coupon class will help you a lot, and if you have a kindle, search for books about couponing- some are free! But start small – don’t feel like you have to start out getting every deal out there, that gets frustrating- I tend to take things to extremes too, so I speak from experience! Also, make sure you find a coupon blog in your area that matches up coupons and sales on your area. Just do a google search. Good Luck, and I look forward to hearing about your coupon adventures!!
As a semi-extreme couponer, I cannot stress enough the value of couponing. We are a family of four, with both my husband and I working full-time demanding jobs. I haven’t been really good about my couponing since the beginning of this year, so my stockpile is beginning to dwindle, and my husband and kids have noticed.
Coupons are awesome for toiletries, cleaning supplies, laundry supplies. There are particular price points that make it worthwhile, and if you know how to do it correctly, combining manufacturer coupons with those from Target, CVS and/or Walgreens, there is no reason why you can’t get many of these items for free or under $1. If you can save money on these items, the perishable grocery items don’t hurt as badly.
Unfortunately, where I live is like where Claire lives, there is no grocery choice — we have either a Target or Walmart superstore (whose prices are always higher) and one grocery chain which offers its own coupons (which usually are better than manufacturer coupons). We have had to learn to not be brand snobs (i.e., husband likes Aquafresh and I like Colgate, but if Crest ends up being free, that’s what I’m buying). It can really put a dent in the monthly grocery bill, but it does take some time to get organized at first.
We’ve looked at it as a game — how much can we get for as little as possible? The stockpile really came in handy earlier in the year when my family came from all over the country for my mother’s funeral. As can be expected, everyone forgot something they needed — they just needed to go to Aunt Thelma’s stockpile and whatever they needed was there (laundry stuff, deoderant, body wash, floss, even toothbrushes — all for free or very close to it!)
Enjoy your class, and have fun with it!
I go back and forth with couponing. I sure hope you do a post on your experience! I’d love to know what you think.