Nobody Should Pay Full Price for -------

I was going to entitle this post "Nobody Should Pay Full Price for Diapers", but then stopped because most of the points I make will apply to just about anything that you buy on a regular basis.  For the ease of understanding, I will be discussing diapers.

I have a 4 month old in diapers.  Unless you have already bought cloth diapers and are using them exclusively then you will be buying diapers at some point in the future.  Here are some ways to get your diapers cheaper or even free!

Diaper coupons abound.  They are everywhere.  You can get them from your local newspaper or the internet.  They are also included if you order a diaper sample.  I get diaper coupons in the mail after having signed up for new baby type information on the internet.  If you haven't done this, then you should.  You can also earn diaper coupons if you have a favorite particular "brand" like Pampers or Huggies.  These diapers contain a code on the packaging that you can enter into an online account.  Save the "points" from Pampers and you can earn a $3 coupon sent to you by mail.  I assume you can do something similar with the points on Huggies packages as well.  These codes are also available on packages of wipes :)

Occasionally CVS will have store coupons for diapers that print at the bottom of your purchase receipt.  You can use this with a regular diaper coupon for more savings.  I try to never pay more than $5 a jumbo pack for diapers and I almost never buy a store brand (although some are very, very good).

By far the cheapest way to get diapers is from Amazon.com.  Most name brand diapers cost around $8 for a jumbo pack.  I can get the equivalent of 3-4 jumbo packs of diapers for $23 (a savings of $1-$9) with free shipping by choosing to have diapers shipped to you on a regular schedule.  It is called Subscribe and Save.  Anyway, I get my diapers for FREE using this option.  Want to know how?

Go HERE and sign up for Swagbucks.  Install the toolbar on your computer(s) or use their homepage while doing your internet searching.  Shop through regular stores from Swagbucks.  Take surveys and check out special offers.  While doing all these things you will be earning points.  Every 450 points earns you a $5 Amazon gift card. You can also use your points for other gift cards or items from their store, but we are talking diapers and other items here!  Stay with me :)  Anyway, you can store these $5 gift cards on your Amazon account, allowing them to accrue.  Then you use that "money" that you "earned" to buy your diapers (or whatever other items you can get from Amazon).  Remember that Subscribe and Save shipping is FREE :)  So I have huge boxes of diapers shipped to my house with NO money out of my pocket - or very little depending on how much internet searching my kids or husband do.  You can start doing this also by going HERE and signing up.  I promise, this isn't some weird way to get your banking information or making you buy something you don't want.  You use their search engine just like you do google.

I know times are hard economically for a lot of people nowadays. I hope that this information will help you stretch your budgeted dollars a little farther.  Have a great day!

Super Savings Saturday

Their were deals to be had in town yesterday. I posted the pictures on my facebook account, but here is the run-down on what we got and what we paid. Saving money is FUN!

Items bought:
10 bags of Kraft shredded cheese
10 blocks of kraft cheese
5 64 oz. bottles of Welches grape juice
18 Hormel complete meals
2 bottles Vitamin water
6 jars Ragu spaghetti sauce
2 jars skippy peanut butter
10 bags quaker rice snacks
26 tubes colgate toothpaste
1 case Luvs diapers
1 20 oz Pepsi (dh was thirsty)
1 Burt's Bees lip gloss (for my mom)
Total Cost of all items (at sale prices): $129.21
TOTAL THAT WE PAID AFTER COUPONS: $55.21
We used 67 coupons total.
We shopped at Walgreens, KMart (double coupons this week) and Krogers (mega sale) today. We have also been working all week getting fabulous deals at Walgreens on Ragu, Skippy peanut butter and Pepsi. We didn't get a picture or total on those deals because they were all done over several days, but we have gotten a lot of stuff for almost no money!

In case you wonder what I will fix with all of this mismatched food, don't worry! We have been shopping this way for 18 months now and have managed to stay stocked up on various items at various times. I will try to post my menu plan on Monday.
My total grocery budget for this pay-period (2 weeks) was $150. I spent $74 last week and $55.21 this week for a total of $129.21 - below budget. WooHoo!!!!

Saturday Savings

I thought that I would post some fantastic deals that Norman and I managed to find this week. For starters, Norman has really become a money saving fanatic. He does great! He goes to IGA after work and walks up and down the aisle looking for the "unadvertised" sales. His great deal this week was frozen bread dough, IGA brand. There were 5 loaves in a bag and they were $1.38. Normally they were $4.85!!!!! And the bread was delicious :)

At Walgreens I finished getting the "free with rebate" items. I also got the general mills cereal (Honey Nut Cheerios and Lucky Charms) that were 3/$7 with a $2 RR. Incidentally, the register also gave us a $1.50 off 3 boxes coupon for next time.

I am new to CVS shopping but I didn't do bad there this week. I had around $14 in ECB's to spend. I got Cascade dishwashing detergent, 2 jumbo packs of Pampers, a Soy Joy bar, a Gilette Fusion razor and a Gatorade G2. I spent my ECB's and $13 out of pocket and got $6.29 in ECB's for next time. I had a lot of coupons to spend on stuff there (2 $1.50 off coupons for Pampers and a $4 off 1 razor) so that helped with my total a lot.

I am interested to see the great deals when I am able to get a hold of more coupons. We have a new printer so now I will be able to access all those wonderful online coupons.

I can't wait to see the sales flyers for next week! And just one week after that till the new Easy Saver Books are out! Woo Hoo!!!!!! Norman says that I am an addict :)

Happy Saving!

Supplemental Income

As a stay-at-home wife and homeschooling mother, I am always on the lookout for ways to supplement my husband's income. Most of the time the money that I make is used for "extras", ie. dinners out, treats for the kids or me, or gifts for dh. Crystal at Money Saving Moms has encouraged us to post about the things that we do, or have done in the past, to earn some money from home.

Here are my ideas:
babysitting

ebay (I tend to sell school books and the money goes back into the school fund)

handmade knitted items (For a while I was selling knitted shawls on a group that I was a part of. I am no longer part of that group, however they could be easily sold on ebay if I had the extra time to knit right now! I also do specialty knitting for family and friends. Word of mouth is a great way to get this started!)

cleaning homes (I will admit that I don't do this. I can barely keep up with my own house. I have a friend that does this and is able to make money to help her family financially. If you clean offices - like a family member of mine - you can do that late at night when your dh is home to care for the kids. Like I said, I don't do this, but it is an option for those of you who are cleaners!)

product reviews (I do homeschool product reviews for TEACH magazine. I don't get paid, persay, but I do receive for free the item that they would like for me to review. After the review is completed I am free to resell that item if I wish. Most of the stuff I keep, because I really like them, but it is an option and a wonderful way to try out all that great new stuff out there!)

That is all for now. I hope that this might encourage some of you to think outside the box in terms of supplemental income.

Walgreens Savings This Week

I did this transaction on Monday but laziness struck and I apologize for not posting it sooner. Due to faulty technology on my end I can't post pictures so I will itemize what I purchased. It wasn't the best that I have ever done, but it wasn't bad and we got stuff that we needed.

Tylenol Quick Release (100 count) $7.50
Motrin IB (100 count) $7.50
Tylenol PM (100 count) $7.50
(for this purchase I had a $2 coupon and 2 $1 coupons - plus it made me eligible for RR)

Joy Dish Soap $0.89 (I got 2)

Pantene Conditioner
Pantene Shampoo
Infusion Conditioner (2 of these)
The sale was 3/$20 (I paid $4.99 for the smaller conditioner) plus I had coupons - $1 off 2 Pantene and $1.50 off 2 Infusion. This also qualified me for $10 RR

Vicks Hand Sanitizer (2 of these)
Vicks DayQuill Liquid
These were 3/$15 plus 3 $1 off coupons. This also qualified for a $5 RR

Trident Splash Gum - I had a store coupon making it $0.59 and a $0.50 coupon making the gum $.09

My total after sales and coupons was $49.91 but I got $25 in register rewards for next time so my total out of pocket was $24.91. I will be glad when I start getting my rebate rewards back.....should be sometime in November for the first one. Then I can completely stop spending out of pocket at Walgreens....that is the hope anyway! But I have register rewards for next week. Hopefully the sales are good!

Blessings,
Carie

Grocery Shopping

I did my main "payday" grocery shopping yesterday and found several really good deals. I haven't been budgeting, couponing, ad-watching and deal finding as well as I should have been over the last year and I intend to change that. I have been inspired by a great blog call Money Saving Mom. I encourage anyone that is looking for budgeting help to check it out.

In total I spent $117 for $158 in groceries. I could have done better I am sure, but mega buying usually takes a month or 2 before supplies in the pantry are high enough to only be able to by the GREAT deals. I look forward to that time coming. When I worked really hard at my deal-watching and coupon clipping before I almost never spent more than $50 on groceries each week and that included all household items, dog food, tolietries and diapers. I would love to hit that mark again.

Family Dollar
We made a special trip to this store for 1 item. Normally I probably wouldn't have done this, but it was on the way and you will understand why in a minute. We needed Snausages (a dog treat) for Sadie (we didn't need them, but she loves them). They are $3-4 at Walmart and Kroger for 1 bag. They are a $1 a bag at Family Dollar and I had a $1 off coupon so we paid $.07 for her dog treats. I think that made it well worth the 5 minutes that it took to stop there.

Walgreens
I really think that Walgreens is the best store to shop at when you are deal shopping. I bought a 16 pack of Kotex pads for $3.19. I used a $1 off store coupon and a $2 off manufacturers coupon so I paid $0.19 for them. I bought a 20 count bottle of Advil PM for $3, minus the $2 manufacturers coupon for that, so I paid $1 for that. I also bought a fancy toothbrush for full price ($3.99) but I will get a full rebate on that. So I paid $5.50 and received $2 in register rebates, a $1 coupon for another bottle of Advil PM and I will get $3.99 rebated later. So, they actually paid me about $1 to shop at their store :) Cool huh???

Walmart
Here is what I bought for $78.02. I used a $1.50 coupon for diapers and $1 coupon for cereal.
10 lbs. ground beef
2 boxes of margarine
1 tub of margarine
44 lb bag of dog food
2 24pks of water
1 gallon of milk
1 small bag of cough drops
1 bag of Honey Nut Scooters (small one)
1 jumbo bag of newborn Pampers
1 flannel pj set for my hospital bag

Kroger
Here is what I bought for $34.75. I used a coupon for the Tyson Chicken Breasts. I saved $25.02 by shopping for only sale items.

5 cans Grands biscuits (98 cents each)
10 Banquet dinners (59 cents each)
6 2 liter bottles of Pepsi ($1 each)
Tyson chickens breasts ($1.77 lb)
10 bags of Lipton rice or noodles ($1 each)
3 lbs of red seedless grapes ($1.28 a lb)

I hope that this encourages someone else to work and lower their grocery budget as much as possible. Lowering your grocery budget doesn't mean that you have to eat beans and rice or that you have to make everything from scratch. I love to buy our favorite convenience foods at a greatly reduced price so that we can enjoy our busy lives :)

Blessings and have a great weekend!
Carie