Money Saving Methods...and Coupon Craziness!

I used to think I was pretty good at saving money. You know, a pretty frugal person. I clipped my coupons, looked for sales, shopped at thrift stores and hated to pay full price for anything.

I still feel that way. It's just that I have recently discovered that there are so (and put a bunch of o's after that) many places and ways to save money that I never knew about. In fact, I think I still have only uncovered but a fraction of what's out there. I am having fun looking for them and saving money, though!

There are countless websites and blogs devoted to helping you find deals, print coupons, and reduce your spending. For me, that primarily means on groceries and household items like paper goods, cleaning products and toiletries. Websites like Money Saving Mom and The Krazy Coupon Lady provide great resources like upcoming store ads, printable coupons, and deals on everything you need (or didn't know you need!).

There are also coupons to be clipped in the Sunday newspaper and even in magazines. We recently canceled our newspaper subscription, to save money, which is fine because I can find out what coupons will be in the Sunday papers by looking online and then buy a Sunday paper if I want to. My sister-in-law gave me a great tip that you can get multiple copies of the Sunday paper on Monday at the dollar store (for $1.00, of course), which I will do if the coupons are worth it.

I really like to print coupons online. I set my printer preferences to everyday and greyscale to save on ink. Many online coupon resources will let you print multiple times before the print limit is reached, allowing you to get more of the coupons you use the most. Sometimes those same coupons will reset soon after, allowing you to go back and print them again. They also tend to have higher values then the newspaper coupons. You can also go to the websites of the brands you purchase (Coffee Mate, Freschetta, etc.) and often they will have printable coupons. Don't forget to go to the store sites themselves, too. All the major stores (Vons, Albertons, Target, etc.) have store and manufacturer coupons that you can print.

I have discovered the magic of combining store and manufacturer coupons. When you do this, and if the item is already on sale or at a good price, you can get it for free or next to nothing! Check the store's policies on quantity limits and when the coupon exceeds the price of the item, but at most stores these things are not a problem. Where you live, your grocery store might still double coupons. If so, take advantage of that! Ours do not, although once in a great while they will put "special" coupon doublers in the paper to use with a coupon. I bought three papers that week just for those coupons.

There are some great online deals to be had, too. Site like Amazon and iTunes offer free song downloads. Shutterfly and Snapfish both offer great photo deals. For example, a couple of weeks ago, Walgreens was offering a free 8x10 and Snapfish was also offering a free 8x10 that you could pick up at Walgreens. Sweet deal...two free 8x10's that I could order from the comfort of home and pick up at the same place. Check out this free deal right now from Shutterfly and Wink: http://moneysavingmom.com/2010/04/shutterfly-free-photo-strip-mailed-free-internationally.html (Thank you, Money Saving Mom!)


Drug Stores have their own reward programs, too. I currently just use CVS and their Extra Care card. They "pay you back" every time you shop. They also give you "Extra Bucks" when you buy certain items. I didn't realize the full extent of what I could accumulate until I was there the other day and scanned my card at the in-store kiosk. I had earned $14.50! That is like cash! That was a fun day, because it also spit some coupons out at me, so I ended up saving more than I spent. They even scan your card when you get your prescriptions, go figure! Check out your local drug store for their program.

The ways to save really are exhaustive. You can spend as much or as little time as you have available searching out deals. To me, the key is to continue to be wise with the amount of money I have to spend each month. Just because something is a good deal does not necessarily mean I should go out and buy 12 of them. It's tempting...but then what if I cannot buy the other things I need to feed my family?

I am learning that I can find the deals if I only look for them. And coupons do work. It's crazy fun, and I will share with you what I find along the way. Will you share with me, too?