How do we manage a household of six on one income? The answer is simple: being thrifty consumers by spending mindfully (and, hopefully, armed with coupons). Yes, those who knew me back in the day are taken aback by my newfound shopping savvy. Here are some of our best tips for saving money...1. The most important rule: think before you buy- and think hard before you make a big purchase. Research major purchases using consumer reviews on amazon.com, epinions.com, tripadvisor.com (for hotels when you vacation) and the granddaddy of all consumer research- Consumer Reports (pay special attention to those items labelled as Best Buy to get the most bang for your buck). Even before delving into research, ask yourself "is this a want or is this a need?" If it's a want, think of all the "wanted" stuff you've bought over the years that have accumulated dust in your garage or storage area. We get too quickly suckered into "wants" that end up rotting away in landfills.
2. Cook! Preparing your own meals at home saves not only your wallet but your waistline as well. We very very rarely go out to eat and end up spending a lot less on food than the typical American family. If we do eat out, it is to celebrate a special day or to take advantage of a "kid's eat free" special (check out http://www.mykidseatfree.com/ to find restaurants that offer this type of special in your area). I'd say we probably dine out once every other month (not counting times when we're travelling). Fast food is practically verboten and purchased only in emergency (i.e. we didn't get a chance to pack lunches for a road trip etc.)- Jon & I usually purchase kids size meals or share a side. When we do travel, we also try to book rooms with a kitchenette so we can prepare our own meals. Yes, these rooms do cost a bit more but the amount we save on meals while on the road makes up for the difference in room cost. If you feel you're short on time to cook, keep in mind that you can whip up a pretty good meal in 15-30 minutes...I know I do most nights at home.
3. Discover the wonders of a secondhand store & Craigslist/Freecyle. We love our nearby Goodwill store and shop & donate clothing there often. I've found some absolutely adorable clothes for Stella there and great designer jeans for myself as well. We've also snagged some really wonderful toys & baby items through Craigslist. Secondhand store shopping (and donating!) is the ultimate form of recycling. Everybody wins.
4. Make camping a family trip. This is the absolute lowest cost vacation you can have- and there are really wonderful campsites across the country. One of our favorites is in the Blue Ridge mountains with some gorgeous hiking trails, a bathroom with heated shower you can use (so you're not completely roughing it). I think it costs about $10/night for the campsite usage and each spot comes with a firepit.
5. Learn to do-it-yourself...you can find instructions on everything from how to change your oil to how fix a water pipe break by using the internet or finding a book. We have repair guides for both our vehicles and Jon uses these regularly for small repairs & maintenance. When something goes amuk in the house, we'll try to figure out a way to fix it ourselves.
6. Take advantage of local parks & libraries. How can you go wrong with free?
7. Don't buy school portraits. This may not be true for all of you, but I know that the school pictures taken each year at our kids' schools are outrageously priced. Since it's tricky to get a really good individual portrait shot on your own (I know, I've tried with terrible results), scout out the low cost packages offered by portrait studios (Sears, Portrait Innovations etc.). Typically, they limit these offers to one per household so when it comes to be annual portrait time, I'll end up taking our kids to several different places and make sure each gets a plain white background for most of their shots. Since I'm on the topic of pictures, we also save money on picture Xmas cards each year by simply taking our own family pic and uploading it to Walmart.com to order cards.
8. Keep healthcare costs in check. You can do this by living a healthy lifestyle AND being an informed consumer. I can't tell you how many times I've asked about pricing (and what our out-of-pocket cost will be after insurance is accounted for) of a health care provider only to be greeted with a quizzical look. I'd swear I'd have sprouted five heads after popping this question. I think the prevailing attitude is "well, it's for your health, why should it matter what it costs?" It SHOULD matter- you should always be able to make an informed decision when it comes to your health. I'm not saying you should forego treatment anytime it's going to be costly...you should have the option to really question your doctor on it's necessity given the potential high cost of the procedure to you. Your insurance provider has that right, so do you - exercise it!
9. Shop clearance! Well, for everything but drugs & food (and some say it's okay to do this as well but I'd rather be safe than sorry when it comes to items with expiration dates). You can find some great deals on clothing at most big box retailers. I am a big fan of the Target 75% off rack for clothes. Yes, you'll likely need to buy things that are out of season but they will come in handy when that season does arrive.
10. My best tip for last: COUPON SHOPPING. The first thing you need to do to be an effective coupons (and specials) shopper is to know your prices. To my amazement, I've managed to keep those in my noggin...but many swear by keeping a price notebook where you list out your family's "staple" items (those items you buy faithfully) and then note store prices and dates. If you keep tabs of this over several weeks, you'll learn which sales prices are the lowest & best. Stores tend to "cycle" item prices and once you spot the true "lowest" price you are ready to stockpile & save.
For example by keeping tabs on pricing, I've learned that the best prices on meats we typically buy here are $1.99/lb for boneless/skinless chicken, $2.99/lb for 93% lean ground beef, 99 cents/lb for whole chicken breast. Keeping this in mind, I can stock up on these meats when they hit these rock bottom prices (which, BTW, mirror that of bulk shopping club prices).
When it comes to coupons, I love the Sunday newspaper variety. I don't often use internet coupons and I still do very well coupon shopping. You can find internet coupons on http://www.coupons.com/. I keep a baseball card organizing binder to store my coupons in and organize them in sections (ie, breads, dairy items, soups/marinades etc). You can come up with your own system based on the layout of your most frequently shopped at grocery store. Bone up on the grocery store's rules for coupon redemption - most limit use to a certain number in a transaction, that you can't use more than 2 for the same item etc. One of our local stores, Harris Teeter, frequently runs a triple coupon weekend where they will triple the value of most coupons. In one recent triple coupon weekend, I landed $172 worth of groceries for $27 and netted lots of freebies.
I used to use http://www.thegrocerygame.com/ to plan out my coupon shopping. This site offers a free trial period then you have to pay based on how many stores you want to include. I've since switched to the totally free http://www.couponmom.com/ which has a less aesthetically pleasing layout but offers the same information- and a kick-butt forum where you can learn some unpublished deals at stores. This site has also helped me land several drug store freebies- click on links for cvs, walgreens, rite aid and you can learn which items are free thanks to store rebates or register rewards. If you have a coupon for a "free" item, you can even make money on the transaction- so it's like you're getting paid to use a particular product.
Well, these are my big tips to save money and run a household well on a tight budget. I hope some of you readers will post your best tips too. Fly your frugal flag proudly!
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very cool P! thanks for sharing. would you say that the Sunday paper is worth the cost for the coupons? we don't currently get the paper and also don't find many coupons that we would use on the online sites.
ReplyDeleteYes...especially if you shop at a store that doubles coupons. Most do these days. Keep in mind Kroger will only double coupons up to 50 cents; Harris Teeter will double up to 99 cents.
ReplyDeleteThanks to coupons, I never have to pay for toothpaste. 8-) During the recent Harris Teeter triple coupon, I stocked up on free Dole canned fruit for the kiddies, frozen veggies, Barilla pasta & sauce, deodorant and softsoap (all free or nearly free).
Another interesting little tidbit that you may or may not have noticed is that often times, the week a coupon comes out in the sunday paper is the same week that that particular item is on sale at many grocery stores ;-)
ReplyDeleteAng- yes, store sales & weekend paper coupons are often in synch but...a lot of times the "sale" price isn't a true rock-bottom price. Using couponmom as a guide, I typically only use coupons when it knocks off at least 50% off the price of the item (unless it's something I need right away!). I'm also going to start buying multiples of the Sunday paper on weekends where I find more than 3 coupons for items we typically buy- this way, when I find them on sale, I can stock up at the lowest price.
ReplyDeleteI bought 7 copies of the Sunday paper during the Harris Teeter triple coupon weekend a few weeks back, and because of that I've snagged 7 free bags of Quaker Chocolate Rice Quakes (which are surprisingly yummy) at Kroger this week.
Daisy- you go girl! And what is a diva cup?? I have never heard of this before- should I be afraid to google??? Yes, I know most coupons are for processed foods but there are also coupons for health & beauty products, cleaning supplies (including "green" products), toilet paper and various other household necessities. I think I've mentioned this before to you too, but if you sign up for Kroger rewards program, they will also send you coupons for meats, cheeses and produce.
Some more tips I've thought of...
Growing your own veggie garden- we started one last year with yummy 100% organic tomatoes, peppers and sugarsnap peas. This year we're expanding our repertoire with spinach and radishes (for sprouts on salads). We've had to fence off the garden area due to hungry deer that venture into our yard from the surrounding woods!
Combining business trips with family trips- we'll be doing this later this month when Jon has a conference in DC. I'll be taking Spencer & Stella to various DC museums. This should be fun!
1) Upromise - I have recently learned about this wonderful website (www.upromise.com) and how it is a very valuable tool for saving for a child's college education. You can either make your purchases through the upromise site or you can register your credit cards so that you can make purchases at the physical store, and then a small portion of your purchases you earn back that you transfer into a 529 savings account. Many grocery stores also give you the option of registering your store card with Upromise. (I know Stop & Shop, Price chopper, Hannafords, Shaws and more participate.) CVS is also a member, so you can register your CVS card also. My co-worker who introduced me to this said that they gather a couple of hundred dollars a year towards their son's education using this.
ReplyDelete2) Photos - P.J. you mentioned saving money by not purchasing the yearly school photos for your children. If you are able to find any up and coming professional photographers, they are often willing to do completely free photo shoots if you will sign a waiver that you will allow them to use the photos for advertisement. I have done this in the Boston area and have worked with some really really good photographers! (They will expect to dictate the style/design of the photo shoot usually.) The deal around here is usually they give you a disk of the images in trade for you allowing them to use your image for advertisement.
My best savings tip is to combine store and manufacturers coupons as often as possible. Also, use the coupons from CVS, Walgreens, Target etc for prescription transfers. You can easily get a gift card just for transfering your prescription and most stores honor other stores coupons. Great start to your blog by the way!!
ReplyDeleteMy tip is this, take advantage of special offers. I recently received a catalina for a Meijer gift card - pay $20 and receive a $25 gift card. That's a $5 savings when I used the card to buy groceries the following week.
ReplyDeleteMy tip is to write to companies and let them know that you either love their products or that you would like to try them. In my experience, I have received so many great coupons that you can not get in the newspapers from them. Once I called a diaper company and received a coupon for up to $25 on their product! I was set for quite a while on that one! Companies want to know if you like or even have a problem with their products and want to make their customers happy. You can contact each company every 3 months. You will be amazed by what you will receive in the mail!
ReplyDeleteGreat tips! Keep 'em coming folks. I love these!
ReplyDeleteMy best tip is rebates...When I come across a new rebate, I put it in a sleeve in the back of my coupon binder with an envelope already written out, and I watch for sales on the item. When the item goes on sale (hopefully with a coupon), I buy the item and slip the sales receipt in with the rebate form....Then as soon as I get home, i take the upc symbol off and put it with the receipt and form...Then at my leisure I can put everything together and mail.
ReplyDeletemy tip is about rainchecks! use them often and if you use them wisely you can shop when you want to and create your very own sale! everytime i go to the store i try to go down every aisle (especially the diapers) and get a raincheck if something is on sale and out of stock. you can use coupons with rainchecks and they never expire! happy couponing!
ReplyDeleteMy tip is sweepstakes! It's a bit of a time commitment...but it's fun to do in the evening while I watch TV and it's a great way to win things I wouldn't be able to afford or wouldn't exactly be able to spend a lot of money on!
ReplyDeleteI've won things like movie tickets, cash giftcards, free food coupons, ect.
My tip is always shop multiple stores. It's definitely going to be hard for some who are always on the run but if you are really looking to save, you'll find that the running around pays big time!
ReplyDeleteI shop at Walmart and Harris Teeter here in South Charlotte. Though HT has their prices higher than Walmart, there are certain things that I can get way cheaper with coupon at HT, even without a sale. For instance, I always buy 5-6 Dannon Yogurt Light & Fit 6-pk. At HT, the reg price is $2.50 and with their double coupon ($0.60 x 2), I can get it for $1.30. At Walmart, their reg price is $2.28 and after coupon, it's $1.68. The last triple coupon at HT, the yogurt was $0.20 per 6-pk. Imagine the savings!!!
did i ever get back with you about the diva cup?? if not, please let me know! that is something worth knowing about!! :) maybe i need to write a blog post about that.
ReplyDeleteI would say read read read. I never knew about double/triple, or how much I could say on my grocery bill simply by using coupons.I am astounded by how much I have learned just by reading different sites, ad's, books,whatever I can get my hands on.
ReplyDeleteI recommend asking customer service about all promo/customer reward programs. My local grocery store doesn't offer a customer reward but does offer pet rewards. Also get to know what it means when the store says limit x on a sale item. I always assumed that if it said 2 it meant two, but a manager informed me that it is 2 of each variety/flavor. That is great for shoppers like me that can't fit in multiple trips before sales are over.
ReplyDeleteMy tip is regarding mail in rebates:
ReplyDeleteI always scan receipts, UPC codes, rebate forms, etc. and save on my PC. This gives me a paper trail in case there is any question regarding my rebate.
Thank you!