The Kindness of Others

I believe in Karma...and likewise, I also am a firm believer in Coupon Karma. I've often come into good fortune shortly after practicing random acts of kindness- whether it be on a coupon shoppers board like HCW by offering up a RAOK envelope of coupons, passing along some goodies to others in grocery stores or dropping off food donations at a food bank.

When I have my coupon binder with me while shopping, I'll frequently hand out a coupon to another shopper who I see has one of my coupon items. Or I'll give a cashier who seems pleased by a deal I find an extra or two of the coupon that makes a good freebie or cheapie that they could use later to get the same great deal. Over the past couple of weeks, I've done this quite frequently- most recently handing out the last several of my $2 off 1 yokids coupons to other Target shoppers looking at kids yogurts.

Later that day, my mother-in-law passed along two $10 Kohl's cash certificates she had received from one of her sisters while in Colorado. I like to think coupon Karma had something to do with this...I turned the two cash certificates into this:

Two cute spring outfits for Stella! Neither cost a penny after the Kohl's certificates. We have lots of hand-me-downs for her from her big sisters but none smaller than a 3T so I knew we'd need to be spending money on spring clothes that would fit her and soon. Well, hopefully soon- I am so ready for Spring!

What a wonderful way to start the week. Be generous and you'll be surprised by the acts of generosity that will come back your way!

The Art of the Stockpile

The key to maximizing your savings is to STOCKPILE. What does this mean exactly? It means when you spot an item on sale at its rock bottom price, you buy enough to last your family 6 weeks or more if it's a non-perishable item with an expiration date way out there. Why 6 weeks? Because this is typically the sales cycle at most stores for most items.

Here is a video tour of our garage stockpiling system for snacks, drinks, sauces and canned fruits. My husband bought several shelving units on sale at various hardware stores over the past year to allow us more space to store- and to do so in a somewhat organized fashion.

If you have the money to invest or can find a good cheap used freezer, I highly recommend this as well. We have a large freezer in our garage in which we store frozen veggies, pizzas, meals and meats. I try to buy about 20 lbs of our most used meats (boneless/skinless chicken, very lean ground beef) when they're at their rock-bottom prices, remove them from their store containers and use a Ziploc pump & seal to remove air from Ziploc bags and then freeze so they'll keep well.

We have other items stored in our limited kitchen cupboard space and my handy husband also installed two rows of shelves above our washer/dryer upstairs to store laundry & household cleaning items, as well as separate bins filled with shampoos, shaving creams, toothpastes and the like.

I periodically take a walk around our garage storage and remove items which my family hasn't used/liked. If they're approaching expiration, I throw them out. If they have expiration dates more than a few months away, I separate these and put them in boxes to take to a food bank.

Stockpiling will help you save lots of money! I'm making it a personal goal to live off our stockpile as much as we can in March and spend as little out of pocket as possible. I'm shooting for $200 or less to spend next month- a lofty goal, but one I think within reach. We'll just have to stretch our dollars as much as possible.

Tales from the Thrift

I'm reposting this from my original blog- I hope you will find it helpful! Feel free to chime in with your own money saving tips!


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!