Deals, Deals, Deals

In an effort to save money I’ve been doing more “extreme couponing”.  This involves matching coupons with sale items to get things sometimes free or very cheap.  On average I save about 50% on groceries, which is great.  However, it also involves lots of time and energy searching for the best deals, printing off coupons online, cutting coupons from the Sunday paper, organizing the coupons, and tracking sales. There are several websites that help with this, but it still takes time.  I also am not sure I’m actually saving any money at all because I buy more of the items on sale than I otherwise would and sometimes I’m buying things I would never buy otherwise. 

For example, I can get breakfast cereal on sale super cheap this way. So what, kids, if you don’t like All Bran? It was only $1/box. Nevermind that you use a dollars worth of sugar on it just to choke it down.

So I’m still perfecting my system and determining how to make this work best for us.  Sometimes it’s a hassle, like when I’m in Target with children trying to find a certain coupon to know how many Skippy Peanut Butters I need to buy to use my coupon, but it can also be kind of like a game… I was trying to explain it to my husband and the best analogy I could use was Texas Hold ‘Em.  You know how you want to kick yourself when you fold on a hand that you would have won on? That’s how I feel when I buy something and then later realize I could have gotten it cheaper somewhere else.   But when I know I got a great deal, I feel like I won somehow.

Anyway, if you too are a “thrifty” mom, here are a couple of my favorite tips, sites, etc.

1)      If your children go through hand soap like there is no tomorrow: buy a foaming hand soap (like Dial). After it’s gone (in like a week around here)… fill it about a fourth of the way full with any kind of soap (suave body wash, softsoap hand soap, etc) and the rest of the way with water. Shake and voila … hand soap at ¼ the cost!

2)      http://www.frugalmom.net/blog/

3)      http://passionatepennypincher.com/

4)      Often cities will have their own sites like http://www.denvermetromoms.com/ or http://www.kansascitymamas.com/

5)      http://organizingmadefun.blogspot.com/2011/09/31-days-to-cheaply-organize-your-home_30.html

6)      http://kidsactivitiesblog.com/save-money/

7)      http://penniesandblessings.com/2011/10/12-ways-of-christmas-ways-of-frugal-gifting/

8)      Also, Aldi is great which now has milk for $1.99. Their generic brands of chips, crackers, cereal, etc have been great.

9)      Amazon Mom Subscribe and Save can be great for diapers and other items… 20% off delivered right to your door.

10)   Costco also can be great for some items.  http://www.kansascitymamas.com/2012/01/costco-deals-top-15-list/