Savings Galore!!!

As most of you know I have been clippin' coupons and trying to save a buck or two these past 8 months. I wish I had started this years ago, but at least I'm doing it now. We have been trying to get our financial life back in order since losing Christian and this past year Eric took a hit with his job which is what led me to start cutting back even more. And oh baby have we ever! Although, you wouldn't know it by the looks of my freezers, pantry, and closets. Our pantry, freezers, and linen closet(where I keep all the hygiene and personal stuff), are packed to the rafters that there is literally no more room for anything. I have kept a record of my spending and savings and to date for this year I have saved a whopping...

$2000.00!!

That's a lot of moola! We have paid off a ton of debt and I can see the end that is a year nearer! Yay!!

The credit goes to my friend Liz-thanks a ton, you were my lifesaver-my MIL-for giving me your coupons- and the wonderful coupon blogs I follow. I have always tried to buy stuff on sale and stock our food storage that way, but now with coupons I get tons of free stuff and my pantry and storage room have never been fuller. I use to think I don't have time to clip coupons, but you know what with a savings like that in only 5 short months, I think I have the time. I even get free samples sent to me. The kids love it. They always wonder what's gonna come in the mail today. This is what came yesterday...

Sample package from the U.S. postal service. Now I won't drink the coffee samples, but the chocolate, now that one for sure is getting eaten.
Here's two pictures of my best savings so far this year. I went to Fresh Market and took my coupons with me for a trip to end all trips. I spent $74, but I saved $135.00. I got a ton of stuff, and it was all under 75 cents or less for each item. My poor camera couldn't get it all in one shot and even in two you still can't see it all. My best find was getting four packages of chicken for only $1 each. They were drumsticks and wings that usually cost $5-$6 each(according to their package). Sweet!!

I got a bunch of extracts and more root beer concentrate too and we all know how much those cost. They are usually anywhere between 4-6 dollars, but not mine. I saved $2 on each and they were on sale making them only $1.50 each. My shopping trips take a little longer to plan now, but I'll spend the extra time for the savings. I take my ads and make my list according to my coupons I have and ones that I can find online. I have discovered that almost every brand out there has a website and have coupons on them that you can print out. This is my new game and I'm loving it! If anyone wants to know the basics to get started, send me an e-mail or leave me a comment. Whether you need to save money or just want to, it's an easy way to do it. I haven't paid for soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, razors, or deodorant in 8 months. These are some big items that you can get for free with sales paired with coupons.
This post is mainly for me to remember and teach my kids that yes, you can buy name brand stuff and still save money. I'm all about teaching them things they can use when they have to run their own houses. I didn't have that growing up and I have had to teach myself along the way. I want them to be prepared, and have a happy non-debt life with their future families. The hubs and I didn't always have the stress of finances, but one BIG unforseen event put us in trouble and it has taken us 5 years to get out from it. I hope that by saving this way if anything else were to happen we would be well off this time.

Mailbox Surprises!

Have you ever signed up for a sample and wondered will I really get it in the mail? Well I tried it out and this is all that came to me in the last week. Some of the companies didn't just send me a small sample size, but a full big size of their product to try. This was so much fun to get all this free stuff in one week. Not only did I get products, but I got free coupons too! SWEET! I love FREE STUFF!

She clips, she shops, she SCORES!

I just needed to brag about and document my sweet success over this weekend. I scored these sweet items for a very low amount of money. These 9 items: 4 juicy juices(64 oz), travel first aid kit, 10 pack hello kitty band aids, 2 johnson buddies soap bars, and a tub of pamper wipes. All of these items would have cost me $19.56 but after all of my coupons and target's sale on the juice I only paid $2.06. Yep, that's right folks, only $2 bucks. Wow! I must say I'm getting this whole coupon thing down pretty good.

Another Good Score!

So, again I have a nice score of food for the week. I'm quite surprised to say that the winner this week is Albertsons- I know, I'm SHOCKED too! They have a really good sale going on until Tuesday and I had really good coupons to match up with it. This is what I got:
10 boxes of chicken/hamburger helper
4 oscar mayer deli creations
2 12pk. keebler snack crackers
3 candy bars(free with coupon)
4 renuzit air freshner
5lb. bag red pots.
2lb. bag baby carrots
2 litehouse caramel dip
4 3-pack pop secret
2 10 pack disposable playtex gloves(free with coupons)
3 2 liter cherry 7-up
2 McCormick gravy mix
2 refrig. Welch's juice
6 pack super pretzel
10 softsoap containers
Grand total of groceries came to $133.56
What I ended up paying for them came to $47.36 for 51 items (less than $1 per item) SWEET! I love my finds. I did good with Harmons, Smith's, and Target this week as well-just not as GREAT as this Albertsons trip. I honestly love the hunt of a good sale and deal paired together. It's a fun little game for me and my family reaps the benefit of it. This week I bought groceries totaling $468.00 but only spent $228.11(had to buy diapers and wipes) which means I saved 51% this week total. Not bad if I say so myself. I will be taking a food shopping break for awhile due to the fact all 3 freezers are full and my pantry and storage room is packed to the rafters. I have no more room for food which is a really good thing to say and know. I stocked us up for half the price it usually costs me. I only wish I had done this earlier in our marriage. I could just kick myself for all the $$ I could have saved in the past 11 years. I have always tried to buy things when they are on sale, but now with the addition of coupons I save, save, save! Well now that I have bragged about my finds I will say adios amigos! Love ya all.

All my groceries from my new found love of "couponing"

So a very good friend of mine turned me onto the wonders of coupons and saving a ton on my groceries. I've been trying it now for almost 2 weeks and absolutely LOVE it! I check a couple of blogs daily on new deals around the stores and also print out coupons on websites. I don't subscribe to the papers yet, but that is my next step. Apparently, you get 4 or 5 subscriptions and combine all the coupons and can get like 50-60% off of everything. So far I've been doing that with just my coupons and ads. The trick is see what's on sale and use the coupons for those items and see if any of the stores have their own coupons as well. What you see on the table is what I did today at Target. I got all of this for only $23, when it should have cost me $61. I found out through one of the blogs(hip2save.blogspot.com) that Target matches other stores ads and so I used Walgreens' ad and clipped Target coupons, and printed off manufacturer's coupons(coupons.com)and saved a bundle. Today I got:

8 boxes of general mills cereal

3 boxes of nature valley granola bars

4 big bags of chex mix

2 8pk go-gurt

2 8 ct. poptarts

2 kellogg's fruit snacks

2 boxes of gerber baby rice cereal

2 pk bounty paper towels

The cereal alone without all the coupons and ad-matching would have cost me $24. So, to say the least I'm very proud of myself and it is like a contest for myself to see just how much I can save. Last night I received an email about a deal with restaurants.com to purchase a 12 month dinner club plan for only $12. That's a 90% savings. We get a $25 gift certificate to use at any participating restaurant once a month, and for choosing the plan we received one $50 gift cert. for free. So I spent $12 for dinner cert. that total $350. My best find yet. So far these past two weeks I have spent only $208(we had to buy diapers and wipes, which I also got a deal on)and I have saved $167. I LOVE this couponing! This is really helping us out a lot since my kids are growing and they are eating us out of house and home, not to mention a newborn going through diapers like crazy. Sorry for the long post, but I was so excited about today's deals I got, I just had to share. Ta ta for now.