If your household is like mine, you probably run to the store for milk and bread at least once a week. I know dairy laws differ state to state but I always wondered why there were no coupons for milk since it's something almost every household buys in multiple quantities. Maybe I'm just behind the coupon times, but there are coupons for milk! I found this out during an event Real California Milk held last year.

Example of Real California Dairy coupon

On the Real California Milk site, you can print coupons for milk brands that have the Real California Milk seal. This comes in handy when the store brand has the seal since most store brands are almost always cheaper than name brands. I see this at WalMart and Sprouts Marketplace.

WalMart brand milk carries the Real California Milk seal

Using a coupon, this half gallon goes down to $1.33. The really cool thing is, because the coupon is offered as a PDF, you can download it and print as many as you like* (just be aware of the expiration dates). I have several of these in my coupon binder at all times. It's nice to be able to save on a fridge staple!

What other staple items do you always try to have

 coupons on hand for?

*As with all coupons, read the fine print and make sure the coupon is valid in your area. Only use coupons from trusted sources. Do not abuse, alter or use coupons fraudulently!

Slashing Our Grocery Budget | Frugal Friday

My husband has given me a challenge: slash our monthly grocery budget by $40-$50. We're behind in meeting our financial goals so it's crunch time. We're trimming wherever we can and grocery shopping is my domain. I'm definitely up for the challenge and I've been doing my research.

I'm ready to try meal planning, I've signed up for every grocery loyalty program for the stores I shop in, I've organized my Google Reader so that the frugal blogs I read most are at the top, we got rid of our ink sucking printer (more on that later) and my coupon binder is finally complete. The only thing that's going to suck is how much time I'll be spending in the stores.

I got a start on re-building our stockpile a few days ago. We needed cereal and the deal at Vons was great. But, with the way so many So Cal stores have changed their coupon policies, I can't walk in and use all the coupons I have in one transaction. In most stores, I can only use 4 at a time, only one will double and sometime there's a specific dollar amount I need to purchase. All the rules will mean more trips to the stores. Case in point, the cereal.

This is three trips to two different Vons stores* plus Target for the coffee creamer (the meat was a happy accident). The in store coupon only for the cereal only allowed me to buy 4 boxes at a time. Between the paper and e-coupons I had 10 to use. Fortunately, I live in an area where almost all the stores I shop in are close enough that I can combine errands.

But, I think that, in order to make the absolute most of my coupons, I'm going to have to commit to scheduling more trips to the stores. Which means staying organized and getting my hand on more coupons so I can take advantage of more deals. If I'm going to go to a store three times, I might as well get all of the deals**! It seems I'm closer to becoming an 'extreme' couponer than I thought.

So, let me ask you: how willing are you to run multiple errands to take advantage of a great grocery deal? What types of deals do you consider too good to pass up?

*Pictured: 16 boxes of cereal, six creamers and 6 packages of ground beef.
*I don't buy things we don't eat or don't have room for just because they're on sale. You will not find pallets of soda in my garage.

Beware the Coupon Thieves

Mean people suck. I've been reading more posts and articles about coupons being stolen from newspapers. Most everyone is blaming TLC's Extreme Couponing. I can definitely see how the show may have pushed people in that direction. The show makes couponing look a little more effortless than it is and some of the deals people have gotten are questionable at best. 

I've had coupons missing from my paper and the mail inserts, and I've also bought packaging that was supposed to have a coupon attached and it didn't, but didn't think much of it. After my experience at Target a few days ago, I'm going to be a bit more thorough before I buy something that advertises coupons are included.

I had another toothbrush in my cart when I spotted this one on an endcap. They were priced the same, but the included coupons and the Crest Whitestrip (which Phil uses) moved me to make the switch. Of course when I got home and started putting the groceries away I saw the packaging had been opened and both the coupons and strip were missing. Buying this particular toothbrush was a double win because of the sample and the possibility of the coupons. It felt like I'd be making money on the deal. Someone literally took money out of my pocket.

Still, I'm not too bent about it. Obviously someone needed them more than I did, but the rule follower in me can't picture myself ever standing in a store opening something that someone else is going to buy and taking things out.

There are plenty of ways to get coupons without snatching them. I print them, get them directly from companies, buy my own newspaper, ask my neighbors for them and buy really high value ones from clipping services. I want to save money just as much as the next person but I'm going to be ethical in how I do it.

Have you had any experiences with coupon thievery?

Coupon Organization Pt 2: I'm Getting There!

Slowly but surely I'm getting my system in place. Coupons were taking over the kitchen and I finally had to get serious about finding something that will work for me. I found a zippered binder at BigLots. It wasn't marked so the cashier looked up something in the system and charged me $3. Then I found baseball card sheets at Dollar Tree and bought two packs of 10. I used Target web coupons to buy tabbed binder inserts and great offer that got me two pairs of scissors for .49 each.

I stole the pencil pouch Tyler was using at school and found a mini calculator in our junk drawer. The binder still has a way to go because I want a few different sizes of plastic sheets for oversize and printable coupons. 

After I got the binder started I looked around for a storage solution. I wanted an expanding file so I can mark the insert date, file unclipped coupons, sort the store circulars and set up sections for store coupons. I stumbled across these scrap book pages files while I was in Michaels. They were in the clearance section for $6.99 each. So far, they're holding up well. 

Sometimes you have to spend money to make money and I know setting up a system will help me be a better couponer. I've lost coupons, misfiled them and let them expire. That is unacceptable! I'll keep you updated as I add more items to my system. 

Read part 1 about why I decided to go with the coupon binder system.

What are you doing to keep your coupons organized?

Mom, You Sure Do Love Coupons

I assumed Tyler has been absorbing the importance of coupons because of how often he sees me clipping, getting inserts from the neighbors and using them at stores. But, every now and then I see the opportunity to have a teachable moment and reinforce the lessons I'm trying to teach him.

When we were checking out after my awesome Albertson's trip yesterday, he made the statement about my coupons and I said, "absolutely, I love my coupons. Did you hear the cashier tell me what my savings were?" I had him look at the receipt and do a little math.

I've told Tyler before that part of my job is to take care of him, his dad and our house; and I include making sure we're using money wisely and saving wherever we can as part of taking care of everyone. I said he should start thinking of coupons the way I do: as another type of money and not just pieces of paper. Those pieces of paper save us money we're using for other things, like the breakfast we had yesterday at Mimi's Cafe with some of his hockey teammates.

Some of my big fears for Tyler is that he will leave home not knowing when to match his shoes with his belt, not knowing how to do laundry and iron, make a few basic recipes and not knowing how to manage money.

When I talk about things like that with him, I get eye rolls and impatience (please tell me I'm not alone!). I try to explain things in terms he relates to. Sometimes I think I'm getting through. Like the time we found a boxed set of a series he's reading for $3 at the library book store and he was just as excited over the deal as I was. But other times, I wonder if he's only hearing and not listening.

I've been using coupons for awhile, but not as seriously as I have in the past few years. My mom uses them too and I grew up watching her. But, she doesn't do it to the level that I do and she didn't really explain what it was about, why she used them and how much she saved. I really hope it sinks in with Tyler. Financial savvy-ness is one of the best things I can have him absorb (but I'll be working on the shoes and belt thing, too.)

Just in case you're curious (and so I can toot my horn a little)

1 trail mix

1 box Albertson's brand oatmeal

2 Ronzoni Garden 

2 Ronzoni Smart Taste

2 Ronzoni Healthy Harvest

10 Knorr Rice sides (4 of the taco flavor from the Mexican Lasagne)

4 Ragu pasta sauce

2 gallons of milk

1 multi pack of baby carrots

1 rotisserie chicken

Before coupons: $70.53 

Actual spent: $20.33

Track Your Grocery Prices | Frugal Friday

Today I'm talking about tracking prices. I feel I still have a lot to learn about coupons and frugal shopping but I definitely know more than I did last year. When I go to the stores, increasingly I've been able to look at the price of something and know if A) it's a good price and B) if I might be able to get the item for a cheaper price at another store. I also keep the store circulars for several weeks so I can compare prices against stores and see what an individual store's sales cycle is.

Armed with that information, I'm better able to know when a special trip to the store is justified or not and if an item is at its stock up price. I haven't even considered starting a grocery price book, I keep track mentally, but if you're really serious about saving that's the way to go. When I finally get around to making my coupon binder, I think I'll have at least one tracking sheet in it for the items I buy regularly. 

 

Last week, Henry's had a great sale on meats. I don't typically buy meat there, mostly produce and items from the bulk bins, but the 72 Hour sale they were holding was a good excuse to stock up. I broke these down and froze them in more manageable meal sizes. The chicken breasts are huge so they're perfect for crockpot type meals. For $25.36 I now have enough meat for at least six meals.

Do you track prices? Have you noticed significant saving? Most importantly, do you have any recipes for all those pork chops?!

*Gift certificate provided by San Diego Bargain Mama and Henry's. No other compensation received. I love this store and shop there regularly. Opinions are totally my own. I'm serious about the recipes.

Stock Up Trips to the Store - Is it Worth It? | Frugal Friday

Oops! Forgot to schedule this for yesterday!

I'm going out of town this weekend. One thing I had on my to-do list is stock up on a few groceries for the boys. I didn't have time to do a major grocery run so I chose the best advertised specials from this week's grocery store fliers and made three stops to Albertson's, Ralph's and Vons. 

Yes, that is a kind of a lot of running around, especially with gas prices the way they are. But, I was able to take advantage of several specials and combine them with coupons for added savings. That's when making a special trip is worth the effort. For example, take a look at my Ralph's trip:

I took advantage of the March Into Savings promo and got an automatic $10 off my total. I forgot one coupon in my binder (grrrr!) so I only used 2 which took another $2 off. Before the coupons and promo my total would have been $49.48. For my 22 items I paid $18.60. Also, with today's purchase I've earned enough bonus points this period to get a $5 voucher good on any future shopping trip. 

My Albertson's and Vons trips were similar. I spent a little more at Albertson's than planned because I got a few things not on my list (green foods for Tyler's St. Patrick's Day lunch). Still, my total for 22 items was $46.60* ($104.63 before savings). My Vons total for 10 items was $20.42 ($40.84 before savings). 

Before savings: $195.31

Spent: $85.62

Savings: $109. 69

Items: 54

Not too bad. The most time I spent was in going through the fliers, cutting the coupons and making my lists. If the sales are good, and they include items you actually use, take advantage of it. At Albertson's, Honey Nut Cheerios are $1.88 this week. They are pretty much all Tyler eats so I stocked up. I bought 6 boxes (and one Kix for me). 

I used $4.65 in coupons and paid $9.51 for seven boxes of cereal, or $1.35 each. Since I really can't stand paying more than $1.50 for cereal, this trip was definitely worth it. I had two more $1 off coupons and would have purchased 5 more but I don't have that much room in my stockpile. 

People use the phrase "time is money" to say why they don't like to use coupons. I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it again: we make time for the things that are important to us! Saving money is important to me. Not paying full price if I don't have to is important to me.

Now, if only I could take that $109 in savings and set it aside. If I kept adding all my savings for the rest of the year, I bet I'd have my Louboutain's by Christmas! 

So, where do you stand? Is it worth it to you to make special trips to the store? How do you feel about couponing in general? 

Print Grocery Coupons at Cheap Sally: Frugal Friday

Yesterday I Skyped with Steph and one of the many things we talked about was budgeting and saving money. I told her continuing to trim our grocery budget is a big priority for me. One thing that has helped me the most is printing grocery coupons. 

Many sites will issue one or two new coupons throughout the month, but for the most part, printable coupon sites are re-set on the first day of month. I've bookmarked all the sites I go to and I try to hit them all within the first two days of the month. If I wait too long, many of the good coupons hit their print limits. 

Earlier this week I got an email from a local PR firm about a new site for coupons. Since I hadn't heard of it before I thought I'd share in case you haven't either. Having access to multiple sites for printable grocery coupons is the best way to get duplicates of really high value coupons or for items you buy all the time. 

The coupons on Cheap Sally are powered by Coupons.com which is my favorite site (look under the more savings tab). Cheap Sally also has coupon codes for online shopping, discounted gift cards and event tickets. I'll keep those things in mind but I know for me, the grocery coupons will be the most valuable part of the site. 

What site do you visit most for printable coupons? 

Extreme Couponing Requires Extreme Organization: The Search for a Coupon Binder

I heard a lot of buzz about the TLC show Extreme Couponing before it aired last night. I started following the Twitter chatter when the east coast feed was on. It seemed people had mixed reactions about how the show portrayed people who take 'extreme' measures to save money. Watch the teaser clip aired on ABC to see how TLC defined extreme. So much of TLC's programming is designed to be attention getting so I took the show with a grain of a salt but here's my quick two cents on the show:

*Some of the people featured have hoarding issues. Period.

*Junk is still junk no matter how good the deal was (who needs 150 Butterfingers?!).

*Saving money is important but it shouldn't be your life. Blowing off the people in your life to clip coupons and shop is unhealthy.

*Having such a large stockpile you feel the need to insure it is also unhealthy (seriously, watch the clip) 

*If you have 30 year's worth of toiletries in your garage, please donate some to a shelter, food bank or to foster families. Look at it this way: you probably got it for free so with the tax write off it will be a money maker!
*Not being able to enjoy the rooms in your home because they are full of groceries is unhealthy.

*Spending 70 hours a week on something you are not earning a salary to do is silly.

*The 40 jars of spaghetti sauce you just had to have might have been someone other family's affordable dinner.

Despite TLC's ratings ploys I was still inspired. I thought I was doing a good job with our grocery budget but those people made me feel like a total amateur! I've had Tyler grab coupon inserts from  recycling bins, but only on our street. One woman on the show, Joyce, puts on her toning shoes and walks her neighborhood every week gathering unused inserts. I wonder if my other neighbors would label me crazy if I started doing the same.

This is just a small part of my stash

While I was watching, I Tweeted that I'm in search of a coupon binder. I use two accordion files now and it's not convenient anymore. A few of my followers chimed in that they were looking for a coupon system too so I went through the frugal blogs in my reader and pulled links for post where the authors have given detailed info on how they organize their coupons. Here's what I found:

Erin of 5 Dollar Dinners
Frugal Coupon Living
A Thrifty Mom
Couponing 101 (vlog)
Keeping the Kingdom First (vlog)
Life as Mom 
Money Saving Mom
Save at Home Mommy (Charlene sells a complete binder system on her site)
Savings Lifestyle
Stretching a Buck 

The binder method seems to be the most popular and I think it's the one I'll go with. I looked at some supplies during back to school and I should have pulled the trigger.

I'm spending too much time flipping through my coupons and I don't have a good system in place for my extra inserts. The last time I went shopping I saw laundry detergent on sale and remembered seeing a coupon in my inserts. I had pages spread out all over the store shelves while I was looking. It was messy (but I found two!).

One of my goals for 2011 is to do even better with cutting our grocery budget. Getting organized with my coupons is definitely a good first step.

Do you have a good system I can follow? Did you watch Extreme Couponing? What did you think?

HOT! $10 off $10 Another great Hallmark Coupon!

**UPDATE**

Well it seems someone ruined the fun. Apparently, the coupon was altered and it's invalid. People who do that really piss me off. Those of us who try to use coupons legitimately end up looking like we're trying to pull a fast one. I apologize. I've used coupons from Deals Plus before with no problems. I hope none of you tried to use it yet and if you did and there were problems I'm so sorry. I'll definitely do more research before trusting that site again. 

In addition to the Hallmark $5 off $5 coupons in certain magazines, there's a great $10 off printable coupon on deals.plus. This is a great way to score free cards, wrapping paper or small stocking stuffers. 

You might be able to score free Almond Butter Toffee or Peppermint Vanilla diffusers depending on the offers in your store. Both are priced around $9. Add two .99 cards* and this a sweet deal!

The coupon is good through 12/24. Print it quickly before it's gone!

*Purchase needs to be $10 before taxes.

Smart and Final Extra, Revisited

I had an opportunity to shop at Smart and Final Extra a few days ago. I haven't been there in ages, mainly because we have a Costco membership and I didn't see a need to visit another 'big box' store. I'm pleasantly surprised with the changes they've made to attract 'regular' grocery shoppers. 

The fact that they own Henry's Marketplace, one of my favorite stores for produce, is a big plus for me. I can definitely see myself going there to take advantage of really good sale items. Their prices are in line with the stores I shop in now and fit with my goal of keeping our grocery budget in check.

More check-ins at Smart & Final Extra

Powered by Whrrl

What I liked about Smart and Final Extra:

1. They accept coupons!

2. You don't need a card for the in-store savings.

3. The prices are competitive.

4. The produce section offered a wide variety.

5. I can shop there 'normally' but also go in for the large sized items I'd typically buy if we're ever having a party (without the long lines!).

What I'd suggest as future changes:

1. Expand the store circular to include more of the Smart Savings items. It will make for more thorough coupon matching.

2. Expand their social media profile and start to work with frugal bloggers on a regular basis.

3. The website could be a lot more user friendly.

4. Printable coupons and a partnership with Cellfire.com.

5. E-coupons and/or mobile coupons that can be scanned straight from a smartphone.

6. Even though I could effectively plan a party and shop there, Costco still has a slight edge in that I can order a custom cake, the baked goods selection is huge and I can bring home a hot meal or heat and eat meal.

I forgot to ask Chris (who was super helpful) about their coupon policies. I'd like to know two things:

1. How they handle a coupon that is more than the cost of the item eg: if I have a $1 off coupon for a .99 item, will they adjust the coupon down to be .99 or will I get the penny overage?

2. Are shoppers allowed to use multiple coupons for the same item in one transaction eg: I buy 8 boxes of granola bars and have 8 coupons, will I have to make separate purchases? (some Target stores do this and it's a HUGE turnoff)

I'm really impressed with the changes I saw and will be following the progress to see what other ways Smart and Final Extra will be improving their stores. 

How about you? Have you shopped there recently? What did you think of the store and do you have any suggestions to add? 

*Thank you to Smart and Final Extra for the gift card used to make my purchases. I'm not being monetarily compensated for this post. The gift card did not influence my opinion of the store.

Vons Deals: My Awesome Shopping Trip

I had a fabulous trip to Vons today! I so appreciate all the hard work the frugal bloggers do. I've saved so much money since I started really focusing on cutting our grocery bills. If you'd like to start but feel intimidated, finding a site that gives offers for what's available locally to you is a great way to start. Kerri from Save at Home Mommy has been my go-to for So Cal stores.

We have friends coming into town next week and school is out soon, so I've been stocking up on snacks and kid drinks. I wasn't planning on heading to Vons but the in store promotions coupled with the available coupons were just too good to pass up, especially the Buy 8 Save $4.

This is my shopping trip:

10 SoBe's*

2 Cheerios*

1 Lucky Charms*

3 Coffee Mate creamers (major score)

4 Mac N Cheese (braces friendly)*

3 Crescent Rolls*

6 Yoplait

2 Chex Mix* (might have been free)

1 pretzels

1 Ritz Crackerfuls*

2 milk

4 Odwalla smoothies* (also a major score)

3 Lunchables (do not overlook the manager's specials sections of the store, these were .88 each)

1 half dozen eggs

43 items

Total: $90.13

Paid: $37.20

Savings: $52.93
(*Buy 8, Get $4)

The way Tyler is eating lately, this will all be gone before school is out!

What have you scored on lately?

Aw, Shucks It Was Nothing

Remember my expiring coupons? I got this note yesterday. It made me smile and I had to share:

Melanie-

Thank you so very much for the coupons! I invited two friends over last night and the three of us sorted, clipped and organized coupons for several hours! We all filled our binders full and there are still TONS left. Today I dropped off the rest of the box to the library on post [base] so that other families can share them. You have no idea how many families you have helped - we really appreciate it! My husband couldn't believe it when he realized the box wasn't from a relative but a "stranger." :D Thanks again!

-ML

I sent the box right before Mother's Day. I was in a hurry and didn't remember to take a picture of the stack of coupon inserts before I took it to mail, but the woman at the post office said the box weighed a little over 14 pounds! I wanted it to be a surprise and didn't tell ML it was coming. She sent me two books of stamps which is so darn cute. It's very true that every little bit helps. One small gesture on your end can make a big impact on someone else. Pay it forward when you can.

Thank you to the men and women in our armed services and 
their families!

Frugal Shoppers: Spread the Coupon Love to Military Families Living Overseas

Coupon clipping isn't new for me, but with my recent forays into serious money saving I find myself with extra supplements and coupons that I don't use (or worse, let expire!). Going through my neighbors' recycle bins has proved very rewarding! Between the circulars and all the coupons I've started getting in the mail I'm overflowing.

I posted on the military commissary section of AFullCup.com offering up my extra circulars and got responses right away. Military families living overseas can use coupons up to six months after they expire (but it's best to send ones that aren't more than 3 months expired to account for overseas delivery). They can go regular postal mail to an FPO/APE address. I crammed as much as I could into a flat rate priority mail envelope and paid $4.95.

If you have access to lots of coupon circulars please consider sending anything you don't use overseas to a military family. There's a really big need and the families are so grateful.This would be a great community service, church or scout badge program. Let me know if you'd like to help and I'll walk you through it.

*Not a sponsored post, just passing along goodwill toward men.

You Know You're Coupon Crazy When

...this happens and it almost makes you cry.

$5 Magazine Sale at Amazon

At last count, my magazine subscription number has risen to 22 (it's a sickness). Many I'm getting, like Shape and Woman's Day, are free but I've taken advantage of so many deals I've found online. I've been earning Amazon gift certificates through a web panel I belong to and these $5 subscriptions* have been great for renewing the freebies.

I'm using them as holiday gifts too since we're on a pretty strict budget this year. I'm going to print out the cover of an issue and tie it with a bow to give to the recipient. Hope this helps you guys too!

*It's an affiliate link

Great Find: How I Used the $5 off Hallmark Gold Crown Coupon

CLOSED*If you're in So Cal, don't forget to enter my holiday meal giveaway: a spiral cut ham dinner for 6 people!*CLOSED

I got a pretty sweet deal when I went to the Hallmark store today and wanted to pass it along. Several blogs I read posted about a great coupon for $5 off a $5 purchase a Hallmark Gold Crown stores.

I went intending to pick up a few cards since they have a pretty good selection of .99 ones. When I got to the register, they had a small display of Christmas CD's marked down as their 'deal of the week.' I put four of the cards back and got Barry Manilow and Cheryl Crow CD's instead. Barry was $1 and Cheryl $3. With the coupon I paid .43!


I know most, if not all, Hallmark stores are franchised so this could only be an isolated deal but it's definitely worth checking out. I have 4 more coupons left and I told them I'd be back tomorrow to take advantage of the offer again. The CD's will be good stocking stuffers and teacher gifts.
From what I've read, the $5 coupon is now in 10 different magazines:

* Better Homes and Garden
* Country Living – December/January, after Page 96
* Family Circle – after Page 48
* Martha Stewart Living – December, Page 74
* Oprah – December, Page 119
* Parents – between Pages 84 and 85 ($10 off a story book)
* Real Simple – December
* Southern Living – December, insert after Page 62
* Taste Of Home – December/January, insert after Page 42
* Woman’s Day – December, Page 33

Hope you're able to take advantage of it!

*Thank you Couponing to Disney for compiling the magazine list! Sorry for the bad photo, I wanted to get the deal up before family game night.

Gettin' My Frugal On: Coupons Are Awesome!

*Update: I've added a few more blogs to my reader and I've included them below.

I've been reading more frugal blogs lately hoping to pick up tips on ways to cut our food costs. Since our mortgage went up we're really feeling the pinch. All the sites I read advocate coupons. I use coupons whenever I can, but have never tried all the price matching scenarios because it seemed like so much work.

I figured it wasn't worth the hassle to save a dollar or two. Why burn the gas? Why buy things we don't eat? Man, how I wish someone had smacked me upside the head! Or that I'd met Erin, Erin and Alyssa sooner (met them at General Mills, more on that later). Done right, the savings can be way more than a few dollars, especially if the items go toward building a stockpile (that's frugalista lingo for a huge stash of non perishable foods, toiletries and household items).

Since it's been so. damn. hot. here, this past Saturday I decided to put some of what I've read recently about the Kroger Mega Event into practice and take advantage of the air conditioning (here in So Cal we go to Ralph's). I printed all the coupons I needed, loaded others onto my Ralph's Club card and left the boys here to swelter.

And I returned home with all of this:

Before coupon total: $117

You'll never guess how much I paid for it. Go on, guess.

Nope, try again.

Ooooh, that's close!

You're getting warmer!

Give up? (just tell me the damn total already!)

I only paid $43.95!!!

I know! I was impressed with me too. I think I could have done a little better though. I didn't make a list and I'm pretty sure there was something I forgot. Part of the Mega Event is an in-store promotion where purchasing 10 eligible items automatically took $5 off. Looking at my receipt on the way to the car I had 27 items. If I had counted before checkout adding another three items may have paid off even more.

(Our Armageddon Stash stockpile)

Between my anal compulsive-ness and my competitive-ness, it's totally grocery game on! I even put a note on our mailboxes asking all my neighbors to give me their coupons if they're not going to use them. Tomorrow is trash night and I'm not above doing a little digging in the paper recycling bins.

I will admit that this took a long time. I was on the PC (for printing) and had my new! laptop next to me and I was cycling back and forth between blog posts and the coupon printing sites. But, I have a feeling it will get easier as I get used to when the coupons reload, which sites I like best, what stores I like, a better system for organizing my coupons and which blogs I find most helpful. Hmm... that still sounds like a lot of work...

If you're new to all this too, here's a list of what I've found most helpful so far:

Print coupons from*:

Smart Source

Red Plum

Coupons.com

P&G eSaver (Proctor and Gamble)

Simple and Delicious (ConAgra Foods)

A Full Cup (you can print Target coupons here)

Cool Savings

Unilever

Smart phone options:

Cellfire.com (I loaded coupons straight to my club card but I'm also going to try the free app for my iPod Touch)

Blogs to read:

$5 Dinners (Erin, I totally stalk her, but she's cool with it)

Keeping The Kingdom First (Alyssa)

Mommy Snacks

Deal Seeking Mom

Jane 4 Girls, $800 Annual Budget (Erin, and no, that's not a typo!)

Newly added:
Couponing 101
Save At Home Mommy
Stretching A Buck

Buy extra coupons from:
The Coupon Carryout (for when you know of a great sale price and coupon match, affiliate link)

Clip coupons from:

Sunday paper (Smart Source and P&G)

Red Plum mailer (I've been tossing this in the recycle since the coupons are bundled with other junk, sob!)

All You magazine (sold at Wal Mart, but I'm going to subscribe)

If there's something you know that I don't please share! Does anyone match coupons for Albertson's? And if you've picked up any good tips spill those too, this is all so fascinating to me!

*I did have to register at many of the sites but so far no Spam (photo credit from here)

Supporting Our Troops

I won't get into politics or my feelings about the war here (at least not today). But I do believe a person can be supportive of our troops and their families without being in support of the war.

And I think that support is vital. I can't imagine the stress of having to be a "single" parent while your husband or wife is away, often for months at a time. Or, having to live in a foreign country for years at a time, away from relatives. My hat is off to the people who are in these situations, and I pray their loved ones come home safely.

A few weeks ago I decided to send my unused grocery coupons to a military base. I've done it before, but it was a long time ago. This time, I wanted to have more of a hometown connection.

I went to Meetup.com to look for a local military wives group and found one on Pendleton. I sent an email and they were happy to hear from me even though I wasn't joining their group. 

I'm ready to send off my second batch. It doesn't take me a lot time, only costs a few stamps and is the least I can do. If anyone is interested please let me know and I'll get the information to you.