This coupon tip comes from a reader named Isabella, who reads my column in the Friday Star-Ledger.
I have been clipping coupons for year’s and save an average of $35 a trip. I once saved $100 (free turkey included of course) and the cashier couldn’t believe how well I shopped. I only buy what I need, look through the weekly circulars, and compare the items that are on sale to the coupons I currently have. I LOVE saving money!
One of my favorite coupon organizing tools that you or your audience may like:
The Couponizer saves me a lot of time and people always compliment me when I’m in the supermarket on how easy my coupons seem organized.
I’m thinking about starting my own organizing company, as I love to do this. I’ve pretty much taken care of my mom most of my life, which I love. I think I want to specialize in helping elderly folks choose the right medicare & secondary plan for their needs. I have learned a lot by helping my folks and saved a lot of money for them. Thankfully. I also really love organizing kitchens, closets, etc.
Sorry to talk your ear off, I just really enjoyed your site and wanted to share!
What system do you use to organize coupons?
I bought a simple booklet with six folders from Rite Aid years ago but have taken to filing my coupons my week and then only clipping them when I’m heading to the store. If you have used the Couponizer, please let everyone know if it is worth the $15.
Related:
FruitsAndVeggiesMoreMatters.org
Here is an updated list of in-season fruits and vegetables, which are almost always cheaper than buying out-of-season produce. Greater supply…lower prices. The price of items on the winter fruits and vegetable list will be rising.
This list comes from FruitsAndVeggiesMoreMatters.org. Almost all of these spring fruits and vegetables are familiar to me, unlike many of the items on the winter fruits and veggies list.
In-season produce for March, April, and May
Apricots
Artichokes
Asparagus
Belgian Endive * this is good fresh or lightly sauteed with olive oil, salt, and pepper
Broccoli
Butter Lettuce
Chayote Squash
Cherimoya
Chives
Collard Greens
Corn
English Peas
Fava Beans
Fennel
Fiddlehead Ferns * no idea what this is – any recipe suggestions?
Green Beans
Honeydew
Mango
Morel Mushrooms
Mustard Greens
Oranges
Limes
Lychee
Pea Pods
Pineapple
Ramps * again, I have no clue what this is – any ideas?
Rhubarb * pictured above
Snow Peas
Sorrel
Spinach
Spring Baby Lettuce
Strawberries
Sugar Snap Peas
Swiss Chard
Vidalia Onions
Watercress
Click on the items that are underlined in blue for recipe suggestions and fun facts about the fruit or vegetable. Did you know Chayote Squash is a good source of vitamin C and will keep for up to a month if refrigerated in a plastic bag? Or that you should never eat Rhubarb leaves? Deep red Rhubarb stalks are sweet and rich. Unlike some produce, size does not indicate tenderness.
This post is brought to you by CouponCactus.com, a great source of online coupon codes for taxes, groceries, and more.
My spending has gone crazy over the past few months. A new set of gears for my bike ($90), yards of brown suede for new curtains ($88), two new outfits for a trip to NYC ($152), and a pricey sushi lunch ($34).
Sure, I have reasons behind each purchase (I’m doing a race in May that requires additional gears, buying fabric is cheaper than buying curtains, I had a gift card and a rare coupon for the clothing store, and I hadn’t seen my friend in months), but this kind of spending is not sustainable.
My credit card bill, which I pay off in full each month, has risen on average by a few hundred dollars. Not good. Here are two things I’m doing to shift my habits downward.
1. I only buy groceries on Wednesday. I started this two weeks ago and it has made me more aware of how much money I’m spending on food because it is easier to remember my total purchases from one day. Two weeks ago I spent $92 at Trader Joe’s, which included many staple items, beer, and wine. Last week I spent $27 on groceries. My target weekly grocery spending is $25.
Toward the end of the cycle I challenge myself to create tasty meals with what is left and finish off the last vegetables before they go bad. There is a lot you can do with beans, onions, and garlic!
2. I single out an item on my credit card statement that I didn’t have to buy. This month the dubious honor goes to an $8.10 purchase at Stamps.com. I got sucked into their $100 offer for newbies: sign up and get a $5 supplies kit, $45 in free postage (which is strung out over four months), and a free $50 postage scale (which actually sells for about $20 and is useless after my 30-day trial period unless I join Stamps.com for $16 a month).
I don’t buy enough business postage to make it worthwhile to join Stamps.com for $16 a month. So when I read the fine print the $100 sign-up package evaporated into nothing. At that point, I had already spent $8.10 to get the “free” scale mailed to me. Blerg!
I wish I had been more skeptical of the $100 intro offer, which really was too good to be true. Being greedy cost me $8.10.
What do you wish you hadn’t bought in the past month? Leave a comment and the reader with the best story wins a hot pink BargainBabe.com T-shirt, above. There are only about a dozen left!
This post is brought to you by PlayMe.com, which provides free streaming music from their catalog of more than 2 million songs.
Below is a guest post from Abby who blogs about her personal observations, including ocassional posts on coupon clipping. Abby grew up in Kentucky, works in PR, and is a very spunky gal. Below she explains how she used coupons to get a cart full of groceries for 57 percent off!
During my last trip to Kroger, I got $71.79 worth of groceries for $30.98. 25 items—all ones I like and won’t waste—at an average cost of $1.24 each.
I’m the Coupon Queen. It’s a terrifying, exciting spectacle to behold. And I’m here to say that if you shop regularly at Kroger, and you don’t use coupons, you’re being crazy with your money.
(Why Kroger? Given my current city of residence and based on three-plus years of shopping around at each available area retailer, Kroger is my favorite because of selection, location, and they double coupons up to 50 cents.)
Manufacturers use coupons for promotion of an item and may sometimes work with retailers to slightly increase the price of a product. While consumers still save, manufacturers don’t “lose” as much. And retailers don’t lose anything, as far as money. If you’ll notice on your coupons, there’s a note to the retailer with instructions for sending them back to the manufacturer for reimbursement. (It would be interesting to see statistics for retailers doing the work to get their money back. I bet those coupons are transported in armored cars!)
So how did I get my groceries for almost 60 percent off? Here are my rules:
- Seek out coupons: Sunday newspapers, magazines, coupon Web sites, product Web sites (I’ll list my favorite coupon Web sites below)
- Before you go into the store, pull out the coupons you want to use for only the items you need (saves time in the store AND it helps you stick to your list)
- At the same time, take all your coupons inside the store, just in case there’s a fantastic deal on an item you don’t need, but you kind of want to try and you know you’ll use, and it’s so cheap you have to buy it. Just keep separate stacks. But you rarely dip into this second stack.
- Make time for shopping: I spent 1.5 hours buying 25 items. I realize not everyone has the luxury of such browsing, but if you really want to save money, you’re going to have to find the time.
- In order to really save, you have to purchase items that are on sale AND that you have a coupon for. Example: a few weeks ago, a brand of 12-grain bread was 3 loaves/$5. I just needed one at $1.67/loaf. I had a 50-cent coupon, doubled, and I got my loaf of bread for $0.67. Yummy.
For this recent trip, I used manufacturer’s coupons and my Kroger card, of course. In addition, Kroger was having a promotion within their store: mix and match 10 participating items and get $5 off your entire order (50 cents off each of the 10 items). Oh, and don’t forget, coupons up to 50 cents are doubled.
Let’s break my shopping cart down:
*note: even among remembering coupon values, doing math late at night and deciphering my receipt, the margin of error for the figures below still is pretty minimal.
4 – 24 oz bottles of Propel water (2 black cherry, 2 peach mango)
On sale with Kroger card: .99/bottle
Mix and match promo: .49/bottle
Manufacturer’s coupon: -1.00/4 bottles
Final cost: $0.24/bottle
I talked to Lisa Reynolds, the “resident mom saver in chief” at RedPlum, which distributes coupons to 40 million people in the Sunday newspaper, about how likely a manufacturer is to send you a coupon upon request, secrets to making the most of RedPlum.com, and how coupons will distributed in the future.
Why aren’t there more grocery coupons online? I think we’re seeing an increase in that. More manufacturers have started placing coupons online. People are going to look for savings wherever they can find them. Coupon distribution for consumer packaged goods is up 11 percent from 2009 to 2008.
Do the coupons at RedPlum.com match the ones in Sunday newspaper? There is not 100 percent overlap, so you want to check both places. The coupons online change more rapidly.
Are they restocked on the first of the month like other sites? Not necessarily. We ask people to sign up for our emails, which tell you when they are restocked.
Why are the coupons limited to a certain number of printings online? It is based on what the manufacturer wants to distribute.
How many printings do you typically see? Tens of thousands for most coupons.
How can people sign up for RedPlum coupons? The best way to figure out where they can receive coupons is to go to RedPlum.com [and click on] where is my coupon book?
What if I’m not eligible to receive them? We suggest people contact the manufacturers directly through [the manufacturer] 800-number. Most manufacturers list it on the back of their products. Thirty percent of the time manufacturers will send you coupons.
How are coupon distributers coping with decreasing newspaper circulation? It is a challenge and one of the things that we are able to offer them is a blended solution. [Through newspapers, direct mail in some markets, and online distribution.]
How will coupons be distributed in the future? We’re continuing to see a lot of experimentation with mobile phones and texting. That will continue to proliferate. The key is to make it easy and convenient.
Joe Nelson, the guy behind FlyerSide.com, took My Nitty Gritty Grocery List and ran with it. Thank goodness! I never had enough time to devote to comparing and updating my list of grocery prices. The idea behind FlyerSide and MNGGL is if you don’t know what a “good” price is for something, you’re more likely to over spend.
Joe launched his site after he and his fiance started comparing grocery prices and get the best deals. “The handwritten list soon became a spreadsheet, and the spreadsheet became a web page,” he emailed me. His friends egged him on and he now posts sales from around the country.
When you visit Flyerside, the first thing to do is enter your zip code. The site will show sale prices for individual items sold at stores near you. The more stars an item has, the better deal it is. Five stars means stock up, 2.5 stars means the price is average, and zero stars means buy later.
The site also tells you how many days are left in the sale, gives a description of the item, and shares its price. One less developed feature of the site is recipes for meals based on what’s on sale.
The goal of FlyerSide is to help you to decide what to buy and where to shop. It’s a handy tool – if sales and prices are posted for your neighborhood – that will save you from doing these comparisons on your own. And that means saving money.
Related:
Buying and trading grocery coupons
Adventures in extreme couponing
Shopping at Costco without paying for membership
Zeetz Jones/Flickr
This post is brought to you by Network Solutions, offering great deals on web hosting packages.
As a follow up to my earlier post about saving money by buying in-season vegetables, here is a list of in season fruits that should be cheaper than the usual offerings.
Apples
Cherimoya (pictured above)
Dates
Grapefruit
Kiwifruit
Oranges
Passion Fruit
Pear
Persimmons
Pummelo
Red Currants
Tangerines
I don’t know what some of this stuff is, but if you click on each fruit it’ll take you to a page with fun facts about the fruit and ways to eat/cook it.
Barbara L Hanson/Flickr
We all know it’s cheaper to eat veggies that are in season, but what exactly is available this time of year? Here’s a list from Fruits and Veggies More Matters (not the best name for a website but the info is really good).
Click on each vegetable below for tips on selecting them at the store, info on the nutrition benefits, and the top 10 ways to prepare each one. My favorite winter vegetable is brussels sprouts.
Belgian Endive
Brussels Sprouts
Collard Greens
Kale
Leeks
Radicchio
Sweet Potatoes
Turnips
Winter Squash
Bonus: Here’s a recipe for roasted winter veggies from one of my favorite cookbook authors, the Barefoot Contessa.
KrissZPhotography/Flickr
This is a guest post from Margarette Burnette at CouponsAndKids.com.
We could all use a jump-start in our savings for the new decade. If you’re looking for new ways to plump up your nest egg, try these ten ideas for 2010.
1. To get winter savings, call your heating provider and ask for a lower rate. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the average cost of space-heating fuels this winter is expected to decrease by about $84 . If you’re on a fixed rate heating plan—where unit rates won’t decrease at all–call your utility company and ask if it makes sense to go to a variable (or lower fixed) rate plan. Potential 2010 Savings: $84.
2. For summertime savings, call your electric company and enroll in a load management program. You could get a discount if you agree to cut your energy usage during peak periods (when air conditioners are typically going full-speed). In the mid-west, customers who opt for Duke Energy’s Power Manager Program receive a one-time credit of at least $25 just for signing up. Potential 2010 Savings: $25 or more.
3. Adopt a “round up” or “round down” spare change savings plan. Whenever you spend money, round up the total and put the difference between the actual price and the round number in your savings account. If you round up only $5 a week, that’s a 2010 savings of $260.
4. Come in under-budget at the grocery store. Every week, write out your grocery list and try to figure out how much your bill will be. Then, bring the right amount of cash for those purchases. If you come in “under budget”, deposit the difference at the bank (some supermarkets have banks or ATMs on the premises). By making $10 under budget each week, you could deposit 2010 savings of $520.
5. When shopping online, use rebate web sites. Companies such as Upromise.com give a rebate of 1% to 25% of purchases spent through their site, which can go towards a child’s college fund. If you make $4,500 in online purchases over the course of the year, and receive an average a rebate of 5%, that’s a potential 2010 savings of $225.
6. Call your car insurance company and ask for a low-mileage discount. If you commute fewer than 10,000 miles per year (for example, you work from home or recently lost your job), car insurance companies may give you a rate discount of up to ten percent. If your premium is usually $1,750 a year, that’s a potential 2010 savings of $175. (And even if you don’t have a short commute, shop around for new insurance at least once during the year. You may find a lower rate with another insurer).
7. Find a credit card with lower interest rates. Though new credit card rules don’t take effect until February, you may be able to find a lower rate today by comparing credit card companies. One free site, Billshrink.com, will let you anonymously input information about your credit card usage. It will then instantly make recommendations about which cards can save you money. If you have a $7,000 balance and can lower your interest rate by 4.5%, that’s a 2010 savings of $315.
8. Find a better cell-phone plan. Billshrink also lets you compare your cell-phone company against their competitors to find a better deal. The average person spends $63 a month for cell phone use, so if you find a plan that fits your needs for 30% less, your 2010 savings could be $225.
9. Seal your heating ducts. According to the Energy Star web site, doing so can prevent the “open window” cold air effect in the winter and save about $190, or twenty percent of the average heating bill. Potential 2010 Savings: $190
So far, you have a potential savings of more than $2,000. But don’t blow all your money before the end of the year. Instead:
10. Invest in a high yield savings account. Many online and traditional financial institutions offer FDIC-insured savings products that can help you earn more on what you save. This Bargain Babe post has information on how to find a better bank to save money. When you do that, it will be a great way to start the New Year.
Start off the New Year with a personalized fitness plan, courtesy of Curves.
Grab a free sample of NicoDerm to help you kick your smoking habit!
For a limited time, get two boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios free from Walgreens when you buy a gallon of milk.
Check out the load of kids stuff on sale at Sur la Table.
Yes, I shop at Anthropologie. No, I do not pay full price. Here’s how.
Check out all the deals on my WalletPop blog.
Watch this video if you are loyal to brand names. Atlanta’s consumer advocate Clark Howard talks for 1:13 about a new site that sells brand name groceries and products, like Tide, for less than he has been able to find anywhere else. Plus you can get coupons for these products, too.
Thanks, SpendLessTV!
A new friend shared a little known fact about shopping at Costco. Members can purchase Costco cash cards and give them to non-members. Recipients can get a free one-day membership to use the cash card on gas or warehouse items. The cards are also good online.
Cash cards make great gifts and they are useful for employees, students living away from home, and friends who are dying to buy 20 pounds of strawberries.
Costco’s page on cash cards lacks details but it may be possible for the recipient to re-load a card as long as they leave some money on it. It also looks like recipients can buy goods for more than the card is worth as long as they can pay for the remainder in cash.
It is unclear if a non-member who receives a Costco cash card is limited to a certain number of uses per year. I suppose if they start recognizing you, you’ll need to pony up $50 and get a membership. Otherwise, the usage guidelines are somewhat open to interpretation.
Thanks, Kim!
We started three coupon trains recently on BargainBabe.com, including one in Los Angeles (read my earlier post about coupon trains). I was skeptical that the benefits – saving money – would outweigh the time required to clip coupons, mail them onto the next person on the train, and remember to use the ones I pulled from the envelope sent to me.
My skepticism turns to delight when I received my first envelope – packed, just packed with coupons!!!
I took out six coupons totaling $5.75 and sent the rest onto the next person in the train with a few new coupons. The picture at right does not do justice to all the coupons I received in my train.
I put extra postage on the envelope to make sure it makes it to its next destination, but even with the $1.26 worth of stamps, I’ve come out ahead. The time required was minimal – clipping coupons only took a few minutes.
Want to join a coupon train? Just find a few friends who want to share coupons in the mail.
Some friends in Portland, OR have four pet chickens that lay about as many fresh eggs as poops in their backyard. I was curious if raising chickens saved them money so I asked them to break it down for me.
On a monthly basis they pay…
Pine shavings for litter: $5
Organic feed: $10
Total cost for four chickens: $15
Monthly egg yield: 78 eggs
Cost of 78 organic eggs in the store at $3/dozen: $19.50
Monthly savings: $4.50
But the monthly cost analysis does not take into account all the expenses so let’s look at the yearly investment.
Buying the birds: approx. $5 per chick x 4 chicks = $20
Cost of chicken coop: $500 (They made a very impressive coop themselves. One could be made for much less.)
Yearly upkeep (12 x monthly cost): $180
Yearly cost of chickens: $700
Yearly egg savings (12 x monthly egg costs): $234
Yearly savings: -$466
By this analysis, our friends are going broke raising chickens. However, there are other factors that have an intangible cost benefit. These are impossible to put a dollar figure on because each person values them differently.
These factors include the time spent tending the chickens, the money saved from eating less meat because you are getting more protein from eggs, the value of a constant source of fertilizer, pride in raising your own chickens, enjoyment gained from having perky pets, and the value of fresh eggs.
There is also the WOW factor when you show guests your chickens, which is generally offset by the poop everywhere factor.
Depending on how you value these factors, raising your own chickens could be just the thing for you. Just don’t hold chickens too close to your face. Peck!
A great resource for anyone interested in pet chickens is MyPetChicken.com.
Thanks Alisa!
If you read about my Nitty Gritty Grocery List in today’s N.J. Star-Ledger you are in the right place.
Download my Nitty Gritty Grocery List here. (You have to click twice, the second time on the tiny print “nittygrittygrocerylist.”)
What additional grocery items should I add to the list?
