10 Money-Saving Basics

Welcome to So, Here's The Deal!  I love finding a good deal.  It just makes my heart happy!  I'm a stay-at-home mom, so the only way I contribute to the household income is to save household income.  A penny saved is a penny earned.  (Okay, so I'm better at that with some things than with others!)  A couple of years ago one of my wonderful sisters taught me some tips and tricks about couponing that she learned from our aunt.  Since then, I've been hooked!  This blog is to share about sales, deals, and coupons I find.  Hopefully, you can use some of the tips to save money for your family, too.

I want to start with a list of 10 money-saving basics.  At least these are the basics to me.  If you know anymore, please share!  At the risk of forgetting some...

 1.  Pray.  I'm serious.  Pray for your grocery shopping trip.  Not because God is some kind of genie that will give you all of your groceries for $2, but because He is a God that cares about your need and wants you to be a good steward of the resources He has given you.  "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?"  (Matt.6:26)

 2.  Be aware of weekly ads.  Look at the ads for your local stores.  I have to confess, I go to sometimes 4 different stores every week for shopping.  Not everybody can do that I know.  Walmart does price match (they will match a competitor's prices), but other stores have programs that allow you to save more money if you go to that store (more about that later).  You can check most ads on the stores' websites.  Locally, Kroger and Gardner's have ads that come out on Wednesday and last until the next Tuesday.  Walgreens' ad comes out on Sunday and goes through Saturday.  Knowing your ads lets you know sales and how to match coupons to those sales.

 3.  Be aware of rewards programs.  If you shop at Kroger, you need a Kroger card.  Not only will you save money on groceries, but you can save money on gas too.  Kroger will also send you coupons for their store in the mail.  Walgreens has a program called Register Rewards.  You don't have to have any sort of card of membership.  Every week certain items will give you Register Rewards which is a coupon for a certain amount that you can use on your next shopping trip (or next transaction).  Example:  This week they had Softsoap refills 2 for $11.  Then, you got $5 back in Register Rewards.  So, it's like paying $6 for 2 refills.  Use the $5 in Register Rewards for next week's trip or for something on a different transaction.  There are some details with this program I'll talk about on a different post.

 4.  Know where coupons can be doubled.  Doubling coupons will save you a lot of money, especially when you match them with a sale.  Locally, Kroger doubles coupons every day up to 60 cents (meaning you could save $1.20 with a 60 cent coupon).  Fred's doubles coupons up to 70 cents on Saturdays only.

 5.  Know where to get coupons.  Buy a Sunday paper.  Most of your coupons will probably come from there.  You can go here on Thursdays for a preview of the following Sunday's coupons.  Find and print coupons online.  The best site is coupons.com.  You can also google certain products for coupons.  Many name brands have coupons on their websites that you can print.  You can also find many coupons at the Pillsbury website and the Betty Crocker website.  Most printable coupons will allow you to print them twice.

 6.  Look for catalinas and blinkies.  Maybe you've noticed the little dispensers of coupons at Kroger and other places.  They are scattered among the aisles.  Those are blinkies.  Take one.  It might save you or someone you know some money.  Catalinas are the coupons that print out with your receipt when you check out.  At Kroger, they are pretty specific according to what you buy.  For instance, I will frequently get diaper coupons or baby food coupons printed out at the register because that's what I buy!  Save them for your next trip.

 7.  Just because you have a coupon, doesn't mean you should use it.  By this I mean, if you buy something that you don't normally use simply because you have a coupon, you're not saving any money.  You're spending money you normally wouldn't have.  Now, if you can replace something you normally buy with that item because it is cheaper with the coupon, go ahead.

 8.  Don't buy more than you have to.  Many people think that because something is 10 for $10 that they have to buy 10.  Nope.  Only buy what you need and get it for a dollar each.

 9.  Know your prices.  Try to have a general idea of what each of your regular grocery items cost.  This allows you to know a better price when you see it.  You can know if a particular store has a better deal or if a sale is really a good sale.

10  Match coupons with sales.  This is where you get the most bang for your buck.  Sixty cents may not seem like much, but when it gets doubled and matched with a sale, it could be huge!  Let me give you a big fat for instance:  At one point, Kroger had Suave shampoo 10 for $10.  I had a coupon for 50 cents off two bottles.  This was doubled, so I got $1.00 off two bottles.  Which resulted in me paying 50 cents a bottle for two bottles of shampoo.  Pretty nice!  There have been weeks where I saved more than I spent because of matching coupons with good sales.

Whew!  Didn't realize that was going to take so long.  I'm sure you didn't either.  Ha!  Hang with me.  It's so much fun!  (At least I think it is!)  I hope this gets you off on the right foot saving some money!