Couponing Update

NaBloPoMo Day 13
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Well, I have completed my first week of using coupons. I think I did pretty well. I definitely have some bugs I need to work out, but overall, it went pretty smoothly. I spent about 3 hours this week going through the coupons and trying to figure it all out. As I get more familiar with the system, that time factor should greatly decrease. Also, as I build up more of a stockpile, I won't need as many things each week. Here is how I did:

Gerbes (Kroger Store)- bought Saturday

This was my load:As part of thd Mix and Match 10 save $5 event, I bought

• 4 Tony's Pizzas- 2.00 each
  
• Hunts Diced Tomatoes- 1.50
• 2 Palmolive Soaps- 2.50 ea
• Jambalya- 1.50
• Lysol Spray- 3.00
• Betty Crocker Banana Nut Muffin Mix- 2.50 (- $.45 coupon that was doubled; final cost $1.60)

I also got:

• 2 packages of Kroger brand muffin mix- $.50 each
• Kroger brand Vanilla Wafers- $2.00 (part of the buy 10 save $5 promotion; I miscounted!)
• 1 avocado- $1.00 (I just recently started buying, so I don't know if this is a good deal)
• Gala apples- $.99/lb
• Tuna- $.89
• Kroger Marshmallows- $1.29
• 2 cans Cream of Mushroom Soup- $1.00 ea

Total Cost: 45.17
Total Savings: 17.94
Total Spent: $27.23

On to today's buys at Walgreens:

• 2 containers Salt- $.50 ea
• 2 Irish Springs 8 pk bar soap- $3.99 x2 ($4 Register Rewards to use next visit; final cost $1.99 ea)
• 2 Soft Soap Liquid Soap- $3.99 x2 ($4 Register Rewards to use next visit, 2 $1.00 MF coupons; final cost $.99 ea)
• Benadryl 48 pk.- $6.99; 2 Sudafed 24 pk.- $3.99 ea ($5 Register Rewards with combination of all three, 3 $1.00 MF coupons; final cost $7.97 or $2.66 ea)
• Colgate Toothpaste- $2.49 (supposed to have a $1 Easy Saver coupon, but forgot to give it. I am going to take it back and buy again using coupon; final cost $1.49)
• SugarFree Pudding- 4/$1
• SugarFree Jell-O- 4/$2
• 3 Hershey Kiss Dark Chocolate (every pregnant woman needs her dark chocolate!)- $2 ea ($1 Easy Saver coupon, $1 MF coupon; final cost $1.25 ea)

I also bought a couple of bags of pads, but did not realize that I grabbed the wrong ones for the special they were running. I am going to take those back when I take the Colgate back, but will probably not re-buy them. One of the kinks I need to work out is making sure that I watch the register to make sure I am getting the deals I think I am getting. That way I don't have to make any extra trips.

Here are the approximate breakdowns after I take the things back to Walgreens:
Total Cost: ~55.50
Total Savings: ~33.50
Total Spent: ~$22.00
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Total Savings this week: ~$51.44
Total Spent this week: ~$49.23

So, what do you think? Am I getting good deals? I have really been bad in the past and not paid any attention to how much I was spending, so I don't know what things typically cost. I am starting to collect prices from different stores, but that will just take time.

I am going to give this a couple of months to work out the bugs and get into a routine. Then, once the baby comes, I will see if it is worth my time. Hopefully, it will save us a good bit and I will have the time cut down to a minimum!

My New Project

NaBloPoMo Day 9
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As we near Austin's due date and my maternity leave, I am becoming more and more aware of our financial situation. It is not that I am freaking out about it because we have been setting some money back to help cover it, but I am stressing some because we have not saved as much as I had hoped. Also, since I am not working as much any more, we have less and less to put back into savings. Add to that Christmas coming up and the threat of the economy and things are pretty tight right now.

As I have sat at home on my day off or spent time relaxing on my afternoons off, I have been trying to figure out a solution to the situation. One thing I can do to help with the crunch is to try to cut back on our food/eating out budget.

We have been eating out a lot since I have been pregnant because I either did not feel like cooking or could not handle the smell. Now that I am feeling better, I am trying to be better about menu planning. We did pretty well last week. Things turned out pretty much like I had expected except we substituted leftovers for one of the meals. That means I will be making that meal this week. I think that curbing our eating out habit will make a huge difference in our money situation.

But, I still end up spending a lot of money at the grocery store when I do the menu planning. I shop for my groceries at WalMart and Sams because it is generally cheaper there, but it still adds up quickly! That is where my new project comes in handy!

I am officially going to start couponing...seriously. Not like I have in the past where I print off a few here and there and forget to use them. I am going to plan my shopping trips around sales and coupons. I have spent the past week or so reading up on it a lot at some blogs I have found and I think I can really save some money by doing this...if I can stick to it! That is a big IF!

I don't really have the best track record for follow through. I get these grand ideas and then lose focus and the next thing I know, it is a thing of the past. But, this time, I have to give it an honest go!

I have always been overwhelmed by the thought of couponing. Thankfully, I am not going into it blindly this time. I have found a few great websites that help. The most useful thing I have found so far is a post at Mommy Snacks entitled Shopping with Coupons: A Beginners Guide to Saving. It has links to 7 posts that outline how to coupon and what resources to use. While it is still a daunting task, I now feel equipped to handle it. I will be going into it slowly so I don't get in over my head, but I think I can do it.

I will be posting my progress here on my blog for a couple of reasons.

• I need some accountability! Kind of like the NaBloPoMo thing, I am more likely to do it if I have other people holding me accountable.
• I want to be able to share if it really works and how hard/easy it really is to do.

I went on my first shopping trip yesterday to a store I don't normally go using the few coupons I had and my limited knowledge. I will share the results later in the week. I have always been skeptical if the coupons really end up making things any cheaper since I often buy things at a cheaper store and frequently use store brands instead of name brands. I am going to compare my savings at the more expensive store to what it would have cost at my friendly neighborhood WalMart and see how it really stacks up.

If anyone wants to join me in this project, I would love a buddy! Just let me know!

Frugal Friday: Paying off Debt

I was trying to think of what I could say about being frugal... ... ... nothing was coming to me. Then, it hit me. I can share the tip our financial planner gave us.

It is nothing earth shattering. It won't make all of your problems disappear. But, hopefully it might help give some direction. You probably have even heard it before. But, here it is anyway.

Pay off your debts in order of smallest to largest. This really shocked me. I mean, what about the debt with higher interest? Shouldn't I get rid of that first? But the explanation made a lot of sense. If you pay off the smaller debt first, two things happen. First, you get the satisfaction of knowing you paid something off! This encourages you to keep at it. Second, once one is paid off, you can take the amount you were paying on it and apply it to the new smallest debt. As this proceeds, you will be continually be paying more and more on each of the larger debts and they will get paid off sooner.

Huh. Maybe this will work. So, we are trying it out. The first debt (the new furniture posted about here, which we got for 0% interest for a year with no payments) should be paid off in three months and then we can start applying an extra $100 to our credit card. EEK! That one is scary! Here goes nothing!

Also, see my post about paying of your home early. This could be applied to many kinds of debt.

Works for Me Wednesday: Paying off your House

I kept thinking today about what I could post on for my WFMW post this week. I had just about decided not to post when I came across the Financial Shape in 2008 Challenge over at Money Saving Mom. I think I am going to try doing the challenge this year. As I thought about this, I got to thinking about what we do that could help others. One of the biggest things I am proud of financially is how we pay on our house.

We bought our house 4 1/2 years ago. We accidentally got one payment ahead because I did not know that we did not have to make a payment the first month since we had just done all of the closing costs and such. Afraid of starting off late, I went ahead and made the payment. When I realized that we were ahead, I just kept it that way. I thought it would be a good buffer in case we ever had a big unexpected expense some day and needed some extra money. Then, we would have one month where we did not have to pay the house payment. This has happened a couple of times in the past. Each time, we saved up the money to get back a month ahead as soon as possible.

We also pay ~$50-$60 extra on our payment each month that goes directly to principal. If something happens and we can't do it one month, we don't worry about it. But we honestly don't miss it. We would spend that much on something frivolous instead, anyway.

By doing those two things, we have knocked off 27 payments on our 30 year mortgage! That's right! Over 2 years in only 4 1/2 years of paying!

That's what works for me. Head over to Shannon's for more tips.