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Friday, January 28, 2011

Saving Money @ the Gas Pump!

Right now, where I live in Alabama, gas is nearly or right at $3.00 or more a gallon. I heard on the radio that by the time it's Spring Break, gas is expected to be about $3.50-$3.75 a gallon and in some places $4 a gallon. Any tips that can help people save money on gas or that can help them get more use from their gas, I'm sure will be welcomed knowledge! :)

I found out through both an article I read many years ago and also a show that I watched that if you purchase your gasoline at night time and in cooler weather, you will actually get more fuel for your money. Heat and sunlight causes evaporation. While you are pumping your gas in the daytime, the sunlight is actually already working to evaporate your gasoline before it ever hits your tank. It may say that you just bought 10 gallons of gas, but in reality, evaporation may have made you lose a gallon!

Also, do not use the gas pumps at a gas station when they have fuel tank trucks present and pumping fuel into their systems. If you use the gas pumps while they are being filled, you are going to get air in your tank and lose out on the fuel that you think you are buying. Plus, air in your tank is not good on your car.

Some great coupons from COMMON SENSE WITH MONEY!

These coupons were just posted by COMMON SENSE WITH MONEY, so I thought I'd share them. I am not the original source for these coupons!

FREE CANDLE FROM BATH AND BODY WORKS


50 CENTS OFF 1 BOX OF HAMBURGER HELPER

(THIS IS A GREAT DEAL AS WAL-MART USUALLY HAS THESE FOR $1 A BOX! THAT IS JUST 50 CENTS!)

When I find coupons that I think are worthy of passing along, I will. For those of you who would like more coupons, you can check the COMMON SENSE WITH MONEY blog or many other sites online that post coupons!

My 1st Groupon coupon experience!

I blogged the other day about a site I used for the first time, called Groupon. Well, we used our $30 coupon (that I paid only $5 for!) last night to eat out for dinner. The restaurant was over an hour away. The food was ok...nothing special like I thought it would be (since the name said it was steakhouse and seafood...I was expecting a lot more!). We did love the fried green tomatoes that we got as our appetizer. The rest of it was just ok...that's it. We got a little over $40 worth of food for me, my husband, and our kids. Thanks to my $30 Groupon coupon, we only paid a little over $12 for our meal...plus the $5 I paid on the coupon, so for a total of $17 that we spent...it was worth about THAT much! LOL

We will DEFINITELY keep our eyes out for more great offers from Groupon. I just hope the next restaurant has tastier food! :)

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Groupon!!! A great deal!

I was introduced to a new type of coupon service called Groupon, by one of my friends who is also a very thrift-saavy mom and wife. I had never heard of it. She told me that she and her husband used the service a lot to get good deals on local restaurants they eat out at. Well, today, I am proud to say that I FINALLY took advantage of this great service, and WOW, I got a great deal!
Groupon is kinda like an auction for group amounts of coupons. From my understanding, I believe they offer a set amount of discount deals for local restaurants, and then they give them to you for half the face value price. So, for example, you might be able to get a $40 Groupon to XYZ restaurant for only $20. However, I believe the way it works is they have to have a set amount of people purchase that Groupon before the discount is actually activated. Well, I got lucky! I was sent a $10 off coupon for Groupon today, so I went to their website, and I found a great deal on a steak and seafood restaurant in Gadsden, Alabama, which is less than an hour from us. We have never been to this restaurant, but we looked over their online menu, and the prices were really decent, and the food sounded good! The deal going on for this particular restaurant was a $30 Groupon for $15. Well, I had the coupon for $10 off, so I bought one Groupon for this restaurant. I got $30 worth of food for a total price of only $5!!! I can't wait to try this new restaurant out! This is one of the best deals I've gotten! We will definitely use this service again!

Check them out! If you choose to join, which it is free to do, then please use this referral link:

http://www.groupon.com/r/uu12905252


Thanks!

My Great Buys from Today!

I started off my pre-shopping extravaganza by going through my emails from different couponing and deal-seeking blogs that I subscribe to. I learned of different deals going on at Target, so I printed off the Target and manufacture coupons that I needed and put them in my coupon binder. (I have bought a 3-ring binder that I put labeled dividers in and have sectioned off into different sections so that I can keep all my coupons organized. This has saved a ton of time, and I don't have to worry about losing any of my coupons. When it comes time to use the coupon, I put it inside of the inner pocket to keep all my coupons that are needed for that particular shopping trip together, so that I have a quick way to get them once I'm at checkout! I actually got this idea from the TLC show that aired a few weeks ago, "Extreme Couponing".)
While at Target, I started off getting only what I had coupons for, and then I found an awesome deal on Sara Lee Pumpkin pies (the frozen kind). They were originally $5, marked down to $1.74, so eventhough I did not intend on buying any pies, nor did I have coupons for them, I just couldn't pass up that great of a deal. I bought 3! We love pumpkin pie!
Once I was done with all my shopping, I checked out. My total came to over $140 BEFORE coupons...AFTER coupons....exactly $93! Savings of almost $50! Not the most extreme one for me, but it was definitely worth it!
On top of that, I found a coupon for free junior-sized Wendy's sea salt french fries. Our kids and I went ahead and ate at Wendy's for dinner while we waited on my husband to finish his Jiu-Jitsu class. I couldn't pass up a freebie! LOL So, with the food I bought and the 2 things of FREE french fries, my total for me and my 2 kids was only a little over $8. Not too bad!

So, you Love Starbucks & other fancy cafes and bistros?

Starbucks...most of us just can't live without their coffees and lattes...well, but some of us can! I am not a coffee drinker, so I do not like coffee regardless of who makes it or where it comes from...but I AM a tea drinker...to the point of obsession! I collect tea like hands collect germs! LOL I LOVE tea, and my super favorite tea is CHAI! For those of you who don't know what chai is, it is an Indian tea (from India). The word "chai" means...simply...tea! Chai consists of cinnamon, cardamom, black tea, honey, and a bunch of other tasty things. The best way for me to enjoy chai is in the form of an iced chai tea latte! Ok, so Starbucks was the first place to introduce me to this tea in iced form, many years ago! I was hooked instantly! I thought the only place I could this tea was Starbucks, so every chance I got, I made a trip to Starbucks to get a Venti sized Iced Chai Tea Latte with whip and cinnamon sprinkled on top. Grand total each trip= a little less than $4. When you stop and think about it, that is A LOT for just one drink! When you calculate a nearly daily drive to Starbucks (the gas costs) plus the cost of one nearly every day at $4 x about 5-7 days a week, that is nearly $40-$50 a week just for a drink!!! Not to mention all the calories!
Well, one day, I started looking up chai tea lattes online to see if I could learn how to make them, and when I did a Google search of Starbucks Iced Chai Tea Latte recipe, the only thing that kept coming up was "Tazo Chai Tea concentrate". I had always been a big time user of the chai tea latte packs made by Oregon Trail, but I never knew Tazo made Chai tea also. I struck gold! I found out the secret to Starbucks chai tea lattes! It is nothing more than Tazo Chai Tea concentrate! So, on my next shopping trip to Wal-Mart, I looked in the tea aisle and low and behold, they had it! I couldn't believe my eyes...one box of chai tea concentrate was only $3.84! So, you mean to tell me, I can buy this box of concentrate for less than one cup of Starbucks iced chai tea latte! NO way! All I had to do was add milk, whip and cinnamon, and I was able to make my OWN Starbucks drinks right at home!
So, let's compare prices here:
1 box of concentrate= $3.84
**Each box makes approx. 4-5 20 oz glasses**
1 container of lactose-free milk (since that is all I can drink)= $3.50
1 container of spray whip cream= $2.00
1 container of cinnamon powder= $2.00
Grand total= about $12 or less...and that is for 4-5 Venti sized glasses at home!
So, if I bought 5 Venti sized glasses at Starbucks that would total about $20-something.
Therefore, making my own at home, which only takes MAYBE 5 mins. total, I'm saving about $8 or so on just the ingredients, and not to mention the amount of gas I'm saving by doing it at home.
I once asked a friend who swore she couldn't live without Starbucks, "Why not just make it at home? You can buy the chai tea at Wal-Mart, and you can buy almost every coffee Starbucks offers, at Wal-Mart or Target for usually less than $5 or $6 a bag?" Her response..."Well, it's so much more convenient to just buy it from them." Ok, it takes the average person about 5 or 10 mins. to brew coffee at home, and it takes me no more than 5 mins. to make the chai tea latte at home, so how is that more convenient? When you go to Starbucks, you are usually stuck waiting in line LONGER than that! The average wait time I've waited in a Starbucks was about 10-15 mins., and that includes line time and then the time it takes them to make my item. So, not only are you saving TIME making your own....but you are also saving MONEY!
Lesson learned....
Convenience NEVER saves money!

Tips on Coupon Stacking

Here are 2 great sites with some powerful information on how to do coupon stacking! This method of couponing takes a lot of knowledge on how to work your coupons. You can actually get totally free items AND get the store to PAY YOU for the item! Think I'm crazy?Read these articles below:

http://www.couponsherpa.com/ask-coupon-sherpa/8-tips-to-effective-coupon-stacking/

http://www.ehow.com/how_5258729_stack-coupons-groceries.html

***I am sharing these sites. I am not the owner of the information!***

Store Cards!

Store cards! If you don't have them, sign up for them. Most of them are free. Even if you rarely shop the store, the couple times you do, you'll save money. Most stores like Winn-Dixie (in the South) or Pick and Save (up north) have store card prices. When you pick your grocery item, it will have 2 prices...the price with the card and the price without the card. Sometimes this price can be a difference of a few cents or a difference of several dollars. You save money each time you swipe your card! I own a store card to TONS of stores! I have one for Toys R Us/Babies R Us, which actually gives me points for every purchase, and once it gets to $100 limit that I've spent, I get a rebate check in the mail. I think it's like $5 or $10 towards a purchase. It helps! I have a GameStop one that I just signed up for. Not sure really what I get from that one. I only shopped there one time now that we don't buy anymore video games (we have way too many!), but the one time I shopped there, I racked up some points. I have a Hallmark card, which allows me to earn points towards gift certificates to be mailed to me. They are usually like $5 or so towards a purchase of $5 or more. I also have many others that I can't think of right now...like I said...I have TONS! LOL

Another great way to save money is to buy a membership to a warehouse store like Sam's Club or Costco. Yes, buying in bulk is sometimes ridiculous...for example, who needs a truck load of toilet paper, right? But sometimes, buying in bulk really saves on money! We love our Sam's Club membership. We also have the Sam's Club standard credit card, which is actually made into a membership ID card. The great thing about this card is that we can use it at any Wal-Mart or Sam's Club, and the payments are low!

So sign up for every free card you find! You'll be amazed at how much money you can save!

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

A Little Bit About Me!

Hello everyone!
My name is Jami. I am married with 2 kids. My husband is former Active Duty Army and is now serving in the National Guard and going to college full-time. When we were in active duty, we were stationed at Ft. Riley, Kansas. I was working part-time as a Licensed Practical Nurse, going to college on post and working on my 3rd college degree, volunteering at the WTB SFAC on post, and running my own non-profit organization to help the single soldiers who were returning from deployment. We lived at Ft. Riley from 2007-2009. That was the only station we ever got sent to. There was not much to do there. We were over an hour from Topeka, which was where the Sam's Club, Chuck E. Cheese, the "big" mall, and many other opportunities were. I started becoming very saavy about online shopping and swapping. I joined a group called Freecycle.org. Freecycle. org is an amazing online community of recyclers. Instead of throwing stuff away in the trash, you post it online in a forum, and then other people choose it and pick it up from you. Living on a military base brought MANY great opportunities to get some really awesome stuff for FREE...just because the families got orders to move overseas or were getting out and just had way too much stuff to take with them. We got all kinds of stuff off Freecycle, and at the same time, I got rid of a lot of stuff on Freecycle. So, that was my addiction for a while. Through Freecycle, I met many other spouses on post that I would have never met on a regular basis, and I ended up creating some really awesome friendships that are still on-going even today! Through these other moms/military spouses, I learned new tricks about shopping and saving that I knew about but wasn't great at. I had used coupons before, but I never really knew how to "use" them. I was the occasional coupon user who would use one or two every few months. I learned, though, about how to use coupons ONLINE...something I never even knew you could do! So, that was the start of my couponing career!
Forward to 2009, my husband finished his term with the Army, and we were now expecting our baby boy (2nd child). We moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin (West Allis), where my husband was originally from. I did not know anything about Wisconsin or Milwaukee, but it reminded me a little bit of where I was from, Riverside, California...well, minus the palm trees and beaches...instead Wisconsin had big oak trees and Lake Michigan, which is the size of a beach and looks like a beach, but it's polluted and nasty, and you really don't want to swim or fish in it! LOL While we were living in Wisconsin, I became a stay-at-home-mom...something I had NEVER been before, well, at least...NOT full-time! I was pregnant with our baby boy, and my husband had a full-time & really good paying job with FedEx Smartpost in New Berlin, WI, so we were able to afford for me to stay at home. It was a little weird at first. I was used to working as a nurse, and usually working full-time, but I was really happy to get to stay home this time. With our daughter, I had to work full-time and hardly ever got to see her. I felt like daycare was raising her. When I found out I was pregnant with our son, I told my husband that I was not going to do the same to him. Well, staying at home all the time was really boring...I won't lie! I don't know how people do it just to do it. I'm a very active person, and I could not stand being at home all the time, but as I got further into my pregnancy, having to walk down a flight of stairs just to leave our apartment and then another flight of stairs to do laundry, got really old...really fast. While our daughter was at school, I started teaching myself new ways of saving money. I figured if I couldn't work, then I'd at least stretch our money and create a well-maintained budget. I spent hours a day researching couponing, bulk buying, local sales, etc. online. We had at least 5 different grocery stores whose ads we got in the mail all the time. We subscribed to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel newspaper just so that we could get the Sunday paper, which was always chocked full of valuable coupons. I found several coupon swapping sites online and became a member of them and started swapping coupons. Plus, I found a Freecycle community in our area, so I was able to get rid of stuff and get stuff in our new area also. (My favorite score off Freecycle in Milwaukee was a complete apple decor set from Home Interiors! Beautiful stuff and in great condition...and all free! Can't beat free!) As I did more and more research on couponing, I started learning the tricks of the trade and became really good at it! My husband was so amazed at how much money we were always saving when we shopped. I not only did couponing, but I also learned how to work Wal-Mart's admatch guarantee! With 5 competitors in the local area, I learned how to shop LITERALLY all around town in a matter of a few minutes, and then I would buy everything at Wal-Mart, so I saved the gas of going here and there, and I saved the time! I also learned that Target has a portion of their website where they offer TARGET coupons that you can use with manufacture coupons. There are so many tricks to couponing that it can be mind-boggling, but it's so much fun and so great feeling...when you see your bill get cut in half or even more! My biggest saves with couponing and ad matching were a grocery shopping trip at Wal-Mart where our total bill came to the total of almost $300 , and with couponing, ad matching, and items that were already on sale also...our total....$90! Another great one was at Target, where I was buying Christmas gifts for our kids (toys and learning items), and I used both manufacture coupons along with Target coupons....total bill $300...the amount that I actually PAID...$30!!! Yes, you read that right! And yes, when people in line and even the cashier see savings like this...they freak! LOL It usually becomes a big crowd stunner, but it's a great feeling to know that I know what it takes to work the system!!! And it's totally LEGAL!!! If I can do it, you can do it too! That is why I created this blog....