Friday, May 27, 2011

PRAISES and COUPONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK sadly I have no pictures for you :(  SORRY!!!!

So for the few people who will still read this post anyway :)  I want to ask a favor!!!!!

I have just started couponing.  Yes, I know why not before.....well with working and homeschooling- it just didn't happen.  BUT now that I am not working - he he he that sounds too funny- you know besides running a household, and homeschooling :)  I have started my new hobby/money saver.

Here is the deal- I WANT YOUR TIPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  You see I am going to a class for couponing - through True Couponing.com  which I am excited about, but it doesn't happen until June 20th :(  So I have attempted to start on my own reading up on a few things, but I WANT YOUR TIPS ON COUPONING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Great websites, how you organize, how you do it, anything you can think of regarding couponing tips!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Later I will be doing a post combining those tips and hopefully helping everyone out :)

And just so you know- I will NOT be dumpster diving for coupons, nor will I be hoarding a million tubes of toothpaste, or buying things I do not need/want- UNLESS I CAN DONATE IT TO A WORTHY CAUSE!!!!!  I know extreme couponing has turned people off because it seems like they just hoard and I get it, but I am talking a way to save my family money on things we use and need on a regular basis and with a larger family- it is not hard to use up a lot of things :). 

So let me have it!!!!  Couponing tips....ready, set, GO!!!!

****Please keep praying for that sweet 2 year old with autism he still needs a family!!!!
******Also there are some families that are really in distress over situations right now that really need some lifting up right now.

THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Pray you all have a GREAT MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND- BE SAFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We actually get Memorial Day off this year- HAS NOT HAPPENED IN over 11 years in the camp ministry :)

8 comments:

  1. Can't help with couponing...SO bad at that! :) But can pray and will be praying for sure!
    Enjoy your weekend as well! ;)

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  2. l love commenting BUT I can't help you with couponing. I should but it just seems like one more thing on my list of things to do!

    Have a great weekend especially Memorial Day!!

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  3. Do you read Jen’s blog? She’s a homeschool/ adopted mom to many and her last blog entry was on couponing. http://www.handsheartsquiverfull.com/

    I do not coupon.

    I save money on groceries by eating further down the food chain. I’m vegan (no animal products at all) and my husband is vegetarian. I know, I know, the first thing people think of when they hear we are vegetarian is “I cannot afford to eat that way!” but that’s only because people think vegetarians eat loads of garden burgers and mock chicken. That’s not how healthy or thrifty veg*ns eat! Hehe! I make food from dried beans and grains.I usually (but not always) buy them in the bulk section. Doing it that way is so dirt cheap that I can usually go for the organic varieties for just a few cents more per pound and still be saving bucket loads compared to canned beans, fake meat OR real meat entrees! I know, I know, the first thing people think of when I tell them that is “I do not have the time or patience to soak dried beans and then cook them for four hours!” Oh my goodness, me either! So I just throw the dried beans into the crockpot on my way out the door and when I come home they are ready to be eaten straight or used in any one of many recipes. When I first started eating this way, fiveish years ago, I used this website called Vegweb.com all the time. They have tons of delicious recipes and even a forum where you can ask more experienced people questions about veg eating. Add some seasonings, spices, vegetables, oils and sauces to it and it will be delicious! My advice is don’t start out with anything that is supposed to taste like an animal, you will just be disappointed!

    Okay, so just so you don’t think I am suggesting you and your family go vegetarian, I’M NOT!! But if you could eat veg a few times a week, you would probably save a ton of money, and the food would be much healthier than the processed stuff. ;-) Also, beans a rice make a full protein (IE same nutrition as meat) but you don’t have to eat them in the same mean, a few days apart is fine.

    Okay, so right now are you thinking “Oh, that’s a nice idea, but my children would never go for it!” Well, okay, it might be tricky to get your kids to eat their veggies but you can make vegetable based dishes kids will gobble up! I was a live-in nanny before my husband and I married last summer and I fed the three children who I nannied for vegan EVERY night and weekend. (Yeah, I worked 80+ hours a week- plus they all went to school 30hrs a week.) I have a lot of good, cheap recipes that kids will love that I could pass on to you. My littlest guy (he was three when I started) is really, really picky! Yet, I was able to get him to eat! Hehe. Now that I have not been with them, they are all much pickier and won’t eat some of the things they used to eat with me (I started back to part time with them in February after they burned through two nannies in 8 months--- they have some REALLY challenging post foster care/adoption issues coupled with their adopted mothers insane work schedule!) So I’m seeing that it’s really about slowly introducing/re-introducing unfamiliar foods in fun ways to get kids to eat this way, but it does work! ALSO I want to add that, my husband is a picky, bodybuilding Texan, but after dating me a few months he grew to love my veg food and became vegetarian himself- if he can like it, really anyone can!

    OH! ANNNND, I shop at BJs a lot (it’s like Price club, Sam’s Club or Costco, etc.) and my membership is only $40.00 a year and I save TONS there by buying in bulk. I like their produce, pasta and frozen fruit!

    Sorry I have written a book here. Feel free to ask me any questions you have! So, I‘m sorry this is not a couponing tip…I’m just passing on the tips I do know of. Hehe….

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  4. I have very rarely found any extra-large family that has a lower food budget than we do ... and we dont use Coupons or Costco.

    I'll be interested to hear what you find out about couponing. I have found that generic and store brands are nearly always less expensive than the name brand with a coupon.

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  5. I don't coupon...well, sometimes I clip them, but forget to use them. Anyway, I have a friend who buys 6 Sunday newspapers. She said a 3 months subscription was paid off in 1 or 2 shopping trips with her savings.

    When I do use coupons, I need to watch that I only clip ones for foods I normally buy or I can spend more money because "it's a good deal" buying stuff I don't normally buy. I also agree with Mama D. that you need to watch the coupon vs. off brand items. HOWEVER, if you have a store that doubles coupons AND the item is on sale to begin with you can get really good deals. Most people I know that coupon...it takes a lot of time reading all the store flyers and searching the internet and then going to various stores.

    My closest store actually does not take Internet coupons because of fraud, however every other store in the area does.

    We have several "discount/dent-n-bent" type grocery stores in our county and I try to buy as much as possible there. But even there I need to watch expiration dates (so I don't end up throwing food away) and prices (occasionally it will be higher then just buying at the regular store).

    My favorite $$ saving tip is buying my eggs in bulk. They are "chex" (not good enough for stores, but fine for human consumption) and I get them for $1.50 for 2-1/2 dozen.

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  6. I love freebies2deals.com as well as the savvy shopper. I also do the frugal find and wild for wags. One of the mistakes I made when I first started was to try and score every deal and it can drive you to the poorhouse as well as drive you nuts trying to get every deal every day. Set a specific time each day or pick one day a week. And beware of frugal fatigue. It has saved our family a ton of money and you have to find what works for you and that just takes time and practice. You can do it!

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  7. Oh I wish we had couponing over here! Well done for learning about it!

    Praying for those people you mentioned.

    Have a great week
    Renata:)

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  8. Can't wait to find out the results. We are ALDI's shoppers for sure- that's my key to keeping food budget in place. (and our summer garden- we always have a big one. Example- I canned 55 quarts of applesause last summer.) We never eat out.

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