Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Cleaning products
I use all green cleaning products which generally cost a little more. You can make your own all purpose cleaner very easilly with just 4 parts vinegar to 1 part water (double check with google on the ratios for that) but I hate the smell of vinegar. I use Shaklee brand cleaners. They are super concentrated so they last forever. I have been on the same bottle for a year and a half now. You can get them on Shaklee.com. My brother is a distributer so let me know if you are interested in the cleaners. I use the same cleaner for disinfecting, bathrooms, and kitchen floors. That way I don't have to buy a bunch of different things.
The lowdown on coupons
As I mentioned, I get the Sunday paper each week for coupons. I also use the midweek circular. Once per month the P&G coupons are in there which is what I use for the majority of my paper products. Also in the weekly circular are the grocery store sale flyers. I only clip the coupons that I would actually use. If you clip everything it gets very overwhelming.
The trick with coupons is that you can't be too set on which brands you use because they are not always on sale when you want them. One month we may be using colgate toothpaste and the next month it is crest. I used to be a complete diaper snob. I would only put my precious angels in pampers diapers because they were the pretty ones. Now that I am much wiser I have realized that the target brand diapers are roughly $4 cheaper per box, usually have a $1.50 coupon on them, and overall work just as well as the others.
Using just a coupon toward a product purchase is a great start but where the big savings come in is when you start stacking them. For example... If a box of pasta is regularly $2.25 per box but is on sale for $1.50 and you have a $1 off coupon the pasta would only cost you $.50 but my store doubles coupons on wednesdays and Saturdays so it would be free!!! At target you can use a target coupon and a manufacturers coupon for the same item. Generally I get things like toothpaste, deodorant, shave gel, toothbrushes, etc for less than $.50 but more often they are free. It is all about watching when things are on sale and comparing with what coupons you have on hand.
I can occasionally find coupons on some of the coupon websites like coupons.com, couponsuzy.com, and couponmom.com. A lot of times they are the same ones I get in my Sunday paper. If there is a specific product I use that I need a coupon for I will go to that companies website to see if they offer coupons. Organicvalley.com is great for organic milk, etc.
At most stores if you bring your own bags they will give you $.05 per bag. It doesn't sound like much but I love the feeling of making money before I even step foot in the store :)
The trick with coupons is that you can't be too set on which brands you use because they are not always on sale when you want them. One month we may be using colgate toothpaste and the next month it is crest. I used to be a complete diaper snob. I would only put my precious angels in pampers diapers because they were the pretty ones. Now that I am much wiser I have realized that the target brand diapers are roughly $4 cheaper per box, usually have a $1.50 coupon on them, and overall work just as well as the others.
Using just a coupon toward a product purchase is a great start but where the big savings come in is when you start stacking them. For example... If a box of pasta is regularly $2.25 per box but is on sale for $1.50 and you have a $1 off coupon the pasta would only cost you $.50 but my store doubles coupons on wednesdays and Saturdays so it would be free!!! At target you can use a target coupon and a manufacturers coupon for the same item. Generally I get things like toothpaste, deodorant, shave gel, toothbrushes, etc for less than $.50 but more often they are free. It is all about watching when things are on sale and comparing with what coupons you have on hand.
I can occasionally find coupons on some of the coupon websites like coupons.com, couponsuzy.com, and couponmom.com. A lot of times they are the same ones I get in my Sunday paper. If there is a specific product I use that I need a coupon for I will go to that companies website to see if they offer coupons. Organicvalley.com is great for organic milk, etc.
At most stores if you bring your own bags they will give you $.05 per bag. It doesn't sound like much but I love the feeling of making money before I even step foot in the store :)
Get organized and plan ahead
The biggest tool to save money is organization. I get the Sunday paper each week and clip coupons. I only clip what I will actually buy. More on coupons later. I keep everything organized in a binder divided into several categories so that I can find what I need very quickly. I plan a weeks worth of meals at a time and do one weekly grocery shopping trip and one weekly trip to target for everything else. There is a dry erase board on my fridge so when I run out of something I won't forget to get it on my next shopping trip. I have found that every extra trip I make to the store costs me more than planned because I can never seem to just run in and grab one thing. Along with the grocery list in hand I try to only spend on average $75 per week on groceries.
After watching the show "extreme couponing" on TLC last week I seem to be spending way too much but I am just an entry level couponer. With a one year old and a three year old running around the house I do not have hours each day to devote to this. I spend on average 1-2 hours each week.
After watching the show "extreme couponing" on TLC last week I seem to be spending way too much but I am just an entry level couponer. With a one year old and a three year old running around the house I do not have hours each day to devote to this. I spend on average 1-2 hours each week.
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