Couponing Tactics

Yup, there's Google and a ton of excellent resources. But I thought I'd go ahead share how I save money.

1. Sign up for or subscribe to websites that do coupon matching for free.
Couponing101 is a great start. I get so many emails about coupon match-ups, free samples and other deals. It's ridiculous!

2. LIKE product/brand pages on Facebook/Twitter... they tell you about special deals/samples/coupons all the time!

3. Sunday newspapers & eBay are excellent resources for getting coupons. My local library also has a monthly coupon swap. Also ask your friends. I also print coupons from places like Target's coupon page. Sometimes you can find coupons IN or ON products.

4. Sign up with product/brand WEBSITES. Sometimes they email special promos.

5. Shopper loyalty cards. Forfeit your personal info (email at least) - you will benefit! I have a key ring with just those.

6. Using coupons...
Manufacturer coupon + store coupon + rollback/price cut = big savings!

7. Lame and tedious as it is, but reward codes in packages (for me, it's Huggies) can be redeemed for some good stuff. I have two free magazine subscriptions and a big Starbucks card coming to me.

There ya go. That's how I've saved money by using coupons.
No, this doesn't include register rewards or same-as-cash rewards from chain stores yet. But it's basically a discount on your purchases.

Awesome

August!!!

Everything has been pretty hectic all of August. The move, work and more work. I hope to get back on a regular "schedule" for myself.

Sadly, Ryan wasn't able to land a job in any local schools. However, had he gotten a job, we would have had to buy another car (hello increased gas and insurance prices) and find child care for Ivy (which is, duh, expensive). He did some math and figured out that we'd be making (saving, keeping, whatever) less money that way. So he has joined the ranks of Stay-At-Home-Dads. Of course, I'm going to try to generate his photography business for senior portraits for him too.

Work for me has been.... different. I had 7 days of in-service. And I just got through my first week with the kids. The difference with the kids is the schedule. I have only 3 classes, but they're about 90 minutes each. And so far, the kids themselves are great. But of course, I have high opinions of all my students anyway. Class sizes are rather large due to RIFs, but my food science course really needs to have fewer students. There's no possible way 30 students can work in such a small room with 4 kitchens.


It is really different working with a department of teachers, instead of being THE department. I get to have ideas and share with other teachers who teach the same thing as me! Such a difference. I get ideas! The downside is that I (we) don't have our own classrooms so we share for now. I think we may have our own once the building gets completed. It's hectic moving classrooms and not having my own space. But the good thing with that is... I don't accumulate stuff. People are asking me "Do you want" and I cut them off right there. Even my buddy teachers... "Don't you want to set up an area for yourself over here?" Nope, not really. I accumulate too much. And I am now in the wonderful habit of getting things out. Throwing out, donating...



I'm excited about Homecoming though. I've already got two students ordering mums. I'm venturing out and offering more choices. Wrist mums, hair mums and ring mums. A lot of the kids seem interested. So there will be a week in September that I will be working only on mums. I love being crafty though.

I have been coupon crazy lately though. Let's see, some highlights for August... A free gallon of milk, a free pack of bacon, free Kraft singles cheese, free Pantene, free Herbal Essences. All this free stuff here... $16.28. WAHOO!!!

Another highlight is back to school supplies. I missed the $.10 composition notebooks at Staples. But I did snag $25 worth of notebook paper for $.25. TWENTY FIVE CENTS! A whole whopping QUARTER!

And one more worth mentioning. Got some rib eye steaks. With my shoppers card, they were $3.99 a pound. They looked good so I went ahead and got them. A pack of 4. Normal price, $60. On sale for about $36 (no shoppers card, that's a pretty good deal anyway). But with my shoppers card... $21. And Ryan and I can probably share each one, they're that BIG. That's FOUR steak dinners. Oh! And speaking of meat. There was a sale going on somewhere else where pork chops were BOGO. No kidding! I THINK that was a $7 savings. Compared to the steak, that's all whoopdeedoo, but still BOGO?

So August savings... $172.51

And FYI, my total savings for July was $62.82. HUGE improvement.



Now, here's where things get strange-ish. Since I have to be presentable for work, I had to get some actual clothes. Last year, I got to wear chef gear. Not anymore. Everything I've gotten has been discounted, on clearance, or on sale. I paid full price on only TWO things - out of about 25 pieces, including shoes. I've learned my lesson. Sign up for the freaking emails. Discounts galore! I will not pay full price anymore, or rarely will.

Menu Plan Mondays...
Here is last weeks - August 21

Sunday - Enchiladas
Monday - LO
Tuesday - Hamburgers
Wednesday - Pork chops and mashed potatoes
Thursday - Pizza
Friday - LO
Saturday - Brisket and potato salad

Here is this week's MPM -
Sunday - Pork chops and LO potato salad
Monday - Chili dogs
Tuesday - Enchiladas
Wednesday - LO
Thursday - Nachos
Friday - Pizza
Saturday - Pizza

Menu Plan Monday August 7-13

Sunday - Strange day. Didn't eat supper really. Had like two lunches. Meh But I made crockpot meatballs today.
Monday - Meatball sandwiches
Tuesday - Leftovers
Wednesday - Hot dogs
Thursday - Leftovers (either more hot dogs or frito chili pie)
Friday - No plan, family in town
Saturday - No plan, family in town

I didn't want to hassle myself last week with a menu and moving. Couldn't find the plates and stuff for three days. So we (tragically) ordered in. Not too thrilled, nor is my waistline. We are now living a more urban location, we've got restaurants coming out of our ears! What are you hungry for? So many choices!! We will, however miss Chiloso (sadface).

See more menus! Menu Plan Monday!

Move and groove and move and groove!

I hate moving.

I hate moving and it is such a shame that we move so much. Every two years on average.

I moved in with my husband a few months before our wedding. A very cheap apartment(1), but decent quality. Two years later, I graduated college and we moved so I could go to graduate school. We stayed in our second apartment(2) for about a year. We decided that their increased rates weren’t worth it. So we moved into a cheaper place.

We stayed in this apartment(3) for two years. I had finished my teaching certification and accepted a position about an hour away. We lived in the next apartment(4) for one year. Then we decided to have a baby. So we moved into a larger apartment(5) in the same complex. One of the easiest moves ever! Two doors down. Our stay in apartment number 5 was for two years. Our largest apartment yet.

We are now on apartment 6. We moved back to the same city as apartments 2 and 3. I interviewed for, was offered and accepted a new teaching position.

The last few days of July, we were rushing: to find an apartment and get a move-in date and  to pack stuff and get rid of things we didn’t want. We ‘hired’ a lot of help. Someone to help pack the truck. A couple more people to help unload the truck and someone to watch the baby.

(8/1)

We arrived to our new apartment complex to find out that they did not get our apartment ready. So they decided to give us an upgraded ‘model’ apartment at the same price as the original apartment. Keep in mind we had already changed our forwarding address, drivers licenses, electricity, internet and all this crap. But at least we got an apartment. It’s just horrible that we were moving in 110+ degree weather.

(8/2)

Our second day in the apartment, our electricity got cut off. Ryan was afraid that it was because of the electricity accounts. Turns out it was because a company was doing some work. No warning. So we went to the city library and got our library cards! 

Ryan was able to get on the internet and fix some of the accounts to the correct address. This was Ivy’s first library trip. She had fun running around, climbing the stairs... until she ran smack into a glass wall. Poor thing. It mostly startled or scared her than it did hurt her. All I could do was laugh. Of course I picked her up and comforted her. But she was okay and running around immediately. She’s pretty clumsy – and gets over it quickly.

(8/3)

Day three... I had meetings all day long. The first meeting was getting my new hire paperwork in and going over benefits. Then we had harassment training. We had a lunch break and I’d been wanting sushi. There was a place in front of the second meeting location. Convenient! It was also pretty tasty. The second meeting was FOUR HOURS LONG. About something I was already familiar with. PDAS. I’d already had the same training. And I have been PDASed every year. I nearly fell asleep. It was ridiculous.

We are finally getting stuff unpacked and put away. We are also going through everything and donating or trashing what we don't want or need.

Today (8/6) we finally got internet hooked up to the apartment. It's nice to be able to look at websites I frequent on a screen larger than a credit card. Typing now sounds strange. It's annoying.

An afterthought... websites say that toddlers don't do well with this kind of change. Ivy has done amazingly. She naps like normal. She sleeps like normal. The only problem is that she's able to get into more stuff the way the rooms are laid out.

I cannot wait to get back on a regular menu. We've ordered in (or had those leftovers) every night since we got here. Mainly because unpacking and crap takes so much out of us, we don't really want to cook. However, I'm determined to get us back on track tomorrow.