40 Days, Revisited

I apologize for not finding a lot of time to post lately.  I will have to make some time soon.  In the meantime, I am again doing a 40 day purge challenge in my house for Lent.  You can click the 40 days link to read more of what I did the last time that I did this.

Our work and school schedules don't allow for a lot of time each day, so we are using the weekends to catch up on everything.  This time my children are old enough to get to help me.  (Lucky them!)

Today, we started on all of the kitchen cabinets.  We have pretty minimal cupboard space, so I have to be very choosy about what I keep.

The tupperware/storage containers seem to be the part that really gets out of hand, so I put my kids to work sorting.  I filled a kitchen garbage bag (no picture of my trash can, sorry) with mismatched lids and containers, then cut back to almost nothing for our keep pile.

In the toss pile, I made a bag with clean food containers and lids--this will go to our church.  They serve a community meal, and they use the food containers to package up leftovers to send home with people.

The rest of the containers will go to our food pantry or the clothing closet in town.  They are good containers with matching lids, and someone will get use from them.

That is our first three bags, and the kids are out in the yard picking up all sorts of garbage that has collected in our yard over the winter.  It never ceases to amaze me how much shows up when the snow melts away.

Just like last time, I will keep a tally.

Trash: 2
Donate: 2

4

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1 bag of clothes from each of us, divided:

Consignment store for the best ones, 1 bag.
Clothing closet donation for still nice clothes, 2 bags.
One bag of clothing that isn't good enough for donation: USagain bin.  Read the link for more information, but this is a for profit organization that takes anything you donate.

Trash: 2
Donate: 5
Sell: 1

8

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2 bags of wire hangers from the dry cleaners/uniforms, sent back to where they came.

Trash: 2
Donate: 5
Sell: 1
Other: 2

10
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Kids' room cleanout: one bag of less important artwork to the trash, one bag of toys for donation and one for consignment.

Trash: 3
Donate: 6
Sell: 2
Other: 2

13

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Surprise snow day cleaning: sorted a huge tub of outgrown clothes in the laundry room, stored by size for future wearing, one garbage bag for the clothing closet, one tub for the consignment store, one bag for the USagain bin.

In kids' room, toys and books for donation.  One bag of books to donate to the library, one bag of toys to donate to the clothing closet, one bag of toys for consignment.

Cleanout of fridge, freezer, and pantry: one bag of outdated food.

Trash: 4
Donate: 10
Sell: 4
Other: 2

 20 --we're halfway there, on February 27.  It's the 15th day of Lent!

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One bag filled with grocery bags, recycled at the store.

21

You've Got to See This!

This morning, just after I sent my two children out to meet the bus, I suddenly heard a commotion.  The little girl, unable to open the door with her gloves on, was pounding on the door and repeatedly ringing the doorbell as I hurried to get to the door.  The big girl was also yelling, so I was already picturing a horrible disfiguring accident.  Why is it always hard to get to the door when it's an emergency?

I finally got down, and the yelling got louder as the door opened.  MOM!  MOM!  You have to see this sunrise!

This is just a bad cell phone picture that doesn't even begin to do the morning justice.  The significance for me, however, is that in this world of too many indoor distractions, video games, and TV, I've managed to get that love of the outdoors instilled in the two young children who live with me.

I love that they not only appreciated the rare beauty of a full-colored sunrise, but that they came back to make sure that I could appreciate it with them.

Always in with the bargains, I've had information about free fun events for children and families, and I've reviewed a few places that we've visited and loved.  It's so much more difficult to do a blog post like that rather than throw up a few bargain links, but that is where I am heading more with my blog.  I'll try not to get too heavy for too long.

If you want to read through some of my older wandering posts, just click the link.  Go wandering with us.

A Little Different

Bear with us as we switch out the format.  I will put some of the best bargain information into some permanent posts across the top, and I will leave all the old posts here for searching.  My 9 year old has been wanting to blog for a while, and I have decided to switch up my scope to be even more family-oriented.

For future posts, I will allow a 9 year old guest blogger.  She's a girl with a lot on her mind, and I am going to just let her do what she wants.

I will also introduce my 5 year old through some silly stories and pictures.  She isn't quite as interested in blogging, nor does she have the spelling ability, but she has a lot on her mind.

As I am going to be taking some stories from my personal Facebook page, I will introduce them as the big girl and the little girl.  I was tempted to name them after Roseanne's kids to keep with the title of my blog, but fear I might get too much into copyright infringement.  On occasion they may also be K and C, the older or the younger, but their personalities are so diverse that I think they will soon be recognizable even without names.

I hope that my few loyal readers will enjoy the change.

Lands End 25% off and Free Shipping

Lands End is having their Family and Friends event for four days only, so this deal is good starting today and going through Monday, April 19.  Use code SAVE25 and Pin 3454.

There's a Land's End ad on the bottom right with the same 25% off deal, if the code doesn't work for you.

Maybe this is a good time to discuss my Land's End love.  First off, the quality of their clothing is exceptional.  Yes, the prices often reflect that, but there are deals to be found at Lands End.  There is the Overstocks section, which has last season's items, or maybe odd colors or only one size, but you can score some good deals there.

Within the overstocks section, there is the "not quite perfect" area, but most of those items will say what their particular defect is.  It's a lot like factory outlet shopping, but with many items, the flaw is very minor.

One of my favorite parts of the overstock section is On the Counter.  They put certain items on the counter every week on Saturday for greatly reduced prices.  Then the price starts dropping from there.  On Monday, they drop the price by 25%, Wednesday 50%, and Friday 75%.  Very few items last through Friday, but it really works well if you are either very large or small sizes, or petite or tall.  It's kind of thrilling to wait the prices out and see if you can get the best deal.

Because of the way that I shop, I am usually purchasing a season or even a whole year ahead.  It's no big deal if I miss this deal, because another one will come along.  This helps me to be able to be a little extra selective about the items I buy or the prices that I pay.

By Request, Some Target Shopping Information

Target is about my favorite place to shop for good markdowns.  I have posted prior about using coupon stacking at Target in order to get some really good deals.  You can use the coupons.com coupons (look on the right sidebar to find those) and Target store coupons together, often getting some items almost free when you work with a sale.

They clearance out toys and baby items on a regular basis.  If you shop diligently at your favorite store, you begin to learn their markdown schedule.  My favorite time for stocking up at Target is coming up very soon.  Most Target stores have an area for their seasonal items.  Back to school, then Christmas, then Valentines, then summer items.  At the end of each "seasonal" display, these items get clearanced to make room for the next items.

Right now, they have their Valentine's Day items, but they also have the bulk section that they are advertising as "club store pricing without the membership."  They've got the big boxes of diapers and wipes, along with large containers of shampoos, cleaning supplies, ziploc bags, etc.  If you are a careful shopper, you'll notice that the prices aren't the best.  With good coupons, the smaller sizes are actually a better price per unit. 

However, right after Valentine's Day, they will begin the markdowns.  The items will first go 15% off, then 30% off, then 50%, 75% and 90% if you're lucky.  I've found these bulk items rarely make it past 50% off, but 50% off for these with coupons becomes a REALLY good deal.  You just have to know when to look.  I jokingly say that I stalk the aisles waiting for the good prices.  Knowing the markdown schedule helps, so I am going to take the time to post the schedule here.

WEEKLY:

• Monday: Electronics, Kids clothing and stationary (Cards, gift wrapping paper, etc.).
• Tuesday: Domestics, women's clothing, pets and Market (food items,etc).
• Wednesday: men's clothing, toys, lawn & garden, health and beauty items.
• Thursday: House wares, lingerie, sporting goods, shoes, music, DVDs, books and luggage.
• Friday: Auto, cosmetics, hardware, and jewelry.

HOLIDAY:

• All holidays except Christmas follow the 3-3-2 rule:
• The first 3 days after the holiday are 50% off
• The next 3 days are 75% off
• The next 2 days are 90%

The items for Valentine's Day should follow this schedule, which would mean that starting Monday, February 15, all the Valentine's Day items will be 50% off, but the bulk things will start with 15% off, then be marked down weekly from there.  According to this schedule, they might not be marked down the first time until Wednesday, though it's been my experience that they usually start with the VD markdown date.  If you then check on the following Wednesday morning, they should have moved to 30% off.  Depending on your store, you can wait another week for the 50% off markdown. 

You'll need to be there early, because I'm not the only one who knows this schedule.  In our town, people seem to snap the items up as soon as they are a little marked down.  It's rare for these items to make it 50% off, so you have to really watch the items you want, and make sure you have your coupons ready.

If you have a lot of Target stores available in your area, I've discovered that the best clearance deals are to be had in the less affluent areas.  For example, if I have a lot of items I'm interested in, I might plan to be at the South Side Des Moines Target first thing Wednesday or Thursday morning.  I'm not sure why this is, but I think it's because people who have a lot of "disposable" income can afford to stock up as soon as a sale is seen.  They don't need the really good markdowns to make the deal worth it to them. 

Because this post has gotten a little long, I will make another post either later today or tomorrow and detail my planning for the sales.

Good Shopping Weekend

I'd like to show an example of how you can stock up on items for little out of pocket. Remember that Band-Aid deal I showed earlier? I went to Walgreens to take advantage of some of their weekly RR deals.

In their weekly ad, they had:

• 8 packs of Sharpies, normally $8.99, marked down to $3.99.
  

• Scotch tape was buy one get one free. $1.79

• Band-Aids, regularly $3.99, on sale 2/$3.00. Used the $2 off coupon from the Children's Activity book. I bought four packs, and it either adjusted the coupon to where I saved $1.50 per box, or the limit was for 3 items. $1 RR.
  

• Toothpaste and toothbrushes were 4/$10.00. I used a manufacturer's coupon for $1 off 2 brushes, another one for $1 off 2 toothpastes. I used the Walgreens coupons for $1 off from the Childrens Activity book. $5 in RR.

So, for those items, total before sale and coupons=$44.49
Total paid=$9.78
Register Rewards received=$6.00

Total actual cost=$3.78.**

Then I went to Target to get the big Christmas gift for our family. We decided earlier in the year that we wanted to buy a Wii. I set about saving to make sure that we could get it. We got a bonus right off the bat when Nintendo lowered the price from $249 to $199. I saved up my rewards from MyPoints and had $100 in Target gift cards, and bided my time for them to offer a gift card with purchase of the Wii. This week was the week, and as luck would have it, they also offered a coupon on their web page for a free Nunchuk with purchase of a Wii. A friend called and offered a coupon she had received for $15 gift card with purchase of $150.

So for about $100** out of pocket, I got a Wii console, a nunchuk, and $35 in Target gift cards to use when I need them.


**I did not take sales tax into account on either of these shopping experiences, because tax differs from place to place.

Some Good Cooking Resources

I do enjoy cooking, though some days if we're running 10 different directions, it's great to be able to pull something out of the freezer to eat. The great thing about once a month cooking (OAMC, though I don't really do it once a month) is that when these meals are prepared by you, you know what ingredients were used. Every family has different dietary restrictions and preferences, so you can also personalize the recipe or adapt a family favorite for freezing.

I use a variety of resources for cooking, though not too often do I get out an actual cookbook. I have learned a lot from my perusal of the 'net, so I will share some of my bookmarks.

• Crock pot or slow cooker cooking. There are a ton of recipes out there, but no one has the variety of A Year of Slow Cooking. She cooked a different recipe in her crock pot every day for one year, and there are so many delicious options.
• Good everyday recipe finder. One of my favorite online cooking resources is Recipezaar. They let you search for recipes by ingredients, or even by not having a certain ingredient. If you need a specific recipe, you can bet it will be there. The recipes also have reviews, so you can sort by what has the best review.
• Once a month cooking. There are a few good choices here. I love 30 Day Gourmet. They have a fairly extensive free section, or buy their freezer cooking manual and have access to everything. I also will browse Recipezaar by typing OAMC into the search area.
• Budgeting and meal planning. I love the Hillbilly Housewife. She has menus for every budget, tips for saving money on about anything, and lots of good information on cooking from scratch. Be sure to check out her emergency meal plans for when you have only a very limited amount to spend on groceries.
• More menus than you can imagine. There's nothing like browsing other people's meal plans for finding good ideas. I know I often hit a brick wall trying to decide what to cook for the week. One person would eat steaks and potatoes every day, one would be happy with mac and cheese, and when I ask for help with planning, I get very little. That's why I love I'm an Organizing Junkie. (I know I am not.) She not only has her own menu plan for the week, but links to lots of other people's blogs with menus. It really helps when you get into a cooking rut.
  

The Tricks to Online Bargain Shopping

Online shopping can often be a great time saver, or it allows you to shop at stores you don't have in your area. Some people run into problems with it also being a money saver, so I want to offer a few helpful hints.

• Before you shop at an online retailer, do your homework. Most stores offer discount codes for free shipping or a percentage off. I NEVER go to any store without first looking for a discount code. You can look for codes by googling "store X coupon code" or you can have some websites in your shopping favorites list. I have a few favorites for finding discounts. My all-time favorite is Naughty Codes, but I've also found codes at Current Codes and Retailmenot.
• Another way to save is to sign up for the store email newsletters. Stores will often mail out special deals to their customers, and if you have your heart set on a certain item, you can wait it out for a good sale or a 25% off members only deal.
• Always use a shopping portal like Ebates or MyPoints! These two are my favorites, though you can also shop through FreeRide and InboxDollars for some stores. When you go through these sites, they pay you a certain percentage back, either in cash or points towards gift cards, and that 2-10% is extra money in your wallet.

The best thing to remember is that if you wait, there will always be a sale or a discount. I plan ahead for major purchases, because I can't bear to pay full price for anything if I can help it. Obviously, if your refrigerator dies, shopping around isn't as possible, but if you know you will all need winter coats, waiting for Old Navy's 50% off outerwear sale (going on now!) is the way to go.

What Do You Want to See?

I am putting out my "teaching" posts a few at a time, while still posting some deals. I have several topics I will soon post, and am wondering what kinds of deals people would like to see, or what types of saving posts people would like me to post.

Upcoming ideas:

• Legitimate ways to earn money from home, including surveys, GPTs, and Mystery Shopping.
• Stockpiling without being featured on "Hoarders." :)
• Once a month cooking.

I'm also up for suggestions, so let me know what you want first.

Couponing 101--Where to use them

This is part two of my couponing instructions. Part one can be found here. In part one, we discussed the different places to find the coupons you can use. In part two, we will discuss where to use your coupons.

There are many good blogs and websites that discuss couponing at specific stores. Some are linked on the right sidebar under blogs I love, and others can be found by a good google search for "coupon matchups." I do not intend to do much matching of coupons on my blog, but will point to others who do it well.

Again, I am in the midwest, so I am going to focus on the stores in our area. With careful shopping and observation, I've discovered that out of the stores in our area, Fareway by far offers the best prices as a whole. Other stores in the area will offer what is often termed as "loss leaders"--items where they mark it down to well below retail in order to get a shopper in the door to buy other marked up items. Some people go around and shop at every store, buying only their loss leaders, but I feel that going to many stores to get a bargain is counterproductive. I may save some money on groceries, but I am losing money in gas by driving around to many stores, and my time is also worth a lot to me.

Some people do not know this, but Fareway will price match any local grocery ads. You can take the ad in to show them, but I've found in the past that they almost always do it automatically. I'll see a really great deal in the Hy-Vee ad, then find that Fareway has the item priced the same or sometimes cheaper in their store.

Ask at your local store, but Fareway does take printable coupons; in fact, they link to smartsource on their own webpage. Hy-Vee and Target have their own printable grocery coupons, so this can add some depth to your planning. In cases where Target or Hy-Vee have coupons that match up with their sales AND with the manufacturer's coupons, you are often getting items close to free. Coupon stacking is allowed in both of these stores; this is simply using the manufacturer's coupon and the store coupon together.

As an example:

Right now, Target has a great ad with grocery deals on items for Thanksgiving cooking. In the ad, they list Del Monte canned vegetables for 45 cents (very good price!), Campbell's cooking soups for 49 cents, Pepperidge Farm stuffing for$2.50, and French's fried onions for $2.75. Target also has printables for these items that will stack with the manufacturer's coupons.

Del Monte Vegetables:

• Print out Target coupons for $1 off 6 cans.
• Use coupons from the Sunday circular for $1 off 8 cans.
• Buy 8 cans x 45 cents = $3.60 - $1 (TP) - $1 (SC) = $1.60 for 8 cans or 20 cents per can. That is a savings of over 50% from the sale price, which was itself a steal.
  

Campbell's Cooking Soups:

• No Target coupon to match, but this price is very good.
• Use printable coupon (find at Campbell's Kitchen) for $1 off 4 cans.
• Buy 4 (or other multiples of 4) cans = $1.96 - $1 printable = 96 cents for 4 cans or 24 cents per can. Again, this is a savings of over 50% from the awesome sale price.

The first example showed how coupon stacking can work for you. My next example will show how often times being able to stack doesn't work to your advantage. We use Folger's coffee in our house for the most part, though I have a few brands I will substitute if the price is low enough. Target has a printable coupon for 75 cents off Folgers, which you could stack with the manufacturer's coupon. Target has the Folger's on sale for $7.14, which is a sale price over what is commonly around $8.

Folger's Coffee (Target):

• Use $1 coupon from the Sunday circular.
• Use 75 cent coupon from Target
• $7.14 - $1 (SC) - 75 cent (TP) = $5.39 which is a great deal until you see that Fareway has Folger's for $5.99 right now.

Folger's Coffee (Fareway):

• Use $1 coupon from the Sunday circular
• $5.99 - $1 (SC) = $4.99 for 1 can of Folger's, a savings of around $3 per can, 40 cents from what Target's deal would be even with the stackable coupons.

While this does take some planning, if you limit the number of stores on your list, you can do very well. I use Fareway and Target, some people might choose a Hy-Vee closer or more convenient for them. Some other people might do all their grocery shopping at another big superstore I won't mention.

The main key is to look in the ads for items you regularly buy, and buy ahead when you can. In the Folger's scenario, I could notice I'm running low on coffee, add it to my list, and pay around $8 for a canister. Instead, before my coffee runs low I would notice the sale price and buy a few canisters for a savings of $3 each. When I run out of coffee, I go to my storage shelf and grab one off the shelf.

Some of these sales are predictable, so you start to know how many you should buy. I'm not advocating 10 or 12, but keeping 2 or 3 extras on hand can save you a lot of money. This is the kind of thing that is described in the Grocery Game, the concept of buying on sale, adding in coupons to make the price even better, and stocking up. You have to pay to have them plan it for you. In some cases, it might be worth having them tell you what to buy and when, but for me, it's hard to justify spending that money to save some money. In the next post, I will explain stockpiling a little more, but I think this is good information on how to begin with coupons.

Terms used: TP (Target Printable), SC (Sunday circular), PC (Printable coupon)

The Bargain Hunter's Mindset

Do you call yourself frugal, cheap, thrifty, savvy shopper, bargain hunter; or conversely are you a spendthrift trying to change your ways? Do you find yourself saying "in this economy" often? Are you affected by the recent economic downturn? Have you or a spouse been laid off, or have you chosen to cut a salary and stay home with children? Are you saving for a big purchase? A new car or home in your future? Mired in credit card debt, student loan debt, or being buried by the cost of gas and groceries?

Many people have many different reasons for wanting to try to save money on their day-to-day expenses. Whatever your reason is, I'd love to help you in your quest. Believe me, I've been there. My husband and I rapidly went from two incomes and a small house payment on an even smaller house, no children, very little debt, buying whatever we wanted whenever we wanted to one income, larger house AND still paying on the other home, and a small baby. The change in our lifestyle was dramatic.

I navigated the bargain waters, searching here and there for ways to cut our costs. Some things are obvious:
* Less eating out
* Cut down on luxury items

But it all just boils down to this: DON'T spend money on anything if you can help it. For every expense, ask yourself two questions: Do I NEED it? Can I afford it?

There are two main attitudes that a true bargain hunter has to adopt in order to embrace this new lifestyle. First, our country is full of conveniences. We are the generation of instant gratification. In order to truly live frugally, we have to get used to delayed gratification. Is this really a bad thing? Often, we find those
things we thought we wanted aren't really all that useful or necessary. How many kitchen gadgets lie collecting dust and taking up space in your drawers? How many movies sit in your entertainment center, their only purpose now being fine motor practice for your toddler and more clutter?

On the flip side of the coin, we need to do think ahead, plan ahead, and buy ahead. You heard me, we are going to be spending some money.

So many people live only in the now, and this attitude is what gets people into trouble. How often do you find yourself four days from payday with nothing to eat in the house, no gas in your car, and no money in your account? Do you use the credit card to pay for those things because it's an emergency, promise yourself you will make an extra payment to make up for the spending? Do you write a check, hoping it will stay out of the bank till the deposit makes it? How often does the bank "mess everything up" by putting checks through when there's not money to cover all of them, then charging a million fees, putting you further behind? How often do you go to a check cashing place to get a payday advance, often paying triple-digit interest? A lot of these can become an endless cycle. You spend so much extra in order to cover for your overspending--yes, that's what it is--that you keep getting further into the hole.

My intent is to show you how to save money on items you use every day, how to get many things for free, and how to keep your spending under control. Read along daily while I do my best to help with methods I use daily.