Saving Money After a Purchase

Recently, we purchased a new computer through Staples.com. Of course, I had researched my product to make sure I was getting the most for my money! (We are economically savvy, yes?!)
Something I didn't consider before the purchase was
Don't forget about comparing prices for a couple of weeks (14 days after purchase specifically for Staples) after you shopped! I was leafing through my Sunday sales flyers and spotted the same exact one on sale again for $30 less than before. One painless 800 number phone call (about 10 minutes time with very polite customer service)...and that bargain I already had found got even better!
Other companies offer similar programs...so do your research and check those sales flyers!

The List

I have a list, well, several lists.  There is the 'to do' list, the 'wish' list, the 'grocery' list, etc.  But today I am talking about the 'Yard Sale/Thrift Store' list.  Everyone who yard sales, thrift store shops, or has older relatives always trying to give them things, should have one.  It serves as a great reminder of 'things' you are in the market for, that you don't need right now, you are willing and able to wait, and you want to get the best price for

Here is my current one:

antique kitchen items
manual grain mill
boy's ski bibs
le creuset bakeware
cast iron
wooden spoons
tablecloths
Pampered Chef Large Bar Pan
Fireking batter bowl
homeschool items
guilletine style paper trimmer
handmade USA pottery
7 inch santoku knife
knitting needles
serger
glass kitchen storage
sieves
cookbooks
sewing books
knitting books
self-sufficient living books
bookends
pullman loaf pan
pottery bread crock
pottery bread pan
clothing steamer
pinking shears
potato and onion bin
teakettle
ceramic/glass travel mug
tea pitcher
magazine filers
flower pots
serving pieces
placemats
organizing items
bolts of fabric
globe
train decor



Now, I do check places like craigslist, ebay and etsy for these item too, and I have found good deals.  But I have had people just give me things because they looked at my list too.......

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine

If you like the Old Schoolhouse Magazine and it's store - now is the time to shop.  They are having a huge sale.  Their planner (normally $39) is $10, and lots of their ebooks are $1-$2.  I racked up !

The Cost of Beauty

People (especially women) spend a ton on beauty, let's see where else we could put those dollars

1. Professional Hair coloring - once every 6 weeks, millions of women get their hair frosted/highlighted dyed at the beauty shop.  Let's say they spend about $65 - that means in 1 year, they spend about $550 just on their coloring. (That's and entire month's worth of groceries plus some gas)
2. Fancy Beauty cream - millions of women also drop $25 or more every 2 months on special creams to make them look younger and reduce eye puffiness - truth is, none of those creams are proven to work better than sleep or hemmrhoid cream.  In one year, that's $150 a year (one month of both cable and landline telephone bills)
3. Makeup - this is a big variable, but let's go with a nice low figure - say $10 a month on makeup related expenses.  Because of what makeup does, it actually makes you look older instead of younger.  That's $120 a year, plus now you have to buy stuff to try to make you look younger again.  (the equivalent of one month cell phone bill, plus a tank of gas)
4. Special smelly body washes and lotions - not proven to do anything more for your skin than regular moisturizing bar soap and basic lotion, costs about $20 a month ($240 a year - or one month's car payment or electric bill)

Let's add this together: $550 + $150 + $120 + $240 = $1060 a year (most or all of one month's mortgage)

So beautify smartly, and don't be fooled by ads designed to pull you in, and also, let your natural beauty shine through, and laugh more all the way to the bank!

Buying Books Online

When I have to purchase books, I shop around.  There is no need for me to pay full price for books.  Some of the sites I frequent are:

• Amazon
• Ebay
• Half.com
• Barnes & Noble

These sites have their sellers display cost and shipping right up front to reduce suprises at the checkout.  Please just take 2-3 minutes to shop around before you  purchase.  A dollar saved is a dollar earned.

This also works for movies -  you can save 50% over Wal-Mart.

The Christmas List

Okay - so it's that time of year again, and you have your list of those to buy for and there's your personal list for you, because someone is going to ask "What do you want?"

So this list is dedicated to the things that would help a mom save more money:

1. A mixer (KitchenAid, Bosch, Hamilton Beach), this is one of those items, that once you have it, you really don't know how you did without it.  It kneads bread dough for you to save you lots of time and arm use while at the same allowing you to ease more homemade items into your repetoire.  If you want to save people money, tell them a second hand machine is fine with you too.
2. An immersion blender, this is on my list.  It makes smoothing out sauces a breeze without having to break out the entire blender.  It also doesn't take up a lot of space
3. Sewing machine, and maybe a how-to book to go a long with it
4. Books, I have a personal recommendation to help keep you in check and inspired in your frugal journey:  The Tightwad Gazette I, II & III or The Complete Tightwad Gazette (3 in 1) a word of caution here, the tightwad gazette is for those really wanting to make every cent count, and it's a great read!;
5. Dishes & Cookware, some very useful pieces include a cast iron skillet (10in or 12in), bread pans, 9x9 square baking dish, glass mixing bowls in various sizes, a stockpot and 1/2 gallon size canning jars

Look around your kitchen or other areas and try to visualize what would be a helpful addition!

Yard Sale Finds

I do love yard sales, at least most of the time.  This past Saturday there were several that looked pretty interesting in our local paper, so, Saturday morning, I was up early, paper in one hand, coffee in the other an headed out the door on my adventure.

Word to the wise, if you have GPS, use it for yard sales!  I was taken directly to where I wanted to go each time even in our local 'turn and twist' neighborhood.  When I saw an unadvertised yard sale, I was able to make a quick stop, then when I was done, my GPS had me back on track to my destination.  I did make a few excellent deals:

• A comb binding machine for $5 (not the $35 version, but the 330 page $250 version)
• A multi function, leather desk chair for $20 ( about $200 or more new) with just a few small scuffs on the botton corners (nothing a little shoe polish won't fix)
• A cast iron bundt pan, in good useable condition
• plus a few odd and end items, but these were my biggies

Early Fall is big yard saling time, so go prepared and ready to bargain hunt - and oh yeah, take a list!

Dill Pickles

Talk about a cheap snack.  And low in calories - about 5 calories fo 3/4 of a spear (how'd they do that measurement anyway?).  I personally buy Mt. Olive brand dills most of the time because I like the taste, and they are manufactured in my home state of NC - nothing like buying locally!

Anyhooo - I was checking prices a few days ago and noticed something - a quart sized jar of dill pickle spears was about 2.99, and a gallon sized jar of whole dill pickles was $4.50.  Really?  So, I bought the big boy and just cut several of the ones at the top into spears before I stuck them into the fridge.

And, now I will have a glass gallon sized jar to reuse after the pickles are gone - or at least low enough to put into a couple of quart sized jars!

Yardsale Deals

I love a good yard sale.  Today my neighbors had one and I found a furniture item I had been searching for a long time.  A rocker recliner with matching ottoman (I'm sitting in it now). I only paid $30 for a $200+ dollar chair that she said she rarely used, and I checked under the bottom of the cushion and the springs aren't even dented in (of course I will do that myself soon). 

The economic times are not showing any signs of improving, so take advantage of the fact that we live in a throw away society and go get those things you need that others are just "throwing away" ;)

Paperback Swap

I'm not positive where I initially heard about this, but I think it was Steph G.  But in the past month I signed up for paperbackswap.com and I am hooked.  I offloaded several books that I was through with and in turn, have received several other books that I was considering buying.  They have rules about the condition the books must be in, so that people make sure they're not mailing out junk.  So far, what I have received has been in pristine condition.  I'll read them a few times, then swap again.  I have also discovered several books on there on my homeschooling wish list for my kids, so I'm excited at the incredible amount of savings I'm having on homeschooling books.

As a side note, I only search for swap books that I can't find at the library for free*

.15 notebooks

It's back on!!  The .15 notebooks are here again, please get some along with all of the other supplies you will not see this cheap again until next year.  Here's my own list of favorites:

• 1subject notebooks, college ruled, .15 each (I have purchased 46)
• 12 ct. crayola colored pencils, 1.00 (I purchased about 8)
• 11ct. WASHABLE magic markers, .70 (I purchased about 10)

You can use the notebooks for anything.  For instance:

• Journaling
• Phone message book
• Lesson Plans (1 or 2 days per page leaving lots of room to write and jot and tittle)
• Recipes
• Lists
• Kids doodle pads and drawing books (they don't care about the lines, so neither should you)
• Books just to have on hand to write your thoughts down

Think about it, the cute journals in the store go for an easy 3.50, give you kid one of these, and let him or her draw their own artwork on a piece of paper, or print something cute off of the computer, and paste it on, but don't pay a ton for a notebook

Just write on the front what it's for and who it's for and go with it.  Options:

• 'Mom's Thoughts'
• 'Bible Study Notes'
• 'Jacob's Kindergarten Lesson Plans'
• 'Booklist, Field Trips and other Enrichment Activities for Kindergarten 2010-2011'
• 'Recipes and attempted Concocktions'
• 'Money Saving Mommies best Ideas Ever'  (wink, wink)
• 'Shopping list'
• 'Blog ideas'
• 'Ideas to save more money around my home'
• the list goes on.......

If you have kids, get a  ton so they have their own, if you do not have kids, I would still get about 25 and have them ready to go anytime.  At .15, that's a bargain.

Cash for Groceries

Most people have heard of this 'cash only' system for buying groceries - I have wanted to do it, but keep getting back into the debit card rut.  We definitely do not use credit cards - for anything, but it is easy to lose track of extras when you're swiping the debit card.

Can I do it? Can I really go to a cash only?

My husband gets paid on Monday, and when I deposit his check on Tuesday morning I am going to keep out $75 for groceries, and try to do $75 weekly on the cash system and see if I make it - I'll let you know if I can pull it off or fall on my face!!

15% off at Gap

Had to go to gap tonight and get hubby dear some workpants, at the check out the cashier gave me a slip of paper to fill out a survey online for a 15% coupon - I did it and I got it, it took me all of 7 minutes to complete.

Frugal Friday - Harris Teeter

There are a few things about this store that make it a good frugal choice:

1) Double coupons every day and triple every month or so

2) 5% discount for seniors every Thursday

3) Sales on their organic merchandise

4) Their discount produce cart is almost always available, the produce is not already rotten to the core when it makes it there, there is usually some organice choices on the discount produce cart, The discount produce is cheap, and it gets emptied within a day so that the same old stuff isn't there day after day after day

5) Repeat #4 for their meat section

6) Variety - there are so many brands and variations to choose from it will make your head spin. Why is that frugal? Because the more options you have for eating at home, the less likely you are to just say "Forget it, I'm going out"

7) Ready to take home food. They have preprepared chicken, sushi, mac & Cheese, wraps, chicken strips, etc so that 'take out' can be a little better for you and probably cheaper than sitting down at a restaurant

8) Products made in the USA. What in the world does that have to do with frugal? Easy - take apple juice for instance. Did you know there are only 3 brands that I can find that are 100% made in the USA? Murray's out of Roanoke, Virginia; Floridas Natural out of FL and Martinelli's out of either PA or NY. Buying made in the USA means that the growers, packers, processors, shippers, distributors and retailers are here in the USA, so buying from ourselves is keeping ourselves at work and having a job gives us the money we need to be frugal with in the first place.

9) Eggs - 2.97 for 2 1/2 dozen - a good frugal food

10) Open 24 hours - this lets you pick a time to go without the kids because we all know that when you take the little ones, they get bored, we get tired and we rush and don't take the time to look at the options and get the best deals and selections (You don't need 2 hours to grocery shop, but a good hour without bored kids every once in a while may be a good idea

11) They give away groceries for a year every week for VIC card holders (see website)

12) Promotions, I recently got $50 in gas cards from them for spending a certain amount of money ( like $50 a week for 6 weeks or something like that). I was going to spend the money anyway, so it was nice to get the $50 in free gas

Take a minute to look around, there are frugal deals to be found everywhere, it just takes a little know-how.

Temptation

My husband and I resisted temptation like crazy mad people this weekend. We borrowed a friends Wii to try, and of course we enjoyed it. So, later that same day, hubby offers to let me run free for a few hours while he has the kids (yay for me), so I go first to wally-world then to a myraid of other spots. Well, I look at the Wii's then the Wii Fits and I'm just uneasy about dropping that much dough on a game. Then I go to kmart - out of Wii, then yesterday we go out of town for church and went to their local wal-mart - no wii. By this time, we were not only okay with the fact that there were no Wii's to be bought, we were a little giddy - and then when considered the fact that we had just saved about $400 smackers, we shared a kiss of joy.

There are still a lot of activities you can do for cheap or free - do them instead.

Plans, Planners, Planning

I love those three things. I love everything from looking at the selection of planners at my local Staples (and trust me, this could take an hour, easily), to picking out the color, opening it up and taking a whiff of the fresh paper, thinking about how I could use each and every section, etc, etc. Then I look at the price tags. My goodness. Oh my goodness. I do not want to spend $15-$50 on a planner. I can't do that, that's crazy. I have heard people say "Yes, it's expensive, but it can do this, this and this and organizes this, this and this for me." FOR me? When I see a planner get up off my desk, grab my papers, file them in itself (neatly of course), and scribble down my appointments, deadlines and inner thoughts - THEN it might be worth $15-$50. But it otherwise doesn't DO anything for me because I still have to do the work! So, of course I have a money saving solution from the same Staples store, on the same day:

1" 3 ring binder= $.60 on clearance (ugly gray, but who cares)
1 ream 92 brightness, 20lb copy paper = $3.92
1 full package HP printer ink= $35

Now that's enough materials to last probably 5 years of printer planner related stuff. Of course I'm not going to use the whole package of ink just on that, but let's say I just use 10%, that would still only be $3.50. And I'm really not going to use all 500 sheets of paper on planner stuff, but if Used say 25% (125 sheets - still a bit of a stretch), that would be a whopping $.98. So right now my total comes to $5.08. Not too shabby.

Now all I need is a good website. Well, that is the easier part. donnayoung.org has ton of planning related printables including calendars of all types free to print, just browse around for a little while and you'll see them.

The main Microsoft Office Templates site allows you to browse through tons of free printables too, some are in pretty colors, some in black and white - find something you like and looks useful.

Organized Home has nice calendar and planner printables in addition to cleaning, organizing and pretty much any checklist you can imagine.

Of course you can google what you want like "Free printable planner pages" or whatnot. In the end, if you can't find exactly what fits your needs, but have lots of ideas you can start up your good ole' Word program and make what you want tailored to your needs with columns, sections, colors, checkboxes, or whatever else you love!!

Some of the Deals

Okay, so here is a breakdown on some of the coupon deals I got at Harris Teeter this morning:

Clabber Girl Baking Powder - 1.99/can - 1.65 (.55 tripled coupon) = .34
Wacky Mac Veggie Spirals - 1.59/bag - .20 VIC savings = 1.39 - 1.50 (.50 tripled coupon up to price of 1.39) = FREE
Suave body Wash - 1.97/bottle - 1.50 (.50 tripled coupon) - .47
Land o lakes Buttery Spread - 2.39/small tub - .40 VIC savings = 1.99 - 1.65 (.55 tripled coupon) = .34
Dannon Light & Fit yogurt 6pack - 2.50/6pack - 2.25 (.75 tripled coupon) = .25
Cottonelle Ultra toilet paper - 3.89/4-double roll pack - .89 VIC savings = 3.00 - 1.50 (.50 tripled coupon) = 1.50
Betty Crocker Frosting - 1.99/tub - 1.50 (.50 tripled coupon) = .50

That comes to: $3.40!!!!

Coupon savings

Last night, I purchase 2 packages of Loreal Featherlash Mascara from Rite Aid for a grand total of 23 cent, and 3 bottles of hot sauce from Harris Teeter for 18 cent.

What in the world? Easy. Rite Aid had the mascara clearance 75% which made them 1.98 each and I had 2 $2 off coupons. harris teeter had the hot sauce on sale for $1 or less each, and I had 2 coupons for 50 cent each and they double coupons. so I only paid tax last night.

Storage Space

Okay ya'll - I know that at times I go overboard and at other times I am slow - I just take me as I am and laugh at myself occasionally.

First, I buy eggs at Harris Teeter regularly - I get 2 1/2 dozen for 2.97 (grade A large). Well, they come in a 2 piece clear plastic bin. After I finish the eggs, I'm keeping the bins to plant and sprout some seeds for my garden this year. 1 package of seeds is about $1 whereas one plant is about $2 - plus the planting and sprouting lessons are great for the kids homeschool botany lessons (okay, so a modified botany lesson since they are 2 & 4). I am planning to use one of the bins to organize my jewelry too (I don't have enough to justify purchase a box unless I see a good one at a yard sale, so for now this will do fine). One pair of earrings per well, one necklace per well, etc, etc.

Okay, number two, at the dollar tree they sell those little plastic organizer bins in several colors and sizes. I have some of the largest ones (about 13x10ish) doing different jobs around the house and yesterday I had a thought - how about using them for my messy freezer (yeah, I know some of you are WAY ahead of me on this one - duh). So, my seal-a-meal sized 'sleeves' are now nicely filed in a bin insead of falling down all over the place in my freezer causing clutter and taking up much needed space. Yay!

Third one is great, and it was my hubby's idea not mine. Do you guys love the dry erase board as much as I do? I really love them, but I hate the idea of paying $10 a pop for a good sized one. So, one day at the Home Depot, my hubby spotted a 8ftx4ft sheet of it for (drum roll here) $12. Holy cow! So, we bought it. It is very easy to cut down to whatever size you want and you can put it in an old photo frame, have hubby build a frame around it out of spare wood bits or you can just hang it up bare edge. You can have a different size piece for each room if you want. We used a chunk to top the boys play table so they can draw race tracks or rain tracks on it, I had my husband build a frame for a custom sized fit by the kitchen where I now write down my grocery list, shopping list, to do list, ideas list, meal plan, a notes section, hubby's to do list, things to keep my eyes open for list and pretty much whatever my little heart desires. Oh yeah, we still have a big chunk left he's going to hang up in the classroom as my teaching board. All for $12 and scrap wood. I love my husband's creativity.

Double Coupons

I just discovered last night that Harris Teeter offers double coupons every day (and occasionally triple) for a face value up to .99 (which is 1.98 when doubled). That can add up to some serious savings. If you live near one, take the time to either look at their flyers or their website http://www.harristeeter.com/ and look up coupons in the search bar and it will give you all of the coupon rules.