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Home > Blogs > Here's the Deal: Bargains in Hamilton and Middletown > Archives > 2009 > October > 21
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Get free Ziploc samples
Right@Home is offering some more great freebies, this time it is new Ziploc bag samples.
Click here to get a free sample of Ziploc bags as well as coupons for Ziploc, Pledge and Glade. The Glade candle coupon for $3 off would be great because these have been on sale a lot at Target and Walmart. Could get you another freebie!
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TweetTips on trimming your budget
There are some days, especially in this recession, where we all feel like throwing up our hands and quitting, lamenting that there is simply no way we can make ends meet when it comes to the bills, needs and wants of our family.
The truth is, there is always a way to save. I admit, I sometimes get annoyed when someone is telling me about how they don’t have enough money and I suggest a way I have cut down expenses and they look at me like I am crazy. Not doing everything you can to save money is what I think is crazy. The most annoying is “I don’t have time for that.” Well then, honey, you’ve got no one to blame but yourself.
And another truth about savings is, it is going to take work. You cannot sit on your duff, making no effort and expect to save money. Sometimes, it takes sacrifice. But what I like to say is, it takes creativity. I still enjoy going out to eat, going out with friends and designer brands— I just do it all for cheaper.
This isn’t a scientific list, but it is some suggestions on how you can save money on the things you need so you can afford more of the things you want.
Start couponing. Hey, I can see you rolling your eyes. But quite frankly this is one of the easiest and most effective ways to save a lot of money. My goal each week is to save at least 50 percent off my grocery bill through couponing and smart shopping and I am proud to say I have accomplished that almost every week for at least a year now. And that also means buying name brand. It does take time, I spend at least an hour a week coordinating sales with coupons and making out my weekly shopping list. When you first start out, it can be frustrating but I would always tell myself, “If you can save $20 by doing this, wouldn’t you like to have that twenty extra dollars in your account to spend on something else?”
There are plenty of sites that make it ridiculously easy to save money (besides this one). At Here’s the Deal each week I give you the sales match-ups I find for Cincinnati-based Kroger. Find them under the Kroger Coupon Match-ups tab on my right sidebar. A site I treat like the Bible of Couponing is Andrea Deckard’s Mommysnacks.net. There you will find tips on how to coupon as well as weekly sales match-ups. This means that Andrea is taking the weekly circular printed in the newspaper and online by the stores each week, finding coupons that coincide with the sales and then telling you where to find them and how much money the item will cost. She includes Kroger as well as Meijer, CVS, Walgreens, Target and Walmart under her Snack Summary tab. These match-ups make it EASY to save: no work for you finding the coupons, just clip them.
There are several ways to get coupons. Click on any of the links here to read more about how to get coupons. One of the easiest is in the Sunday newspaper. Each paper contains 2-3 inserts. Subscribe to your community daily, like the Middletown Journal and Hamilton JournalNews, or pick up a copy at the store every Sunday to get your. There are also printable coupons, or coupons you print at home straight off the computer. There are several sites available and usually new coupons pop up each month. Then there are shopper card coupons, which you load directly onto your Kroger Plus card. These are great because they come off your order automatically when you shop. Not sure if there is a coupon for something you want or need? Check out hotcouponworld.com. I have more about this awesome site here, but basically there is a database where you can type in any product, such as Charmin toilet paper, and it will tell you what inserts have a coupon, where there are printable coupons and shopper card or e-coupons. A site you must use!
Keep your coupons organized for easy shopping. I have a blog about how to organize them here. The organization method I use saves me tons of time when it comes to couponing as well as keeps my house from being cluttered with coupons!
Build a stockpile. There are certain items you are going to use everyday, every week, etc. Items like canned goods, pasta, toilet paper and household cleaners can be stockpiled when the price is good to save you money. When I see something that I can get free or for pennies on the dollar with a coupon, I tend to buy as much as I can and then store it. This helps you save money because you won’t ever have to buy something like spaghetti full price and gives you some flexibility if one week you can’t go shopping or are low on funds.
Shop at ALDI. I admit it: I was one of those high-and-mighty people who used to look down my nose at ALDI as an inferior grocer. I always thought it was where poor people went. Well, I now know it’s where SMART people go to. ALDI has done a lot to change its image, for one thing it does not offer any sort of dented, damaged or about to expire food. The majority of its shelves are stocked with its own store brands, and items like only accepting cash and debit cards and charging for bags help the company save money. It must be helping them since I just saw an ad that has them hiring managers at a new store for $20 an hour! I have found ALDI is awesome for buying fresh produce. My husband and I did a little experiment where he dropped me off at Kroger and he went to ALDI and then called me. We compared prices at each store and found ALDI was almost always cheaper on fresh produce. They also tend to sell chips and other snack foods cheaper. Check them out and be amazed. Read more about ALDI here.
Make energy-efficient improvements. A lot of times there are home improvements you can do that can save green and be green at the same time. Get some tips here. One very simple way is to replace your light bulbs with CFLs. These bulbs which use less energy than a regular one can be pricey, but DP&L is subsidizing some of the cost at local retailers. Also, I have noticed that Home Depot sells these bulbs for just about the cheapest I have seen. I got several 6-packs of 60-watt and 40-watt bulbs for under $3, and they are even cheaper at Dayton-area retailers because of the DP&L discount. Stock up! Also, many utilities providers offer rebates if you replace old appliances. Check out your provider’s Web site to see how to get one before you replace something. I got $125 from my natural gas company when I had to buy a new water heater just because I checked out their site and sent in the form.
Check out the stimulus tax credits. There are all sorts of tax credits available and like the idea of the stimulus or not, your tax dollars are paying for these programs so why not take advantage? There are tax credits for buying a home, car, water heater, going to college and making energy efficient improvements. Get the scoop at the IRS’s Web site here.
Be thrifty. I love thrift store shopping, scanning the aisles for a bargain. Not all thrift stores are of equal merit, but some of my favorite at Goodwill, Meander Thrift, Valley Thrift and the Salvation Army. Goodwill is awesome because they sell overstock and clearance items from Target, brand-new at at half the price or less. My house is full of these finds, photo frames, art work, dishware, bedding, clothing and more. My friends always want to kick themselves when they have bought something at Target full-price and I got it at Goodwill brand-new for $1 or less. The other thrift stores typically don’t have brand-new items, but are trustworthy for finding things in good condition at a good price. I like to get wood furniture at these stores and refinish them so they look like new and are uniquely mine. Another suggestion is checking out the as-is section at any retailer you like. IKEA’s section is by the exit and has discounts of up to 50 percent on damaged, discontinued and floor model items. Cheap cheap cheap!
You may never be rich, but that doesn’t mean you can’t live a happy, rich life. I’ve found being thrifty is fun and rewarding: I never feel denied of anything and it is all thanks to being a smart shopper. I hope you found this list useful and will find some ways to help you save on your bottom line now.
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