Becoming a crazy coupon lady

Look, I like saving money. And I never manage to stick within my grocery budget. Yet, somehow, I really have not been interested in becoming one of those coupon ladies.

Why, then, did I find myself at a Coupon Party on Friday night, learning the ins and outs of saving money on groceries?

Mainly because of the saving money part. But also because a girls night is a girls night is a girls night, right?

Even though I have rolled my eyes at my thrifty friends and their bragging Facebook posts more than once, I can’t help but be intrigued when they talk about spending $32 for $250 worth of groceries.

Intrigued . . . and jealous.

So when my friend Sarah invited me to a coupon party and offered to share the tricks of the coupon trade, I decided to go.

The offer of pizza and the thought of leaving my house by myself, on a Friday night of all things, may also have played into my decision-making. I’m just saying.

Because I read blogs, have a cousin who is big into coupons and learned about flyers and price matching from our babysitter, I already knew a lot of what was shared at the party. (Or, as I told Mark when I got home, “I already know everything.” Um . . . really, Mary?)

However, reading a post about using coupons or hearing how much my cousin has slashed her budget is different than hearing, step-by-step, how my friend buys groceries and saves money. I learned a lot of little tips and heard some great real-life examples that gave those things I’d read or heard more depth.

And hanging out with some new girlfriends was a blast! (When I left, they were talking about the possibility of a cooking club. And since my last attempt at that flopped, I can’t wait to hear if these girls are up for it!)

Mark and I are considering some changes in the next few months that will mean a much tighter budget. So even though the thought of clipping so many coupons I need a binder kind of makes my head hurt, I think I might be sliding toward the dark side. The coupon side.

The exciting thing is that I’ve got great women to learn from. My cousin feeds four young kids and a gluten-free husband on one salary. Our babysitter provided meals for her family while her husband was out of full-time work for several months. And the girls from last week? Well, between their binders and their envelopes and their systems and their “I consider this a job,” they mean business!

The internet is full of sites about coupons and saving money, so I’ll keep this brief. Here are the main ways my friend saves money on groceries:

• Coupons from the Sunday newspaper (Red Plum and Smart Source inserts, as well as Procter & Gamble insert)
• Websites such as smartsource.com, redplum.com and coupons.com 
• Blogs, including some of my favorites, Money Saving Mom and Deal Seeking Mom
• Price matching with sales flyers
• Drug store rewards cards
• Stacking coupons (using a manufacturer’s coupon and an in-store coupon)

Some of the things the experienced coupon ladies talked about don’t appeal to me. One mentioned “sneaking by” expired coupons, and I’m not cool with that. Another mentioned buying packages of Depends to get the “bucks” on her rewards card, even though she doesn’t know anyone who actually needs Depends.

But for the most part, spending a couple hours a week clipping, organizing and planning is starting to sound like a good idea.

I know. I never thought I’d be one of them. But I think I’m going to give it a try. Is anyone else thinking about jumping into the coupon game? Maybe we could do it together over the summer, offer each other some encouragement . . . or accountability . . . or a challenge. You know, whatever gets you going.

Who’s in? And who already coupons?

Image by BigBeaks

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Swagbucks and Amazon.com Giveaway

Have you started your Christmas shopping yet? What? It’s too early? Right. But it’s not too early to start saving for Christmas!

That’s where Swagbucks comes in.

Swagbucks is a search engine that offers you the chance to win cool prizes from every time you search. You win points by searching, and you can use points to “buy” prizes that include Amazon gift cards, kids’ clothing, electronics, comic books and more.

[Yeah, I thought I’d get your attention with “comic books.”]

Seriously, though, I easily earn about 10-20 points (Swagbucks) a day, and a $5 Amazon gift card costs 450 points. That means just by searching (which is made even easier by installing the toolbar, which I did at work and at home!), I could earn a gift card each month.

That’s not to mention the extra points you can get by following Swagbucks on Facebook, Twitter and their blog.

And there’s one more way I can earn Swagbucks. It’s pretty simple: I just tell you, my friends, all about it!

If you're interested in signing up for Swagbucks, would you please use my referral code? Just click here, and it will take you right there.

As of right now (8 p.m. on Tuesday night), I have 520 Swagbucks. That means I can buy my first Amazon gift card. And because I love you – and it’s only fair – I’m going to give that card away to a reader who signs up!

That’s like getting 450 Swagbucks for free!

If you sign up for Swagbucks using a link from this post by Friday, leave a comment and tell me. I’ll draw a winner (or Random.org will draw a winner) on Saturday.

Swagbucks works for me . . . and I love it . . . and it’s my favorite way to search the Internet. So this post will be linked to Works for Me Wednesday, Things I Love Thursday and Friday Favorites.

(And don't forget to vote for the couch you want me to write about.)

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My 2010 New Year's Resolutions

Image by katehra

It’s that time of year again, isn’t it? In the past week, I’ve read post after post about New Year’s resolutions. So of course I’m going to join the party.

Would you be surprised to know that I have a two-page typed document with my goals listed out with various strategies and tactics for achieving each one? Right. No. I know.

Don’t worry. I know your eyes are still bleeding from yesterday’s crazy long post. So I’ll keep this short and sweet. Here are my goals for 2010:

1. Read the Bible all the way through. I’ve never done this, so I finally did what I’ve said I should for the past couple of years: I bought a One Year Bible. Granted, it’s now the 8th and I’ve just gotten started. But I have gotten started.
2. Obtain and maintain a healthy weight. I started a water aerobics class on Monday, and I’m still a member of Weight Watchers. This is the year I will get healthy.
3. Improve our finances: live within a budget, save more and pay off some debt. I’ve already increased the amount automatically deposited to savings each month, and I’ve allocated extra paychecks to pay for car maintenance, gifts and vacation. Now it’s a matter of sticking to my revised monthly budget and figuring out how to pay for birthdays and Christmas.
4. Go on monthly dates with Mark. I’ve got most months mapped out. I’ve already bought concert tickets for April, and we’re hoping to take a trip to Chicago in May. Most months will be smaller affairs, though, like a movie or a trip to Target. You know how I love both of those outings!
5. Roll with the punches in our life with a toddler. In other words, potty training, moving to a big girl bed, working on our bedtime routine and possibly starting piano lessons. Yikes, that’s a lot of big stuff!

I’d also like to take a photography class, increase my blog traffic by providing better content and community, start a cooking club with my girlfriends, read some good books, stay fairly caught up on my scrapbooking and get a new job. But I’m not putting those on the main list. Short and sweet, remember?

Now, what about you? Have you blogged about your New Year’s resolutions and/or 2010 goals? I’d love to read it, so link up below!

If you aren’t going to blog about it, I hope you’ll still share your goals in the comments!



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No more robbing Peter to play Santa

The first year Mark and I were married, we were so excited for Christmas. We were, after all, official grown-ups now, so of course we needed to buy presents for every single person we knew and loved.

And so, out came the credit card.

In the years that followed, that spending strategy became a habit, and we quickly accumulated several maxed-out credit cards and accounts – and then, slowly, paid them off.

For the past few years, as we’ve become more responsible with our money, I still haven’t been sure how to handle Christmas. So we usually wait until the last minute, crossing our fingers for a Christmas bonus, praying for a year-end windfall and eventually juggling our bills and paychecks to scrape out a modest gift budget.

A budget that’s usually blown – and paid for in January . . . and February . . . and sometimes March – because frantic, last-minute shopping is inevitably more expensive than thoughtful purchases made over time.

This year, though, I actually took a look at our budget in January. I realized that four times a year, Mark gets an extra paycheck (because I budget for four checks a month, but the year has 52 – not 48 – weeks) and I get two extra paychecks a year (again, I budget for two checks a month, but I get paid every other week, which means 26 checks a year).

Next, I made a list of all the “extra” expenses I could think of: Christmas (obviously), birthday presents, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, new tires and regular oil changes. These were the things that seemed to trip us up every year and put us behind financially, as we scrambled to find money to pay for what shouldn’t have been unexpected expenses.

[Looking back – and forward, to 2010 – I should have included the occasional baby or wedding shower and in-home party (like Pampered Chef, because yes, I actually like these parties).]

After adding up all those expenses and comparing the total amount to our extra paychecks, I was so excited to realize that the amounts matched up pretty well. It wasn’t perfect, and I had to lower adjust the amount I wanted to spend on gifts. But still – I was finally getting a leg up on Christmas (and the whole year’s extra expenses)!

I can’t say the year’s gone perfectly. We still have some under-budgeting and over-spending issues. And I have had to readjust and refigure and rethink several line items. But, I was able to “find” money for Christmas by Thanksgiving, which means . . . (yes, I do feel like this deserves a drum roll) . . . as of Friday, I had almost all of my Christmas shopping done!

Are you finished with your shopping?
How do you budget for Christmas?
And what should I get for my grandma?

If you’re still looking for gift ideas, Stephanie put together a great list of books written by bloggers. And I have a suggestion for Santa over on Blissfully Domestic.

Actually making a Christmas/gift budget works for me. For more good ideas, visit Works for Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family.

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Works for Me Wednesday: Frugal Edition

Today over at We Are THAT Family, Kristen is holding a frugal tips carnival. And all week, I’ve been planning to participate. But as I sat down to write my post, I realized . . . I’m not actually very frugal.

Sometimes I’m cheap. Other times I’m broke. But if I’m honest with myself – and with you – I’m rarely frugal.

So today I’m going to think about how I can be frugal. Other than buying groceries at Walmart and renting movies from Redbox.

Where will I get my ideas, you ask? At Works for Me Wednesday, of course!

What’s your tip for living frugally?

That day, for no particular reason, I decided to go for a little run.

I’ve been thinking lately that I should do an update on my 2009 goals. So here are the short answers:

• Quiet time – not so daily, but I’m still working on it.
• Finances – have paid off some debt and have saved some, too. We’re going to be sidetracked for the next year, thanks to Uncle Sam. But I’m still working toward sticking to our budget and moving forward (instead of backwards!!).
• Quality time with the kiddo – yep. She doesn’t always want to read before bed, but we’re getting in time doing something fun each day.
• Recycling – our trash service doesn’t offer recycling in our neighborhood. I have bought bins and identified nearby drop-off locations. But . . . I have to admit that the bins haven’t been put to use yet.

The long answer, of course, is about my never-ending quest to lose weight. Let’s see . . . where to start?

First, I quit Weight Watchers, because I wasn’t going to meetings and it was really a waste of money. (However, let me state here that the problem was me, not the program! The program definitely works when you follow it!)

Second, I’ve considered various options for exercise, from jazzercise to Curves to water aerobics at my local gym.

I haven’t started any of them.

And then there’s the latest craze being talked about like, well, crazy on the internets: Shred. For about four seconds, I considered trying it out.

Until I remembered the stack of workout tapes and DVDs that already live in my house.

Have I mentioned that we’re now just eight weeks away from a trip to Florida? Where I will, presumably, be forced to don a swimsuit?!

So last night, I set the alarm to get up early. To use one of those workout videos. Which I would have done, had I not hit snooze about six times. Luckily, the day didn’t end there.

After work, Annalyn and I headed to the park for a walk. The weather today was beautiful – about 70 degrees, and no rain. Sure, we’d all like a nice sunny day. But when it’s rained almost every day lately, I take what I can get.

Anyway, I plopped her in the stroller – the regular kind from Walmart, not a fancy jogging stroller, mind you – and headed out. My original plan was to take the trail twice, for a total of one miles.

But something happened on that trail. And it sounded like this, “Do you want Mommy to go fast?”

Yeah. I decided to try running. I’ll tell you some other time about my previous relationship with running. But suffice it to say it’s not been a good one. And it’s been quite a while since we even met, running and me.

I don’t know what came over me. But as Annalyn and I made our way around the slightly hilly half-mile trail, I decided to try running a few yards at a time. Turns out it wasn’t as hard as I would have assumed. Then again, that could be due to the fact that I ran for, literally, a few yards at a time. Three times.

We spent the rest of the time huffing and puffing and wondering why I left my inhaler in the car. Or . . . maybe that was just me.

Annalyn spent the rest of the time playing with her phone and greeting the other walkers and one tiny dog.

See? We do fun stuff together!

** Extra credit to anyone who can name the movie I got the title quote from! **

We got an extension.

Not the tax kind. No, our taxes are a disaster, and we may very well be in debt to Uncle Sam forever. Then again, I guess that's nothing new...

Anyway. Today at Annalyn's 18-month well-baby visit, we got an extension on her walking deadline.

At her last appointment, the doctor said not to worry about her gross motor skills - or lack of - just yet. But she said that if she wasn't walking at the next appointment (read: today), it would be time to start worrying.

Today, though, Dr. B said that because Annalyn has learned new tricks (pulling up to stand, climbing like a monkey, cruising a little bit along the couch), she's doing okay.

However, if she's not holding onto our hands and taking a few steps by next month, the doctor's calling in the big dogs. Or, at least, referring us to a physical therapist.

But for now, the kiddo is off the hook. The doctor was pleased with her verbal skills, her body part naming, and her ability to use a phone and a comb just like a big person.

And really, as she sat on the exam table in her diaper, gripping a ball point pen she dug out of my purse, posed to take notes on a stack of my business cards, I had to agree with the doctor.

That kid of mine is doing just fine.

Confessions and coupons

I have a confession. I have a Friday night ritual. It doesn’t involve drinks with the girls or a movie with my husband. No, every Friday night when Annalyn is in bed and Mark is still working, I lay on my couch and watch Wife Swap.

It’s a ridiculous show. But I watch it. And I like it.

Now that we have that out of the way…

In last Friday’s episode of Wife Swap, one of the moms was an avid coupon clipper. She often purchased cartfuls of groceries for $10. The other mom…not so much. She was a spender. And when she discovered the coupon hobby of her new family, she said, “What is this? A coupon disorder?”

I had to laugh at that comment, but the truth is, when I hear or read about coupon moms, I am amazed and overwhelmed and a little bit jealous. I am all for using coupons. I occasionally clip them myself, and my parents and our babysitter are always giving me coupons for diapers and wipes and all things baby.

But…I always forget to use the darn things!

Last weekend, my cousin told me she’s gotten really big into couponing. She has four young kids, so it makes a lot of sense to be more frugal. It sounds like she’s being more practical than some ladies I’ve read about – just buying things she will actually use and not driving around town to every single store each Saturday (hard to do with 6-month-old twins at home!). But she was still able to give each of us a parting gift before we left her house on Saturday night – tubes of toothpaste that she had gotten virtually free (in bulk!).

I have not been good at using coupons, even though I constantly struggle to stay within my grocery budget. What about you? Do you use coupons?

Product Review: Free Credit Report

First of all, the place to go for your free credit report is here. Every 12 months you can find out your credit score. For free.

This is not to be confused with the catchy (or annoying, depending on who you ask) commercials on TV for FreeCreditReport.com. If you get you get your credit report there, you eventually get charged for it. As in, no longer free.

In theory, you have 30 days or something to cancel whatever it is they're selling. But lots of people have gotten scammed by this company by forgetting to cancel the membership...myself included. (That was what taught me never to sign up for something "free" with the plan to cancel it before the trial period ended...because odds are, I would forget. Lesson learned.)

However, my irritation toward that company and their product has not stopped me from thoroughly enjoying their musical commercials. You know the ones - with the guy and the guitar and the catchy (or annoying) tunes about his dream girl or his new car or his job in a restaurant dressed as a pirate. You can see the videos here:

Singing Pirates
Dream Girl
New Car
Bicycle

What do you think of these commercials? Funny? Catchy? Annoying? Too sarcastic? Just sarcastic enough?