Simply Thrifty

Walgreen’s Deals Week of 1/4

I stopped in Walgreen’s today to use my $10 Register Reward for the hair dryer. (If you haven’t used yours, go by Monday because it expires on the 5th. And be prepared for them to have to key it in manually. Mine didn’t scan, but the girl checking me out said they didn’t scan all week.)

There aren’t many good grocery deals, but there were a lot of health and cleaning supply buys.

First, if you buy 2 bottles of Theraflu for $5 each, you get $5 back in Register Rewards, which makes them $5 for 2 bottles. I wasn’t planning on doing this deal, but there was a coupon dispenser for $2 off a bottle right in front of them, so I got $4 off. 50 cents a bottle is a great price.

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By Katelyn Thomas -- 0 comments

Five easy ways to save more money

Sometimes saving cash takes major willpower and crafty solutions. Other times, the savings are sitting there right in front of us…

Skip restaurant extras: If you eat out often, skip one or more of the following; beverages (except water), appetizers, desserts. All of these are usually ramped up price wise. While your meal may be a decent deal, it’s the extras that add up.

Buy off label everything, whenever possible: Easy to do. Sometimes people just need a nudge.

Reclaim your rebates: I’m really bad about this. If I do get a rebate I tend to forget about it OR I forget to check up on it. Case in point, I was supposed to get a cell phone rebate like a year ago. Do I know where it is? NO. That’s just lazy.

Plan your grocery shopping trips with weekly specials: You can save a lot, by taking an extra 30 mins to check those weekly fliers.

Stop and think: Before you buy just about anything, you really do need to stop and ponder the purchase. This might seem like a big and hard, not easy step, but in reality, if you do it enough, it becomes second nature, and takes no time at all.

What are some other easy things you do to save money?

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By Jennifer -- 1 comment

Why the Small Costs of Life Matter Most

You see a lot of books and articles geared toward saving money on big ticket items - houses, cars, college, retirement, and so on. However, in the long run, sweating the small costs will save you more.

Why?

Big ticket items are few and far: Do you buy a new house every week? I’m thinking that if you’re here at this blog, the answer is no. However, I’m betting that most of you buy coffee or lunch fairly often. Small savings provide more opportunities to save on a day to day basis.

It makes you smarter about money: When it comes to saving money, the day-to-day costs are good practice. While yes, you should brush up before buying a car, you buy groceries a lot, so learning to save money on food is a long-term lesson.

Small ticket item savings add up faster: You can save hundreds on a couch (once this year) - let’s pretend you save $300 on one couch this year. However, if you save…

• $30 a week on groceries
• $3 a month on banking fees
• $4 per weekday on cafe purchased coffee (you stop buying it)
• $10 on paper towels (you use cloth)
• $15 a month on cleaning supplies because you made your own….

That’s an ONGOING cash savings of about $2,736 per year; after 5 years you’ve saved $13,680, and after 10 years (the average couch lifespan) you will have saved about $27,360 which is a lot more than that random $300 you saved on a couch.

This year, try to focus your energies on the small ticket, everyday items you need to buy. Your savings will add up, and add up fast.

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By Jennifer -- 1 comment

Printable Coupons for Healthy Food

I am not fond of printable grocery coupons - I have to delete the coupon printers that the sites insist on installing as soon as I print one of them because it really slows down my computer. So, I rarely bother with them. However, I’ll always make an exception for healthy coupons and I thought some of you would feel the same way.

Money Saving Mom has a link to a great healthy coupon source - healthesavers.com.

Wild Harvest usually has links to coupons on its website.

Organic Valley, which is stocked at my local health food store, also has coupons on its site. (By the way, I didn’t know I had a local health food store before I checked the Organic Valley site. It must be a new store. Boy, am I excited!)

Mambo Sprouts has several coupons on the site and will mail coupon books in select areas.

Stoneyfield Farm was probably the first organic site I printed coupons from. They’re still going strong.

Become a Seventh Generation member and print coupons. (Tip - I just joined and printed coupons because my local Walgreen’s is clearancing several products.)

Do you have a source for organic food coupons that I don’t know about? Please share it in the comments or drop me an email.

Photo by ilker/Stock Exchange

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By Katelyn Thomas -- 0 comments

ABC’s of Money Saving

To kick off the new year, I thought I’d round up a good list of thrifty tips that you might be interested in. Following are tips for saving money on all kinds of good stuff. Since I didn’t want to be too random, we’ll go alphabetically.

Auto insurance

Baby gear, clothing, diapers and other baby supplies

Cleaning supplies - make your own OR challenge yourself and cut out something you can’t live without
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By Jennifer -- 0 comments

What to buy in January

I hope everyone had a safe and calm New Year’s Eve. Now it’s time to think about saving money in the upcoming year; starting of course, with January…

Winter textile and fashion goods - think items like winter coats, sweaters, electric blankets, and long johns. Not that I think you’re all rushing out to buy long johns, but you get the idea. End of winter goods are going on sale right now to pave the way for spring fashion and textiles.

Furniture - Most of the big time money research guides note that January is the best time ever to purchase furniture. Post-winter holiday season is the slowest furniture buying time, so stores, especially small chains and local furniture stores are likely to offer discounts and even haggle with you.

Christmas clearance - Holiday clearance in stores used to be a good deal in January, but I think over the years, item supply has gone faster and faster. Here, we were totally snowed in for the week before, and a couple of days after Christmas. Almost no one could get to the shops. In fact, I hadn’t even finished getting stocking stuffers for my son. When I got out finally (three days after X-mas) the stores were really void of excess holiday clearance. The news isn’t all bad though. Online shops do have great clearance sales. Since they don’t need to clear their shelves (virtual items take up no space) they tend to have good deals for a while on holiday wrap, ornaments, candles, and so on.

Consumer Reports notes that the following are great January buys: Read More - What to buy in January

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By Jennifer -- 0 comments

Thrifty Kid Snack Solutions

Okay, it turns out that I’m really lucky with the little guy’s eating habits. On the first day of my little guests’ visit, various people spent what amounts to an entire week’s grocery budget on them. Some big changes were in order and fast!

Make Your Own Sippy Drinks

It started with drinks. Sure, those little sippy drinks are ultra convenient, but you can buy a few gallons of apple juice, mix it with water to cut down on unwanted calories and sugar and refill reusable cups with lids and built in straws over and over again. (If you aren’t sure whether the cups you have around the house are bpa free, you may want to invest in a few new ones that are.)

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By Katelyn Thomas -- 0 comments

Mystery Shopping Interview With Jennifer Jones

I’m finishing up the mystery shopping series with an interview with Jennifer Jones,a Market Force secret shopper who really enjoys doing shops. If you’ve been considering being a mystery shopper, hopefully these interviews have helped you decide whether it is the right fit for you.

Q: How did you start mystery shopping?
A: I started for FUN.  I met a lady that mystery shops and she told me how to get started.  I loved it from my very first shop.

Read More - Mystery Shopping Interview With Jennifer Jones

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By Katelyn Thomas -- 0 comments

Merry Christmas!

Wishing all our thrifty readers a wonderful, relaxing, and safe Christmas day. Have fun with your family and friend.

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By Jennifer -- 0 comments

Christmas Week Deals

She Knows Coupons has put together a terrific bunch of coupon deal posts for Christmas week that may help you finish up your grocery shopping for Christmas dinner. Duck into Walmart for incredibly cheap, or in some cases, free groceries. Swing by Food Lion to get $5 off $30 and don’t forget the deals at Walgreen’s.

Hope your dinner is filled with laughter, fun and good food!

Photo by Sanja Gjenero/Stock Exchange

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By Katelyn Thomas -- 0 comments