Wow, I got lots of e-mail questions this week which I absolutely love by the way. If you ever have some lurking question please feel free to follow my e-mail link in the sidebar. Not only does it give me ideas for blog posts (thanks Gina!) but it actually brings some reality to the results on my statcounter. (Sometimes I wonder if I REALLY have as many visitors as it says I do.)
I received several questions about whether I use coupons, play the Grocery Game, or use all the CVS/Walgreens rebates. And I have to admit that I do none of these things.
I’ve found that the coupons are usually for convenience or processed foods and I just don’t buy that stuff very often so it’s not really saving me any money. I mostly shop along the outer aisles of the grocery store (produce, bread, meat and dairy). If I do need something from the center aisles (a can of soup, pasta sauce, stuffing mix) I usually buy generic or get it at such a deep discount at one of the outlet stores I frequent, that the coupon isn’t necessary. Although I would never pass up a coupon for something I actually use, I usually only find a few of those per year. And of course if I see 5 boxes of Mac & Cheese for $1 then I’m glad to add a convenience food to my pantry.
As for the Grocery Game and CVS/Walgreens rebates, well, they make my head hurt to figure out. I’ve looked at them and tried to figure it out but there is quite a bit of time investment in those to get going as well as a little bit of money to get started and I don’t have much of either of those things right now.
Although a lot of my readers are getting some INCREDIBLE bargains by working these systems, so by all means, look into them if you’re interested.
So keep the questions coming, I love them. And I do want to remind you that this is what works for me. There are lots of other women out there who do different things to keep their budgets low and have some great ideas. So the more you work to get your own budget down, the more you’ll find what works specifically for your family. There really isn’t just one way to do it but we can sure glean some great ideas from each other.
And if I haven’t answered your question yet, never fear, I’ll get to it within the next few days.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
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4 comments:
I'm so glad I found your blog. I love you homemade stuff you've posted lately. I agree, that grocery game makes my head hurt and who has room to store all the extra stuff? I buy a lot of generic so the coupons don't help me either.
Thanks for all your great tips!
Me either -
It makes my head hurt too - too much math. And no offense to those that do these regularly - but when I look at what's on sale - I would actually be buying things we didn't need or don't use to "save" the money. That doesn't work for me.
I love your new look! Very nice.
I also love it that you realize upfront that different things are going to work differently for each family. You do a great job keeping it down to the basics. I find your ideas inspiring.
If you ever need any help with the CVS thing, I'd love to help you out. To date I've spent lass than $200 and saved more than $1200 buying all of our household/toiletry items as well as some groceries from CVS. Much of that is diapers/wipes, by the way.
Have you ever read the "tightwad Gazette" books? If not, you totally should. I found mine at the library and finally couldnt keep them checked out any longer so i bought me a copy of them off ebay. (thankfully they were inexpensive.nothing worse than spending big money on a book about how to save money)
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