Shopping Tips & Tricks

Handy Hints To Save You Even More Money When You Shop & Dine! Check out eBay.com for department store coupons other people have received and no longer need. There are auction listings from such department stores as Macy’s, JC Penney, & Khol’s that are selling for a fraction of their dollar value. Buy as many as you can then stack them with your flyer coupons to get even a deeper discount! For those of you that have department store credit cards, and pay your bill on time & shop at the store often, you can receive certain perks. Such as, points, a head’s up on special saving days, coupon booklets and in some cases, freebies! Did you know that you can buy discounted gift cards? At platicjungle.com; cardpool.com; and giftcardgranny.com, you can buy gift cards for less than their face value. Stack that with an in-store coupon and get even more savings! An added bonus these sites offer, is a buy back program, where they will pay you for your unused/unwanted gift cards! Many stores offer markdown days. Google the store name and “sale schedule” to find out what day’s your favorite store slashes prices on their goods. Make a special list of their schedule on your computer, to help plan your shopping trip and save some of your hard earned cash! Three easy tips you should do before you go shopping: look over your weekly store ads for specials, check your coupons for possible sale matches, and go online to see if your local store offers special coupons or discounts that you can stack on top of the special to save more money; check out recipe.com for local listings. Looking for a store that offers double coupons? On grocerycouponguide.com; you’ll find a list of all stores that offer double coupons, (day/time restrictions may apply), to help you get the deepest discount available! Most stores offer a discounted section in various departments in their store. Look for manager special’s, (often marked by a brightly colored sticker), in the produce, meat and dairy sections. Most meat can be frozen up to a year, eggs are good up to 5 weeks, cheese and yogurt are easily freezable, vegetables can be trimmed & cleaned of imperfections and frozen (in most cases), until needed. Dented vegetable cans, open boxes and discontinued items can usually be found as well. Open the dented can, inspect the goods and freeze. (I recently did this with corn and beans) Boxed goods can be transferred to air tight containers and zipper storage bags; be sure to include what the food is and how to prepare it. Most store sales are on a 12-week cycle, so bulk up on dry goods that you know you will use when they are on sale to save yourself money in the long run by not having to get it at regular price later. Most non-perishables last 3 months or more in the pantry, properly stored of course! Another way you can save before going to the store is checking out thegrocerygame.com; a popular website that matches coupons to advertised and unadvertised sales at your local store! Take the extra time to ‘like’ or follow your favorite brand on fb and twitter to get more savings and coupons! To save money the next time you want eat out, check out bulk/warehouse stores (Sam’s/Costco) for cut-rate gift cards on your favorite restaurant. Periodically, the restaurant gift cards will change, but you can save 20% or more by purchasing them there than you would somewhere else. Visit the restaurant website and sign up for their email and often times you can get special coupons that you can stack on top of the gift card to save even more! Check your receipt after eating out and you may find a coupon or discount for your next visit. At restaurant.com, put in your zip code or the restaurant’s zip code to find coupons for pennies on the dollar. In one instance a shopper purchased a $25 coupon (off a $35 meal) for only $10! They also offer a holiday season program, “Feed It Forward”, where you can send $10 gift certificates to your friends for free!

How To Save Money Using Your Smartphone Have you downloaded a barcode application yet? With barcode apps such as biggu.com (ShopSavvy) and redlaser.com (RedLaser) you scan product barcodes right in the store to get competing prices at other local retailers or online. A time saving app like mycardstar.com (CardStar), allows you to store all you reward cards electronically. Saving you precious time at checkout. All 3 of these applications are now available for Droid and iPhone. Have tried comparing prices with your brick and mortar store vs. their own online site? In most cases, the online price is cheaper even with shipping! If you prefer to use your local store, check with customer service about matching online prices and you can possibly save time and money!

Every week I go shopping, and every week I save money and spend money! I keep an on-going list near the fridge to write down items that need replaced and items that will need to be replaced very soon. From this list, I look at what is on sale at the local grocer, add super great deals to the list, if possible and see what is on sale that I will have to purchase there. I then check the other Sunday ads for items I need or super good deals that I can use my coupons on or have price matched at Wal-Mart. I then get my coupon binder out and pull out all the coupons I need for my list , coupons for the ad items if possible, and check the expiration date on all the coupons. I’ll pull out the ones that are about to expire, take them with me to check out the product and price. I don’t always buy the product and I send the about to expire coupons to @Coupons for heroes. Sound confusing? Start with your list, add the items from your ads that you would like to check out. Go through your coupons to match as many items you can. Pull out coupons that are about to expire. List these coupons separately on your list so you can see what you are looking for before digging out the coupons. Shop for the items on your list, special priced items from ads and your close to expiring coupons. Send off your close to expired or expired coupons to @coupons for heroes to help our military families over seas. I don’t keep an access of coupons in my binder. Just coupons for things I use and coupons for things I may want to try if the price is right. The rest of the coupons I file in envelopes by month for my giveaways and games. I don’t take my binder to the store, I have a 2 yr old boy and that would just be more ‘fun’ than I think I can handle! I do take my little coupon keeper, I file the coupons I plan to use and the ones I would like to check out in the appropriate files/folders. Very simple and easy indeed, wallet in back pocket, keys in front pocket, list/coupon keeper/ads in one hand and Kenley’s hand in my other. Shopping with a toddler has to be as interesting an quick as possible to ensure the sanity of yourself and other shoppers. Shop the frozen, dairy, deli, produce aisles last. I go to the back and work myself forward, to keep my cold things cold longer! Keep your toddler occupied like I do by letting him touch the fruit and vegetables. Tell them what it is, describe it to them and let them hold it. Be watchful of throwing and biting/tasting. Try doing this with different items you are purchasing. It helps them learn and stay calmer and saves your nerves from fraying!~Michelle


Where I live, the only choices for shopping are the dollar store, our local grocer, and walmart. About an hour away I can shop at walgreens, harps, target and kroger. An hour away in a vehicle that has no a/c can be very taxing when you have a 2 yr old! However, if I am going anyway I make sure I get my list ready along with my coupons and ads. Let's not forget about savings cards too! Lots of ways to save when I can get into the bigger towns. But I'm here today to talk about how to save at your local stores. I recently found out just what ads our local walmart will price match on. Boy was I suprised when they told me they honor the ads from the stores I listed above from the nearby bigger town! Next time your in walmart, ask someone at the customer service desk or simply ask your cashier like I did. I can now benefit from the ads that target, krogers, harps, walgreens, dollar general, family dollar, freds and a few more that I can't remember! Another way to save is to match your coupons with the ads, and have walmart honor the ad. I shop at our local grocer for anything I need that is on sale for the week. For example, our local grocer (Thriftway) is offering a 4lb bag of the best choice sugar for only $1 when you purchase $25. Since I need a couple of other items I seen in the ad, I don't think I'll have a problem getting my bag of sugar for a buck. The key is to know what you need, hopefully find a coupon for it, match that product to an ad if you can. I try to go to the Thriftway on Saturday's, since that's the only day they double coupons (up to 50 cents) but the do a stamp saving program that helps on the price of milk, eggs, bread, icecream, and water. In closing, I want to say thank you for stopping by and checking out my blog and listening to me ramble on about saving!~Michelle