Store Coupons

This week Albertsons, Fred Meyer, and Safeway all have great store coupons in their ads. The helpful thing to know is you don't have to go to each store to get these deals-just take them all to Albertsons. As an example: Safeway has their brand of apple juice for a $1 with their store coupon. Obviously you can't find Safeway brand of juice at Albertsons but you can substitute for Albertsons apple juice. Same thing with eggs, milk, and anything else. It doesn't have to be the same brand if they don't carry it. So you can get all the graet deals in one stop.

Online Coupons

While I get most of my coupons from the Sunday newspaper, I have been starting to get into online coupons. One of my favorite sites is coupons.com-has anyone else found any good sites? You print them off and can double them just like a regular coupons (unless it says DO NOT DOUBLE).

Priorities

We all know life is about priorities. How you spend your money is a huge indicator of your priorities. Show me your check book-and I'll show you what you value. I found it interesting visiting with a friend this week. He and his wife are expecting a baby soon and he was telling me how offended he was that someone gave him some hand me down clothes. He said he threw them in the garbage. Okay first-totally not a green thing to do! If you don't want them give them to a charity. I asked him if the clothes were in bad condition and he said no, he just coudn't stand the idea of his child wearing someone else's clothes.
Now what I find interesting about this conversation was what a clear message he was giving me about what he values. He also was telling me that right now he is laid off from work because the economy is so slow and I know his wife works for minimum wage. They rent a home, have 2 car payments and I would bet some other debt. Now tell me, what do you think will be more important to that child in the long run? A college saving account? Mom and dad having a fully funded retirement plan so she doesn't have to support them when they are old? Having her parents own a home some day that is fully paid for? Or wearing only new clothes?
We have been so blessed-about 90% of our kids clothes are either borrowed or bought
2nd hand. And you know what? I don't think most people would know that. Their clothes are clean and look new for the most part. By buying 2nd hand you can save a fortune. I'm so excited garage sale season has started up again. Last year I didn't go out but since both kids are now walking we have been back at it. You can find some great bargains.
This week stop and think about what your priorities are in your financial life and then make your money reflect that.

Birthday Club FREE stuff

In our family 3 out of 4 of us have birthdays in June. And we are getting a lot of FREE stuff! Most major restaurants have clubs you can join. When you sign up they will send you coupons for appetizers, desserts, money off your meal to use right away and then in your birthday month they will send you a coupon for even more FREE stuff.
Some of my favorite restaurants that have sent me FREE stuff:
Red Robin
McGraths Fish House
Baskin Robbins
Joe's Crab Shack
The Melting Pot
Dairy Queen
Black Angus

Most major restaurants have some kind of club so just go to their website to sign up. Don't forget also they are lots of great birthday clubs for kids-so sign them up too. While we are a pretty frugal family, one of our splurges is going out to eat occasionally and this is a great way to cut the cost.

Free Stuff

Here is the free and close to free stuff at Albertsons this week:
Wild Harvest Organic Crackers:FREE
Kraft light mayo with olive oil: .36-this savings was a surprise. There were $1 off coupons stuck to the top (which I combined with Safeways double coupon) and they were on sale for $1.86-making them only .36!

This week I decided to try something new with my coupons. I went to Walmart. I have never tried coupons there because I thought it would be more hassle than it is worth. We needed to go to Walmart for something anyway though so I thought I'd give it a try.
Here is what I got for FREE (or pretty close).
Johnsons Lotion:FREE
Muir Glen Organic Tomatoes: .16
Old Spice Body Wash:FREE
Clean team flushable wipes: .64
Liv Active:FREE
Some of these coupons you can print right from your computer. The others were found in the Sunday papers so clip those coupons! You can find the links for the coupons at http://freebies4mom.com/ under the post Walmart Freebies for mom.
I have to admit I have been totally into couponing lately. Which I never thought I would say. I have always thought they were annoying and too much work. This week I was so excited about all the stuff I was finding for FREE that the Man asked me "is couponing your hobby?" At first I thought what the heck are you talking about? But then after some pondering I thought I guess it is. I love the fact that I am saving about $100-$200 a month on groceries. That is $1200-$2400 a year!! What could your family do with that extra money? Become debt free? Invest in a good mutual fund? Save for your child's college?

The Millionaire Next Door

For those of you who are wise enough to not be counting on social insecurity for retirement you should read this book. The Millionaire Next Door:the surprising secrets of America's Wealthy by Thomas J. Stanley comes highly recommended by Dave Ramsey, who I highly respect. You may be shocked who are the millionaires in your life and that you could be one some day! The main thing I got from this book? Consume less than make. A very hard thing for Americans. But necessary if you want to become wealthy.
The book points to 7 common denominators among the wealthy:
1. They live well below their means.
2. They allocate their time, energy, and money efficiently, in ways conducive to building wealth.
3. They believe that financial independence is more important than displaying high social status.
4. Their parents did not provide economic outpatient care.
5. Their adult children are economically self-sufficient.
6. They are proficient in targeting market opportunities.
7. They chose the right occupation.
I do not believe that wealth building is the most important thing in life. I however, do believe that we need to be wise stewards of the money God has given us. That involves being frugal and not falling prey to the have more and bigger propaganda that is all around us in America. This book really encouraged me to continue to live on less than we make. I am proud to say in 3 months we will be DEBT FREE (except our house), which you'd better believe I'm calling Dave Ramsey and screaming it on air! We plan on NEVER having any debt again except our house. The borrower really is slave to the lender.

Debt

"Dept is Dumb...Cash is King......And the paid off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice" Dave Ramsey
I cannot say enough great things about Dave Ramsey and Financial Peace University. It has changed our lives and hopefully the lives of our children as we plan on teaching them all we have learned. I don't know about you but my parents didn't teach me much about budgeting, saving for retirement, mutual funds, life insurance, stock markets, and on and on. Using the tools we learned in FPU we have paid off about $50,000 in debt in the last 3 years, we are saving for retirement and hopefully in the next year or 2 we will be DEBT FREE (except for our house)!!! Even more awesome is my husband and I are completely on the same page about money. We have financial goals and are excited that we are actually going to meet them. If your interested in being debt free and wealth building check out Dave Ramsey's site (to the right) to find a class near you, he is also on the radio and finally has his own TV show. I know this probably sounds like a commercial or something but I promise I don't work for FPU and he doesn't teach any get rich quick garbage-it is just solid money management. I get so excited because it has changed our lives and I am passionate about helping other people who are struggling with money management.
"We give you the same advice your grandmother would, only we keep our teeth in"Dave Ramsey

Coupons 101

Many of you have asked me to explain how couponing works. I will attempt to explain the basics. If you have any questions let me know. First off, where do you get coupons? If you get the newspaper they are in there. I don't want to subscribe to the paper because we don't read it and why spend money to save money? Elderly people LOVE to give you coupons. My grandmother saves them for me and I've also asked my neighbor. They are usually just throwing them away and most elderly people love to know someone is using them. In their day in age they learned not to waste, something our generation could stand to learn. So just ask your neighbor or that old lady at church. The key is to get multiple coupons and then when you find an awesome deal you can stock up.You also need to find how the grocery stores around you honor coupons. For me I live near an Albertsons, Safeway, and Fred Meyer. Albertsons honors other stores coupons (including Safeways double coupon), Safeway has the double coupon, and Fred Meyer will not take other store coupons. So usually Albertsons is the best bet.So you start by clipping your coupons and sorting them into a little file folder (labeled Dairy, Cereal, Hair products ect). Then every week when the new ads come out you look through them and try to match what is on sale with what you have a coupon for. For instance last week Fred Meyer had a coupon for toothpaste 3 for $5. I also had a one dollar off coupon which I combined with a double coupon (you can only double up to $.50) so I got toothpaste for $.16 So needless to say, I stocked up on toothpaste. I know it sounds confusing but it is very simple once you figure it out. And when you start getting things for dirt cheap-you will be addicted!