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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
My POTD: Budget Helpers
Since so many of us use coupons, etc. I thought it could be fun to share your top tips & tricks to help trim your household budget. I'll start:
I try to do my weekly shopping on Wed or Thurs b/c the fish counter always reduces last week's specials for quick sale on those days. I scored salmon pinwheels last week, 2 for less than $3 and today I got two garlic and herb tilapia filets for $2.91. Score! Plus these are great for easy night cooking. All I have to do is throw them in the oven and come up with a side and veggie!
Re: My POTD: Budget Helpers
I'm also curious where you are finding these great deals!
We are still trying to figure out the best system for our budgetting. And honestly, I still don't "get" the whole couponing thing. It seems silly to me to buy things that aren't on my list and I rarely get coupons for my standard items.
One thing we have been doing is concentrate on how much we eat out. And when we do eat out we use a coupon 90% of the time. www.restaurant.com is our main source for coupons or from ValPak. We also recently started limiting eating out to 3 times a week (2 dinners anad 1 lunch). It is horrible how much we have been struggling to meet this. But that shows us how much money we have been throwing away by eating out.
Even if many of the coupons that you see are for things that you don't usually use- do you buy toilet paper? Paper towels? Make up? Toothpaste? I usually only pay around a quarter for toothpaste because I'll use coupons when the toothpaste is on sale or triple coupons are going on. You won't be getting toilet paper or paper towels or makeup for free by using a coupon- but there are almost always coupons for these things in the paper and you can save at least a little bit of money. I'm not flaming- I'm just sayin'!
DH and I are both in grad school right now (and we were both working full-time when we got married), so we've had to adjust a lot. Our most significant adjustment has been to eating out less and having less "fun money" each month. It helps that many of our friends are also in school, so we do fun/inexpensive things together like eat dinner at people's houses, have a board game night, watch a DVD at home, etc. We only go out to eat a couple times a month.
Most of the items you listed we buy in bulk at Costco, which from what I've calculated works out to about the same as coupons. I could be wrong on that since I haven't done the calculation recently, but since we purchase so much at Costco I feel like we are already saving without the hassle of coupons. I should add I'm not naive enough to think everything at Costco is cheaper than what you would pay with a coupon. But then the time vs. difference of money saved calculation has never seemed worthwhile when I did try couponing. But again this may be because I need a bit more training.
That didn't come off as a flame at all. It is good advice for a beginning couponer.
I'm a big couponer! I stock up on toiletries, baby products and often paper goods at CVS. My out of pocket costs there are insanely low! I usually get DH's deodorant, body wash & razors dirt cheap. Plus like PP said toothpaste is usually less than .50
We try to bring snacks & drinks with us when we're out, to avoid the $2 sodas from the Gas station.
I also build our menus around the meats that are on sale. I stock up on ground turkey at Aldi's, it's less than $2 a pound!
Yes, the fish counter deals are at Harris Teeter. Sorry I didn't include that in my post earlier!
As for couponing, I only clip coupons for products I would normally buy or new products I may want to try. I am not brand loyal when it comes to most things so I usually save about $15 per shopping trip on coupons alone. But if you are buying in bulk I could see how that would even out. Does costco accept manufacturer coupons? We go to BJs and they do, so I just thought I'd mention that.
I go online on Wednesdays when the grocery store ads come out & make my lists from there. We almost always eat what's on sale - but I do buy in bulk when it is on sale. I buy a lot of chicken, divide it into bags & freeze.
Ditto PP about bringing snacks. If I know we are going to be out for awhile, I will throw a few drinks & a snack in a cooler in the car just in case. Definitely saves some cash!
As most of you know I am a HUGE coupon-er... and I try to share my deals and bargains on www.frugalpoontater.wordpress.com
- I only use coupons on things that I know we want/need or will use. All other coupons get passed down to my other couponing friends.
- I stockpile when things are dirt cheap. This way I don't run out of something (trash bags, toothpaste...etc) and have to run out and pay full price.
- If I can get an items for FREE I will pick them up even if I wont use them. People are always taking donations
- I watch sales at HT and also try to watch out for triples and super doubles
- We try to eat at home during the week (including lunches). This doesnt really apply to weekends, because we are usually out at the track or filming. So its more of a grab and go...
I coupon as well, and follow poontater's blog. She rocks. :-)
I was also going to say about coupons, that it's not always about shopping from a list of what you need at that moment. If that's what you do, then no, using coupons might not always work. Like the pp's have mentioned, I mainly use coupons to stock up on things. Instead of having to rush out and buy toothpaste when I run out, I have several tubes already on hand that I paid next to nothing for, etc.
However, I do save $20-40 on most of my normal weekly shopping trips as well, using coupons, store discount cards, etc. I have found that Kroger offers the best discounts & coupons, IMO. They have awesome coupon books that they send out that are personalized, based on your shopping history. You also earn points for every dollar spent there, which translates into a coupon for several dollars off any order. The last one I got was for $18.
I typically only shop at HT and Lowe's during coupon promotions or sales, and I hardly ever shop at Food Lion, though they're normal prices are "cheaper." They don't double coupons every day like everyone else does, and I don't like their store brand items, like I do Krogers.
HTH!
My brown eyed girl. :-)
I live at Food Lion, the farmers market, and Whole Foods. We went from spending 120 a week on food to spending 60-80 a week on food. we have and intense food budget that drives me crazy. We only buys eggs and meat from whole foods, this is rough on our budget but we will only eat free range, cage free, organically fed etc. I was shocked with Food Lions selection of organics. We will never have a small food budget because we are so particular, which is our fault, but one we're willing to deal with.
I do clip coupons for stuff we eat all the time or for things like trash bags, laundry detergent, etc. but it doesn't make much of a difference week by week.
I'm a big snacker. I like to snack in between meals so I don't eat huge meals which normally = cheaper/smaller meals.
Buy store brand things when I don't have a coupon for the name brand. Most of the time with coupons, I can get brand name things cheaper.
Shop at consignment stores. I love getting nice clothes on a discount!
Little Ceasars for pizza night.