I mean from a marketing perspective, I think the show has a great premise, after all, who doesn’t want to walk away with $1000 worth of groceries for $10?  Everyone stands around the checkout line amazed, the cashiers are amazed, and viewers are like WOW.

But as someone who has used coupons and hunted for those ultimate bargains, I see a few problems.

1. Time Spent – Ok, so for these hard-core couponers, they are spending like 30 hours a week on clipping and organizing their coupons.  Then you have to account for the time spent finding their bargains, loading their carts, unloading their carts at the checkout, unloading their bags into their car, unloading the bags into their house, then storing and organizing their goods.  I suppose if it’s something you really need and it’s really a good price, then it MIGHT be worth it…but I’m just wondering if their families feel the same way since they are losing time spent with their couponer.
2. Useless (or semi-useless) Items – Ok…so if you really look at these “great” deals, are they really useful for the average household?  Two items on the last episode that were just ridiculous to me were the hundreds of bottles of headache medicine and the croutons.  Really?  I understand that the lady used her overage on the Excedrin to buy meat…but still.  I just can’t fathom having a use for 100 packages of croutons, even if they were free.
3. Mental Issues – For each and every person they featured, it seemed that their extreme couponing was covering up some kind of mental issue.  Whether that issue is low self-esteem (one woman directly said it made her feel useful) or an obsessive compulsion to save money or what seemed to be at the heart of many of the stories – hoarding.

And what I think is the absolute worst, is each “issue” was sugar-coated.  The one woman gives away her extra supply to the homeless shelter, and another woman lets her family come “shop” from her stockpile.  Lovely.  It obviously distracts from the above issues and makes everyone feel warm and happy and therefore they keep watching the show.

Can couponing be productive and useful?  Absolutely.  But I think there should be some guidelines for it.

• Limit your time clipping coupons and hunting for deals.  If these two tasks start taking over your life, there is a problem.
• Only buy items that are things you are actually going to use.  Just because something is a good deal doesn’t mean you need to buy it – especially if you’re never going to use it….then it’s no longer a good deal.
• Don’t let your stockpile overtake your house.  If your basement (or wherever you keep your goods) starts looking like a grocery store, something is wrong.
• Examine your motives for using coupons.  If you are truly looking to save money, then you’re probably ok.  Even if you’re having fun with the “rush” of a good deal, you’re probably still ok.  But if you are doing it so you can have an excessive stockpile, so you can feel like you have worth, or so other people shower you with attention, you’re probably not ok.

And if you’re still interested in clipping coupons, you need to learn how the whole system works.  Don’t just randomly clip coupons and buy stuff…honestly you’ll probably even lose money that way.  Here are a few ways to get started:

• Get a book like: The Coupon Mom’s Guide to Cutting Your Grocery Bills in Half: The Strategic Shopping Method Proven to Slash Food and Drugstore Costs
• Try a website like The Grocery Game
• Join forums such as the ones on Slick Deals

When I first learned about freezer cooking, I was introduced to once a month cooking (OAM).  I purchased a menu from Saving Dinner by Leanne Ely and loved the organization of it.  It had my grocery list and step by step instructions on what I was to chop up first and how I was to bag it up.  The problem was that when I actually did those things – I was EXHAUSTED!  I learned very quickly that it was not for me.

Then, right before I had the baby, I looked again at freezer cooking.  I wanted to make sure I had some meals ready for after the baby was born so I didn’t have to cook.  I’ve been a big fan of the Hillbilly Housewife for awhile now (it helped us get through some rough financial times) and she had sent out an email talking about how it would only take her a couple minutes longer to prepare a second lasagna and freeze it.  I had to check out her Freezer Cooking Made Simple eBook because it sounded a lot more feasible to me.

I think the most important thing I learned was what types of ingredients freeze well and which ones don’t.  From there, I used several of her recipes and doubled them and got them in the freezer.  I also found some other recipes on the internet and have them lined up as well.

The first night I tried it, I was really amazed.  It was a little tricky cooking twice as much hamburger, and I had to cook two pots of noodles – but after I assembled everything I had this sense of accomplishment.

And just for the record – my favorite recipe so far is the Pizza Pasta Casserole.  It was cheap, easy and quick to cook and best of all – my picky 4 year old ate it!

So anyhow, if the thought of once a month cooking turns you off, I would highly recommend trying this method.  Look for recipes online (it is also sometimes called cook once, eat twice), get the eBook – whatever you’d like.  It really doesn’t take much longer and you won’t have to eat out on the nights when you’re too tired to cook – instead you can just grab something from the freezer!

Click here to get your own copy of Freezer Cooking Made Simple.

First of all, you can use any kind of notebook you’d like – anything from a full-size 3 ring binder to a small pocket notebook that easily fits in your purse.  Just make sure that it is convenient enough that you will always remember to take it with you.

Next you will need a grocery price book worksheet, which you can either make yourself, or download here.  The worksheet should have room for the item name, size and price.  You will also need to make a notation at the store location at which you found the price.

When you are first starting out, you may not know what a good price is.  It will take some time to visit several stores and to go through a few sale cycles before you start to see a trend.  Then, once you can see what a regular price, sale price and super sale price look like, you can start to shop smarter.

Although you may not always be able to get the best deal (perhaps the item you need is not on sale anywhere during a certain week) – you can set a goal to not spend more than a certain percentage over the sale price.  If you make it almost like a game, you will enjoy looking for bargains and seeing if you can beat your previous low price.

Always remember too, to keep an eye on the unit prices.  Although items look cheaper at first glance, you will need to break down the price to make sure you are definitely getting the best price.  Even if items come in different sizes at different stores, if you make a note of your unit price then you’ll be able to easily calculate the better deal.

So I did my homework and found that newspaper subscriptions are TOO EXPENSIVE!  The cheapest thing I found was a Sunday only subscription for $52 a  year.  Of course, being the frugal person that I am – I started researching.  I ran across this great site that offers cheap newspaper subscriptions at 50% – 75% off!  After all was said and done, I found a paper that offered Sunday only delivery for 50 cents a week.

I’m sure that I can save at least 50 cents a week by using my coupons, so this is definitely a wise decision.  Compare that to the original price which was $1 a week, and I save $26.  Needless to say I am more than happy with my discovery and wanted to share it with anyone who may need coupons or just a cheap newspaper subscription.

Well, I’ve been a subscriber to the basic menus4moms menu for quite a while, but a few weeks ago I noticed a Frugal Mom Menu in the sidebar.  Seeing as I’m a frugal mom, this really caught my attention.  I looked into it, tried out the free sample menu and was hooked.  You get a 5 day menu which includes lots of vegetables, which is what our family so desperately needed.  And the best part of it all, is that you will be amazed at how low your grocery bill will become.  I spend $60 to $70 a week for HEALTHY food as opposed to junk like TV dinners and prepackaged foods.

Anyhow, if you go check out the frugal mom menu you can try it out for two weeks for just one penny!  After that, it is $5 a month which is more than worth it for the time you save in menu planning and the money you save at the grocery store.  I’m so in love with this menu and my husband is absolutely loving the variety!

If you decide to try it out, let me know.  I’m curious to see if everyone else loves it as much as I do.  If you’re still no sure, scroll down to the bottom of the sales page and you’ll see a link for the sample menu.  Hope you all find this as beneficial as I have and save some money on your groceries!

Here is the menu again:

• Turkey – There are great prices on turkeys right now and I usually get one slightly larger than what we can eat.  That ensures leftovers for a couple of days.  Make sure to thaw your turkey in plenty of time for Thursday.
• Mashed potatoes & gravy
• Stuffing – Straight from the box will work.  Use stock from the turkey, or boil the turkey innards and use the stock from that to give your stuffing a delicious flavor.
• Green Beans – Fresh or canned will work.  Add some bacon to spruce it up if you’d like.  Really any vegetable will work.
• Rolls – Although I love to bake, Thanksgiving is too busy for me to bake bread, so I buy these from the store
• Yams and Marshmallows – mmm mmm goodness!
• Cranberry Sauce – You can use this straight from the can.
• Pumpkin Pie or Pumpkin Cheesecake – I noticed this year that the pre-made pumpkin pies are 2 for $5.  I think it’s a great price and I may cheat and just buy one instead of cooking one.

Remember that even when finances are tight, you really can pull off a nice holiday meal.  Also, while all the ingredients are on sale this week, you can stock up on some pantry items like broth and stuffing.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

So I set out to find recipes for the ingredients I had on hand.  I ran across www.supercook.com and was instantly hooked.  I created an account and started entering the items I had and instantly it started listing recipes for me.  It will tell you which recipes you have all the ingredients for and which recipes need one or two items.

I got about half of my pantry and freezer items entered and then started looking at the common kitchen items list.  I was able to easily click on each item to enter it and it included things like onions, egg, butter, etc.  Once I entered all of those, I was given an even larger database of recipes to make.

For an entire week, I came back to the site in search of a new recipe.  A couple of times I had to erase items from my list as I used them up, but it was such a great feeling.  Not only was I using up my items on hand, but I was saving a great deal on my groceries!  I only had to buy a couple of things like milk and bread which is substantially less than I would normally spend.

On the other hand, if you or your spouse don’t have a sense of adventure, this is probably not the thing for you.  We ate some very interesting meals – things we would not normally make.  For the most part, they were delicious, give or take a meal that was not terrible, just different.  Definitely got us back to the basics with things like rice and pasta.

So, if you’re looking to clear out some older items or if you’re looking to save some money in these weeks before Thanksgiving, definitely give this web site a try.  It’s easy to use and full of tons of great recipes!

So you can imagine how pleased I am with myself since I got not only one $25 CVS gift card this past week, but TWO!  And how much did I pay for these cards?  Absolutely nothing.

Gift card number one came from the points I collected at My Points.  It took a few months, but I finally got the 3,600 points needed for the $25 gift card.  All it took was patience, time and a happy clicking finger to earn this one.

Gift card number two came from a coupon I had for a $25 gift card with any new or transferred prescription.  Well, it just so happened that I got a new prescription last week.  I drove my happy little self down to CVS and proudly handed over my coupon.  Voila, just like that I got another $25 gift card.  Oh, and the prescription only cost me $11 (which I would have spent regardless), so I still came out ahead.

Sometimes in life it just takes a little creative thinking to get some of your necessities.  Using these gift cards in conjunction with coupons and Extracare Bucks, I should be able to get many of the things we need around the house for free.  Literally.

This package comes from MoneySavingMom.com and is valued at over $100!  You’ll learn how to save money on your groceries (which comes none too soon – have you seen the hidden price increases at the grocery store?).  You’ll also learn tips for managing your home, how to make crafts, how to make frugal breakfasts, how to make menu planning easy and much much more.  Click here to see all this package has to offer.

What I’m most excited about though is the price.

$5.97!!!  TODAY ONLY!!!  The price will go up by $3 tomorrow, so if I were you, I’d get it now.  GO NOW!

Did I mention how excited I am? 

Before I tell you any more information on coupons, let me sell you on the idea first. Just yesterday I got some fantastic deals that even amazed my husband. His response was, “there’s just no stopping you is there?” I had two coupons that were $2 off of any two Johnson Buddies products. I also had a coupon for $2 off the new Honey Bunches of Oats with Chocolate Clusters. So I swung by Walmart after depositing my paycheck in the bank (as to not waste gas), and picked up a box of the cereal and two of the Buddies soaps that my son loves and needs. I also picked up a copy of All You magazine which not only is my favorite magazine, but it’s cheap and full of COUPONS (including one that will make me money this coming week).

So, let’s see:

• $1.98 for the cereal

• .94¢ for each of the soaps

• $1.77 for the magazine

Grand total = $5.91
Minus coupons -$4.00

Total Out of Pocket = $1.91

So, if you want to get started with using coupons, you first have to know where to get them. The most obvious place is your Sunday newspaper. My Mom saves her newspaper for me and it costs me nothing that way. Otherwise, I’d have to spend $1 on the Sunday edition. It takes me less than 10 minutes and I typically cut out anything that I could possibly use – whether or not it’s the current brand I use. For example, I’ll cut out all shampoo coupons despite the fact that I use Dove shampoo right now. The reason is because when that certain brand goes on sale at CVS, I will get it either super cheap or perhaps even free.

You can also get coupons online. Check the manufacturers website, do a search for the exact product or visit one of the following sites: www.smartsource.com, www.coupons.com, www.mycoupons.com. There are actually a TON of websites, but I don’t want to give out an overwhelming list for someone who may just be getting started. I also like to get my coupons through MyPoints because then I earn points for the coupons I print and use.

In the next few days I’ll explain how I keep my coupons organized, how I choose which products to buy and how to get GREAT super cheap deals.