Author: Jennifer
•1:20 PM
Here are some excellent ideas for saving money. They may seem simplistic, but I've seen people pour money into fast food and other wasteful purchases. It's not that we don't! My husband is very fond of his Whataburger hamburgers at lunch time and occasionally, we purchase a pizza. I find that when I haven't planned well, we end up stopping at McDonald's so my kids don't get grumpy from being hungry. I truly hate to see that money pour out of my pocket, especially after working sooo hard for it.

The following is a newsletter that I subscribe to. If you haven't yet, make sure you do!

Five Simple Steps To Save $500 A Month On Your Grocery Budget -
Without Sacrificing Taste!

Day 1

Getting Started

Welcome to the first day of our grocery savings e-course! Are you ready to start slashing your grocery bill? In today's lesson we want to show you where your grocery money is going.
Start small! Try just cutting out $25.00 or $50.00 in your grocery budget this month or this week. You might be thinking "but I just don't have anything I can cut and prices are rising each day?"

Here is a list that can help you find ways to start cutting today. Check it out now and and see just how painless it really is. Read it here.

Five Simple Steps To Save $500 A Month On Your Grocery Budget -
Without Sacrificing Taste!

Day 2

Dear Readers,
Welcome back for lesson 2 of our grocery savings e-course. If I said I would give you $150 extra a month to help you pay off your credit cards, lose weight and help your family become healthier, would you accept it? Does it sound too good to be true?
Well check it out now and find out how you can find that extra $150! Read it here.

Five Simple Steps To Save $500 A Month On Your Grocery Budget -
Without Sacrificing Taste!

Day 3

Dear Readers,
Are you ready for lesson 3 in our grocery savings e-course? Great let's jump right in!
The other day I was again asked one of the most common questions that people ask me. "Where do I start if I want to get out of debt?" After telling me of her huge credit card debt and how they eat out almost every night, the lady took a deep breath and said, "How do I save on laundry detergent and cleaning supplies?" Sometimes we can't see the forest for the trees.

Most of the time getting out of debt starts right in your own kitchen sink.
Sound crazy? Check out this article and see how Dirty Dishes can cause Debt! Read it here.

Five Simple Steps To Save $500 A Month On Your Grocery Budget -
Without Sacrificing Taste!

Day 4

Dear Readers,
Do you find yourself running to the fast food joint to grab dinner on your way home? I bet it's just because you're too tired to fix dinner.

That's one of the top reasons for eating out and you can save thousands by stopping this one habit. On reader wrote to say she saved over $20,000 in one year just by "cutting back" on eating out! What could you do with $20,000 this year?

We seem to be people of extremes and that definitely spills over into our thoughts about meals. We have the idea that there are only two choices when it comes to providing dinner for our families. The first is to go out to eat and not lift a finger. The second is to become Betty Crocker, an Amish grandmother and Martha Stewart all rolled into one. Oh! And don't forget to roll in Mr. Clean for the clean up!

Well, in today's lesson we are going to show you have a quick meal and save at the same time. Check out how to Make Life Easier By Not Eating Out. Read it here.

Five Simple Steps To Save $500 A Month On Your Grocery Budget -
Without Sacrificing Taste!

Day 5

Dear Readers,
For our final lesson we are going to deal with those picky eaters.
Kids' eating habits can send a family to the poor house! Between pop-tarts, fruit chews, juices boxes and containers of cool applesauce it would be easy to spend the entire month's grocery budget in one week.

Here are some tips to help you find something they will eat while hanging on to some of that cash in your pocket. Read more here...

We hope you've enjoyed our grocery savings mini e-course.

Have a great day!

-Tawra and Jill
www.LivingOnADime.com
Author: Jennifer
•12:10 PM
This is not going to be a shopping blog, but I had to do a brag on our tight budget this week. I've got some thing that I won't use, but can give as gifts. Why purchase stuff you don't use? Because you get it for free and you create store credit to pay for things you need but don't have the money for. Make sense?

Here's the deal. If you don't know what the abbreviations stand for, scroll to the end of this section.

4 boxes of Excederin
$7.96 minus four $2 cpn = -0.04 OOP + 4ECB's
2 Febreeze Noticeables
$13.98 - 1 BOGO = $6.99 OOP + 5ECB's + $13.98 rebate
2 Pepcid AC (sale 7.99)
$15.98 - 2/1 cpn = $7.99 OOP + 5 ECB's + $5.50 rebate in cpn circular
2 Tylenol PM (1.72 clearance)
$3.44 OOP (had to get these... they were so cheap)
3 Essense of Beauty (CVS brand) toe separators (.99 ea)
$2.97 OOP + 5 ECB's
14 J&J Buddies Easy Grip (.99 ea)
$13.86 - $14 cpn = -.14 OOP
10 J&J Baby Shampoo Trial Size (.99 ea)
$9.90-$10 cpn = -.10 OOP
2 J&J Baby Lotion Trial Size (.99 ea)
$1.98 - $2 cpn = -.02 OOP
2 Softsoap Spa (4.99ea)
$9.98 - 1.50 cpn - 1.00 cpn = $7.48 OOP + 9.98 ECB
CVS Paper Towels 3pk $1.99
CVS Toilet Paper 4rl $1.59
Honey Wheat Bread $2.39
Eggs, 1 dozen $1.79 (I was hesitant here because I love our farm eggs that we're used to getting. Too bad I sold them all this week!)

Subtotal: $28.57 - 4/20 cpn = $24.57
Paid for with 3 bonus ECB's + 10 ECB's
FINAL TOTAL: $11.57 OOP + 28.98ECB's + 19.48 rebates
(actually, I split up the purchase so that I could use some of the ECB's earned on the first one to pay for the second one, so my total out of pocket was actually only $4)
VALUE: $87.81 (including sale prices)

I'll use my ECB's on my next purchase and send in for those rebates!

AND CHECK THIS OUT:
Walmart has Zantac for $3.98. Use this
coupon for $5 off. Make $1.02! I purchsed 2 of them!

Here's the list of abbreviations to clear up the confusion:
  • ECB : Extra Care Bucks (CVS in-store credit)
  • OOP: out of pocket
  • cpn : coupon
  • BOGO: buy one get one free
  • 4/20: $4 off of $20 purchase offerred by CVS

Want to learn how to do this? I've gotten most of my help at http://www.moneysavingmom.com/. I got started by reading her Supermarket Savings 101 e-book. She also has a beginners section below that link on the right size. Let me know if you need any help.

Author: Jennifer
•4:40 PM
Here's a Christmas gift I just finished for my little cousin. We pick names every year. We enjoyed making this set. This is a fleece poncho with marabou sewn on for trim, a matching purse and scrunchie. We could go on all night with the scrap material, but we have to go somewhere now. Oh, the whole thing, including the pattern, cost us $7.50. We got everything on sale at Hancock Fabrics.
I also made a nice cork board memo type set that I'm using for my own wall. It would make a wonderful gift. You can view that at my stamping blog: http://stricklystamping.blogspot.com/