Coupons shouldn't be a thing of the past

When I go to the store, with a fist full of my printable coupons I am sad to say most of the check-out attendants comment that I am the only person that they have ever seen use them.  I feel coupons have often been associated with a negative stereotype in our so society.  This idea of someone cutting coupons out of the Sunday paper gives one the idea of poverty.  But I think this negativity around coupons is unfounded and foolish.  Because if someone gave us a buy one get one free for something like an amusement park we would be the first to jump on it but do the same for a coupon for a grocery item and we aren't likely to use it. 

Another reason why people might not use coupons is that the savings might not seem enough to make a difference.  The amount saved might seem small in our instantaneous society but the long term effects of saving money can make all the difference when it comes to saving for the future and paying off debt.  I can personally attest this as my husband and I were able to pay off several large debts this year.  Nothing changed about our income coming in, the only change we made was to our spending.  And what we saved went to paying off debts.  But the trick for actual savings with coupons is using coupons for something that you would already normally buy.

It may take some effort but there are in fact a large amount coupon resource out there.  One that I have used a lot is Coupon.com, I receive an email every day about new coupons and on every day items I purchase like Windex, yogurt and even lotions.

Another trick I use is when I am creating my meal plan and grocery list I build it from looking at what is already on sale at my local grocery store.  I receive circulars from the grocery stores every week and I use them to build my list. But if you can also use SmartSource.com. Smart Source lets you type in your zip code and displays your local grocery's circulars as well as other manufacturers coupons. Planning your meals around sale items is another way to make sure that you keep your food budget on track.

Also never forget Google search. I have Air Wick brand air fresheners in my house and much to my dismay Glade seemed to be the only coupons I could find.  So I Googled Air Wick coupon and low and behold I found several printable Air Wick coupons. You can also check the companies website.  Most of them have their own coupons on their websites or they will have you sign up to recive emails about future coupons.  If you are concerned about spam what I do is give them an email address I created specifically for my coupons sites so that way I don't get inundated with spam on my business/personal address.  I then have it forwarded to my gmail to a specific folder so I don't have to check multipule accounts but I won't get too much into that as it could be a bit overwhelming.  If anyone wants details on how to do that I would be more then willing to answer it.

And of course I must mention another great resource, the coupon queen herself Crystal Paine of moneysavingmom.com. She is a fountain of information and already has a wide list of printable coupons as well as money saving tips that is well worth a look.

If you are looking for more information on ways to save check out this article, on Makeuseof.com it features the top 10 coupon sites and is well worth a read.  Just remember small savings can add up.

Your Comments and Suggestions

We are all different and unique people and our needs reflect that.  I want to address that difference by asking for your tips or requests for posts.  What are your own personal needs when it comes to trimming the fat off your budget?  What kinds of meal ideas are you looking for in your life?  These are things that I would like to know.   Because often times life gets too busy and you find that you don't have the time to look up recipe ideas, meal plan options or even ways to save money.  That is what I want to be here for, so post your requests and let me do the work for you.

Small changes can mean big savings

At some point most of us have all come to a place where we found ourselves needing to watch our spending.  So we find little tricks to help us trim the fat off our budget.  Have you ever stopped to think about how much those tricks help you save?  You might surprise yourself as to how much you are helping yourself out in the long run.  What may seem like only fifty cents in savings can end up being so much more at the end of the year.

This year I aggressively took on our grocery budget to try and reduce what felt had become a very unnecessarily large spending hole for us.  While there were some big changes I made there were smaller changes that had just as big of an impact.  One of the big budget killers that I started to notice was buying drinks.  You don't really think about it because it doesn't seem like much; buying a drink at the gas station for a road trip or Chris buying a drink at work, but I think if I actually figured out the total cost it would be embarrassing.  I think if people actually sat themselves down and totaled it up they would find that the few dollars here and few dollars there adds up to a whole lot more then they bargained for.  So one of my small change was to start making our own take away drinks.