Coupons...Yes, I'm still ON that.

So I had all these great intentions of sharing my deals with you guys and helping out when I can.  But really I can barely find the time to put together my own list of coupons let alone a list for everyone else.  SO I thought I would share some of my favorite websites.

Coupon Divas

This site is awesome for all the printable coupons.  It takes you through all 4 of the major places to get online coupons and you can stay on the same site to do it, which is a huge bonus for me.  Sadly most of there match-ups are for stores we don't have.  But if you shop at Target or CVS or Walgreens. It's perfect.  I also really like their coupon database, which lists coupons that will be coming out in the upcoming paper, if you search by date.  Let's me know if it's even worth buying a paper that week.

Disclaimer: We don't always get the same coupons they list, but it's usually pretty close.

Creative Couponing 

This site is awesome because the offer Coborns and Cashwise match ups each week, so it's a great place to check for coupon matchups.

Pocket Your Dollars

This site also is a local one.  So they offer Coborns, Cashwise, Cub and Rainbow foods match ups.  Also they feature a lot of money saving tips and other local deals.

Krazy Coupon Lady

I do Like this site a lot but I don't use it as much as some of the ones listed above, but it's also a good resource for any coupony stuff.

You can also get some good printable coupons from Coborns and Cashwise under their coupon tabs.

Enjoy and happy shopping.  There is a lot of baking stuff and soups on sale this time of year so make sure you stock up when you find a good deal!

36% You say?

Yup!  That's what I said!  I saved 36% on my grocery bill this week.  I scored some AWESOME deals and saved a lot of money on stuff I would have bought anyway.  I can't tell you how much yogurt I've bought without a coupon.  Or how many ketchups I bought without thinking twice.  But THAT is a thing of the past.  Here are some highlights of this weeks shopping trip!

I went to Coborns as they do Double coupons on Tuesdays through April. (it's something they do pretty frequently actually)  ***Beware though, they only double up to 10 coupons.***

Heinz Ketchup.  Priced at $1.99.  I had a $2.00 off 1 coupon.  So in theory I made a 1 cent profit.  However the girl told me they could only scan the coupon for $1.99.  Oh darn right?  FREE

Lawrys Marinades. 96 cents each with Penny Pincher Coborns Coupon.  PLUS I had a 50 cent coupon that doubled to $1.00  I got two of these so I made 8 cents on this deal.  FREE + 8cents.

Food Club 1 Dozen eggs.  98Cents with penny pincher coborns coupon.  PLUS I had a 55cents of 2 coupon that doubled to 1.10 off 2.  for a total of 43 cents for each dozen of eggs.  (perfect for coloring eggs for Easter!)

I spent a total of 98.24.  And I saved 53.92.  I can handle that.  ALL on things I would buy anyway.  I just got the name brand instead of generic this time!

I was also complaining yesterday on Facebook about Coborns double coupon policy.  The woman told me that I can only double up to 10 coupons.  Which was true.  I was irritated because I would have done two transactions or I would have chosen different coupons to double.  But when I really sit down and look at my receipt I noticed two things.  1.  That I THOUGHT when it says they double up to $1.  I thought that meant if I had a coupon for 75cents, they would throw in 25cents to make it equal $1.00.  But that is not the case.  I had some $1.00 coupons and they gave me the full amount so I got $2.00 off on those coupons which is a pretty good deal.   2. I was irritated cause I would have picked out the highest coupons to double since I could only do 10.  Again after looking at my receipt, I noticed that their system actually does that for you!  So it went though and only doubled the 10 highest coupons!  So I actually ended up saving more money than I thought I would.

So the lesson here:  LEARN YOUR COUPON POLICIES PEOPLE!

Coupon Frustrations and a Question.

Hi all.  Lately I've been doing a lot of coupon research and inspired by the TV show "Extreme Couponing" on TLC, I've been trying to find some good deals.  The hard part is this:  Here in St. Cloud we don't get as good of coupons as some other areas of the country.  Not to mention we have a pretty limited selection for stores.  There is Coborns and CashWise (which are owned by the same people and pretty much the SAME store)  and Walmart.  Sure we have a Target and they offer some groceries but not as much as a big grocery store.  We have an Aldi, but they don't accept coupons and even if they did they don't carry name brand products there (ok rarely).  Awe sweet Walgreens.  Really where you can get the best deals and where you can actually find information online regarding sales and such.  And none of the stores around here offer double coupons...except Coborns and that's just one day a week monthly promotion right now.  And they only double up to a dollar.  So if you have a 75cent coupon they will only bring it to a dollar, which, hey.  IS better than nothing but still.

So I'm feeling motivated.  Motivated enough to maybe try out some of these deal match ups.  I think I could do this and do it pretty well.  (I'm not talking extreme or anything) Just well.  Get some discounts on name brand stuff cheaper than store brand, which has always been my number one complaint.

So I want to know...Is ANYONE interested in me posting these deals?  Will ANYONE actually read and use the match ups I post?  I mean I don't really wanna be wasting my time with this (as it IS super time consuming) if no one will read it.  So either post here if you are interested OR comment on my facebook link if you are interested...And of course you can pass this on to other people too!

Money....

I know that talking about money is a taboo subject for some.  For me, I just really don't care if people know how much money we make, or how much our house cost.  Maybe because it's really not much.  Maybe if we made more money I'd be more reluctant to share our money business.

In reality we pay out more each month than we take in.  The main reason? Daycare.  We pay over $800 a month in daycare costs.   We knew this before deciding to have another baby and yet we went for it anyway.  Does that make us crazy?  Probably.  But to us having a family was so important and we were selfish and wanted our kids to be close together.

We don't have a lot of debt.  In fact the ONLY debt we do have is our mortgage.  No car payments, no credit card debt, no student loans.  We don't go on lavish trips, or buy expensive things.  We have the most basic of all basic phone plans and cable plans.  We do splurge on netflix, but we VERY much use that and since going out to a movie is so expensive we find this a justifiable expense and we definitely get our money's worth out of it per month.  Our mortgage is a very manageable amount and well within our means.  I use coupons whenever possible and almost always buy the girls' clothes at pre-owned sales.  We don't go out to eat an unusual amount (though probably a little more than we should.  But hey, we do have to LIVE too)

And yet knowing all of that, we still have to pull just a very little bit of money out of savings every month to cover expenses.  We  have analyzed and re-analyzed our money to see where it all goes and yet we just can't seem to find places where we can cut back any significant amount.  I'm frustrated to say the least.  And now we get to pay for a portion of this fancy helmet Claire gets to wear.  Thank goodness for insurance though even just paying 10% is sometimes more than manageable.

So there it is.  All laid out on the line for everyone to read.  I know in the long haul we are doing ok.  That things will get better, and for goodness sakes that we are way luckier than a lot of people.  But for now, I hate money.  I hate how much stuff costs and I hate how no MATTER what you never seem to have enough.