Living Lofty 4 Less: Painting a Nursery!

Paint, paint everywhere!  I really like this part of a re-design.  The sky’s the limit when picking paint colors, and the changes to your room can be really dramatic.  Not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but we’re transforming our office into our little boy's nursery.  Here are before pictures:

Hubby thought we should leave the bookshelf up, so we'll be using it to hold decor...and maybe even a few books!

Our poor, crowded closet...

When looking over the fabric selections I made here, I decided to paint the walls a light green color.  I decided to splurge and buy primer-in-one paint, but I found myself having to paint over the walls twice.  (Ugh!  Those commercials are so deceiving!)  And to think, I could have put that money somewhere else!

Any Hoo, here’s how the green paint turned out:

As you can see, to tackle the shelf and mini dresser, I first painted these pieces the same color as the wall.  Long ago, I discovered that I can quickly and sloppily apply the 2^nd coat of paint in my desired top-coat color to achieve a jazzed up “weathered” look.  Here’s the end result:

I’m so thrilled with the end result!

The Closet

My expanding family is slowly but surely outgrowing our 30 year old, 3 bedroom house.  This means we have to find creative ways to store all of our stuff (and this is after giving away a lot of items to our local co-op)!!  My little boy will, therefore, have to share his closet with his daddy, which will house his shoes.  We plan to keep the door closed most of the time to keep the illusion alive that this is 100% a little boy’s nursery.    We decided to go with the master disguiser – chalkboard paint!  No one (except you) will ever know that we’re really just trying to hide a collection of size 13’s. Haha!

The Crib

Paint project #3 involved painting the crib.  Now, this task was much more time consuming than I could have ever imagined.  For starters, I decided to spray paint this crib on what had to have been the most windiest Saturday of the month!  Seriously, I think more spray paint ended up on the protective cardboard than the crib!  Never the less, I finished what I started (after one impromptu trip to Lowe’s and 4 spray paint cans later).  Here’s a document of my progress:

Next on this list is…window treatments.  Can’t wait!!

Living Lofty 4 Less: Decorating My Boy’s Nursery

One of the joys I get in life is creating beauty for those that I love.  But because I’m on a path to create financial independence for my household, this all has to be done on a budget.  Not a problem, right?

To start, I set an arbitrary budget for myself of $250.  The ideal thing to do would be to create a line-item list of what you will realistically need to decorate your room, attach dollar amounts to these items, and then add or delete what you feel is necessary to get to a budget amount that you’re comfortable with.  I went through this exercise when decorating my daughter’s nursery, so I decided to use her budget for my baby boy’s room – both rooms will have similar needs.

I would like to say that I know exactly what I want the end product to look like, but that’s just not the case.  Decorating anything really is a creative process, but more emphasis is placed on the creative aspect when you’re trying to stay within your budget.  I can honestly say that if money was not a factor, this room would have already been decorated…finding the right colors and décor at the right price takes time, my friend.

The first stop on my nursery decoration quest was the fabric store – well, fabric stores.  I have to be honest, I could spend hours in any fabric store!  So many colors, textures, and designs to choose from – I love it!!  I went to Joann’s, Garden Ridge (they have a small section of old upholstery scraps), and (for those of you in the Atlanta area) Forsyth Fabrics, and Fabric World Inc (in Stone Mountain). 

Forsyth Fabrics was first on my list and I walked into this store with a black and cream nursery in mind.  I walked out, however, with fabric samples of light green, gray, and brown. Haha!  I continued to build on this color palette as I visited the rest of the fabric stores.  Here’s what I purchased:

It turns out that my taste is rather expensive, so I had to incorporate not-so-expensive fabric with the expensive to create a win for the budget.  For example, I fell in love with this fabric as soon as I saw it.

In fact, this fabric swatch is what I ended up using to base the rest of my pattern/color selections on.  This fabric is retailed at $30.95/yard which would have eaten my poor budget alive, so I opted for buying ¼ yd and will use this piece as the base of my window treatments.  I will be sure to post pictures of finished product!

Here’s my (after-the-fact) line-item budget (please make sure to take the time to prepare yours before you start shopping):

First, my actuals:

Fabric/Item	Actuals	Location	Notes:
Window treatment base	$8.20	Forsyth Fabrics
Crib Bumper (outside)	$8.00	Fabric World Inc
Crib Bumper (lining)	$7.01	Joann Fabric & Craft
Crib Sheet	$9.58	Joann Fabric & Craft
Dust ruffle (contrast)	$3.00	Garden Ridge
Dust ruffle	$10.19	Joann Fabric & Craft
Toy box lining	$7.49
Accent pieces	$12.48
Wall Paint	$30.00	Lowe's	Primer in one
Furniture Paint	$10.00	Lowe's	Primer in one
Paint for Crib	$19.88
Rug	$13.00	Garden Ridge
Total	$138.84
Amount Left to Spend	$111.16

I actually created a budget using the amount left to spend.  Here it goes:

Item	Budget	Location	Notes:
Dresser	$20.00		Will seek out yard sales
Frames for Wall Art	$30.00		Thrift store/yard sales
Mattress	$40.00	most likely Walmart
Hamper	$15.00
Toy Box	$10.00
Total	$115.00
Amount Left to Spend	-$3.84

I'll keep you posted on whether I'm able to stay within my budget.  Now, time to start painting!!

I'm Expecting.

I’m Expecting.  A little boy.  In June.  I am beyond thrilled to be adding a new member to our happy little clan.  (I could be wrong), but I think a lot of people are under the impression that babies are expensive.  Fortunately, I’ve learned that does not have to be the case.  Here are some of the ways I’ve been able to minimize the cost of caring for a baby:

Hospital bill – okay, there’s no way of getting around this.  I’ve never used price to search for my doctors.  My midwives are wonderful, and I would never switch over to another practice or insurance company to save a few bucks.  My insurance company does offer a $200 discount off my hospital bill if I document a few “health-focused” activities like exercising or eating a well-balanced meal.  (I’ll be all over this deal – every dollar counts)!

Diapers – Right now, I only buy my diapers at drug stores.  I have not found them to be cheaper elsewhere.  I keep a Stockpile of them (here’s a quick lesson here), so that I only have to buy them when they are offered at their lowest price.  Typically, CVS will have a "get $10 when you buy $30" sale on qualifying items.  Pampers or Huggies will usually be priced at $10 during this sale.  I will usually buy 2 or 3 packs (only 2 packs if toilet paper or paper towels are on sale, 3 if they are not).  I will use 2-3 diaper coupons that usually range from $1.50-$3.00, and then ECB’s that I already have to get my tab down even lower.  I usually end up paying $10-15 out of pocket for 3 packs of diapers plus I’ll have $10 ECB to use on my next trip.

And diapers don’t have an expiration date, so if you’re even thinking about trying to conceive, you should start a diaper stockpile now.  And if your little one takes his/her time to get here (like our 1^st one did), you will have a nice stash of potential baby shower gifts.  No new parent will turn down diapers.  Not one!

Baby Food – If at all possible - breastfeed, breastfeed, breastfeed.  It will cut down your “food” expenses tremendously!  If you have to use formula, you can always use a store’s house brand – same ingredients for as much as half the price.  And if your baby needs a specific brand of formula, you can always go to that brand’s website and sign up for free samples.  They will bombard you with coupons and samples.  Their goal is to get you hooked on their brand, so if that means sending a bunch of formula swag your way, so be it. 

When your baby is ready for his/her introduction to table food, you can always food process fruit and veggies...and meat (when he/she is ready).  If you already have a food processor, there’s no need to buy one made specifically for babies – yours will work just fine. J

Clothes – consignment stores, ebay, hand-me-downs from friends & family…that’s how we got by!  Actually, the bulk of our 1^st baby’s clothes were hand-me-downs.  I only shopped at consignment stores, b/c I wanted to be able to buy something for my little girl. (Silly, I know, but it mattered to me).  I used ebay to buy special occasion dresses (Easter, Christmas, her birthday) for my little one.

As mentioned here, towards the end of the season, I would buy clothes for my little one in the size she’d wear next year.  I typically get her deeply clearanced clothes from Kohl’s, Target and Old Navy (I’m talkin’ like $1/garment).

Furniture – We also used a few hand-me-downs for this category.  With both children, we were given cribs; we just had to purchase new mattresses.  We bought the rest of the furniture from yard sales and thrift stores.  I painted all of her furniture the same color to make it all look cohesive.  I could not be more thrilled with the end result!

Room Decorations – Decorating (anything) on a budget requires lots of creativity.  You should be able to find some interesting (and nicely priced pieces) at off-price retailers like Ross, TJ Maxx, Marshalls and Home Goods.  Garden Ridge is a sleeper – if you have one in your area, I highly recommend you hit it up, especially if you need to get drapes/curtains for the lowskie.  You can always hit up thrift stores and yard sales to find eclectic pieces for little or nothing.

Baby toiletries – you’ll need to brush up on your couponing skills here, here and here.  These items are offered on sale a lot, so make sure you’re not paying top dollar for them.  You can also sign up for several “clubs” to get free product:

                PublixBaby Club

                PampersGift to Grow

                HuggiesEnjoy the Ride

Toys – I know you probably don’t want to hear me out on this one, but babies are perfectly happy with playing with your cell phone or an empty water bottle.  You really don’t need to go out of your way to fill their closets with toys.  We bought our little one a few…just because.  But she still enjoyed the cardboard box or wrapping paper that encased the toy more than the toy itself.  (Oh, and you can’t fool babies by buying them what I call “the Fisher Price version” of your cell phone.  They know the difference.  We ended up letting our little girl play with our old deactivated phones.  She gave those a little more attention, although she still prefers the phones that actually have service).  If you’re insistent on buying a bunch of toys to fill up the closet, Kohl’s and Target are good places to hit up (even Toy’s R Us and Baby’s R Us), when they have marked down their merchandise.  Keep your eyes glued to your RSS feeds to get up-to-date info on when these items go on sale.

What did I miss?  Do you have any baby cost-saving tips that you’d like to share?

Our Progress.

Now that all of our consumer debt has been paid off, our next big financial goal is to pay off the house!  Our initial balance was $143,000.  In 6 years (without being Gazelle intense), we have been able to whittle that balance down to $127,000.  With great focus (and Gazelle intensity, of course), we plan on paying off the entire balance within the next 5 years!  Doesn’t that sound amazing??  I used my trusty monthly budgets to come to this conclusion.  I’m assuming that we’ll be bringing in the same amount of income over the next 5 years.  This is a very conservative assumption, because we will be working our hardest over these next years to make sure that our income increases.

By the end of this year, we hope to get our balance down to $107,000.  We’re really not using any crazy tactics to achieve this goal.  The money that used to be dedicated to eliminate our consumer debt will now be used to lower our mortgage balance.  And we’ll continue to live below our means to make sure that we’re able to maximize our monthly payments.

What strikes me as most fascinating is that it took us 6 years to knock out $16,000, and in 5 years (with a game plan), we’ll be able to knock out $127,000.  How crazy is that??  God is so good!

What are your goals this year?  Any as bold as becoming mortgage free?

Dumping Debt: Creating a Budget.

Do you have dreams of vacationing along the islands of Hawaii?  Or how about retiring at the age of 50?  Well, guess what?  These dreams can become reality with your implementation of a budget! 

Now, please don’t start tuning me out.  Contrary to popular belief, a budget doesn’t have to get your feathers ruffled.  It’s simply a plan for your life.  Follow it, and you’ll more than likely end up where you intended.

You don’t even have to use elaborate software; a pen and pad will suffice.  (I actually use good ol’ Excel – I copy a new tab for each month).  The way you design your budget is also up to you; you just need to create a format that YOU will understand.  Here are a few important pointers to help you set up your budget:

-          Your cash inflows MUST equal your outflows!  That means that, when creating your budget, you need to “spend” EVERY dollar of income that you receive during the month.  You should NEVER end up with “extra” money – that money needs to be allocated to your savings account or to pay off debt.  (Practicing this guideline alone should be enough to help you attain your financial goals.  People who do not have a plan for their “extra” money usually look at their W-2’s during tax season and think to themselves, “I made THAT much?!?  Where did it all go??”  Giving your “extra” money a place to go gives your income more muscle.  You’ll be amazed what you can accomplish by planning out your expenses, savings, etc…)

-          Be as thorough as you can.  Be sure to include expenses that you can foresee; don’t let them sneak up on you and blow up your budget.  Here’s a short list of items you can include that aren’t a part of your regular monthly expenses:

o   Birthdays, Weddings, Showers, Anniversaries

o   Holidays – includes gifts and/or dinner preparations, decorations, etc…

o   Car repairs – oil changes are a biggie!

o   Insurance – auto, house, term life…

o   Ad Valorem/License renewal

-          Leave yourself some wiggle room.  You’re not perfect.  None of us are.  So, give yourself a little room to breathe, to have fun.  This amount doesn’t have to be large.  In fact, as you get better with following your budget, you’ll find that you won’t need as much wiggle room as you previously did.  Why?  Because you will have smoothed out most rough edges and you’ll also find that you’re becoming content with your current state of life.  And this is a beautiful state to be in, my friend!

If you still need help developing your budget, I strongly urge you to visit www.daveramsey.com where you’ll be able to set up a monthly budget for free.  If you have specific questions about your budget, please feel free to hit me up at ZJ@domestic-ceo.net.

Here’s to New Beginnings!!  Good Luck!

Breaking Eggs, Not Budgets: Taco Seasoning

For quite some time, I’ve been picky about the foods (and ingredients) that I put in my body.  Although, at times, I still cave for sugary cereal and store-bought sweets, for the most part I try to stay away from processed foods.  Why?  I want to control what fuels my body.  We’re only given one, so it’s in our best interest to make sure we are only putting foods in our body that build us up instead of ones that ultimately tear us down.

I came across this taco seasoning recipe on recipes.com a few years ago.  It’s very simple to make.  Here are the ingredients you’ll need:

1 Tablespoon Chili powder

¼ teaspoon Garlic powder

¼ teaspoon Onion powder

¼ teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper flakes

¼ teaspoon Dried Oregano

½ teaspoon Paprika

1 ½ teaspoons Ground Cumin

1 teaspoon Sea Salt

1 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper

 Mix all of the spices together and pour over at least 1 pound of browned ground meat.  Add one cup of water and a pinch of corn starch (to thicken the mixture up).  Your taco meat is ready once the sauce has thickened.

A Few Tips…

This seasoning is pretty spicy.  Now that my 1 year old is eating table foods, I leave out the paprika and dried pepper flakes so she can enjoy the meal with us.

Oh, and I don’t personally cook with a lot of salt, so instead of adding 1 teaspoon to the seasoning mix, I sprinkle salt (to taste) over the browning meat.  I do the same with pepper (to keep the seasoning from getting too spicy).

And if you have an Aldi’s close by, you can pick up most of these spices for $1/each.  You’ll never have to buy another sodium-filled seasoning pack again!

Enjoy!

A Domestic CEO's Confession: I CANNOT STOP Shopping!!

Hi, my name is Zanta and I’m a shopaholic!  There, I said it.  Trust me, I understand the irony of authoring a financial independence blog and not personally being able to keep my hands off my debit card.  I’m hoping that my confession will give you hope – you don’t have to be perfect to become financially independent.  Here are some ways that I have used my compulsiveness to shop for Good:

Shop Year Round for Upcoming Events:  Before I made the decision to get my debt in check, I used to spend my money on clothes, shoes, and eating out.  Like I’ve previously mentioned, my love for shopping didn’t just disappear once I decided to get my act together.  Now, instead of buying unnecessary items for myself, I shop year round for upcoming events, birthdays, etc...  For example, in June or July (I can’t remember which monthly exactly but will be kindly reminded by one of the couponing sites I subscribe to via RSS feed), Target takes huge markdowns on their toy inventory.  I take this opportunity to snatch up birthday and Christmas presents for the kiddos in my life.  Kohls also runs A LOT of sales throughout the year.  If there’s ever anything that’s too good of a deal to pass up (again, I use my trusty Google Reader to stumble upon these deals), I look up the birthdays, parties, etc… that we have coming up for the year and try to determine who would like the gift in question (I’m aware of upcoming events, because I typically make our monthly budgets one year in advance and include our foreseen events here.  I know this may come across as super intense for some a lot of you, but this is how I’m able to estimate how much financial progress my family is going to make during the year.  One of these days, I’ll tell you all about my budgeting antics).  I find that this is a great way to keep your budget in check while still being able to buy family and friends nice gifts.  My household typically only spends $25/person for a gift, but because we take advantage of sales that are offered throughout the year (and combine these already low prices with coupons and/or promo codes for extra discounts), we are able to get our hands on items that are valued at amounts way higher than our $25 limit.

Shop One Season Ahead:  We try to stay one season ahead when shopping for items, especially for our little girl.  For example, now is the perfect time to take an assessment of your Christmas decorations.  If you think you’d like to upgrade your holiday décor for next year, the best time to do it is when these items are 70% off.  Don’t wait until the holiday is quickly approaching and you’re stuck paying what ever price the retailer has set.  The same goes for wrapping paper and holiday outfits (I found a beautiful holiday dress at Target for my little girl – in the size she’ll be next Christmas).  And this tactic doesn’t just apply to Christmas.  You can buy Easter outfits after Easter, Thanksgiving décor on Black Friday…you get the idea. 

This leads me to what I’d like to call a Teachable Moment. Haha!  Shopping Ahead can be applied to just about any basic non-perishable item that you consistently keep on hand in your household.  Diapers, toilet paper, paper towels, toiletries are just to name a few.  You should always buy these items when they are offered at their lowest price (hopefully, you can pair the sale with a coupon for extra savings), and buy as many of these items as your budget will permit.  This is called Stockpiling – you are essentially building a mini-grocery store in your home, but you’ve paid little out of pocket to do so.  So, for example, when you’re  out of toothpaste, you can run to your pantry to get a tube that you should have gotten for free (drug stores run a lot of free toothpaste promos – the couponing sites that I mentioned here can fill you in on how to make these deals work for you) instead of the grocery store where it’s more than likely selling for $3.99 (at least the good brands sell for that much)!  And you only replenish your Stockpile when toothpaste (or any other non-perishable item) is offered at its lowest price again.

Okay, back to the original subject…You can also shop one season ahead for yourself.  For example, Spring is coming upon us.  This is a perfect time for you to pick up a few deeply discounted winter items (ooo, boots!) for next year.  You can even get a month or two’s wear in them before you have to store them away.  I only make it a habit of shopping for myself one season ahead when I’m on the hunt for maternity clothes.  At this point, I have most of the (regular, non-maternity) clothes that I’m going to need.  Maternity clothing (actually, maternity clothing pricing) is a different beast.  Whenever I can find these shirts or bottoms for a few bucks, I snatch them up.  These are like precious gems to me!

Think Outside of the Box:  And when you’re shopping those clearance racks and shelves, remember to use your imagination.  Just because a gift set that was intended to be sold for Valentine’s Day has been drastically marked down doesn’t mean that you have to use the gift set for the same purpose.  Do you know of someone who has a birthday coming up?  Bridal shower you’re getting ready to attend?  Get my point?  And if the gift set is covered in distinguishable Valentine’s Day wrapping, you can always rewrap the gift in your own personal wrapping (from the Dollar Store, perhaps).

What are some of your tips for controlling your shopping habits?  Anyone willing to fess up to any other habits that once controlled you, but now you’ve found creative ways to show said habit who’s boss?

New Year's Resolutions

So, it seems like everyone makes one or two or ten around this time of year, right?  Unfortunately, they are usually placed on the back burner around mid-February.  Is that the case for you?  Or do you not even participate in all of this nonsense?

Here’s how resolutions go down in our household.  At the beginning of the year, my husband and I sit down to talk about our goals for the year.  We have specific categories that we discuss:

Financial

Relational

Ministry

Children

Our Relationship with God

Our Personal Vision for our life

I’m not sure if I’ve disclosed to you guys that I’m a nerd, but let’s just say that our yearly session involves an excel spreadsheet with tabs and recaps of the progress made during the previous year! Haha!

So, category by category, we express our wishes/dreams for the balance of this year.  It’s amazing how much progress we’ve made in the (almost) four short years we’ve been married to each other.  For example, when we 1^st got married, our financial goals for the year were to pay off our “small” credit card (I believe we owed around $6K then), pay off the car ½ way (we owed $13K on the car), and to set aside $25/month to support a missionary.  Fast forward – now, our financial goal for the year is to pay down a portion of the house (the rest of our debt is GONE)!  I’m finding that we’ve been able to stick to our yearly financial goals, because we track our progress on a monthly basis (creating a budget and keeping ourselves accountable to it helps us stay on top of our financial goals).

What are some of the goals you’ve made for yourself this year?  What measures have you put in place to make sure you’re making progress on your goals?

Nail Polish Moneymaker at Rite Aid.

Do you guys love dressing up your nails with funky colors!  I do. :-)  This week, Rite Aid is running a nail polish promo - buy 2 and get $2 UP+ rewards added to your card.  Well...(drum roll, please)...Sinful Colors nail polish is 75% off right now.  And while I'm not a fan at all of the brand's name, you really can't beat $0.49 nail polish.



So, if you guys have added Hip2Save to your RSS feed like I suggested here, then you are already aware of this deal.  But what is not mentioned on Hip2Save's deal post is that this deal can be done a maximum of 2 times per Wellness card!  That means that you can buy 4 bottles of polish for $1.98 and get $4 UP+!!

  What do you do with your UP+ bucks?? 

 What ever you want! But I suggest that you pair them with a coupon to get a big household item for the lowskie - like toilet paper or paper towels.  Remember, you have to wait until 6am the following day to use your UP+ rewards.  And if you can't find a decent sale to spend your UP+ reward on, you'll have 2 weeks (that's 2 sales ads) to wait for something to pop up at a reasonable price.

Oh, and here's a tip:  Sign your hubby up for a Rite Aid Wellness card, so he's eligible to get UP+ rewards added to his card. :-)  This way, you're able to double up on these moneymaking deals.

And if you don't personally use or like nail polish, you can always hold on to them to use as a stocking stuffer, party favor or baby/bridal shower gifts.

Enjoy!

Photo Credit

Dumping Debt with Couponing (Part 3)!!!

So, remember the promise I made here to talk about couponing for healthy foods in further detail?  Well, the 3^rd and final post of this series will be used to cover this topic. 

Forgive my lack of creativity when it comes to eloquent transitions, but here’s what you need to know to coupon for healthy items:

I strongly believe that the less processed food we eat, the more healthy we are.  It really bothers me that some companies cheapen up their products to increase their bottom line at the expense of our health.  It’s not like we’re talking about a cheaply made toy or outfit, we’re talking about compromising what we put in our bodies, so they can make an extra measly buck.  This is horrible!  But that’s not what I’m supposed to be talking about right now.  Sorry for taking you down Ramble Lane.

So…I try to buy as much non-processed food as possible.  This essentially means I’m buying meat, veggies, and fruit – all items that rarely have coupons associated with them.  There are 2 ways to make the best of this situation:

1.       Buy & stock up when these items are at their lowest price.  You may want to consider buying a freezer to store meats when they go on sale.  Your frozen veggies can be used to make soups, stews, casseroles – the sky is the limit.  Frozen fruits can be used to make smoothies, flavored pastries - breads, pancakes, etc… and popsicles. Yum!  We even put veggies & fruit in the food processor to make food for our little one.

2.       Minimize your toiletry & household cleaning expenses to make up for what you’re spending on produce & meat.  You can find numerous drug store deals using the techniques that I taught you here.  The money that you save here can be re-allocated towards buying fresh fruits & veggies and premium meats.

Every once in a while, you will be able to find coupons for healthy foods.  For example, I’ve noticed that a lot of times when I buy Silk almond milk from Kroger, a coupon for Almond Breeze milk will pop out of the catalina machine and vice versa.  And since I claim no brand loyalty, I’m able to capitalize off this almond milk rivalry.

Remember, your goal is to pay the lowest price possible.  When it comes to buying healthy food, that may not always mean free or close to free.  Sounds simple enough, but just keeping this frame of mind will keep you from passing over sales b/c the final price isn't slashed to nothingness.

What healthy food couponing tips do you have to offer?

Dumping Debt with Couponing (Part 2)!!

As promised in Part 1, here are the couponing sites that I keep tabs on via RSS feeds (I use Google Reader):

Southern Savers (www.southernsavers.com) – this site matches up sales items with their corresponding coupon(s) to make sure you’re paying the absolute lowest price.  Here, you can get coupon match ups for (southern, hence the name) grocery stores, the major drug stores, and even department store & mass merch deals.

Hip2Save (www.hip2save.com) – this site is similar to Southern Savers.  It does not include coupon match ups for grocery stores, but it does an excellent job finding online deals.  As a result, I’m able to get great holiday, birthday, etc… gifts for friends and family.

I Heart Publix & I Heart Kroger (www.iheartpublix.com, www.iheartkroger.com) – these sites are more focused on grocery store savings from, you guessed it, Kroger & Publix!  I really love using these sites to track down coupon match ups for close-out sales.  You can also find a weekly meal plan using items that will be on sale the following week.  I don’t know about you, but I need all the help I can get when it comes to planning out healthy and inexpensive meals for my family!

There is no shortage of couponing websites on the world wide web.  I have found that these 4 are very comprehensive sources for detailing deals at the stores I shop at.  (Check out www.bescentsable.net if you need to find a site that caters to your specific grocery store).  I think if you add more sites to your Reader, you’ll just end up with a bunch of duplicate sales listings (there’s enough duplicate posts amongst the 4 sites I listed above), which can become overwhelming!

After my RSS feed is set up, what’s next??

Great question!  Sit back and wait for the deals to come to you.  I kid you not, there are several new deals that will pop up every hour.  I usually check my feeds when I check my email.  Now, instead of having to go to each of the 4 sites every hour, the updated posts will be sent to your Reader so you can view everything in one place.  All you have to do is scroll through the entries and click on the links that you want to investigate further.  I usually keep a pen & pad handy so I can write down what deals I’m going to pursue; it’s just easier for me to stay organized that way.

For those of you who have already set up your RSS feeds, what couponing sites are you subscribed to?

Dumping Debt with Couponing (Part 1)!

So, what’s all this talk about couponing??  Believe it or not, couponing existed waaay before that popular show on TLC aired!   

It takes work (although not as much as you probably think), but it really works!  Last year, the nerd in me surfaced, and I calculated my yearly grocery/toiletry expenses.  I saved my household a grand total of $3,000 buying items that we actually needed & used!!

Before I clue you in on how I made couponing work for me, I’d like to dispel a few myths regarding the subject:

Myth #1:  Couponing is only good for junk and/or processed food.  While it’s true that you can rarely find coupons for raw meats and produce, there are ways you can use couponing to maintain a healthy lifestyle.  We’ll discuss this in more detail later in this series.

Myth #2:   The only people who coupon are greedy hoarders who run through town clearing shelves on the 1^st day of every sale.  Well, I’m not gonna lie – there are some couponers who fit this profile, but the majority of us are just trying to make an honest attempt to grab just enough of a sales item to keep our households stocked until the next sale (which is usually a 6-8 week time frame).

Myth #3:  With all of the clipping and searching required, couponing exhausts way too much of my time!  Be prepared to be amazed!!  There are plenty of sites you can utilize that give you up-to-the-minute information on the latest grocery/mass retail/department store deals.  The hard work has already been done for you!  I’ll share some of my favorite sites with you in a moment, so you can get started saving those bucks!

Myth #4:  Couponers are cheap!!  Okay, so maybe I’m including this “myth” because hearing this statement is a real pet peeve of mine!  Couponing is not synonymous with being cheap.  I can’t speak for everyone, but I coupon to get the best value for items that I already intend on buying; I do not shop for items just b/c I have a coupon for them.  (I’ve even given up “free” item coupons b/c I don’t use the product)!  And I do not deprive my family of something if I’m unable to find a coupon to score a deal.  If we want to go on a vacation, we vacation!  I just make sure we’re getting the best value on our trip so that we can enjoy an extra day, perk, etc… on the trip.  Ugh!  Okay, stepping off my soap box…

Here are some quick pointers to help you coupon successfully:

#1-  Buy items when they are at their lowest price (and buy enough to last you to the next sale).  Your greatest savings are earned when the reg price of an item is lowered substantially; the coupon is really just an added bonus – it’s the icing on the cake.  Remember this, and it’ll keep you from stressing out over hunting down every coupon.

#2-  Use Drug Store loyalty programs to help you pay the least amount out of pocket.  We’ll go more into detail about this later, but mastering how to drug store coupon is what will ultimately drag your toiletry & household cleaning supply expenses down.

#3 – Learn your store’s couponing policies.  They differ from place to place, but knowing them will help you get the biggest bang for your buck.  For example, did you know that you do not have to buy 2 of the same item when Kroger or Publix runs a buy one, get one free (BOGO) sale?  That means that their BOGO sales are essentially nothing more than a 50% off sale and coupons can be used for each sales item you buy.  Knowledge is power!

#4 – Create a stockpile at home.  A stockpile requires housing enough groceries/toiletry/cleaning supplies at your house (enough to hold you to the next sale), so that you’re not forced to pay an astronomical price for something at the store when you’re in need of a product.  You coupon to build your stockpile - paying the lowest price possible for a product.  Let’s use toothpaste as an example.  Over several weeks, you’re able to score 2 tubes of toothpaste for free!  When you run out of toothpaste, instead of having to pay a few bucks for a tube, you can just grab one of the free tubes from your closet.  And whenever you spot a deal to get more free toothpaste, you jump on it – making it very possible for you to never have to buy toothpaste again!  The only items you don’t need to create a stockpile for are grocery perishables that cannot be frozen.

And finally…

#5-  Don’t let couponing take over your life!!  Once you catch wind of how much money you are saving by couponing, it’s pretty easy to quickly become overwhelmed – obsessed, even – with hunting down every deal.  The way to dodge the burnout bullet is to stick with making one trip to your drugstore or grocery store per week.  When I first started couponing, I used to hit up Rite Aid & CVS & Kroger every Sunday (I’d stop by CVS after 6pm sometimes on Saturday depending on how antsy I was about the upcoming sale for that week)!  I would also shop at Publix on Thursdays when their new sale started.  And if I happened to spot a deal that I missed during my initial trip to the store, I’d print coupons and head back out in search of the elusive deal.

Now… I typically shop for groceries & toiletries quickly during the week while on my lunch break (I can actually thank the little munchkin for the schedule change – it’s more of a chore to carry a 9 month old to 4 different stores)!  And when new deals pop up during the week, I evaluate whether my time is worth the extra tip – for example, if I already have enough deodorant in my stockpile, then I’m not likely to pay that deal much attention.

How I Coupon:

I don’t consider couponing something that I “do”; it has really become a way of life for me.  A few years ago, I made the realization that a penny saved really is a penny earned.  You are essentially giving yourself a raise by paying less to your grocer, local retailers, etc…  And we’re not talking chump change; my grocery/toiletry savings awarded me a $3,000 raise last year!  That is huge when you’re trying to gain traction on paying off debt!!  That’s why couponing is a lifestyle for me.  Saving money means more money for me, so I make sure that I’m getting the best deal for every purchase that I make no matter how small or trivial the purchase may seem.  Now, you aren’t going to find me in the middle of the candy aisle at the grocery store, calculator in hand, analyzing the cost per stick of each pack but I will at least glance over every item to make sure I’m getting the best value for what I want.  After all, the savings goes to my household’s bottom line – remember, we’re running our household as if it were a company!

My “million dollar” trick to couponing is using RSS feeds!  Sounds fancy, huh?  It’s not.  It’s just a way for me to get updated info on couponing deals without having to continually search each couponing/deal sites every second of the day.  I use Google Reader, but there are plenty of RSS feed sites that you can use to make couponing more of a convenience for you – this way, the deals come to you and you can decide if the deal is something you want to investigate further or you can just scroll on to the next deal.

So, now that I’ve whetted your palette with how simple couponing can be, I’ll share the sites that are included in my Reader…in Part 2.  Oh, the SUSPENSE!!