Saving That Green! (Part 1 of 3)

   
     I know; I've ranted on about all kinds of things this week
and by this point you're sitting there thinking okay bitch now tell me how to save some money already! Alrighty Then!
I don't "extreme coupon." I'm not going to make wild claims that I can help you lower your grocery bill from $300 dollars a week to a few bucks. 1) Nobody got time for that. 2) It's actually a huge pain in the ass to try, and as more people have been trying it, more stores have changed their sales and coupon policies to stop it. I can give you solid advice on knocking off a few bucks here and there though. I'm quite the frugal shopper, in a household of five (6 if you count the dog) I have to be, and some things you just pick up on after doing it for so long.

So here's a few general (and realistic) tips and advice to get you started on your money saving way.

* Focus on where you actually shop (or where you know you will realistically make the trip out to) on a regular basis. Pick 1-3 stores close to you that you either shop at already or are willing to start shopping at. When I first started out I followed the advice of a well-known money blogging mom and made several grocery shopping trips to 3-4 different grocery stores alone, on top of any other shopping or errands I had to do over the weekend. The money you "save" by visiting multiple stores you will easily shell back out in the cost of gas, and there's something to be said for the cost of your time.
     For me, my local go-to stores are Fry's (preferably a Fry's Marketplace), and CVS, because they have solid loyalty rewards programs that actually reward you for shopping there, and they're both close to my house and one can usually found close to most neighborhoods here in Arizona.  I used to shop at Safeway for their "mega meat sales" but after about three sales and reviewing my receipts, I caught on that they were in fact just raising the price of their meat during the sale. So that buy 1 get 2 free sale on steak? If you average the cost out, each steak comes out to about the same as it would be not on sale. Pretty shady right? So fuck Safeway. And yea math is part of this, luckily nothing to intricate, but I would definitely suggest at least in the beginning saving your receipts and doing some quick math to see what you're saving compared to if you had made those same purchases somewhere else or without a sale or coupon.

* Pick what you're going to buy and where. So upon reviewing your new savings you'll notice variations in where you can save money on what items. For example you may save a ton on groceries one place, but make up and toiletries at that same store are hella expensive. And vice versa at store number two. This is why I said pick 2-3 stores. My Routine? I buy groceries and some toiletries at Fry's, such as the bulk items like toilet paper, paper towels etc. But when it comes to make up (which my make up is the one thing I fork over some cash for to get the better quality stuff) and things like shampoo and feminine hygiene products, I go to CVS because they frequently have sales on those items whereas Fry's rarely does. Making two shopping trips is not unreasonable when the savings warrant it.

* Learn how to use rewards programs, coupons, and sales to your advantage! I treat it like a deck building game, (yes I'm a huge gamer too by the way), and try to add as many things as I can together with the limitations of rules to get the most rewards (savings). I'll give you an example: yesterday I bought my Physician's Formula face powder. That shit isn't cheap, it's sixteen bucks for a little disc of make up powder, BUT they had a special going (which CVS usually does) that for every $15 dollars in Physicians Formula merchandise you buy you get $10 rewards bucks - which you can spend like cash in the store - back. So technically I spent $6 on my $16 make up, but wait...CVS also has a sale on my favorite shampoo and conditioner, Tresseme, 2/$10 (they're usually about $6.49 each at Wal-Mart and Fry's) so I use that $10 rewards bucks (had to be a separate transaction but no biggie) on the shampoo and conditioner. I also needed tampons, which since I'm not picky about my brand I was able to grab two boxes of the store brand tampons on sale at buy 1 get 1 half off ($5.49 a box + half off is $2.74) well I also had a coupon saved to my account (both of these stores do digital coupons you can register an account and save to online) for $2 off two boxes of store branded tampons. So now that second box? Only cost me 74 cents! Grand total? I spent a total of $12.23 of actual money on $39.96 worth of product! That's a little over $27 saved on items I actually use and would have needed to buy regardless. That's about half a tank of gas for my car so definitely worth the little bit of time and math on my end!

* Be an opportunistic buyer! I mentioned above my purchases were things I needed and use on a regular basis. I typically try to avoid buying unnecessary items (I said try) , however there is such a thing as opportunistic buying for something you may not necessarily need or at the very least not need right now. Yesterday's example? I walked past the clearance aisle (ALWAYS CHECK THE CLEARANCE AISLE) kid's Valentine's Day cards were marked down to 29 cents! And I mean the good ones, the big boxes of temporary tattoos Valentine's Day cards that you don't like your kid's classmates enough to spend eight bucks a box on. So I grabbed a couple of boxes because I have the storage space to hang onto them until next year and since they're not candy or food they won't go bad. That may seem a little ridiculous at first, like really? You're gonna hang onto to Valentine's Day cards until NEXT school year? Well yea, when you look at how many fucking holidays there are that the schools expect you to pitch in or donate to, saving 5-7 bucks here and there adds up to a nice chunk of change in a year's time. I also look for "holiday" items that are absolutely not just "holiday items" but are clearance'd as such. Last year CVS had a shit-ton of Star Wars Easter basket fillers. Now these were Star Wars toys, coloring books, stickers, all kind of stuff..none of it specific to Easter. Well when Easter was over they clearance'd it all out like they did with the stuffed bunnies and chocolate eggs and I got $120 worth of Star Wars stuff for $40! So guess what the kids got for Christmas that year? Speaking of Christmas, the following two weeks after is the BEST time to get make-up, bath bombs, cheap toys - I do a "gift bin" of random toys and kid's gifts I buy on these massive clearance sales that the kids can pick something out of when they get invites to birthday parties throughout the year - things like that you may not need right this minute but you will later, and hey if you can afford to drop 20-50 bucks now and have a place to tuck it away, you're going to save yourself a hell of a lot more spending through the rest of the year!

I don't want to overload you with information so I'll wrap it up there.

Homework:
1) Sign up online for your store of choice's rewards programs (I highly recommend Fry's and CVS if you have one in your area) and if it's an option elect to get your receipts emailed to you. It'll make returning something easier if you have to because you can just pull up the email rather than keep track of a little piece of paper, and less receipt papers filling our landfills is better for the environment. Also if your store gives you the options (I know Fry's does) you can sign up to earn donation points for different organizations! It's super easy, you literally just attach your reward member number to a listed organization, I picked my kid's school, and shop at the store. They earn money paid by the store's company for X amount of dollars spent by customers and you never have to give it a second thought. So now you're saving money and helping someone!
2) Invest in the Sunday paper - the Redplum inserts and other coupons are worth it because you can often apply them on top of sales and rewards programs because they're usually manufacturer coupons rather than store specific. If you have a Dollar Tree near you, you can buy the Sunday paper there for a buck, you just have to get there as soon as they open because they go fast!

See you soon for tips on thrift shopping and other ways to save some cash!