Today is Earth Day! Yay! I remember, growing up in Pensacola, they used to have an Earth Day Festival (do they still do this? I really hope so.) that my mom would take me to. They had arts and crafts for the kids, cool art on display and for sale...just a really nice time to get out in the fresh air. Thinking back to that makes me a little home-sick. This is probably the only time of year that I can actually say I miss living in Florida. The reason? It's pretty simple, really. Current temperature in Pensacola, Fl: 73°. Current temperature in Philadelphia, PA: 52°. *sigh* I keep reading posts from all the people I know if P'cola about heading to the beach. Hmph. I still haven't worn flip-flops yet! Ah, well. I'll brag about having the windows open to a nice breeze in May when they (or you depending on who's reading this) are blasting the A/C! Muahahahaha! <--- my attempt at typing an evil laugh.
On a totally different note, I'm really interested in couponing. One of my oldest friends (and by oldest I mean we've known each other forever, not that she's actually old...just clearing that up for everyone on behalf of Suzie...don't think she'd like me calling her old. LOL) actually went to a couponing class and found this website that makes the whole thing so easy. All she does is pull the Sunday coupons, check the website, and the site tells her what coupons to use in conjunction with what sales to make the most of the coupon. I need something like that. I need a class. I don't know what an EBT is. How do you know if a store doubles/triples coupons? Help! Aaaaak! I always go into coupon clipping really gung-ho and end up getting tired of keeping up with the coupons and sales...and half the time the generic brand (which I buy 90% of the time) is still cheaper than the name-brand with a coupon. *whew* See?! I'm exhausted just thinking about it. But, given the current state of things financially, I really feel like it might be worth the effort. Any helpful hints, Suze? Mom? Anybody? Hello?
Thanks for clarifying that I'm not old. Despite what my creaky knees say ...
ReplyDeleteCouponing can be really overwhelming. But if you start slow, it's actually really fun.
I have kind of a hard time finding really healthy things that I can use coupons for. Coffee, yes. Rice, yes. Pasta, yes. But then there are always coupons for Lunchables or Yakisoba meals or other really processed food, and I'm not a huge fan of them. I'm not a drill sargeant about food, but I try to fix healthy or at least semi-healthy stuff.
Toiletries are a GREAT place to use coupons. Like, last Sunday there was a coupon for $3 off Nivea body wash. And Target had Nivea body wash on sale for $3.04. $0.04 body wash? Yes please. You really can't be too brand loyal if you want to use coupons for toiletries, though. I don't care what brand my body wash is or what brand my shampoo/conditioner is. I know some people are; I just happen not to care.
Clipping coupons is boring, tedious, and time-waste (if you ask me). I have a file box with a bunch of folders in it. I organize the (unclipped) Sunday coupons by date and file them in the folders. I only clip coupons when I need them and 99% of the time, I clip all the coupons the night before I shop. When I'm ready to shop for the week, I look at coupon/grocery store matchup websites. The website might say that coffee is BOGO at Publix. And there is a coffee coupon in the RP (Red Plum) coupon insert from March 27th. I go to my file box, where I've stored the coupons from 3/27 and clip the coffee coupon. I always get two Sunday papers, so that I have two sets of coupons. It comes in handy for BOGO items - I clip two coupons. One coupon applies to the full-priced item; the other applies to the free item (essentially both apply to the full-priced item).
I know you guys don't have Publix, but I'm assuming you have a Target. www.totallytarget.com is a great place to find good deals on grocery and non-grocery things at Target. What grocery stores do you have near you? Do you have a Giant Eagle? I know Nicole has one near her in Pittsburgh, but I don't know if you have one near you.
It takes a while to build up your Sunday coupon stash, but don't sweat it. There are a TON of coupons you can print online. Most sites have a limit of the number of times you can print a single coupon (usually it's twice).
I do the majority of my shopping at Publix. It's more expensive than Walmart, but with coupons, it's as cheap (if not cheaper) than Walmart on most things. I still get some things at Walmart - we go through lunch meat and cheese like crazy, so I usually get it at Walmart - unless Publix has a super cheap sale on it (like they do now - 3 blocks of cheese for $5 - woohoo!).
Please please ask me any questions you come up with!!
Suzie, you rock! I'm going to have to start stealing my mother-in-law's Sunday paper I guess.
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