I am new to the frugal ways of a money-saving-mom, but I thought I would share a couple things I have learned. After subscribing to a few blogs of different women around the country who strive to buy their family essentials for as little as possible, I've paired my findings down to two golden nuggets: The Grocery Game and CVSing.
http://www.thegrocerygame.com/ is a site that, for a very small fee, magically pairs your local grocery stores' sales of the week with coupon matchups from your Sunday flyers and on-line so that you are paying the rock-bottom price! If you stick to the best deals of the week and follow the plan through a 12 week cycle, you will have stocked up on every staple item in your home at 50-80% off of the retail price! I've only been doing this for a few weeks, so I'm still buying quite a bit that's not on sale because I'm not stocked up yet. My goal is to get down a $50/week budget, but that will require more planning before I hit the grocery store. I was overwhelmed with trying to manage my coupons and actually save any money for all of that effort until I found this website. If you would like to join, please enter my email (
lperry48249@roadrunner.com) as your reference so that I can earn some free weeks!!!
CVSing is slang for buying all of your toiletries, makeup, etc. for FREE, or even getting money back!!! Here is the link for an article that exlpains how to get the most from your local CVS (Walgreens and Rite Aid may have similar deals, but I'm not privy to them yet):
http://neverpayretailagain.blogspot.com/2009/04/cvs-how-to-start-cvsing-and-start.htmlI haven't actually started "CVSing" yet because I just read this article a week ago, and the closest CVS is 20 minutes away, which is no problem when I was driving 45 minutes to save some money at Walmart buying these items. The Grocery Game also lists a weekly coupon match-up for CVS so that you can easily find the best deals there (actually, after you enter your zip code, you can choose from a number of stores that you would like the list for. There is a bi-monthly fee of $10 for the first store you choose, and $5 for every store after that. After your savings, that is nothing! And the first four weeks are only $1 for as many stores as you would like if you want to try it out before committing!).
I need to get into the rhythm of planning and shopping with purpose, but I thought I would share this info with you because it was eye-opening to me to realize that people were able to save so much, and with just a little effort!
Similarly, I've become somewhat of a Frugal Fanny. A deal isn't a deal unless you need it...and if you need it, you can wait until you find a deal! I can't even go into a thrift store until the 'Sale' sign goes up in the window! One of the results of trying to be a single income family with three small children, I guess. :)
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