How Much Did I Save In 2011?

I can't believe 2011 is over! So how did I do with my coupon savings this year?

Well November and December were busy, busy months with the birth of Adeline! Needless to say, my mind wasn't focused on couponing.  However, I was still able to save quite a bit of money even in the busiest of times! How did I do it?

-Kept my coupons close-by to clip quickly and hand over to hubby when he was running to the grocery store.

-Kept restaurant coupons in the diaper bag for when we were on-the-go.

-Made sure my coupon binder was organized before I had Adeline, knowing that would be crucial to still saving money during her newborn time.

-Waited to buy items online (like cloth diapers and our birth announcement/Christmas cards) until I had a promo code to save money.

It really isn't impossible to save money during the busy times of life.  Difficult, yes, but totally doable.

November & December Savings 

$180.65

2011 Total Savings

$894.34
 

(that's about $150 more than 2010!)

Also, make sure to go check out Thankfully Thrifty  to see how much Ashleigh saved in 2011!

How Much Can I Save in a Year? September Link-Up!

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 How in the world is September already over?!

September Savings 

$57.94

2011 Total Savings

$661.76

Best of Savings

Free or Almost Free Items this month with coupons:

-Avent bottle with purchase of my prenatals

A Little Savings Tidbit

Check this post out to see how I have re-organized my coupon system!

  

Now it's your turn! Link-up below! Whether its an update on your savings so far this year or just a great trip you had with great savings! Anything goes! Also, make sure to go check out Thankfully Thrifty to see how Ashleigh's savings are going so far this year!

crazy coupon lady

The title coins the phrase that my dad used when he first saw my new coupon system....my coupon binder.  (Don't be fooled, he was kidding and, as an avid Dave Ramsey fan himself, is always intrigued to hear what I'm up to with my couponing.)

I started out my system with a small picture album that I wrote about here.  It worked great, but I ran out of room for all my coupons.

Next, I went to one of those small accordion type plastic folder systems.  It worked okay, but I hated how I couldn't see the coupons.

Hence, why I finally broke down and decided to be one of those shoppers in the store with a binder at hand.  So far, I'm loving it!

THE binder

 I like how I have room in the pockets to keep my grocery list and a list of my electronic coupons that are on my store loyalty card.

To organize, I purchased baseball card sleeves (found at Target).   I used small pieces of paper and taped them onto the pages to use as dividers.  Among my sections are "canned", "breakfast", "Boone", "baby", and I even have a section specifically for Target coupons.

Each section of the page holds one coupon (unless I have multiples of a coupon, then it holds them all).  If I have to fold a coupon to fit, I just make sure to fold it to where I can see the specifics and the expiration date.

So what works for you with couponing?

How Much Can I Save in a Year? August Update!

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 This was another slow month for me with starting back to teaching.  I did seem to score quite a few freebies this month, which I can't complain about at all! I also was able to utilize coupons to save on some purchases for nursery decor!

August Savings 

$69.10

2011 Total Savings

$603.82

Best of Savings

Free or Almost Free Items this month with coupons:

-Secret Deodorant

-Floss

-3 pack of onesies

-3 trial packs Cascade Action Pacs

-Hostess Mini Muffins

-Rightguard Deoderant

-2 packs of Safeguard soap

-Carefree Liners ($0.09)

A Little Savings Tidbit

It's often cheaper to buy travel size and/or trial size of items.  A lot of people think, "Why waste a coupon on a travel or trial size item when you can put it toward a larger size?" Two words:  Unit price.  (The price of the item per quantity (oz., lb., etc.).  Yes, I could have put my three $1/1 coupons toward bigger bags of Cascade Action Pacs, but instead I put them toward the 4 trial size bags and got three packs for free, plus a fourth for almost free due to overage from my coupons (the packs were actually less than $1 a piece).

  

Now it's your turn! The linky isn't working today, so comment below with a link to your page! Then go to Ashleigh's blog and comment with your link as well!  Whether its an update on your savings so far this year or just a great trip you had with great savings! Anything goes! Also, make sure to go check out Thankfully Thrifty to see how Ashleigh's savings are going so far this year!

How Much Can I Save in a Year? Link-Up!

 January Savings 

$112.54

Best of Savings

{Free Items this month using coupons}

-Stayfree Pads

-Floss

-Horizon Organic Chocolate Milk Singles (6)

-Vitamin Water

-Colgate Toothpaste

-Honest Tea (4)

-2 oz. Carried Away Bath and Body Works Lotion

-Three Burger King sandwiches

Savings Tips

Jessie asked:  

"I want to know how you can use 2 coupons on one item, and what in the world is a Catalina?"

There are a few situations where I personally use more than one coupon aka "stack coupons":

-Target:  You can use one manufacturer's coupon and one Target coupon on an item.  (Find Target coupons on their website.)

-Kroger: You can use a manufacturer's coupon and an e-coupon (found online here) that you can load to your Kroger card to be automatically deducted when your Kroger Plus Card is scanned.

-Drug Stores:  You can often use a store coupon and a manufacturer's coupon on items you purchase at a drug store.  For example, at Walgreens, you can use a coupon from their ad or their monthly store coupon booklet with a manufacturer's coupon.  See all the details on how you can use coupons at Walgreens here.  And Money Saving Mom is a great resource to find info on the specific for each store when using coupons.

About Catalinas:

A Catalina is basically credit toward your next purchase.  For example, often at a store, if you buy a certain amount of an item, let's say 3 boxes of Ziploc brand plastic bags (just as an example), the register will print out a coupon good for a certain amount off your next purchase.  Often, Kroger will have a tag under an item explaining the Catalina you will receive from buying an item and you can also find these deals posted on deal blogs as well.

Rachel asked:

"I don't know where to find coupons. that's why I don't use them. Like where are you getting these?"

I get most of mine from the coupon inserts in the Sunday paper. I also find a lot online herewww.coupons.com, www.smartsource.com, www.redplum.com, and also, Target has online ones you can print. I use Money Saving Mom often to look up items on the coupon database. It will tell you where to find a coupon for a specific item you are looking for. The coupon inserts are labeled with a date on the binding that the database will refer to. For example if it says you can find a coupon in SS 1/23, it means it is in the SmartSource coupon insert from the paper that came Sunday, January 23rd.

Now it's your turn! Link up below with a deals post of your own.  Whether its an update on your savings so far this year or just a great trip you had with great savings! Anything goes! Also, make sure to go check out Thankfully Thrifty to see how Ashleigh's savings are going so far this year!

How Much Can I Save in a Year?

This should be fun! I'm joining up with Ashleigh over at Thankfully Thrifty to see just how much money I can save in a year with coupons.  Yep, just coupons! This will include anything I purchase and use a coupon/promotion to get a discount.  Groceries, toiletries, clothes, and even restaurant savings will be included.  You can see more specifics on the guidelines on Ashleigh's post here.

You know I already keep a running total of my savings on my sidebar, so this will just be a little more specific and include a post at the end of each month to share my savings from the month.

What you can look forward to in my "How Much Can I Save in a Year" monthly posts:

-Monthly updates on my savings.
-Monthly updates on free items from the month.
-Monthly tips on saving money that you can utilize.
-An occasional video post on my savings (see below for a taste of that).

We would love to have you join us! If you would like to, please leave a comment with your link on my post at the end of the month or send me an email letting me know you would like to be included and I will included a link to your blog in my monthly posts.


And in order to make this kick-off to savings even more fun, I'm including a little video of my savings from my shopping trip today.  Let me apologize in advance for a few things:
-Boone's whining toward the end of the post.
-I annoyingly chew gum at the beginning of the video.
-I misspoke and stated that I had a $2 off coupon for the chips...really they cost $2 and I had a $1/1 coupon making them $1.
-This is my first video post of myself.  Enough said.

My questions for you:  In general, are you interested in saving money using coupons? Are you interested in tips to help you saving money? What would you like to hear about? Where do you feel you're a little "rusty" on saving money? What types of posts would really benefit your household budget? I would love to hear your input in hopes to meet your needs in the upcoming year and get you motivated to save.