SAHM tips....Money saving tips??

[redhen]

Quote:
The best advice I have is to work with the income you already have and start SAVING in lots of places you didn't know you could. Check out http://www.WickedCoolDeals.com for ways to save tons of money at the grocery store. It's not your grandma's coupon clipping, I assure you! Make friends with your paper boy (or grocery clerk) and ask if you can have the coupon inserts from Sunday's newspapers on Monday morning. Then read up on the Wicked Cool Deals site for how to use them. I have saved THOUSANDS of dollars since January in online and paper coupons. I never pay full price for anything any more. If you're on Facebook, there are a TON of these coupon type sites that tell you exactly how to do it. AND they do all the work for you (except aquiring the coupons!). They will email you the store's sales information for the week, matched up with the coupons (and tell you where to find the particular coupon!) so all you have to do is gather your coupons and save like crazy!

You will be shocked to learn at how much you can get for free and how much money you've been wasting. I know I was!

Good luck, being a SAHM is the BEST job I have EVER had!

What sites do you use?

 

[ADozenGirlz]

Quote:
What sites do you use?

I use: http://www.MoneySavingMom.com http://WickedCoolDeals.com (MY FAVORITE!!) and http://www.TheFrugalGirls.com and sometimes: http://coupondatabase.dealseekingmom.com and http://www.freebies4Mom

I subscribe to them either through my Facebook account, so the deals show up right in my News Feed or via email and the deals come right to my Inbox.

I assure you that I save MUCH more than fifty cents on a coupon here or there! lol And I don't run around from grocery store to grocery store wasting money on gas AND I don't have to buy generic products when I would rather not. I choose my favorite grocery store (Stop & Shop) and my favorite drugstore (CVS) and focus on the coupon + sale match-ups on those stores. On average, I save 30-50% per shopping trip!!!!
PLUS, I GET A TON OF THINGS FOR FREE ALL THE TIME! Can't beat FREE!

 

[TheBrumstead]

www.afullcup.com is another great site for couponing. They have store forums and set up scenarios. I love the CVS forum!

 

[Mrs. Turbo]

line dry your clothes.....
we also buy cereal when it is on sale and with a coupon. I never pay over $1.50 for name brand cereal.
With coupons I pay nothing or very little for body wash, soap, toothpaste, floss, pasta, shampoo, dishwasher detergent, condiments, diced tomatoes, sunshine brand crackers…etc
Watch the online sales for kids clothes. I look for free shipping and a % off coupon code and then head to the clearance to buy for next year.
Watch for sales, coupons, free shipping on toys and other items for Christmas. I combined sales and coupons to get 2 toy story operation games for my boys, $3 each and Candy Land for about the same price, I also ordered some great books that were less than $2 and free shipping.
Get creative with your chicken eggs to make meals
pancakes for supper……cheap meal and mix with 1/2 whole wheat flour so it is more nutritious.
Use ½ pound of hamburger when your recipe calls for 1 pound….no one will notice.
Don’t make meals with a slab of meat for dinner….turn it into a casserole or make soup, spaghetti, or stir fry.

 

[ADozenGirlz]

Mrs. Turbo :

line dry your clothes.....
we also buy cereal when it is on sale and with a coupon. I never pay over $1.50 for name brand cereal.
With coupons I pay nothing or very little for body wash, soap, toothpaste, floss, pasta, shampoo, dishwasher detergent, condiments, diced tomatoes, sunshine brand crackers…etc
Watch the online sales for kids clothes. I look for free shipping and a % off coupon code and then head to the clearance to buy for next year.
Watch for sales, coupons, free shipping on toys and other items for Christmas. I combined sales and coupons to get 2 toy story operation games for my boys, $3 each and Candy Land for about the same price, I also ordered some great books that were less than $2 and free shipping.
Get creative with your chicken eggs to make meals
pancakes for supper……cheap meal and mix with 1/2 whole wheat flour so it is more nutritious.
Use ½ pound of hamburger when your recipe calls for 1 pound….no one will notice.
Don’t make meals with a slab of meat for dinner….turn it into a casserole or make soup, spaghetti, or stir fry.

What I like to do with ground beef when it is on sale is buy lots of it, bring it home and brown it ALL right away. Then, I drain off the fat and package it in meal-sized zip top bags and freeze it FLAT in the freezer (it saves room in the freezer as you can stack them or stand them up like library books on a shelf after they're frozen). They defrost in no time and make meal preparation SUPER quick! (I do the same thing with vidalia onions and peppers when they're on sale). Cost effective and time saving.​

 

[ADozenGirlz]

Here's an example of the kind of free stuff you can get:

Wilkinson sword razors at Wal-mart:

http://www.wickedcooldeals.com/2011...eed:+wickedcooldeals/TZmo+(WICKED+Cool+Deals)

 

[cackydoodledoo]

http://thekrazycouponlady.com/ is another one and they have a FB page as well and if you like them the deals will show up on your page. I will warn that it sometimes is quite a bit of them.

http://www.bargainblessings.com/ is also another one.


I want to say thank you so much to everyone responding. Keep the comments coming because I am soaking it all up. This thread has put me at ease somewhat about transitioning into this new chapter. I am still scared out of my wits but you all are providing me with some good tools! Thanks again!

 

[ChikeeMomma]

Mrs. Turbo :

line dry your clothes.....
we also buy cereal when it is on sale and with a coupon. I never pay over $1.50 for name brand cereal.
With coupons I pay nothing or very little for body wash, soap, toothpaste, floss, pasta, shampoo, dishwasher detergent, condiments, diced tomatoes, sunshine brand crackers…etc
Watch the online sales for kids clothes. I look for free shipping and a % off coupon code and then head to the clearance to buy for next year.
Watch for sales, coupons, free shipping on toys and other items for Christmas. I combined sales and coupons to get 2 toy story operation games for my boys, $3 each and Candy Land for about the same price, I also ordered some great books that were less than $2 and free shipping.
Get creative with your chicken eggs to make meals
pancakes for supper……cheap meal and mix with 1/2 whole wheat flour so it is more nutritious.
Use ½ pound of hamburger when your recipe calls for 1 pound….no one will notice.
Don’t make meals with a slab of meat for dinner….turn it into a casserole or make soup, spaghetti, or stir fry.

I watch the clothing racks at the end of the season and stock up school clothes, shoes, and jackets then. Big time savings! I am okay with paying only slightly more for new clothing than what I'd get at a garage sale. I bought my oldest some shirts and jeans for the next school year. I paid $1.75 per shirt (bougth 4 in different colors), $4.75 per pair of jeans (bought two pairs), and a name brand pair of tennis shoes for $11.00 when I used a store coupon combined with the clearance sales. And this was at a nice department store. My youngest is 3 1/2 years old and mainly wears her sister's hand-me-downs or clothing received as a gift.

I also go to garage sales and find clothing. I have found specific neighborhoods where they sell name brand children's clothing (in great shape) for really cheap. Last year some of the good finds where a pair of Born sandals (hardly worn) for $1.00 and name brand clothing from Gap, Old navy, etc for anywhere between $.50 - $1.50. Thankfully, this year we are all set for summer clothes and I shouldn't need to buy any clothing. Be careful and remember to buy just what you need and not more. For example, your child does not need 6 pairs of good school jeans.​

 

[WingingIt]

I do a lot of things that have already been mentioned but here's something I've done in several states that I haven't seen anyone mention yet. Keep your eyes open for fruit trees and grapevines that are not being harvested. Stop and ask the owners if they'd mind if you picked some of the fruit. I've called realtors when homes were sitting vacant with pecan and peach trees in the yard as well as grapevines on fences. Only once was I told that they wouldn't even ask the owner. Every other time I was either told that they knew the owner wouldn't mind as they wouldn't want it to go to waste or they actually called and asked the owner and called me back. Last year here I had to drive past this one property that had two apple trees near the road and they were both dropping apples like crazy. I stopped and the lady told me she'd never EVER picked one of those apples, had no idea what kind they were, had no intention of doing anything with them, ever, and to get all I wanted. I went every few days until it they were done and then went back and took her some canned apple pie filling and jelly as a thank you. She told me to come back this year and I certainly will! You can get a lot of free food to can/freeze just by asking. If your garden grows too much of one thing, offer to trade it for something else with a neighbor that grew something else.

Be sure you use up leftovers or freeze them so no food goes to waste. You can put a container in your freezer and put leftover vegetables in there as you get them (corn one night, green beans the next) and then when it gets full use it to make chicken or vegetable soup.....then you can thicken those leftovers and make a pot pie, etc. Stir fries are another great way to use up leftovers.

You can make your own laundry detergent easily and cheaply and it smells great. When combined with line drying, I save a lot on doing our laundry and since there are six of us, we have a LOT of laundry. lol.

 

[cackydoodledoo]

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This is a great idea! I have several friends with fruit trees. The one has plums and peaches. We are planning on canning some of it this year. I think I will freeze some as well.

How do you make your own laundry detergent and is it safe for HE washers? I wish I could line dry but we live in a dusty, windy area and I am afraid the clothes would be dirtier than when I first started. I like the idea for leftovers too. Never thought about using them in potpies or such. Thanks for the great tips!!