Big Savings in Our Itty Bitty Household

Let's face it: if you aren't already in awe of my saving spending savvy, you ought to be.  (I don't have to be modest on my own blog, do it?  I'm not that crippling Southern.)  Check out what I bought on Friday.  This assortment (minus the dog bones - didn't mean to put them in there) retails for $29.61.

I paid $2.68.


Even better, I saved 44% overall on our entire grocery bill.  I saved $38.86 on store sales and $29.34 in coupons, for a total savings of $68.20.  I paid $86.72 for a week's worth of groceries, and that included special treats for the dogs and some pricey, ahem, feminine supplies (of a variety that never go on sale).  I take that back, actually.  This was way more than a week's worth of groceries.  But some weeks are like that.  Stores cycle their sales (usually about every six weeks), so certain weeks ended up being bigger trips for us, as some of our family favorites clump together.


But even better than that is that I didn't spend hours clipping and organizing coupons.  The trick is to stock up when things are at their cheapest (most things don't go bad if they are unopened!), and they are at their cheapest when you are able to match a good sale (say, one of Publix's myriad buy one, get one free items) with a good coupon.  Thanks to a fabulous woman that I've never met, a stay at home mom named Jenny, most of the leg work is done for me.  She runs an incredibly helpful --and free!-- site, called Southern Savers, taking each store's ads and matches them with coupons that are either available online or recently appeared in Sunday papers.  Most weeks I spend about an hour organizing, printing, and clipping coupons and making my shopping list (which you can personalize and print right from the site, even!).  It really isn't very difficult or involved.  At least Publix isn't.  Some of the other stores (CVS, Walgreens) have a more complicated scheme (because their big sales operate as register rebates).  With Jenny's help, though, I just check the ad, check my stock, click, print, snip a bit, and then spend forever getting Becca fed and ready to go.  But she can't help me much with that one.  The shopping may take a bit longer because you've often got to be fairly specific about what you are getting, but I think, given how painfully indecisive I am, it has actually streamlined my shopping quite a bit.


When you think about it, it's the best-paying job I've ever had: a hour's prep for $68.20 savings?  Even if a week does take more time, that's still awesome!  (Okay, remember that I've always worked for non-profits when you are reveling in that pay rate.  In my book, at least, it's awesome!)


Another big tip that I jumped on this week: free photo cards from SeeHere, Fuji's photo storage and printing site.  If you use the promo code freebies4mom-1109, you'll be able to order 50 personalized photo cards for FREE - including shipping!  Big thanks go to Amy for that one!  I also discovered that while you can only use the code once per account, you can always sign up for another account and recreate the same card if you need more than 50.  I'm just saying the perhaps maybe both Nancy AND John "purchased" some cards this week.  Apart from this sale, I really like this site for cards, as you have a lot more freedom in editing them than you do at other sites.  I believe I ordered (and actually paid for) our Christmas cards through SeeHere last year as well.


I hope these tips help!  Regardless of how much you may or may not be feeling the economic pinch this year, it's always good to save a few bucks -- and then you can put them towards more important things like a massage or, oh, I don't know, maybe the March of Dimes?  (Sneaky, huh?)  The more you save, the more you can give to help itty bitties like this one!