Mommin' It Up!

January 16, 2008

WFMW: Organizing Your Coupons

Are you sick of hearing about coupons yet? Well, too bad! It may ~~be obvious to~~ surprise you that I am not the most organized person in the world. Last week I told you I got my coupon organizing ideas from Money Saving Mom, this week I’m gonna show you how they’re working for me. To store my coupons at home, I use this old Rubbermaid container.

I have coupons organized alphabetically by category in an envelope with the flap cut off. The category name is written on an index card which is placed longways into the envelope. Now, since it’s a smidge inconvenient to cart a box this big AND two kids every time we go to the store, I take this more portable coupon organizer in the car with me.

(Kudos to my hubby for putting this in my stocking on Christmas! He got it at CVS! Woot woot!)

I have a tab labeled for each store I regularly shop at (including separate tabs for both my and my husband’s CVS ExtraCare cards), the front tab is just for CVS coupons, and I also have a tab for scrap paper and one for rebates. In each store’s tab there is an envelope with the coupons I want to use in that store. If I have the kids with me, I just take in that store’s envelope and leave the rest in the car. Here’s what it looks like all opened up:

If I am lucky enough to get out by myself for a big grocery trip, I take my whole big coupon box just in case I see I deal I hadn’t previously planned out.

So, that’s how I keep my coupons workin’ for me! For more great Works for Me Wednesday tips, check out Rocks in My Dryer!

January 9, 2008

WFMW: Help me Wean this Child!

Today is a backwards edition of Works for Me Wednesday, so I am asking you dear readers for advice. Sophie, at 13 months, shows no sign of weaning from the breast. I mean, she will take a cup, except for when, you know, she wants to nurse!! At which time she will a) rub her face on any area of my body she can reach, or b) if I am holding her, pound on my shoulder blades until I give in. (My parents got to witness this phenomenon yesterday. For someone who doesn’t talk much Sophie is a very good communicator.) She also generally makes her trademark nails-on-the-chalkboard screech while doing these activities. I know I am going to have to get tough, but I haven’t had much experience with this because Joshua was vey easy to wean (have I mentioned he was the easiest baby ev-ah??) So, I would like to have this baby girl weaned about 8 weeks from now…how do I do it? Ready, set…solve my problems for me!!

If you want to solve other people’s problems for them, head over to Rocks in My Dryer!

January 2, 2008January 2, 2008

WFMW: Coupons and a Contest!

I am going to use this first Works for Me Wednesday of the New Year to really encourage you all to do something that has really been working for me – clipping, saving, and using coupons! As you all know, I am a bit obsessed with CVS, but coupons have also saved me a lot of money at Kroger, Target, Meijer, and Walgreens. I now spend about half what I used to spend at Kroger by using coupons and buying and planning my meals around what’s on sale. I get my coupons from the Sunday paper (I subscribe to the Thursday and Sunday edition bundle and pay $5.59 a month – I encourage you to subscribe only if you can get a deal this cheap or cheaper!) My grandma also saves her coupons from the paper for me, and I print coupons from Coupons.com and Smartsource.com. I also often search for them if I am interested in a particular product on the product’s website. I got all my coupon clipping and organizing ideas from Money Saving Mom, so I am NOT taking credit! Please check out what she has to say on the topic – I couldn’t say it any better! I also strognly encourage you to purchase her Supermarket Savings 101 course. It has helped me soo much and it will pay for itself your first week at the grocery! You can check it out and purcahse it here!

The next step in successful couponing is to scour the store sale fliers and use what coupons you have for items they have on sale. For example, a couple of weeks ago, Kroger’s had 15-count boxes of Totino’s pizza rolls on sale for $1. I had a 55-cent-off coupon that I had printed from Coupons.com (ok, I had four!) Since Kroger doubles coupons up to a dollar, I got those pizza rolls for FREE, or as I like to say “FREE.99”! (I stole that line from my friend John. It’s a good one!) At CVS, using coupons can really make you money! A few weeks ago CVS had Advil PM for $4.99 with $4 ECBs (extra care bucks – like CVS money) back if you purchase it. I had a coupon for $3 off Advil PM, so I paid $1.99 for it and still got the $4 ECBs. Cha-ching!

If I haven’t convinced you yet, maybe this will! I have decided to let my ~~obsession~~ thriftiness become your gain. Due to couponing and making CVS (and Walgreen’s – stay tuned to my Super Savings Saturday post for that!) pay me to shop there, I have more candles, dish soap, and OTC medications that I could ever possibly use! So I have put together two, count ’em TWO identical prize packs of household goodies that I am giving away! All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post. I will close comments Sunday January 6th and announce the winner Monday the 7th. (I will only ship to the US as I do NOT want to fill out a customs form for this stuff. Sorry!) Here is what you can win!! I added up the retail price of these items and each prize pack is worth $33.44 retail! But of course I pretty much got it all for…wait for it….FREE.99! 🙂

1 bottle of Nature’s Bounty Vitamin C
1 bottle of Palmolive original
1 Glade Wisp Flameless Candle in Apple Cinnamon
1 10-count vial of Extra Strength Tylenol
1 Glade Scented il Candle in Dewberry Dreams
1 20 count Dimetapp children’s grape chewables
1 Walgreen’s hand sanitizer in Lavender

Allright, now get commenting, and then get out your scissors and get coupon clipping! Oh, and for more great Works for Me Wednesday tips, check out Rocks in my Dryer!