About Us 
I am a stay at home mom with four wonderful kids. I have been married for over 10 years to my best friend. I am head over heels in love with him. He always supports my crazy "thrifty adventures". We have a lot of fun together.
I was raised on a small dairy farm. Where I learned very young, the value of hard work and how to be thrifty in all areas of life. Growing up our meals were made from scratch. Only on special occasion would we get name brand cereal, chips, or any other fancy treats. Now that I am a Mom with my own budget, the basic foods always comes first. I too make most of our meals from scratch and take pride in feeding my family a well balanced healthy diet.
I enjoy seeing how far I can make our budget stretch, and when I take the time to match sales with coupons I am able to get all those "fun & fancy" items that would other wise be out of my budget. Being thrifty has always been a way of life for me, but it has also become a real joy.
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Photo: ABC news
There are many people and sites that insist that the couponer is the main reason why stores stay in business. And by this they teach couponers to feel so empowered that they are the only one in the store and no else matters.
We have always tried to teach people how to use coupons. We feel that it is not an entitlement to coupon but rather a privileged to have the opportunity to save so much and are very thankful to stores, manufactures, managers and the cashiers that we befriend.
We are nobody’s mother, or father (since I am the one typing). We can only ask that we treat those that we shop with and from the same way that we would want to be treated. Just the other day Sarah was at a store she shops at frequently, and the cashier told her of a comment that a shopper had made. She said that a shopper told her that we ” A Thrifty Mom” said to do a transaction that wasn’t kosher. The cahier handled the situtation while thinking to her self, that she knew Sarah and knew Sarah would not of said that.
One thing we need to remember is that we are in a store with their rules. We need to follow proper ethics and be polite and kind with everyone in the store. A good example is when Sarah is at Walgreens, she almost always uses the cosmetic cashier to do her lengthy checkouts. When Sarah sees another person coming to check out there as well, she pulls her shopping cart aside, and insist that the customer go ahead of her. Sarah does this no matter if she just started her check out or is one or two transactions away from finishing. She feels that by allowing a customer who is purchasing normal items and is not trying to roll catalinas to go ahead. It not only shows respect and portrays kindness to the customer, but then the cashier too realizes how kind and thoughtful Sarah is to both the stores customers, and to the store employees also.
Now I know some cashier can be down right rude, and make couponing at nightmare. But that is a whole different blog post.
One of our long time readers sent us this email below that inspired me to make an additional comments and include this in a post.
I was at Albertsons today and was talking to my favorite checker. There was no one behind me so we had time to visit. She told me a story that made me a bit upset. One day last week she had a customer come through her line that had coupons. Some of the coupons had been cut in a way that the expiration date was cut off. My checker explained that she could not take coupons without an expiration date. The lady then proceeded to throw a fit insisting yes she would take them. She started screaming, being rude etc. She informed the checker that “it is people like me who are unemployed and use coupons that are the reason you have your job”. She made such a scene that my checker said she (the checker) was in tears after it was over. Please don’t be this person when you coupon. If you feel that the checker is wrong, which can happen, calmly ask for a manager. You can even go to customer service after your transaction is finished and speak with someone. Being calm and polite does not hurt anyone and will leave you feeling better as well as those you deal with
Coupons 101 PART 4- How to organize your coupons
Since I wrote this post I have upgraded to this binder….it works great the the extreme coupon shopper! (ME)
Once you start to collect coupons you will notice very quickly they turn into a huge pile of clutter. The only way I will use coupons is if I can easily find them, and have them organized. Everyone has their own way, I have used several different methods but this is what works for me. This is a photo of my coupon binder, I found the binder at Walmart for $24 it seems to cover all my needs.
In the front on my binder I have clear sheet protectors , I have them labeled for my catalina coupons and one for rebates for the month. I also have one for each store I shop at example, Albertsons, Target, Walgreens…. In side of each pocket I can put that weeks ad, coupons I plan to use at that store etc. That way if I don’t want to haul my whole binder in with me, I can just take that stores packet. But most the time I take my whole binder in with me, because I never now what I might find on clearance, or sale….and I will need my coupons for that.
I have 20 sections in my binder, each of which have several categories. I use 3 ring photo sheets, some have a spot for 4 photos and others only hold 3. I know some people use card collection sheets to hold their coupons. But I found the sections were too small for my coupons. One thing I like about using the binder I can always add or take out a page as my needs change.
I love that I can zip it closed, when I used a box I was always spilling my coupons all over the place. The binder keeps every thing in place really well.
Before I up graded to getting 6 papers a week, I used these small photo albums you can find for $1 just about anywhere. I clipped holes in the side and put them in my day planner. This worked great when I only got one paper. ?But now that I get 6 Sunday papers, I quickly out grew my day planner.
These are the categories I have in my binder,
- Dairy -milk, Ice cream, yogurt, sour cream, cottage cheese, butter, cheese, other dairy
- Breakfast-Kellogg’s cereal, Post cereal. GM cereal, other cereal, granola bars, Quaker products, breakfast mix, frozen breakfast, other breakfast
- Beverages- soda, fruit juice, veggie juice, powdered, other
- Canned- fruit, veggies, soup Campbell’s, soup other, broth, chili, sauce, other
- Condiments- mayo, pickles, olives, salad toppings, salad dressings, ketchup, mustard, peanut butter, jelly, other
- Grains-Dry pasta, mac& cheese, Hamburger helper, rice, side dishes, potatoes, baking- Brownies, cake, muffin, frosting, sugar, oil, flour, other
- Snacks-fruit snacks, nuts, popcorn, gum, candy, chocolate, crackers, cookies, chips, other
- Frozen- bread, rolls, pizza, dessert, pasta, veggies, dinners, meat, Asian, other
- Food misc.-diet, health, Mexican, Asian, ?meat, other
- Baby- diapers, soap, food, other
- Medication- laxatives, aspirin, Tylenol, cough drops, muscle pain, cold meds, tums and pepto, first aide supplies, other
- Paper – tissue, t.p., napkins, paper plates, cups, Ziploc bags, glad bags, other
- Soap-hand soap, body wash, Dove product’s, Olay products, Shampoo with 2 full sheets,
- Personal care- deodorant, feminine, razors, shave gel,
- Toothpaste- Colgate, crest, kids, mouthwash, toothbrush,
- Make up- cover girl, olay, Revlon, maybelline, other, skin care, lotion, chap stick,
- Dish soap- liquid, powdered, laundry soap and products,
- Home- other cleaners, carpet, floor, window, Clorox, Lysol, bathroom, glade, air wick, oust, febreze,
- Pets-food, care, other
- Batteries
This is my system and it works great for me.
I just want to help every one who might need a link or wanted to reread a particular post. On the top right of our site you will see a box that says “Search A Thrifty Mom”. You can type in a key word or set of words and you can search our site for any topic or link you need.
I just want to help others, especially the readers who only read our site by way of feed or emails. We get a lot of surprised readers who didn’t know we actually have a site to read. Some think we just send out emails. Quite often we get questions like: can you please resend me the “such and such” link, or where can I find that recipe. I feel so bad that I can’t answer every email. When you get over 300 actual emails DAILY that are NOT spam, it takes some time to answer or even go through them all.
So if you are ever in need of a link or had a question about a topic, you can email us, but I hate to have our readers wait for a response. You can search for your answer in our search box to quickly find the answer on your own. But remember, we are here for you we just want to help you find the answer quicker.
Thanks.
Coupons 101 – Part 1
To be honest I use to think coupons were a waste of time. I would clip just a few and throw the rest in the trash. But my eyes have been opened. Now I look at a coupon as money in my pocket. Hope this info helps, let me know what other question you have.
Where do you get your coupons?
- Newspaper- I have found the best place to get a wide varitey of coupons all at once is the Sunday coupon inserts. I try to get at least 4 sets of inserts a week. Not all papers carry the same inserts, so you might ask which inserts your local paper has. Once a month, Procter & Gamble has a special coupon insert dedicated to their products but it is available only in select papers. Visit THIS page to find out which papers carry the P&G inserts. I am lucky both my local papers carry this insert. Most papers allow you to purchase just the Sunday paper, or Muliple papers, at a lower price.
- Printable Internet coupons- There are alot of really good sites to print coupons from. You can print the same coupons from alot of differnt sites. Most of the sites will allow you to print the coupon twice. But if you have more than one computer at home, you can print it twice from each computer. I found it works best to print with Internet Explorer, Firefox, and MAC. If you do not have high speed internet it can be tricky to get them to print. I have a link on the side of my blog listing my favorite print sites. DO NOT try to photo copy your coupons the stores can tell, and it will make using printable coupons harder for us all. Check your local stores to see if they except printed coupons. Most my local stores do.
- Blinkies- These are the little black boxes with the red blinking light that spits out coupons. You can find these little units on the selves in some stores, like Albertsons and WalGreens to name a few. Go ahead and take a few and save them for your coupon stash. But only take a few, remember to play nice and leave some for the next coupon hunter.
- Ask around- you would be surprised how many people just throw them away. I have 2 very sweet little old ladies that share their papers with me every week. My husbands work gets Sunday papers. And they just toss them come Monday morning. So he grabs the inserts for me. Once your friends, family, co-works and neighbors know you like coupons they are normally happy to help save them for you.
- Peelies- these are the coupons that come stuck to a product. They normally have a long shelf life, they tend to not expire for up to a year. They are great to save and combine with future sales.
- Buying coupons- According to the law, no one can “sell” a coupon. But they CAN charge you for the time and effort put into clipping it. You’ll find lots of coupons for sale on Ebay other sites . You would be surprised how many crazy coupon lady’s are out there, they look for the good ones and buy them up quick.
- The Manufacturer- Many companies like it when you contact them. You can call, email, or write to them and tell them how much you love the product. Some companies are happy to send you coupons for discounts, or for free products. But not all companies do, you just have to ask around.
Coupons 101- part 2
What coupons to save?
Now that I have talked about where to get your coupons ( click here to read) we are on our way to the next step.
- What coupons do you save? I clip and save almost every coupon. The only time I don’t save a coupon is if it’s something I would never use even if it was free. So I keep 99% of my coupons. On Sunday when the coupon inserts come out, I spent about an hour clipping them out of 5 different papers. I put them in stacks of similar products. Like all the shampoo goes in one pile, all the cracker coupons in another. By clipping them out of the paper you are able to get rid of a lot of the bulk. Who wants to keep 50 papers around their house. From here you need to organize them, I keep all my coupons in a coupon binder ( I plan to do a post on this next week)
- Why do I clip and save every coupon? I save every coupon because I never know what is going to come on sale. Or when I might find an item on clearance, and if I have all my coupons in a binder, with me. Then I am able to take advantage of both the coupon and the sale. Before I started my binder I can’t tell you how many times I would buy something that I had a coupon for at home but I just forgot to bring it. Or I didn’t plan to buy it that week, but when I got to the store it was one sale. So I missed a great way to save even more money.
- Don’t be to stuck on one brand- When you save all coupons, you are able to take advantage of some great sales. If you only save the coupons for the brands, you normally buy then you pay a lot more. For example: My family normally buys JIFF peanut butter, so if I see and coupon for JIF
F I will hang on to it. But if I see a coupon for SKIPPY I might just toss it in the trash. Now if both peanut butters are $3.00 a jar I will always buy the one I like best. But if I find a sale later that month for SKIPPY for $1.75 and I have a .75 cents off coupon it would make the SKIPPY a $1 and the JIFF still is $3.00 and at that price I would be happy to buy SKIPPY. SO clip all brands and always bring your coupons along with you.
- How many to save- I try to get at least 5 of each coupon but I am thrilled when I get more than that. Why do I save so many? Example: If Albertsons is having a sale on Chili, for 75 cents, and normal price is a $1, plus I have a coupon for .25 cents. That would make it half price .50 cents, a great deal….but I don’t really want to go out of my way for one can of chili. But if I have saved 8 coupons, and I can get 8 cans at half price it will then be worth my time to buy it. Plus I then have a nice “food storage” of chili. When you buy items at a low price, and stock up the goal is to have enough so you won’t have to buy it again till it comes on sale. This way you are ALWAYS able to buy your items half off or more.
When to use your coupons?
- When to use your coupons- Just because you have a coupon does not mean you should buy an item. In fact if you buy items just because you have a coupon, you will end up spending more money on items you don’t really need, and are still over priced. The trick is to wait for the coupon to go on sale or clearance which is an even better deal.
- Wait for a sale- Wait for items to come on sale then use the coupon along with the sale. Then buy several of that item, so you don’t need to buy it again till another sale comes along. Example- I have 10 tubes of name brand toothpaste. People I know tell me “But I don’t need 10 tubes of toothpaste!”. Well what I tell them is that if I can get paid over $10 to BUY 10 tubes of toothpaste (see my post here) then why not do it. And know that I wont need to spend that $30 dollars over the next year. Each time you can save like this adds up, and by year end you could save a ton of money. Or go on that vacation you wanted.
- Buy one get one free sales- When a store has a buy one get one free sale, this is a great time to use your coupons. You can use 2 coupons. One for the item you are buying and one for the item you are getting for free. WHY, you need to remember that a coupon is like cash. The store IS getting paid for that product, by the Manufacturer. So the store gives you the second item for free, but they can turn in the coupon and get paid for that item they just gave you for free. Example- chips are on sale buy one get one free. You pay $4.00 for the first bag of chips, and get the 2nd free. But you have 2 coupons for $1 off a bag of chips. You can use both of those coupons. One coupon is applied to each bag of chips (although one bag is considered free) Both coupons are applied to the total sale price. Bringing the total to $2 for 2 bags of chips. You would have paid $8 for 2 bags of chips, but using the Buy one get one (BOGO) free sale you have saved $4 PLUS $2 in coupons.
- Stacking your coupons- Stacking your coupons is when you are able to use 2 coupons for one item. You are able to do this when you use a in-store coupon ( a coupon that the store prints, normally in the weekly ad. It will have the store logo on it) along with a MFR (manufacturer coupon). When you use the in-store coupon and the MFR coupon together this is called “stacking” your coupons. So watch for those in-store coupons, and see if you have a MFR coupon to go along with it.
- Rebates- A lot of company’s offer a mail in rebate for their items as part of a promotion to get you to try or buy their product. Many times this makes the item free after rebate. Example- The store is selling nuts for $5.00, and they have a mail in rebate for $5.00 which would make the item free. But if you use a $2.00 coupon on the nuts, after you turn in your rebate they will give you a check for $5.00. SO you will actually make $2.00 for buying the nuts.
- Store match or double- Some stores do this every week, but my local stores only do it a few times a year. They will match you coupon amount, which gives you the chance to get twice the amount of your coupon. Example- the store is selling juice for $1.00 but I have a coupon for $.50 off, The store them matches the price of my coupon giving me another $.50 off, making my juice FREE. Normally if a store matches or doubles coupons they only let you do a limited of items per shopping trip. So I plan to make several trip through the checkout line.
Coupons 101 PART 4- How to organize your coupons
Once you starts to collect coupons you will notice very quickly they turn into a huge pile of clutter. The only way I will use coupons is if I can easily find them, and have them organized. Everyone has their own way, I have used several different methods but this is what works for me. This is a photo of my coupon binder, I found the binder at Walmart for $24 it seems to cover all my needs.
In the front on my binder I have clear sheet protecto
rs , I have them labeled for my catalina coupons and one for rebates for the month. I also have one for each store I shop at example, Albertsons, Target, Walgreens…. In side of each pocket I can put that weeks ad, coupons I plan to use at that store etc. That way if I don’t want to haul my whole binder in with me, I can just take that stores packet. But most the time I take my whole binder in with me, because I never now what I might find on clearance, or sale….and I will need my coupons for that.
I have 20 sections in my binder, each of which have several categories. I use 3 ring photo sheets, some have a spot for 4 photos and others only hold 3. I know some people use card collection sheets to hold their coupons. But I found the sections were too small for my coupons. One thing I like about using the binder I can always add or take out a page as my needs change.
I love that I can zip it closed, when I used a box I was always spilling my coupons all over the place. The binder keeps every thing in place really well.
Before I up graded to getting 6 papers a week, I used these small photo albums you can find for $1 just about anywhere. I clipped holes in the side and put them in my day planner. This worked great when I only got one paper. But now that I get 6 Sunday papers, I quickly out grew my day planner.
These are the categories I have in my binder,
- Dairy - milk, Ice cream, yogurt, sour cream, cottage cheese, butter, cheese, other dairy
- Breakfast- Kellogg’s cereal, Post cereal. GM cereal, other cereal, granola bars, Quaker products, breakfast mix, frozen breakfast, other breakfast
- Beverages- soda, fruit juice, veggie juice, powdered, other
- Canned- fruit, veggies, soup Campbell’s, soup other, broth, chili, sauce, other
- Condiments- mayo, pickles, olives, salad toppings, salad dressings, ketchup, mustard, peanut butter, jelly, other
- Grains- Dry pasta, mac& cheese, Hamburger helper, rice, side dishes, potatoes, baking- Brownies, cake, muffin, frosting, sugar, oil, flour, other
- Snacks- fruit snacks, nuts, popcorn, gum, candy, chocolate, crackers, cookies, chips, other
- Frozen- bread, rolls, pizza, dessert, pasta, veggies, dinners, meat, Asian, other
- Food misc.- diet, health, Mexican, Asian, meat, other
- Baby- diapers, soap, food, other
- Medication- laxatives, aspirin, Tylenol, cough drops, muscle pain, cold meds, tums and pepto, first aide supplies, other
- Paper – tissue, t.p., napkins, paper plates, cups, Ziploc bags, glad bags, other
- Soap- hand soap, body wash, Dove product’s, Olay products, Shampoo with 2 full sheets,
- Personal care- deodorant, feminine, razors, shave gel,
- Toothpaste- Colgate, crest, kids, mouthwash, toothbrush,
- Make up- cover girl, olay, Revlon, maybelline, other, skin care, lotion, chap stick,
- Dish soap- liquid, powdered, laundry soap and products,
- Home- other cleaners, carpet, floor, window, Clorox, Lysol, bathroom, glade, air wick, oust, febreze,
- Pets- food, care, other
- Batteries
This is my system and it works great for me.
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