Thrifty Tip

If you print online coupons then you a plagued with the proverbial almost half sheet of paper that gets wasted.  Instead of tossing the bottom portion, I save them.  I take several with us along with some crayons when we go out to restaurants.  That way our little 2 1/2 year old can create a picture when we are waiting for our food.  Yes, many restaurants have crayons and menus to color, but some don't.  And even the ones that do, we find that after a couple minutes she's ready for a new piece of paper.  Short attention span in a highly stimulated place, or something like that...

High Value Coupon for Paper Towels

Go here for additional coupons not found on coupons.com.  There is one for .45/1 C&H sugar and $2/1 two pack of Viva paper towels.  If link doesn't work, let me know.

Thrifty Websites

Here are some of the websites I read for deals and free samples. Some are blogs and others aren't. I really don't like the ones you have to sign up for to see the deals. These are really easy to navigate.

http://www.moneysavingmom.com/

http://www.freesamplesblog.com/

http://www.imommies.com/

http://www.stretcher.com/index.cfm (This one has more articles and ways to save money)

http://www.freegrabber.com/

http://www.retailmenot.com/


Not to overload the post, I'll stop here. I have others, too. But these have seemed to be pretty useful.

Happy Saving!

Thrifty Thursday

Since the cost of everything is going up, up, up. I've been trying to save everywhere I can. Here are a few ideas that help us save some money.

1. Coupons. This is obvious, but I can't believe how much I actually save each week using coupons. At least $5 to $15 on average. My parents are kind enough to save the coupons they get from two Sunday newspapers for us. It takes a little time to go through, cut, and organize. But it's well worth it. I've found that using coupons for only items we normally purchase is best. If we get something just because of the coupon we are a lot less likely to use it and actually waste money. I also try to buy the items I have coupons for when they are on sale.

2. Non-Brand Name Items. I typically am a name brand person (that's why coupons are so valuable), but there are some things we use so much of that we searched for some good off brands.

• Paper Towels: Target makes a three-tear double paper towel roll that is actually made by Bounty. I can usually get a 6-pack double roll for $6 on sale. Those smaller sheets are useful to have and the roll lasts longer.
• Tissues (aka Kleenex): Target again makes a good alternative to the traditional Kleenex. And here's the kicker Kimberly Clark makes it. We can't tell the difference. A 3-pack 200 sheet Target brand tissues usually is $1 cheaper than the Kleenex brand.
• Soups: I use a lot of cream soups and tomato soups with cooking. We found that the taste between Campbells and the off brand taste the same. We usually buy them at the grocery store for about 40 cents cheaper.
• Milk: We buy the grocery store brand. Usually 50 to 60 cents cheaper.

3. Item Count: This is were they try to trick you. Watch for medicine like Advil or Tylenol to have an extra 25 or more pills per bottle at the same cost. I recently bought the Walgreens Claritin brand for my husband. We got 240 pills for $28. That was the same cost for 90 pills. And boy that's going to last a while, too. I know it's not always easy to buy in bulk because of the cost, but when you can get extra for the same cost it worth it.

Those are just a few money saving tips for this Thursday.