How to Save Money and Be More Generous

About a year ago, I went to my local Junior Women's Club to hear a talk called Coupons 101. The speaker was blogger, author, mother and former librarian, Mashup Mom, Rachel Singer Gordon. That talk changed the way I shop. I was never a couponer, had never seen an episode of Extreme Couponing, but the information and more importantly the organizational advice I gained that evening have saved me a fair amount of money. And what may be the greatest takeaway from that talk is that I think I have become a more generous person.

I'm fairly certain coupon blogs, like Mashup Mom exist all over the country. I know there are blogs for specific stores including Wal Mart, Target, and Walgreens. I consider myself fortunate to find a dedicated coupon blogger who lives in my area. In fact, once I ran into her at my local grocery store and acted like a total star-struck fool fan. "Oh my gosh! You're Mashup Mom!" She played it pretty cool, forced her terrified child to say "Hi!" to me, and immediately left the building. Later, Lucy asked me if I asked her to autograph my grocery list.

Some of the things I've learned from couponing the past year:

1. Write my own list first. If I don't need something, and it's something we will never use, I don't need it. For instance, there's some deal out there on Kikkoman Panko crumbs. I never use 'em. I have a bag of panko from Trader Joe's that's never been open. I don't need free panko.

2. Stockpile, with moderation. When I first started doing this, I was horrified by the people who buy a year's supply of salad dressing at once, or the guy on tv who has a room with 1,000 tubes of toothpaste that he got for free. I still am disturbed by these people. But if granola bars are on sale and I have manufacturer's coupons and store coupons, and I'm going to be on vacation on a beach with 17 cousins for a week, I will buy all I can. Then, I get to be the cool aunt on the beach who's giving away granola bars. See the generosity thing popping out? If I can get a truckload of Capri-Sun for a steal, I can sign up for all the class parties, and bring snacks to soccer or baseball games without have to stop at the gas station on the way. (We do not eat granola bars or drink Capri-Sun on a daily basis. I'm not that cool. Ask my kids.)

3. My own personal method:
Check the sale ads.
Pick the store that matches my needs best.
Write my list on an envelope.
Check the web for store deals. This includes checking Mashup Mom, the store site, loading deals onto Preferred card or Fresh Values card.
Check coupontom.com to see what coupons are available. (I use both newspaper coupons and coupons I print myself.)
Put the coupons in the envelope.
Lastly, the part I screw up on the most: PUT THE ENVELOPE IN THE PURSE.

My old method was go to Costco. Go up and down all the aisles and buy everything that looks or tastes good. Spend scads of money and time at Costco. Don't get me wrong, I still shop at Costco. They have the BEST pre-cooked bacon and I never buy any other kind.

I use Costco for paper products. The Kirkland brand tp and paper towels are some of the top reviewed products in their class and they have the best price points, even with coupons and sales at Target or grocery stores. I did get a free roll of Marcal once. Never buying Marcal again. meat, some produce, bread, and organic eggs. And tires. And men's undershirts. I'll stop now.

I also shop with their coupons. Right now, they have the best deal on disposable contacts. In November, they had a coupon for Starbucks hot chocolate. I'm not a Starbucks fan, but I try to slave-free chocolate when I can. Plus when you have your own backyard rink, you go through a lot of hot chocolate.



4. The Organization of the Coupons
Mashup Mom offers 2 methods, but the one I use is file based. When the Sunday paper comes, I take out the coupon sections: Red Plum, Smartsource, what have you, and write the date with a Sharpie on the front page. This past Sunday was "1/1." Then all the coupons inserts from January go in a file marked, you guessed it, January. I use my children to help locate and clip coupons when I need a lot. Some weeks may have lots of awesome coupons, so I'll run up to the Dollar Store and buy extras. I also know a few paper subscribers who don't coupon, and they save their inserts for me.

I save the January file for about 6 months, then empty it. I have lost a few coupons this way, but for the most part, everything expires in a month or two.

5. Last note on generosity, when my kids needed food for the Thanksgiving food drive, rather than go buy the obligatory can of Dinty Moore Beef Stew, I went to my stockpile and loaded those bags. This year when Peter's high school had at least 4 different charity drives in December, I was able to send him with all of my accumulated trial size and travel size toiletries for the shelters, the victims in Haiti, and the Women's Center. Plus, I used up a lot of free toothpaste too. This year, I'll be more vigilant in looking for toiletry deals on products we may not use, because I know I can give them to others.

It's not to late to comment on my previous post to be entered in the giveaway. In addition to the travel size Angel Baby Shampoo and Body Wash, I am adding a travel size bottle of the Happy Mama Hand Wash. The Angel Baby smells like oranges and vanilla, the Happy Mama smells like lime and ginger. The Earth Mama Angel Baby company sent me the wrong products, but told me I could keep them, so I am passing them on to one lucky reader!