Spend Your Money Wisely

So many of my friends and family have asked me to share my coupon/meal plan that I have created for my family. Over the past year, my husband and I have learned to really stretch our dollar, and make every meal count. This blog will be a two parter, because lets face it, there just aren't enough hours in the day to get anything done with a two year old running around the house, and a two month old who needs to eat every two hours.

I first got inspired by watching "Extreme Couponing". How did these families make it out of the store with hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise and wind up having the store owe THEM money? It just didn't seem fair to me that I, a stay at home mom, should have to pay full price for anything at that point. Why pay top dollar, when I can, at the very least, get $0.50 off an item. Every little bit counts, and it's the "little bits" that add up to some pretty serious savings.

Of course, living in Hawaii, extreme couponing just doesn't exist. Retailers don't accept double coupons, because we have everything shipped in from the mainland  There isn't a whole lot of wiggle room when it comes to negotiating the price of an item. It is what it is here. However retailers do except manufacturers coupons, as well as their own. That's what counts.

So where do I start? I start by hitting the world wide web for coupons. We shop every two weeks, because the stores are just to far away for us to drive into town every week. Gas is too expensive, so we save where we can and stretch our meals to last at least two weeks. I start by visiting www.Coupons.com I look for items that I need, as well as things I may be interested in trying or eating for the next two weeks. For example, I've been seeing manufacturers coupons for frozen CPK pizza. Normally we stay away from frozen prepackaged foods because, lets face it, most of them taste terrible. But we're from California, where CPK was one of our favorite places to eat. CPK doesn't exist out here, so I was willing to try one of their frozen items. Turns out, it was a pretty good substitute for the real deal. So I clip that coupon and put it aside. I keep doing this until I've seen on the coupons that site has to offer that week. Next, I move on to www.Target.com. Target is one of our major stores on the East side of the Island, so we like to take advantage of their low prices. A good tip for you to remember, Target allows you to "stack" coupons. Meaning, you can use a Target coupon AND a manufacturers coupon for the same item, allowing you to save even MORE money. Very few retailers allow this. Target.com has a great coupon selection and they also put out a weekly ad that I like to scope out. When the stars align just right, I'll find something on sale in the ad that I also have a coupon for. That's when you save the big bucks, so to speak. Once I'm done with Target, I move on to my third and final website. www.Safeway.com also offers great coupons and deals. They have a "Just for you" section that everyone who shops at Safeway really needs to check out. They have a coupons page, a personalized deals page, and their weekly store specials section. I check out all three, starting with the coupons page, and doing my usual routine. Then on to the personalized deals page, which is basically coupons, but more specific to the things you buy or may be interested in buying based on your previous purchases. Not everyone gets these deals, so its important to watch the register carefully to make sure you're getting "your" deal. After all that is done and I've finished browsing Safeway's ad, I'm ready to make my meal plan for the coming weeks.

Well as I said at the beginning of this blog, which I started hours ago, this is a two parter. Stay with me and I'll post how I prepare my meal plan and tips on how to save more money later in the week.

Have a great day!