Money Saving Challenge 2011....Get Busy with Your Coupon System!

This post was inspired by Precious' Money Saving Challenge series.  You can check her blog out at Frugal Makes Cents.




Now that 2011 is here, it's time to get going on preserving your family's income.

Let me say how I hate, yes-HATE! to give our family's money away.
...To much to the Government(who is quite inefficient in how they use it and waste quite a bit).
....To businesses and stores for their overpriced products.

While some of this spending is necessary(and required by law to boot), with the discretionary spending, I try to do what I can to reduce the amount we let leave Chez Sluggy.  

One of the areas where you can slow the money hemorrhage each month is by controlling your food spending!
One way to reduce your food spending is by using coupons.
If you do use coupons, now is the time to do a little maintenance on your system before you get inundated with the beginning of the year flood of coupons!

So I spent a little piece of my time today going through my Coupon Inserts from the latter part of last year and clipping out any coupons that have not expired by 12/31/2010 that I think I may use/need in the coming months.
I spent 2010 labeling my inserts and filing them.  I only clipped coupons as needed each week.
So I had quite the stack of inserts to sort through.

For now, I'll put each pile of coupons into one of the pencil cases I have, with all the Jan. expiring coupons in one case, the Feb. expiring coupons in another case, etc.

I'll reconsider going back to using a coupon binder for my system this month.  If the amount of actual FOOD coupons picks up I probably will.  2010 was a very poor year for manufacturers releasing Food coupons(except for the junkier food ones)into circulation.  I found I used far more internet printed coupons than manufacturer's coupons printed in the newspaper inserts.  It was so one-sided I am considering no longer buying the Sunday paper for coupon inserts and using a clipping service instead for the few coupons I would require.

Do you plan on using coupons more or less in 2011?
Do you have a system to keep them organized that works well for your?
Please leave a comment or question.

Sluggy

Happy New Year and We Have a Giveaway Winner!

I just can't wrap my head around the fact that January 2011 is here already!
Man....


Let's start 2011 off the right way, by announcing the Winner of the MyBlogSpark/Betty Crocker/Glad/Safeway Giveaway.

I listed all the valid entries, and added the extra bonus entries for those who entered via a mention of my giveaway on another blog for both the blogger and the entrant as well.  There were 49 valid entries all together.

I went to Random.org and set the parameters and that site spit out our winning entry which is......

#8.....Kathy M!

Kathy M said...

I love cookies of all kinds, my weakness. I will never turn down old-fashioned chocolate chip. I have good memories of baking snickerdoodles as a kid. These days I prefer to bake with my grandson. Thanks for the opportunity. (I am a follower of your blog and read daily)

December 16, 2010 1:00 PM  

Congratulations Kathy!

Please email me your mailing information(along with your phone number as the company asks for that too).  You can find my contact email on my Profile Page(see the About Me section on the right sidebar).

Thanks to everyone who entered.
And I hope to see a lot more of all of you in 2011!

Sluggy

The Year in Review....Part IV

No, I am not celebrating the New Year yet!
Mimi over at LIVING IN FRANCE is doing a Linky Thingy...don't ya like my use of technical terms?

Anyway, you are suppose to post your life's highlights from 2010.  This installment is covering October, November and December.

Check out the other blogs taking part by clicking on the button....






OCTOBER

The garden winds down.  I have winter veggies like Butternut Squash still hanging on.  I also attempt to get a couple more weeks of growing time for the stunted Eggplant plants, by constructing a 'frugal hothouse' using tomato cages and large clear contractor's plastic bags.  For all my efforts I get one tiny eggplant.


I share my thoughts on food security/insecurity in this country.  It's not a pretty picture...

I score an awesome grocery store Catalina Deal for bacon, just when my 2 yr. supply is about to run out.  I "heart" bacon....and I especially "heart" bacon when it's pennies on the dollar!

I take a blogging break.
It doesn't even last a week.

I spend a lot of money on food this month, despite the bacon cat deal.  My food budget explodes but I don't seem to care much as long as I have a BLT(with almost free bacon)to placate me.

Daughter hears back from the 1st two colleges she applied to for next fall.

I spend a fair amount of time sourcing free Candy for Halloween distributing at Rite-Aid.  And then I wonder why our house is quite popular on the evening of Oct. 31st.

I start my "Simplifying the Holidays" Series of posts.  Talking and thinking about Christmas before Halloween leads to stressing me out even more.

Daughter + College=Parents + Poor House.

NOVEMBER

#2 son's  Marching Band wins 1st place at a major competition.  A nice way to finish the season.

I report on my visit to the local farm and my subsequent pumpkin puree making adventure.  Making a pie from scratch turns out to be a little more work(cheaper but definitely more time consuming)than I had anticipated.  I'll never complain about paying for those cans of pumpkin again!

We harvest the last of the garden veggies and top out at growing almost 94 lbs. of food this year.  I am very pleasantly surprised by the number!

The neighbor's RV mysteriously disappears from the driveway and does not return all month.
No, I do NOT have relatives with the last name of SOPRANO but I have many relatives by marriage named TONY....and most of them live in New Jersey.
Suddenly I develop a craving for cannoli....

2 of our 3 cars are "clam chowdered" in the dead of night.  No sightings of large white RVs in the vicinity when this incident occurs however.

I open my eBay store finally!  I'm only a month late doing so and I miss a big chunk of the prime selling season.  From the healthy amount of sales I deduce that either the economy IS picking up a bit or people are putting their economic woes aside until after the Holidays.

I get a good rant on about consumerism in this country and rail against people living beyond their means.

In my next breath, I get 'my nerd on' and talk about Budgeting for Christmas.

I explore a bit of little known Thanksgiving history.

I complain about the Rite-Aid GIFT OF SAVINGS program this year.  A couple weeks later they change the program so it's easier to earn the gift certificate.
Coincidence?  I think not! lol

I do a lot of  'shops' at Rite-Aid.  So what's new, right?!?

It is the end of November and there is no snow yet this fall/winter.  For here, that is highly unusual.

My computer's hard drive goes on life support......then quickly followed by flat lining and we are forced to pull the plug on the serge protector of life.


DECEMBER

I break down and buy a new hard drive after I lose many many files and photos.
Hubs breaks down and buys me an automatic file backup system.

I post an old entry about frugal gift wrapping.  It's worth a reread.

I try to get back into Meal Planning and posting them.  I fail miserably and resolve to get back to it in January.

I spend way too much time and effort trying to track down cheap Pistachio Nuts at Rite-Aid stores in Northeastern PA.  But I rationalize it by saying everybody needs a hobby, right?lol

I make a real good bonehead goof shipping the wrong item to the wrong buyer on eBay.  And it can't be a domestic shipping package, no!....it has to involve the Czech Republic and Spain!  Luckily I avert an international incident of epic proportions!  But I still inadvertently piss-off a Spaniard.  Oh well.....at least his name is not inigo montoya and he didn't kill my father.....

I share my favorite and my not-so-favorite Christmas songs and give away a surprise gift.

I finally earn and receive an ad revenue check for my blog from Google.  I do my Sally Field impersonation while clutching it like an Oscar and gush, "You love me!  You really love me!!".

I transform into Suzy "F-ing" Homemaker(Suzy if she has little sleep from doing eBay all month, that is)and bake cookies and pies day after day.  The family is thrilled and happily eats themselves into sugar shock.

I share Christmas pictures as well as favorite Ornaments on the Tree pictures with my dear readers.  I leave out the photo of me passed out from exhaustion on the couch with a bottle laying on the floor next to me.

Since this was the Chinese Year of the Rite-Aid(who needs an animal, right?), I make more trips to Rite-Aid than Carter has liver pills in December.   At this point, I should just call in a list of what I want and then back my car up to the door and honk, and they should bring it out and fill my vehicle.  And then they should give me cash from the register for taking it off their hands.  Ok....so they do do 'some' of that, but I am still forced to actually go into the store and pick it out.
Oy!  What I put up with, huh?!

I shared my 2010 totals of how much spent(or NOT spent!lol)and how much I got from Rite-Aid.
Rite-Aid stock drops dramatically after this is posted.  Stockholders start a massive sell-off.  Chaos ensues......ok, not really!lolol

Sluggy

My Big Fat Greek, er....I Mean My Big Fat Rite-Aid Chart for 2010

This year I kept meticulous track of all my Rite-Aid spending.
Not so much in 2009.  I just didn't take the time to keep track as I went along last year so I made an extra effort to succeed at this task in 2010.
I sat down earlier today and tallied up all my monthly numbers to make a list of a whole year of Rite-Aid shopping-from the Jan. 2010 SCR Period to the Dec. 2010 SCR Period.
12 months of Rite-Aid purchases.

Two hours later I had a big honking chart. lol

Looking at this I can see that I started off the year with a goal of receiving a larger SCR check than cash I spent OOP to get to that rebate check.  Man, I sure thought that was great!

But as I earned free gift cards, I shifted the OOP spending onto those cards instead, which gave me less OOP spending, while still growing the rebate checks.  By mid-year(except for Aug. when I didn't have a gift card with me while on vacation), I had no OOP spending due to a combination of gift cards and +Up Rewards to use in payment.

Here are the particulars.....


JANUARY
Number of Trips....31
Amount Spent....$70.20 cash
Value of  Items....$992.07
SCRebates....$78.48
Other Rebates....$91.23
Gift Cards....$55.00

FEBRUARY
Number of Trips....26

Amount Spent....$41.94 put on free gift card/$39.85 cash
Value of  Items....$961.83
SCRebates....$77.98
Other Rebates....$30.00
Gift Cards...$10.00

MARCH
Number of Trips....23

Amount Spent....$40.89 put on free gift card/$4.67 cash
Value of  Items....$908.11
SCRebates....$131.68
Other Rebates....$0.00
Gift Cards....$20.00

APRIL
Number of Trips....6

Amount Spent....$6.89 put on free gift card
Value of  Items....$158.21
SCRebates....$8.00
Other Rebates....$0.00
Gift Cards....$25.00

MAY
Number of Trips....12

Amount Spent....$21.27 put on free gift card/$.35 cash
Value of  Items....$408.04
SCRebates....$33.00
Other Rebates....$0.00
Gift Cards....$90.00

JUNE
Number of Trips....16

Amount Spent....$46.87 put on free gift card
Value of  Items....$672.21
SCRebates....$59.98
Other Rebates....$15.00
Gift Cards....$35.00/Other Gift Cards....$25.00

JULY
Number of Trips....18

Amount Spent....$28.58 put on free gift card
Value of  Items....$669.87
SCRebates....$35.98
Other Rebates....$29.27
Gift Cards....$30.00

AUGUST
Number of Trips.....5

Amount Spent....$41.96 put on free gift card/$8.99 cash
Value of  Items....$186.67
SCRebates....$23.99
Other Rebates....$0.00
Gift Cards....$0.00

SEPTEMBER
Number of Trips....14

Amount Spent....$20.80 put on free gift card
Value of  Items....$579.66
SCRebates....$16.00
Other Rebates....$0.00
Gift Cards....$15.00

OCTOBER
Number of Trips....16

Amount Spent....$5.70 put on free gift card
Value of  Items....$725.56
SCRebates....$53.90
Other Rebates....$11.98
Gift Cards....$0.00

NOVEMBER
Number of Trips....39

Amount Spent....$26.30 put on free gift card
Value of  Items....$1,843.52
SCRebates....$59.98
Other Rebates.....$31.99
Gift Cards....$0.00

DECEMBER
Number of Trips....41

Amount Spent....$19.31 put on free gift card
Value of  Items....$1,633.18
SCRebates....$32.00
Other Rebates....$0.00 
Gift Cards....$40.00

YEARLY TOTAL
Number of Trips....247
Amount Spent....$441.29--$124.21 in Cash OOP, $317.08 put on free gift cards
Value of  Items....$9,738.93
SCRebates....$610.97
Other Rebates....$209.47
Gift Cards....$345.00
Savings Percentage of.....98.72%

 I spent $124.21 cash money and received $9.738.93 in products, $820.44 in cash rebates and $345.00 in gift cards.
I also received $475.50 in +Up Rewards, spent $364.00 of them for a net gain of $111.50 +Up Rewards to carryover into 2011.


Here's to more great savings in 2011, for all of us!!


Sluggy

Songs of the Season Giveaway Winner

Ok, I know I am late getting around to posting who won my Christmas Songs Surprise Giveaway....a pox upon me!

I'm sure nobody noticed actually due to the fact that everyone has been so gosh darn B-U-S-Y lately with the Holidays and all that entails, right?

To get down to business......

There were 9 valid comments/entries.  I numbered them as received and went to Random.Org and the winning number is..................

Comment #6---Diane
Diane said...

Favorite Christmas Song - Silent Night - 12 Days of Christmas Favorite Carol - Oh Come all Ye Faithful Funny Song - Frosty the Snowman Never Hear Again - Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer

December 21, 2010 6:35 PM

Congratulations Diane!
You have 48 hours to contact me via email(it's on my profile page)with your mailing address.
If you could tell me a little about what you like on your Christmas tree, favorite colors, themes, etc. that would be nice too so I can pick out something appropriate to send you.

Thanks for everyone who played along.  It was fun reading everyone's favs and not-so-fav tunes of the Season.

Sluggy