The other day I talked I about my family’s “debt-diet” but one part I should have mentioned is that debt and credit are different (although related).  Having a lot of debt is bad while having a good credit score is good.  I have been signed up with Credit Sesame for about a year or so now & LOVE having access to my credit scores & reports.

It is a free service (no credit card, etc to sign up). Even on a debt-diet it’s important to keep track of our credit scores & reports because it affects more than just our ability to get a credit card (some jobs even run credit checks!).  For more information, or to sign up, check it out here.

I have a challenge for you.  You may have heard me talk about this but we are on a debt-diet.  Over the last 13 years of marriage (despite my frugal ways) we have racked up debt.  Our family has had trials that made us think we had to depend on credit cards to get through them.  Looking back we’ve realized that we didn’t need to use the credit cards but it just made life easier.  What a relief to realize this! I feel like we broke the chains that our credit obsessed selves had put ourselves in.  {Please note: we are not blaming anyone but ourselves for this mess we’ve gotten into}

My husband and I sat down with each and every credit card and monthly bill. After adding up all the required monthly bills (car insurance, electricity, water, etc {p.s. we have basic cable at $7 a month and internet IS required for us because we are both online students & I run MSM}) we took out a bit for groceries, gas and a few other “necessities” the remainder is what we are putting towards our debt each month.

Then we created a simple spreadsheet.  Each month the total placed towards that debt equals to the amount we agreed on.  It took us 13 years to build this up but we hope to be 99% debt free (except our mortgage) by Sept. 2013.  This is taking a lot of sacrifice- no summer vacation really, and working to reduce the “other” bills such as water and electricity.  Those little bits of saving will add up and help us not feel so pinched!

So here is my challenge to you: Pay in Cash.

If you are like we were, we’d say “Oh we will pay it off next month, we really NEED it right now”  With a credit card, there is no PAIN in getting that item.  Swipe, bag & go.  With cash- you literally FEEL the money leave your hand. Would you hand over $5 in cash every morning for a Starbucks drink?  Many of us wouldn’t – we see that $5 and realize what you can actually get for $5. But with credit cards it is like “fake”money…it’s not that real $5 that you could get so much more than a cup of fancy coffee.

With credit cards the money pool seems endless….. it doesn’t seem real it doesn’t seem that we are reducing our nest egg down to nothing with all these swipes.  Then we get a bill “Your balance is now $7,509.89 and your minimum payment is $235.00. Your interest rate is 18%.” (made up numbers!)  OUCH.  Then we flip out & try to figure out how to fix this mess.  Or we hide our heads in the sand and pay the minimum payment month after month and avert our eyes from the balance, the interest rate or the interest charges.  We fail to see that of that $235.00- $200 of that is interest!  We’re barely able to make the minimum payment each month and very little of it even touches the amount we OWE.

So, my family has gone on a debt-diet.  We are NOT taking on a single penny of debt.  No credit cards are being used.  No loans will be taken out.  No “pay later” offers will be accepted.  We will only pay with cold hard cash (or for online purchases and select purchases- our debit cards).  When I had my car worked on yesterday, I swung by our bank’s ATM and took the cash out. Then I paid for the service in cash.  No swiping a credit card to delay the pinch of the expensive car repairs.  When I went to Harris Teeter to get my Coke Zero 6 pks, I paid in cash.  If I don’t have the cash- we don’t buy it PERIOD.

Now there is an exception to my “no swipe” rule: If swiping saves me money- I swipe and IMMEDIATELY pay in cash.  Example: Using my Target card at Target saves me 5%- So I swipe, get home and before I do ANYTHING else I make  a payment in the exact amount I swiped for via my online banking.  No interest charges but I saved 5%.  This will ONLY work for you if you are disciplined and can make yourself pay it off within an hour of swiping and ONLY if you have the cash to pay it that day.   Some stores allow payments to be made in store- in those cases I swipe and then head right over to customer service to make the payment in cash.  No interest, no bill but I still get the savings.

Do you have a swipe-less life? I’d love to hear how it has helped you meet your financial goals!

Sometimes I got overboard! I admit it- sometimes the savings gets a hold of me and I buy too much.

For example- Onions. The 3 lb. bags are often CHEAPER than buying a single onion- and we rarely eat onions! In fact, we NEVER eat them raw only cooked. And I hate cutting them, because you’d think I had lost a high value coupon the way I boo-hoo through the whole process.

The other weak I had gotten TWO 3 lb bags of onions- not sure what came over me. As they sat in the pantry slowly getting older and older- I realized I had to do SOMETHING before they rotted away.

This is what I do to fruits and veggies (list to come below of which ones work great) are about to expire:

1. Gather my tools. Freezer bags, sharpie, knife, cutting board, bowl and produce.

2. Label the bag BEFORE you fill it.

3. Slice and Dice in whatever manner you usually cook with. For us we don’t like to actually EAT them (crazy I know) but use them for flavor so larger pieces are best for us.

4. Now fill the bag. I don’t want bit clumps but I honestly HATE how onions smell on my hands so I put the whole chunks in the bag and then shake the bag up to separate the slices.

5. Now slide the zipper 80% closed- leaving just an inch at one side open and roll the bag and the onions up like a sleeping bag- pushing all the air out. It almost looks vacuum packed! (of course this would be easier with a vacuum sealer…..hint hint in case my husband is reading). Once as much air is out, leave it rolled up and finish sealing the bag closed.

6. Now that bag is flat and sealed- into the freezer it goes! All these scraps? headed to my veggie garden to be reborn into black soil via the compost heap!

I found this website VERY useful in tips and techniques for freezing vegetables. Obviously it’s best to freeze them while still fresh. So if you buy a 3 lb bag of onions or (they are .79 for3 lbs at Aldi starting 3/28!) put up the ones you won’t use in a week in the freezer asap. You will yield a LOT more than you would buying a frozen bag, you will KNOW that they were fresh when they were frozen and you won’t have any additives to them!

See this site HERE for a great list of freezing times and tips!

*This was re-posted from 3/2012.

One of my biggest pet peeves with non-couponers is that they will say things like “There are no coupons for items we eat.  All the coupons are for foods that are unhealthy.”  My response to them is that I certainly hope they use toilet paper, deodorant, toothpaste.  None of those products add to our waistlines and yet they are items we get free (or 75% off at least) routinely.

Couponing doesn’t make our waist lines bigger- there are many reasons that happens (and  I know many of them personally!) but it’s not because of couponing.  We see coupons for “healthy” foods all the time!  Cheese itself isn’t unhealthy it’s when we sit down and use an entire bag at one meal (dear Hubby- yes I am talking to you!).  Milk isn’t bad for us and I know many of us get it free during Super Doubles at Harris Teeter. And that is the low fat Smart Balance I am talking about.  Fresh fruit & veggies?  Yep we’ve seen pomegranates, avocados, and fresh pineapples have coupons come out.

Sure most of the meat coupons are for the not-so great varieties such as sausage and prepared meats but many times beer companies put out rebates on meats.  There are also ways to save on meat: buying during B1G1 free sales, looking for quick sale meats and buying in season.

It’s true that a lot of coupons distributed are for items that are prepared or packaged and that these are not the healthiest choices but just because we have a coupon doesn’t mean we HAVE to use it!   Save the money where you can on the items you will use and splurge on the healthy items- the fruits, veggies & meats.

I worked very hard in the last few years to drop much of the weight I gained over the years and I still couponed the same.  I changed how I ATE – instead of eating 3 cookies for a snack I had one cookie.  Instead of two helpings at dinner, I had one and then a sensible snack later on.   My family eats relatively balanced meals (I won’t lie & say EVERY NIGHT is a perfect food pyramid dinner- we have nights of pizza and coke and we have nights of fried chicken and french fries) each night.  Most of the time my meals are made mostly from scratch with a few convenience items tossed in.  I still have a LONG way to go to get where I want to be…but I’m NOT getting larger due to my couponing.  I can’t blame my weight issues on coupons- I have to blame it on the food I put into my mouth.

And simply because my cart has 10 boxes of pop tarts doesn’t mean I sit down and EAT all 10 boxes today.  Those boxes will be used by my entire family for weeks!  A couponer’s cart is not a good representation of what they (or how they) eat.  This week it may be pop tarts and taco seasoning and next week it may be granola and oatmeal.   So please don’t judge by what I (or any couponer) buys in this trip.

That said, you may know that I do a Coupon Corner video each week for the Winston-Salem Journal.  I wanted to explain why in the next few months you will see me getting larger, and larger, and larger and it’s not because of couponing.  We are expecting our 4th child in June and since it looks like I’ve been indulging in too many bags of cheap Doritos or Mrs. Smith’s Pies- I wanted to explain.  So please forgive my fuzzy brain and I promise to try and keep from becoming too emotional over a great coupon or missed deal!

I’ve had a lot of questions recently about what different abbreviations and terms mean so here are some of the most commonly used abbreviations.

$1/1, $1/2: Refers to value of coupon such as $ off 1 item or $1 off 2 item, etc.
B1G1: Buy One Get One.  Often refers to getting the second free.
Beep: When a cash register doesn’t recognize or accept a coupon.  It may require manager or cashier action to be accepted.
BOGO: Buy 1 Get 1 Free.  The same as B1G1.
Blinkie: The black Smart Source boxes that stick off the shelves with the red blinking light that gives coupons
Catalina: A coupon that prints after a transaction is completed, often for $ off a $$ purchase.  These are usually manufacturer coupons with the store’s logo.
DND: Do not Double- a stipulation placed on coupons.
ECB: Extra Care Buck, rewards $ from CVS
ETS: excludes trial or travel size products.
GM: General Mills coupon insert that is ocassionally in the Sunday inserts.
IP: Internet printable coupon
MIR: Mail in rebate
NLA: No longer available.  Refers to a printable coupon not able to be printed any longer.
OOP: Out of pocket (the amount paid in cash money for the items)
Peelie: a coupon affixed to the front of products
PG: (P&G) manufacturer with brands such as Pampers, Tide, Downy, Febreze. Distributes a coupon insert booklet once a month in the Sunday Inserts.
Q: coupon
Rain Check: A written promise by a store to honor the advertised sale price when the product that is currently out of stock is back i the store.
Rolling: Using a catalina or store reward to buy the same item again to receive another reward.  This is often repeated over and over , hence rolling
RP: Red Plum, an insert in the Sunday Paper
RR: Register Rewards, rewards money from Walgreens
SCR: Single Check Rebate.  A rewards program at Rite Aid
SS: Smart Source: coupon insert in the Sunday Paper
Stacking Coupons: When a store and a manufacturer coupon are stacked together (i.e. used together) on a single product.
Tear Pad: Pads of coupons found near the product it is for
UPC: Universal Product Code, barcode on the product
UP+: Up rewards. Rite Aid’s store rewards
WYB: When you buy

 

I like being frugal  Some may even call me cheap.  My family works hard for our money and I hate spending more than I have to.  If I can save 50% on an item if I wait a day, more than likely I will wait.  That’s why I love stockpiling.  Buying items when they are at their all time low allows me to have almost anything our family desires on hand.  Want to make cupcakes?  We’ll have cake mix, frosting and sprinkles on hand.  Spaghetti? No problem- I’ve even got enough meatballs to feed a football team.   Fried Chicken?  Yep.  Craving some chocolate? I’ve got a cabinet full.

I have a stockpile price that keeps me on track.  If the final price of that item isn’t at or below that price, most likely I won’t buy it.  It helps me avoid being pulled into the marketing of grocery stores and manufacturers.  I can scoff at their 3 for $5 sale because I have 10 jars of pasta sauce in my pantry.  ‘Let me know when you get to 75¢”, I can say.

Last night we were going to have chicken tacos (thanks to a super sale on whole chickens at Harris Teeter, a stockpile of tortillas and cheese I had everything I needed). Then my husband says, “I’d really love a tostada instead of tacos”.  (If you are unfamiliar with tostada’s they are a Mexican dish using a fried corn tortillas as a base piled with refried beans, chicken , lettuce and a fresh cheese).  Now, this isn’t an item we regularly have.  In fact, in 12 years of marriage I think we’ve had that….never.

So I rummage in the pantry trying to find corn tortillas, instead of our regular flour, and no-go.  Fresh cheese (Queso Fresco) – again not something we keep on hand.  My couponing self wants to offer a substitute as I am apt to do- “We’ll make them with flour tortillas and some of the Kraft Cheese I got for 25¢ a bag awhile ago.”  But my loving wife self says, “I have to go to the post office anyway, I will get you some”

I wish you could have seen my husband’s face!   I think he was in shock- what?   This hard core strategic shopper is offering to go on a “quick run” to the store and possibly pay full price for something?  Yes I was. My husband works very hard so that I could stay home with our children.  He provides us with everything we need or want.  I work hard so that what we need or want doesn’t cost us too much.  I save all that money on shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant and more so that when he wants some $5.85 cheese (yes it cost that much!  I think I did pale at the grocery store and possibly gasped out loud) we have that extra money to buy it.

And yes I also grabbed him the $2.80 tostada shells.   It went against every one of my couponing bones to buy something at full price but it was exactly what I aim to do as a wife: Make my husband happy.

It was so worth it to see my family devour dinner last night.  Yes, it wasn’t the inexpensive dinner I had planned.  And no, the cheese nor the tostada’s were on sale.  But my family enjoyed it & that is priceless.

I work hard to save my family money, and help you save your family money too, but it’s pointless if we don’t take some of that saving and put it towards a “splurge” now and then.  Yes I realize that $5.85 worth of cheese isn’t a huge splurge and isn’t going to cause my family to go bankrupt.  Maybe for your family it’s $50 worth of crab legs or a thick t-bone steak.  Whatever that thing is that will bring a huge grin to the faces of your loved one- do it.  Splurge.  Break the rules.  As my husband always reminds me, “We only live once.”

*This was originally posted 10.7 here on MoolaSavingMom.com but my husband reminded me of it today.

I know it’s terribly disappointing to go to the store and find the shelf empty of that one thing you really really wanted (or needed to make your deal work out right).

And there is no replacement for that product, but RAIN CHECKS are a couponer’s friend.

Rain Checks are basically a promise from the store to honor the current sale price after the sale ends for everyone else.

Stores each have different policies but almost all will allow you to combine a current (unexpired) coupon when you redeem the raincheck.

In fact, sometimes a raincheck can make a BETTER deal than the one you were originally after. For example-once  I used a Buy 1 Get 1 Free raincheck on Sorrento Cheese Sticks at Harris Teeter. They are normally $4.99 each. I had $3/2 coupons I wanted to use then that would make them each about $1 each. I was disappointed but got rainchecks.

That week was Super Doubles and they were now  on sale for $2.99. My rainchecks allowed me to get (2) Cheese sticks for $2.99 and my $3/2 coupon gave me both for free! I was able to get (6) FREE packages of string cheese!

Now, it is true that during coupon events (like the Current Harris Teeter and Lowe’s Foods Super Doubles) that they raincheck doesn’t give you the “doubled” amount but hold onto that raincheck- the shelves may be refilled during Super Doubles week and you can still get it PLUS you will have the raincheck to use later.

Then the next time Super Doubles rolls around, or another super deal, you will have that raincheck and no one else will be looking for that McCormick Vanilla (or at least ALOT less than who have been looking this week!)

One way to make it easier to get a raincheck at customer service is use your camera phone to snap a picture of the sales tag of the items they are out of.  This will show the size, variety and sale price.

Harris Teeter’s rainchecks NEVER expire and can be used at any Harris Teeter. Lowe’s Foods rainchecks expire in 30 days. Food Lion raincheck policy is not written or available online but my local stores do not have an expiration date.

Do you have any raincheck tips?

I do my best to be completely honest here on MSM because there is no point in being anything but!  I am who I am & I hope I make you laugh at my crazy ideas sometimes and make you think about how you spend and save money. I hope you learn from my mistakes and enjoy your saving successes.  I hope you remember that it is much more important to focus on what we spend rather than what we save.

Here’s my confession for today:  Being frugal is HARD.  I am a shop-a-holic.   I like buying things- from shoes to drapes to kitchen items…it really doesn’t matter I like buying it.  I like to bring the items into the house and put them up.  Whether they hand on the wall or sit on the floor- it doesn’t matter I like buying it.  It can be from amazon.com , Macy’s, Target or Goodwill.  It can be a yardsale or a online sale.  I just like buying things.  Probably why I LOVE being a strategic shopper- I can get a ton of food items (and household goods and personal care products) for pennies.  So I get to shop without breaking the bank!

Luckily I realized quickly that I had this problem and work hard every day to not let it take over my will power.  If you are like me- I hope that some of the things that I have tried to do may work for you in curbing the shopping cravings.  Now,I am not talking about obsessive/complusive shopping- I am just talking about liking to buy things.  There is a difference- one may require professional care and the other requires just a little more will power.

1. Have a reason:For us we want to pay off ALL our debt.  We want to chip away at this debt so we don’t have to write another check to Chase Bank or Mastercard.  Happy to say that the debt isn’t due to my shopping but rather lots of circumstances that just collided together and it’s not unbearable just something we want gone!
2. Take little steps- but celebrate them! Today we paid off our 2nd vehicle.  We are now car-loan free.  It’s a glorious feeling!  We all stood around the computer together and cheered as we transferred that last  payment from checking to a loan payment!  Now, be careful not to celebrate with a fancy dinner or buying new furniture but the simple things can be a celebration.  We hollered “It’s ours! It’s ours!” and jumped around my office. It’s a little step – that last payment was the same amount we’ve been paying for 6 (yes SIX!) years.  Now w have a few hundred dollars in our budget each month to roll onto another payment due!  Start with one small mission- pay off that credit card, pay off that furniture or whatever it is – but pick one thing that will make YOU jump around and holler!
3. Write it down: Having a goal in your head is too easy to change.  I almost didn’t pay off my car this month.   It wasn’t due to be paid off and I could have skipped the next month without penalty.  If that goal was in my head it would have been easy to say, “Oh I will pay it off next month” but since it was on my calender in BIG bold letters with plenty of !!!!! after it- it was like something I HAD to do.  Being accountable to ourselves is easier if it is there in black and white.
4. Know that it is ok to splurge: It’s ok to buy something every once in a while.  It’s ok to spend money.  Pinching pennies every single day does nothing but cause cramped fingers.  Sometimes you have to let go.  It makes me appreciate what I do buy so much more.  Again, being accountable to ourselves is important.  For example, I really needed some new clothes. I set a budget for this and went shopping.  90% of the stores I went into I found something I LOVED.  But I walked away and went back around to it- it wasn’t so wonderful on second look.  I ended up spending under what I wanted to and got some really great pieces because I went back to them and still loved them that much!  Grabbing something and heading straight to check out is a disaster for me- I end up hating the item or just keeping it because I already bought it.
5. Re-do what you have: Sometimes I want to buy something just because I am bored with what I already have.  That side table may be perfectly fine but I am just bored of looking at it.  So I start daydreaming of my dream side table.  I try to curb that impulse by rearranging the furniture or moving my pictures around.  Maybe simply painting it a different color makes me see it differently.  Taking stock of what I have and moving things around helps me realize I don’t NEED a new side table and that I am just as happy by moving my living room lamp into the bedroom and putting the bedroom lamps in the living room.  Voila!  I feel like I got something new without spending a penny.  It’s all about perspective.  Maybe hold a swap?  Get some friends together to bring things they are bored with and trade them.  You get a new perspective and that ugly fish picture gets a new home!

Do you like to shop? What tips do you have to help others curb those craavings?

I posted earlier about how I have changed my whole insert method organization method to a collated version and Wendy S. emailed me & I am so glad she did!

This is from my friend Wendy S.

“I use a similar whole insert method, but with a binder…
I sort and collate all the inserts.
Then instead of stapling, I place each sheet into a sheet protector in the binder.
I use sticky tabs labeled with which insert and date to separate.
I flip through the book, pull out the coupons, clip the ones I want and put the rest back.
I do not take this binder to the store…It is a 3″, but could very easily stand to be a 6″. I love how easy it is to flip through, find the coupons, clip and move on! IT does take about 20 minutes a week, but there is no excess clipping of coupons.
It is also very easy to go through the binder to find the dead coupons. Which I can then send to the troops!

I really love the whole insert method.  The addition of the binder aspect has made it neat and tidy. ”

What a great way to organize!  If you have a different organizational method (or any other tip!) please feel free to share it with us!