New savings website. . .

I just added a new website to my sidebar called "It's Hip 2 Save!" Gooood website, check it out when you have time--I like it a lot! Thanks Sarah! =o)

Jackpot

I hit the jackpot with organic coupons! I found a site that listed a ton of organic websites that have printable coupons--I listed them on my blog under Organic Coupons Sites. I just briefly looked over each of them but haven't tried printing from these sites yet...I'm sure they work just fine since most of them are manufacturer websites.

My couponing has fallen by the wayside since our transition to mostly organic or at least all natural eating. I'm pretty excited about these coupon sites I found though. Every penny counts!

I'm also growing a garden this summer with my sister at our mom's house. I'm really looking forward to this!! My mom always has a huge amount of veggies from her garden every year--plenty to freeze & can. She makes the best tomato soup I've ever tasted! We're always asking her for more throughout the year--looks like I'll get my own stockpile now. ;) I'm also looking forward to learning the art of canning and freezing--yes, I think it is an art--and a fabulous way to eat fresh, naturally grown, pesticide-free vegetables all year 'round. I hope our garden produces enough to donate a good amount to our local food banks as well--I'm sure we'll have plenty! I am so attracted to the idea of using our earth in its purest form to feed and nourish our bodies. Man I sound like a hippie, but its so true ;) Better look out, I might buy a cow next and learn how to make my own yogurt from her milk...and I'll make cheese...and sour cream...and ice cream...and coffee creamer.... Ha! There we go, a cow in my backyard in suburban Dublin-and we thought Portia had big....nevermind, off topic! :) Stay tuned for updates on my first garden--let's hope I have a green thumb!

This months's coupon savings ...

I tried to save all of my grocery shopping receipts for the past month since I just got into this coupon craze. I'm pretty sure I got an adrenaline high this past week at Kroger while grocery shopping ... my neck and chest got all red and blotchy (and those of you who know me well know that I wear my emotions on my neck! haha) as my excitement hightened when I saw all the FABULOUS deals they were having ... who knew that was possible!! haha. I looked like one of those stereotypical die-hard grocery shopping, deal making, money saving moms frantically wheeling my grocery cart up and down the isles flipping through my coupon book as unexpected great deals grabbed my eye and I couldn't pass up the savings. My heart rate is rising as I talk about it ... haha. No really, I got some items for FREE ... that's something to get excited about. Now if I were a really good couponer I would've gone home, printed off more coupons, and went back to the store to get more for FREE. The best items I could've gotten for free were airwick airfreshners. They were on sale for $1 and I had a $.50 off coupon (which is doubled at Kroger), so there you have it, the item was free. :) Okay I'm going into way more detail than I planned on for this post ... I just wanted to tell you all how much I saved using coupons this month and look where it took me. :)

I'm proud to announce that I saved $ 191.36. This was 28% of my total spent on groceries for the month. I included diapers and formula in my total spent. So the savings percentage would be greater if I did not include those items, but I don't really feel like doing the math for that right now. ;) Not bad for a rookie couponer. :)

Now that I have an idea of how much I can save (I'm sure I'll become more of a strategic shopper as I get more practice with it ... which means saving more $!) I'm trying to decide what I should do with the "extra" money ... more $ in Ava's college fund? Christmas fund? Vacation fund? Savings? Investments? The possibilities are endless! hehe:) This is really neat.

Organic Food Coupons

Just found this one ... its going to be one of my favorites! I like to buy a lot of organic products but I find these items a little pricey if I don't really hunt around for good deals. So here's a good coupon site for organic products ... if that interests you :)

• www.mambosprouts.com
  

Ask and you shall receive :)

Many of you are asking about my couponing sites so here's a list of the ones I like to go to. Keep in mind that to print a coupon from pretty much all of these sites you have to install the "coupon printer" ... so do that when you're prompted. I listed some sites here that you can just load the coupons onto your grocery card, too. I really like those! :) Also, read 'Coupon Mom's' pamphlet about saving money with coupons. She's a serious saver and her strategies are neat to read about. :)

• www.couponmom.com


• www.coupons.com


• www.couponsuzy.com


• www.cellfire.com --> neat one b/c you can upload the coupons onto your grocery card instead of printing them!


• www.smartsource.com


• www.shortcuts.com -->another one you can upload to your grocery card.


• www.bettycrocker.com --> this one sends good recipes to your email, coupons as well.


• www.hotcouponworld.com


• www.p&gesaver.com


• www.eatbetteramerica.com


• www.eatingwell.com

So, as far as baby coupons ... you can go to Similac.com and sign up to receive newsletters in the mail where they'll occassionally send you similac coupons. Pampers.com does the same thing ... although there are a lot of coupons out there for pampers. I've also found that you can go to ebay and search for coupons. A lot of times you'll find people getting rid of their similac coupons ... its usually something like, $25 or $30 worth of coupons for $5 bucks or so ... and free shipping of course, so there's a little savings there.

These are sites for non-grocery coupons & savings :

• www.slickdeals.net


• www.fatwallet.com


• www.couponcabin.com

Enjoy! :)

P.S. I've been slacking on my blogging lately, but I have some SUPER cute pics of Ava to post ... its been crazy around here for the past week, but I'll try to get those on here soon!

Happy St. Patty's Day! :o)

Coupon Craze :)

Because of this crazy economy and the uncertainty of so many jobs out there (ours are safe so far!) I have decided to become frugal mama and save as much money as possible by couponing. I've never been a big couponer... mostly due to laziness and uninterest, but this stuff is addictive! I'm hooked! :) All it took was saving $60 at the grocery a few weeks ago and now I can't stop! I rarely buy something without a coupon ... there are so many out there and if you know where to dig you can find some juicy deals! :) If we go out to eat somewhere I'm always like, "wait, I might have a coupon for that place!" and I excitedly go digging through my accordian coupon file in search of a great deal! Hehe. I will try to pass along as many deals as I can ... especially for all you moms out there buying formula and diapers! If you like Huggies diapers there's a $5 off coupon at coupons.com that you can print up to two times. Take today for example, I sent Eric to the store for diapers & formula for Ava. I had $1.50, $1.00, and $0.50 off coupons for Pampers diapers ... $5 and $2 off Similac formula ... and a $5 off a $50 dollar purchase at Target... voila -- $15.00 worth of savings!! It takes some organization, but its worth it! :) Let's hope Eric remembered to use the coupons. :)