Becoming Household 6

30 Days To Go!!

2011-05-25T23:31:00.001-07:00

Publix Penny Item Made Me Do It!

2011-05-25T23:30:00.000-07:00

Of course I have my full coupon binder that I normally have with me if I am intending to go near any store. However, my book needs some work at this point since we have a lot of craziness going on. It's probably been about a month since I updated my book so at this point it will probably be an all day project.

Today I was taking my husband to physical therapy and then meeting up with a friend. I had no intention of hitting Publix but when I found myself trying to kill time, I decided to go into Publix. I was intending to get a couple of ears of corn which I had seen in the sale flyer. As I wandered through Publix, killing time and heading for the corn, I came across a stray Penny Item coupon. If you are not familiar with the Publix Penny Item, here is the quick rundown. On their first sale day of the week (in some areas it is Wednesday and in some it is Thursday), the local newspapers print the coupon and it is good one day only for a mystery item. Every week it is different and the coupon itself doesn't tell you what it is. The idea is that you find out when you get to the store. I used to run to Publix every Wednesday with my Penny Item coupon and then they started putting out generic items and frankly I felt that in most cases it really wasnt worth it for me to buy the newspaper to get s bottle of Publix brand ketchup, for example. In order to take advantage of the Penny Item, you must make a $10 purchase. The $10 is before all coupons but should not include the Penny Item.

I had intended to buy the corn but what else was I going to get without coupons? Having commissary privileges, in many cases, without a sale and a coupon, I do better at the commissary. I remembered that Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce was on sale BOGO. We love that sauce and while I may buy other brands for almost nothing for use on generic cookouts, there are certain things like ribs and pulled pork that just require a better tasting sauce. The BOGO sale, without a coupon, set the price of the sauce just below commissary cost so I went for that first. I then came across a display for Dixie bowls on BOGO and a coupon pad attached for $2 off a box of cereal WYB 2 packs of bowls. Normally I only use paper plates for sandwiches or paper/plastic cups. With the coupon for the cereal, this made a good deal. I picked up my 4 ears of corn, my Penny Item, which happened to be Publix window cleaner. Before I go on I would also like to point out that not all store brands are good in everything but I have to say that Publix store brands have been good in everything I have purchased. The only items I was not thrilled with were their diapers and wipes but I know many people who love them so it really is a matter of personal preference. I went to get my cereal and looked for a box in the $2 range. Again I grabbed the Publix brand because my husband is not picky about cereal and the box was only $1.99 which after coupon made it free with a penny overage which applied to my other groceries. I also picked up 2 boxes of Duncan Hines brownie mix which were on BOGO at a lower price than commissary regular price. I knew that I had a coupon at home so this purchase sort of bothered me but hey, I was getting a free bottle of window cleaner. Finally, I picked up a can of Bush's beans which were also on BOGO for a price lower than commissary regular. All in all I ended up spending $9.76 after all sales and coupons. My BOGO savings was 10.09 and my coupon savings was $4.19. My total savings for this transaction was $14.27, which gave me a savings over 50%. Not a bad deal at all!

Military Appreciation at JoAnn's Fabric & Crafts!

2011-05-25T07:06:00.000-07:00

In celebration of military families and Memorial Day weekend, JoAnn's is offering military members and dependents 20% off of their total purchase from Friday through Monday (27-30 May). The discount is on all regular and sale priced merchandise with the standard exclusion (no cricut, sewing machines, etc). This is a great opportunity to stock up on scrapbooking, sewing, or other craft supplies!

31 Days To Go!!

2011-05-24T23:50:00.000-07:00

Trash day is always a good day to throw things away because you can't go back and change your mind. I took advantage and did some good purging today. I went through all of my son's clothes and put all of the small ones in a tote. I can't get rid of them yet as we would like to have another child, if possible plus I want my husband to look through the tote and let me know which outfits have meaning to him. They are at least out of his drawers and closet for now. It was really sad to realize that the newborn clothes that were too big for him only 6 months ago are waaay too small for him now. He is wearing 6-9 month (pushing the 9 month). I wish I had really paid attention when people told me not to waste too much money on little clothes because they blow through them quickly. Luckily we were smart enough to buy a range of sizes so we are still covered as he outgrows things but it still makes me sad to see the clothes that he never wore or maybe wore once. On the flip side, it really made me feel good to make progress on this job as I have been avoiding it but not being able to easily find clothes that actually fit him has been a big pain.

I also got more laundry done and put away. We have had so much going on since we went on leave back in April and came back to find our house flooded, that laundry is a bit behind. As long as I do a load every day for awhile, I should be done very soon.

We also had our final New Parent Support visit. For those of you not familiar, it is a program for new parents (not just first child...anyone with a new baby) provided by Army Community Service (ACS). They do home visits periodically to see how things are going. They also provide tons of information on developmental milestones and classes and playgroups on post. It is definitely a great program especially for younger new moms or those with anxiety. The person who does the visit is a nurse so it is nice to have someone to tell you things are ok in between doctor's appointment. For military folks who have no family around, it is also nice to have someone regular, like family, visiting.

I had to wait in the house for much of the day today as my carpet strip was getting repaired from the flood and then I had ladies picking up tshirts for the Toby Keith concert as I am the RSA Women's Club Volunteer Coordinator. Tomorrow I am going to get my flat iron from a friend and picking up my sewing machine. I am hoping to make a quick stop at the Thrift Store in order to eliminate stuff and make a little cash.

We are very quickly approaching the 30 day mark and I am still hoping that I can get everything done as I would like. I am pretty determined so I should have no problem! I am still trying to stay very optomistic!!

Are you a USAA Total Rewards Member?

2011-05-23T23:48:00.000-07:00

I decided to throw a quick "deal" post in tonight before I get back to work. My husband and I opened our USAA account when we first got married, going on 4 years ago. For anyone who has the military affiliation to join USAA, I highly recommend it for many reasons. One that I would like to highlight now is the Rewards Program. If you already have USAA and your debit card says "TOTAL REWARDS" across the top (it's a bright blue card), then you are enrolled in the rewards program. If you haven't done so yet, log into your online account and find the Total Rewards link (should be on the links on the right side of the page...if you can't find it do a search of their site). Basically the way the program works is, you get points for payments processed as credit (when you make a purchase at a store, hit credit instead of debit...the only time you can't do it is if you want cash back because you can't get cash back on credit). There is no additional cost on your transaction and there should be no difference on your account except for the way it may appear on your statement. It won't cost you anything and it still processes immediately. The points can be converted to gift cards, which you can request from your online account. Normally, we take something generic like Target gift cards as we know there is always something that we can use at Target. We redeem a few times a year and this most recent time, we redeemed for a $25 Target card and a $25 TGIFriday's card. This weekend my husband and I went to TGIFriday's and we each ordered their $13.99 pick 3 (appetizer, entree and dessert), I had a glass of Sangria and he had a Coke. We used our gift card and had about a $10 plus tip balance to pay. Not bad for 3 courses and an alcoholic beverage! The Total Rewards program has all kinds of store and restaurant gift cards. There is also the opportunity to translate it into airline miles, etc. There is also a similar program with the credit cards through USAA. I am pretty sure that it works the same way but haven't redeemed any yet as we just opened the credit account recently.

The Countdown Continues...32 Days To Go!!

2011-05-23T23:39:00.000-07:00

Wow! Time flies when you're having fun! I had a 50 mile list of things to do in the house this past weekend and got pretty much none of it done but sometimes you just need to take a break from the insanity. Saturday was intended to be a day of out and about. We planned to go strawberry picking, shopping and errand running. When my logical brain kicked in, the strawberry picking got crossed off. Realistically, the last thing I needed was pounds and pounds of strawberries that I needed to find something to do with. I really don't have time to cook and if I did some canning, that's just more to pack and carry (the brain sure works different once you have been down the PCS road before). Even though the military sends packers, there are items that they won't take (any food item that is not in new, sealed packaging is one of them and home canned items are probably on the line so it would totally depend on the mover...not worth the risk). We spent the day running errands and shopping. Last summer I was pregnant so I was wearing maternity clothes so my summer clothing is very limited. We hit Bridge Street, an outdoor mall and did some shopping and enjoyed the beautiful Alabama summer weather! We hit a couple of other places and had a wonderful, much needed, relaxing day.
Sunday was supposed to be an inside day, getting stuff sorted and purged but all of a sudden we realized that we had missed some errands. We started out and by the time we were done, so was the day. Those days are very frustrating but you just have to pick yourself up and get back on track. Sunday night I did lots of laundry, sorted/purged baby clothes and cleaned out some other things. Unfortunately most of my productive time happens late at night because getting things accomplished with a 6 month old awake is next to impossible! I may have gone to bed late last night but at least I went to bed feeling like I had accomplished something.

Today was a bit less productive but I am still up and as far as I am concerned the day is not over yet. We did take care of reserving our UHaul trailer for the DITY part of our move. When we moved from Virginia to Alabama, we got a medium sized trailer but decided that this time we would go for the large. A large trailer means that we carry more stuff but that also gives us a little more money as we are paid for the weight of the load we carry. We are still researching all of the options regarding shipping our second vehicle and that is starting to give me a little anxiety as the calendar pages flip but ultimately I am sure it will all work out...it always does.

At this point I am just trying to wrap my brain around the fact that we are quickly headed to a month from our move. My mom is making one last visit before we head south and I am hoping that having her to take care of the baby during that week will give me some much more productive time during the day. Time to get my productive time in for tonight!

35 Days To Go!

2011-05-20T22:06:00.000-07:00

Today was a crazy day but nothing related to the move. A move in itself is nothing but when you consider that while moving, life goes on, there comes the glitch. Making it more difficult, when you get down to the wire, everything feels rushed. A few weeks ago we had some damage to our house contents due to a leak and today I talked to the claims adjuster. Apparently insurance with replacement cost doesnt replace the rest of the set and other related items. Our dining room chairs got pretty good amount of damage but our hutch got none. Now we have to hunt down appraisers and repair people as we do this PCS. I also had an Optical appointment and a Women's Club Project to work on. Anyway, the day ended very nice with dinner out for my boys and I (oh at a great price as well!)

36 Days To Go...

2011-05-19T23:25:00.000-07:00

Some days feel very productive and some are downright frustrating. Today was a mix of both. I started off with one of the, in my opinion, best kept savings secrets...consignment. I have been consigning for about 4 years now and am completely hooked! The consignment shop here on post allows you to bring in up to 20 items per day (subject to other rules and limits). Today I brought in 20 items. I will make 70% of the prices that I set if my items sell at full price. This is a great alternative to simply getting a tax write off which, really only benefits you if you itemize. Thrift shopping allows people of limited means (or those who just want to save a little money) to purchase things that they may not otherwise be able to afford. The Consignment shop here on post gives the proceeds to programs for the soldiers and the community so by bringing your items in, you are still helping out while simultaneously helping yourself. Last month I didn't bring anything in but still this month I picked up a check for about $10 which was residual from the month before. Last month's check was almost $100. It's definitely not an income that you can count on but a little mad money never hurt anyone! So today I dropped off my 20 items which helped me purge a little more of my stuff and potentially will make me a little bit of money. A trip to the Consignment shop always makes me feel good all around!

Housing is one thing that we all start worrying about as soon as we get orders because frankly, it's a crap shoot. Some military posts allow you a choice of at least 2 or 3 houses and some don't. All of the houses are of varying ages and levels of reconstruction etc so you really never know what you are going to get. Here at Redstone Arsenal, we have a pretty good size house (1400ish square feet) with a fenced yard and a garage. Our neighborhood is pretty quiet. We have had some repair issues with our house but overall I think we were a little bit spoiled. Fort Hood has so many housing areas/types/neighborhoods that who knows what we will get. When you PCS you have about 10 days to find housing and get settled before the soldier goes back to work so you usually want an idea of whether you are going to live on or off post. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. I generally prefer to live on post and my husband prefers off...can you see the difficulty here in this already difficult time?

Today I called the housing office and found out what housing area we will be in and that our new house will be about 1400 square feet. The leasing agent was great. She provided me with tons of info about the house and said that she would send me the floor plan. Of course being over 800 miles away, I am going completely by word of mouth. I have gotten some different views because when I found out where we were going, I "Liked" some Fort Hood spouse (and other similar) facebook pages. This is a great way to get the scoop on neighborhoods, housing issues and concerns, goings on, etc. It can also be a great way to start to meet friends before you even arrive. Just remember though, just like online dating, people online can be very different than they are in person. Anyway, after chatting with the lovely leasing agent and getting some info on facebook, I am feeling better about our on post housing possibility. Fort Hood does not give you a choice in houses so you get what they pick for you or you move off post. Period. One big selling point for us is that the lease is month to month. With housing now privatized this is an important thing to know. Where we are currently, there is a year lease and then you go month to month so if you choose to live on post, you are stuck there for a year unless you pay penalties. Fort Hood's policy is 1 month notice and you are free to go...at your own expense, of course but it is definitely great to know that the option is available.

Taking these few small steps really helped ease my stress about the house situation. We may still end up going off post if we don't like what we are offered but I am much less anxious about it. One of the best recommendations that I can make is to talk about the possibilities. In my experience, most leasing agents will answer questions as long as you are nice and don't treat them in a crazy way. Also, if you make this inquiry phone call too soon in the process, chances are, they won't be able to answer your questions and the more you ask questions that they can't answer, the more frustrating you become to them. In the long term, you can end up making it more difficult to get assistance when they really can help you. Our waitlist application went in at the 90 day mark and we are now close to the 30 day mark. I called and asked a couple of generic questions and was able to determine that the agent had info that she could provide to help relieve me. Had I asked those questions and found that she really had no idea, no sense in pushing it. Of course, all information that I received remains subject to change but, as I said, the conversation helped ease my mind for now at least.

The more frustrating part of my day was dealing with the vehicle dilemma. When we purchased my husband's truck and my van, the intention was to be able to pack the van with our DITY items and tow it with the truck. Despite the fact that the salesman assured us that this would not be a problem, the other day when my husband went to reserve the car trailer, UHaul advised him that the van was too heavy (even empty) to be towed by the truck. Grrrr. Now the dilemma...RSA to Hood is about a 2 day drive. Having a 6 month old baby who needs lots of attention it would be much easier to all be in one vehicle (besides, who wants to sit in a vehicle alone for 2 days?). When you factor in this plus the rising gas costs, we decided to look into shipping the van. We went online and requested quotes. We are potentially looking at a cost of $550-750 to ship it. Considering 2 days of driving will probably cost a couple to a few hundred dollars in gas, and if we ship the van, we can rent a trailer and load up more stuff DITY (I'll explain DITY moves/partial DITY in a later post) which will increase the amount in our pocket, we decided that that may be the most viable option. But wait...there is another option...ditch the vehicle here and get a new one in Texas. We started looking into leasing a new vehicle in place of the van in order to keep our payments low. Seeing as I don't drive my husband's truck because it is too big, we can't go for long periods without the second vehicle. We got a quote the other day and had intention of signing all of the paperwork ahead of time so that the car would be ready for pickup upon arrival. Today I called to confirm some things and as car dealers often do, they changed the terms and have increased the down payment by about $1000 and the monthly payment by $50. They said the original quote was on the wrong vehicle so they spent much of the afternoon trying to get me to change my mind and get the other vehicle. As far as I am concerned, we will go back to the original plan of shipping the vehicle. There is no way that I am going to increase these payments or take a vehicle that I really don't want. I spent hours on the phone with these people for basically nothing because we both had our feet dug in the sand. It's a little disappointing because I started to get kind of excited about having a brand new car again but oh well. Really it is no big deal but with 36 days to go, wasting time is just not something I wanted to do!

Purging, Cleaning and Organizing...the Key to a Smooth Move

2011-05-18T22:56:00.000-07:00

We have begun, and will continue until the day the packers come, the purge, clean and organize process. As great as it sounds to have someone else pack your stuff, when you actually have it done, you quickly realize that if you are not purged and organized, it can be a total nightmare. I think whenever we move, whether it is down the street or across the country, we like to start fresh and rid ourselves of extra clutter. It really is the best time to do it. For the average person packing themselves, they purge and organize as they pack. In the military, we must be all purged and organized before the packing begins so in essence you are taking everything out of the closets, rearranging and tossing and putting it all back in. If you dont purge before you leave, you will have to deal with that stuff when you get to where you are going and chances are, it will end up back in a box in the back of your closet. The other issue is that you always risk not having the same amount of closet space in your new location and who wants to rent a storage space for old junk that you dont use anyway?

Ever hear the term "One man's trash is another man's treasure"? I believe that is the motto for packers (and very understandably so but sometimes seems to be taken a bit overboard). Packers pack everything unless you have it segregated or marked not to be packed. This may include but is certainly not limited to full trash cans and ash trays. This seems like a ridiculous notion but you never know what people save or whether they are using a trash can for storage or trash. As an example, when I worked at Verizon, someone got upset because their blue prints were missing. When they were asked where they were stored, the person said that they had been in his blue recycle bin. Well guess what, corporate policy was that recycle bins got emptied by the cleaning crew. In your house, there is no corporate policy so you can use bins inside of your house for whatever you would like. If you have a considerate packer who comes across something that clearly appears to be trash, they may ask but don't count on it. To make matters worse, if a packer finds an ashtray on your desk, he may use common sense and ask you about it, pack it in a ziploc bag or he may just drop the whole thing (wrapped in paper, of course) into the same box as the rest of your desk stuff. As you unpack and unwrap paper, you don't realize that it is an ashtray until...you know the rest. The short of it is, on the day before the packers come, do a final sweep for trash and save yourself the headache.

Organizing is crucial! Because you don't know where you will be living, you may have to go without your stuff (we call it Household Goods) for several weeks so you need to plan accordingly. You can't just plan for the days of your drive. You need to add to your drive time a week or so to find a place and a week or more until your goods are delivered. Your washer and dryer is in with your household goods so access to those types of appliances may be quite limited for awhile. The items that you are carrying yourself (DITY) must be completely separated away from the items that the packers will be dealing with or you risk something important getting packed. The other issue in organizing is doing the most to ensure that related items are packed together. If your cd tower is in the livingroom and you have 1 cd in your bedroom upstairs, that lone cd will be packed with the bedroom stuff. The packers will not take the time to figure that out. If you are not properly organized, you will never find what you need when your goods are finally delivered so do yourself a huge favor and deal with these things now.

**My intention is to do a daily PCS update with more info on the process as well as our progress. I will post deals and coupon info here and there but please bear with me as my coupon adventures will probably be slim as I am completely absorbed right now.

PCS Basics

2011-05-18T22:19:00.000-07:00

PCS, for all of you civilians and new military folks, Permanent Change of Station is a concept that may seem foreign to civilians but actually, it is similar to taking a new job in a new city, usually far away but there are some vast differences.

Before I was married to the military, I worked for Verizon. After 2 years in my position as a sales rep in New York, an opportunity came up for me to move to Northern Virginia and a few years later another opportunity came up for me to move a little further south to Virginia Beach. Notice that I use the word opportunity. In my case, someone came up to me and tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Hey, would you like to go? This is a great opportunity for a better position, better pay, etc.". In the military it works a little differently.

In the military, we all know the day will eventually come when you get that proverbial tap on the shoulder but it is not a choice and it does not always include a better opportunity or better pay. Sometimes it comes with a deployment, a worse job, a better job, whatever...it's more like starting a new job with all of your records from your old job following you. That can be good or bad. Think about the job you had 20 years ago. Were you as responsible as you are now or did you slack off and show up late frequently? Were you a model employee or did you mouth off to your boss once too often? My husband has been in the military for over 20 years so when we approach a new duty station, all of his past follows him on paper so it's all a matter of who reads what and how they interpret it...could be good or could be bad.

We have been here at Redstone Arsenal, AL where my husband has been teaching new soldiers how to do their specific job (something related to ammo which I totally do not intend to bore you or myself with) for going on 2 years. The school is moving to Fort Lee, VA so we will be moving as well. We will not be moving with the school because we have been here for 2 years and seeing as this is a TRADOC (basic meaning=Training Post) 2-3 years is average stay at this type of post. We are moving to Fort Hood, TX which is a FORSCOM (basic meaning=Regular, deployable Army Post). Stays at a FORSCOM Post, especially a Divisional one like Fort Hood, can be years and years.

When I accepted the opportunity with Verizon to move, I got a chance to go to Virginia ahead, find a place to live and check things out. Ultimately, the move and all of the expenses were on me but I knew exactly where I was going, where I would be living, where I would be working and what job I would be doing. When I made my transition, I left my job on my last day at my old location and took whatever vacation time I needed to get my stuff moved and reported back to work at my appointed time. The entire process took almost no time or effort. The Army works quite different.

Initially, a soldier is told that he is going to be moving and he is verbally given the location. Usually this is done by the Branch Manager but in this case, because the entire unit is leaving, the Chain of Command provided that notification. We received our notification back in about December. Wait! Hold your horses though! Don't start counting your chickens until you have it in writing (We call it Orders). If you ever watch Judge Judy, you frequently hear her say, "If it's not in writing, it didn't happen". That is exactly the case because many, many changes are often made between the verbal notification and the Orders. We received our Orders in April so that should make it official right? Not so fast! The Army can change any orders at any time, up to and including the last possible second so make your plans but don't count on them.

My husband underwent the 3rd surgery on his right knee so we assumed that our Orders would be changed but we all know what happens when you assume. Long story short, we are planning our move to Fort Hood. Our report date is 1o July so we will be leaving Alabama on 24 June so that we can get to Texas, hopefully find a place to live and get semi settled before the long weekend so that my husband can sign in and not waste a 4 day weekend with leave (if you take leave...aka vacation time...during a holiday weekend, the holidays are still deducted from your available leave so avoid this move at all cost).

From now through our PCS process (it is definitely a process that must be followed meticulously as 1 misstep can have disasterous results), I will be updating and giving info on our daily progress and the steps that we are taking in this process. We have already completed some of the steps which I will give more info as we revisit them (everything gets revisited!) but as of now we have:

Met with transportation to set up our pack (yep, the military hires packers for you) and our pick up
Scheduled our clearing (checking out) from housing
Looked into prices for renting UHaul trailer for the DITY part of our move (will explain DITY move later)
Checked out options for shipping our 2nd vehicle
Guestimated our trip length
Got our paperwork completed to get on the housing waiting list
Looked into some options for off post housing
Started our "to do" lists which seem to grow by the minute...feels like every time we cross off 1 item, we add 4 more!

At this point we have 37 days to make this happen! Ready or not, here we come!

A New Beginning...

2011-05-18T21:55:00.001-07:00

I started this blog a couple of years ago for friends who wanted to know how to save money. I posted some basics as well as some deals. My intent was to help with money saving but also to cover various happenings in day to day military family life as I see that much of what military families experience is not too far different from civilian families (we all need to live in the same world and we all gotta eat!) I also thought that maybe, as a "late to the community", I would be able to bridge some of the gap and help the civilians understand why your hubby going on a week long work trip to California doesn't even sort of align with our soldiers going to "The Sandbox" for 15 months and help military families understand that in the grand scheme of things, our healthcare system is actually probably better than what most civilians deal with. After a couple of very difficult years (wow, I can hardly believe it has been so long!), I am back to revive what I have wanted to do. I have spent quite a bit of time trying to formulate things in my head and finally decided that if I was going to get this up and moving, I need to just dive in. I am leaving my older posts up for now (some of the couponing basics and a couple of sample deals) but will most likely update or delete them...maybe some new pics. I'm still mulling that over but for right now...onward!!

I made $ by taking mascara off of Walgreen's hands! (Another quick tip on stacking coupons!)

2009-10-07T06:45:00.000-07:00

On Monday I stopped off at Walgreen's for a couple of things...One of the things I went for was the Rimmel (make up) BOGO sale. The sale was a buy one get one free for all Rimmel cosmetics. Their stuff tends to be a little on the higher end of the drug store make up but with a good sale and coupons...here's what I did...

The mascara was $7.49 each
I had a $1 coupon off any Rimmel mascara
I also had a BOGO Rimmel cosmetics coupon from All You magazine.

Here is what the deal looks like:

mascara #1 $7.49
mascara #2 $7.49
Total before sales and coupons: $14.98
Less BOGO -$7.49
Total after sale/before coupons: $7.49
Less $1 coupon: $6.49
Less BOGO mfg coupon $1 moneymaker!!!

How does this work? I have 2 mascaras...so I can use 2 coupons...one is free by a store sale so you can stack a store sale with a manufacturer's coupon! Make sure you have enough of something else in your shopping order to cover the dollar because they will not give you cash back. So pick up a small dollar item...If you are not sure what to get, grab a pack of gum or head to the section with trial size stuff and grab a lotion for your purse...bottle of water...whatever...just make sure you have something else or the register may go a little wacky and start beeping!

If you won't use it, there are plenty of options:
1. The holidays are right around the corner...think about stocking stuffers or pieces for a gift basket.

2. Donate your free or money maker items to a women's shelter. Often these places are trying to help the women get it together and get jobs etc. They have nothing and would love to have a mascara!

I Just Made $5 on a Magazine Subscription @ Amazon!!

2009-10-05T10:23:00.000-07:00

Here's a deal for ya! Amazon is offering $5, $10 and $15 certificates when you buy certain magazines. Go here and check out the list! I just ordered Chris's Maxim renewal for $10. I used my 2 $5 Swag Certificates so I paid nothing out of pocket. Maxim qualifies for the $5 certificate so within the next 2 weeks, I will receive a $5 certificate for my next Amazon purchase!! If you are not using Swagbucks, you have got to try it! I get $10 in Amazon certificates every month just for doing the searches that I normally would do! Download the toolbar and try it for a month...you can always uninstall and there is no hassle to discontinue use! Oh, and they dont spam ya either!

Free Money for Military Spouses to Get a Portable Career!

2009-09-28T21:28:00.000-07:00

If you are a military spouse and are even considering going to school, you have got to check this out!! The Department of Defense is offering up $6,000 for military spouses to go back to school in search of a portable career. The interpretation of "portable" is much wider than I expected so I strongly encourage you to check it out. This is not a scholarship so there is no real application. They rquest some info in order to verify your DEERS eligibility but aside from that...it's all yours for the taking and as with most DoD programs, if we don't get out there and use them, they go away!

The other awesome thing about it is that you can actually spend down the $6K! I recently signed up for a medical billing program which costs about $1500. That means that my account still has $4500 available for me! Not only will the DoD pay for the classes, but they will also pay for the testing. The medical billing certification has a test requirement for certificaton. The test costs approximately $300 but it will be covered by the DoD!

The money will cover almost any type of program including Ba or MA degree, cosmetology, medical careers, etc. I am truly amazed at the spectrum of coverage. If the program or class that you choose includes books and/or materials, they will be covered as well (no laptops or memberships allowed).

The plan is referred to as MyCAA and is being administered by Military OneSource. It does take about 2-4 weeks for your approval to get finalized and you need to have your approval before your class starts but the DoD is also providing you with a voucher to present to the school and the school is getting paid relatively quickly (mine has already received confirmation of forthcoming payment and my class has not even started yet). If you don't see the school that you want advertised, it is relatively easy to add them. (Same for professional organizations). I helped the AAPC get added so that my Professional Coding exam will be covered when I am ready to take it. I have called in quite a few times for various reasons and always got excellent help and support!

So what are you waiting for????

Sunday Trip to Publix!

2009-09-13T22:56:00.000-07:00

Today I went to a different Publix...not my usual Whitesburg Drive Publix. My next trip will be back at my usual place because I was very disappointed to find that the one I went to today will not take the Rite Aid $5 off $25 so back to Whitesburg for me! Even without the extra $5 off, it was a very successful trip!

Here is today's take! My out of pocket for all of this was only $30.36 and I saved $64.68. That's a total of over $95 worth of groceries! In order to show you what you can do with coupons, I wanted to highlight one particular deal. Sometimes when we are new at couponing, we are hesitant to really stack our coupons and take full advantage. This is totally legal and took zero scamming on my part.

Publix had the Keebler Flipside Crackers BOGO for $3.99. I had never had these and was a little reluctant because I am not a huge fan of Town House crackers but when I realized the deal that I was about to pass up, I had to try (by the way, these crackers are AWESOME!)...Anyway, back to the deal: There was a peelie on the box for $1 off 2boxes. There was also a Publix coupon for a free reusable shopping bag (reg price 99 cents) with the purchase of 2 Keebler crackers. I then found a tearpad nearby with a coupon for $2 off any deli meat when you purchase 1 box so I grabbed 2 of those coupons and found 2 packages of Publix lunch meat (prepackaged) for 2/$4...Let me break it down for ya

Flipside Crackers (2 boxes) $3.99

Publix Lunch Meat (2 pkgs) $4.00

Reusable Shopping Bag $0.99

TOTAL $8.98

(after sale but before coupons)

Coupon 2 boxes of crackers -$1.00

Coupon reusable tote -$0.99

Coupon lunch meat -$2.00

TOTAL -$5.99

(coupon value)

TOTAL PAID $2.99 for all items!!!

This is exactly how you get so many items for so little money!!!

Here's another example:

Genl Mills Cereal (2 boxes) $3.99 (BOGO)

Tropicana OJ $3.00

Reusable Tote $0.99

TOTAL $7.98

(after sale/before coupons)

Coupon 2 boxes of cereal -$1.00

Coupon reusable tote -$0.99 (wyb 2 General Mills products)

Publix Coupon OJ -$1.00 (wyb General Mills cereal)

TOTAL -$2.99

(coupon value)

TOTAL PAID $4.99 for all items!! Think about the last time you paid regular price for Tropicana OJ and/or a couple of boxes of cereal...I would guess that at regular price you probably paid close to what I paid for all of the items. Now keep in mind, the OJ coupon was for any OJ so I could have picked up a store brand and saved another dollar but I happen to be partial to a couple of brands and Tropicana happens to be my favorite so I will pay a little more for it. They also had a blinkie (you know those little red boxes that beep and spit out coupons) for $1 off of Trop 50 (the low sugar version of Tropicana) so again I could have saved another dollar but my husband hates it so for me it was just not worth the extra savings!

Ok, ok, I'll give ya one more example of stacking

Cascade Action Pk Dishwasher Det $4.99

Cascade Rinse Aid $3.49

Dawn Direct Foam $2.99 (that's the expensive pumpy thing that makes foam)

Bounty Single Roll Towels $1.99

TOTAL $13.46

(after sales/before coupons)

Pubix Coupon Cascade -$1.00

Mfg Coupon Cascade -$0.50

Double coupon -$0.50

Mfg Coupon Free Rinse Agent -$3.49

Publix Coupon Dawn -$0.55

Mfg Coupon Dawn -$0.50

Double Coupon -$0.50

Publix Coupon Free Bounty -$1.99 (wyb any 3 designated items...cascade/dawn incl)

TOTAL -$9.03

(coupon value)

TOTAL PAID $4.43 for all items!!

These happened to be deals that I got a Publix but that is really not important. The only thing that may differ for you is whether or not the coupon is doubled and what store coupons are available. I hope these examples show you better how to make the most of your coupons! As always, feel free to contact me with any questions. Happy couponing!

Thursday 10 September 2009 Shopping Trips

2009-09-12T10:16:00.000-07:00

On Thursday I attempted to hit the case lot sale at the commissary just to see what they had. After dropping my husband at work at 0825, I headed over, expecting to be able to browse for a bit and see if there was anything worthwhile and be ready when the registers open at 0900 (this is normal commissary policy). The case lot apparently was different. There was a ridiculously long line just to get to see the items. Redstone Arsenal runs their case lot quite differently than Fort Eustis. They had the cases of items set up in aisles and you had to stay in line and if you only wanted one or 2 items you still had to follow the line. I looked at the line ahead which was easily an hour long (with still 30 minutes to wait for them to even open) and then looked at the list of items. Because I knew that many of the items available could be purchased with my coupons for same or lower price, I decided that the wait was just not worthwhile. The only thing that I was interested in was a case of chicken broth so I moved on to the rest of my shopping for the day.

First I hit CVS. Here is what I got for $9.44!! My total savings was $54.23 and I got back $9.00 for my next trip!! CVS does not allow you to have more than 1 manufacturer's coupon per item and they consider Extra Care Bucks (ECB's) as manufacturer coupons. In many cases I will add small filler items as needed (pack of gum or bottle of soda or some great clearance or sale find so that I can use them but other times I decide to hold them for the next week...just keep an eye on the expiration dates because they are usually onlygood for about 2 weeks). This time, I purchased candy corn for 99 cents for which I did not have a coupon as well as 2 boxes of hair color which were $3.99 and on BOGO sale. Those extra 3 items allowed me to use 3 of my ECB's and they were items that I wanted/needed anyway. I had additional ECB's totally $7.50 which I decided to hold for next week's trip! This leaves me with $16.50 in CVS free stuff!

Next I hit Walgreens. The Automatic Shower Cleaner and the Glade itemwere Register Reward items and had limits so I did 2 separate transactions. The first transaction was $18.17 oop (out of pocket) and I saved $79.26. On my second transaction I spent $10.42 oop and saved $24.29. I got back a total of $14.00 in Register Rewards (RR's) for my next trip. So overall I spent less than $30 and got over $130 worth of stuff and will start off the next trip with $14!

My final stop was Kroger. At Kroger I spent $20.26 and saved $38.67. The picture is not great but here is what I got: 5-4 roll packs of Charmin, 1 roll of Bounty towels, 2 half gallons of Turkey Hill iced tea, 3 Soft Soap hand soap pumps, 2 Brut deodorants (yeah, remember Brut, my 80's big hair girls! lol not my favorite scent these days but for 45 cents, my husband can wear it when he is working in the yard or I may use it for a donation when there is a drive for toiletries and the like for deployed soldiers...it will get used in some form!) 4 boxes of Hefty One Zip bags, 3 packages of cocktail weenies (hey, it's football season and my husband loves his snacks while he watches the games), 1 package of smoked sausage (great for throwing on the grill!), 1 box of cake mix, 1 can of frosting and a 3 bar pack of ivory soap (not my choice for body cleaning but definitely a good thing to have on hand for hand washing, etc).

How did you do?

Basic Couponing 10 Tips and Tidbits to Get You Going!!

2009-09-11T10:43:00.000-07:00

Hope you are all on your way to getting set up in couponing. I know from experience that getting set up can seem like a daunting task and you want to start saving lots right away. Remember to be patient as it can be a slow start. Try to keep an eye on the percentage that you are saving...that should, on the whole, go up each trip. Also keep in mind that if you do a shopping trip that is loaded with produce and meat, you are generally not going to be saving as much money because those coupons come around much less often. With this in mind, I figured that I would give you a few guidelines and items to keep in mind as well as things that have helped me and others.

1. Get to know the base prices in your stores. This is especially true for military people who have the option of shopping at the commissary. I have found, in many cases, that I do better at the commissary on meat and produce (even compared to the sale price in regular supermarkets). For other items, the fact that the commissary does not have store coupons and does not double coupons, it's a toss so you just have to know. As an example, I had coupons for 60 cents off of 2 Old El Paso items. I went to the commissary and bought 2 packets of taco seasoning for 60 cents each. With my coupon, I paid 60 cents for the 2 packets. While I was at Kroger yesterday, I noticed that they had Old El Paso taco seasoning on sale for $1 each. Clearly I got a better deal at the commissary. (I paid 60 cents for 2 packets vs would have paid $1.40 for the 2). As an example let's assume that the commissary price was still 60 cents but the supermarket price was 75 cents and the coupon was valued at 50 cents instead of 60. At the commissary, with the coupon, the 2 packets would cost 70 cents but at the supermarket, the coupon would double taking the price to 50 cents makin the supermarket a better deal.

2. Stack coupons whenever possible. Store coupons and manufacturer coupons can be stacked to maximize the difference. A coupon that often see in the Walgreens flyer is 10oz bottle of Dawn detergent for 99 cents. Their regular price is usually $1.49 so the store coupon will take off 50 cents and then you can add a manufacturer's coupon from the Sunday paper. If there is an e coupon available, that will also stack with the store and manufacturer's coupon. Sign up at cellfire to get e coupons.

3. Know your store's policies. Every store is different. There are a few basic things that you need to know about the stores that you frequent.

Do they double coupons? If so, what is the limit. For most stores, it is 50 cents (this means that they will double coupons with a face value of up to 50 cents). Some stores will double up to 99 cents. You will also find that stores will have "events" where they will triple coupons for a given amount of time. (Harris Teeter is one that does this relatively regularly). There are variations in how stores handle the cap on doubles. Some double based on the face value which means a 35 cent coupon becomes 70 cents. Others will double based on a designated cap. Some stores that double up to 99 cents. will actually take a 60 cent coupon and make it 99 cents because doubling the 60 cents will go over the cap which is obviously better than the store that simply does not double anything with a face value of over 50 cents.

BOGO (Buy One, Get One) Sales. The biggest question with BOGO is how the register records it or whether or not you must buy 2. For many stores, if something is BOGO, you must buy both in order to get the sale price. On the register tape, the first item will ring up at price and the second item will show 0.00 for price. In this scenario, you can only use 1 coupon because the second item is free. Other stores will ring up both items at regular price and then the free item comes off at the end of the receipt. In that situation, you can usually use 2 coupons. In other stores, they take the BOGO price and divide it in half and actually charge that much. Publix does this. If they have an item that is BOGO for $$3.99, the firs item will ring up at $2 and the second at $1.99. This means that you can buy one item if you choose and still get the sale price. It also means that you can use 2 coupons.

Competitors' sales and coupons. Some stores will match competitors' sale prices but there are usually some type of restrction. Many require you to bring the ad but some just require you to let them know. Stores like Publix will honor competitor coupons. It is important to know who that store considers to be a competitor. This will vary, of course, from store to store and often from area to area. A couple of weeks ago I found out that Publix (for those of you not familiar, Publix is a grocery store) considers Rite Aid and Target a competitor! I would have never suspected that. It also meant that I was able to use my Rite Aid $5 off $50 coupon!!

Are there item limits? This is usually printed on the ad somewhere. If you go above the limit in the transaction, you will be charged a higher price for items over the limit. Sometimes you can simply do 2 transactions but for some stores (CVS is a perfect example because their sale price is usually with card). Once your card scans, it registers that you purchased the item so even if you come back the next day, you will be charged the non-sale price.

Do you have to have a loyalty card? Stores like CVS, Kroger, and others will have some regular sale priced items and some items that say "With card". If you do not have the cashier scan your card, you will not receive the sale price.

What is their coupon policy in regards to overage? Some stores will adjust the coupon down to the item value (If you buy something for 99 cents and then have a coupon for $1 off, they will give you 99 cents off so that the item is free). Others will actually apply the overage to other items that you are purchasing but most will not refund this money so make sure you have enough to cover the overage. For example, I had 2 coupons for $3 off Smithfield bacon. At the commissary, the bacon was $2.10. That left me with $1.80 overage between the 2 coupons. That amount got applied to the fruits and veggies that I also had in my cart

4. Subscribe to the Sunday paper. Be sure to choose the largest paper in your area in order to get a paper with the most number of coupon inserts. It is generally 50 cents less per week to get the paper delivered vs going to the store to buy it (there are often even better deals for new subscribers so keep your eye out!). This also ensures that you get a paper every Sunday. Many people pick up multiple copies of the Sunday paper...up to 4-5 copies per week. This is generally a great idea when you are starting out so that you can get several copies of each coupon. Personally I have never regularly purchased several copies of papers. Normally I get my regular paper and if it happens to be week with FABULOUS coupons, I will go and buy 1 or 2 more copies. On the average week though, I stick with my 1 paper. Many dollar stores also sell the Sunday paper for $1 vs the normal newsstand price of about $1.50.

5. Subscribe to All You magazine. This magazine is available only at Walmart and by subscription. Each one is stocked with coupons and I personally have saved far more than my subscription price within a couple of months. Each issue usually has one pretty high value coupon (! month I got a free Rimmel mascara with a price of approximate $8-10 and 1 month I got a huge bag of chicken jerky worth about $8...not bad for a $2 magazine!) This of course is in addition to th regular coupons that are on approximately every other page. If you go here , you can get 2 free trial issues.

6. Big bulk packages are usually not the best buy! Buy the smallest package you can with the coupon. It is usually much less expensive to buy 2 smaller items with 2 coupons than the one larger one. Also, for freshness sake, 2 smaller packages will usually last longer. Watch the fine print (or lack thereof) on your coupons. If the manufacturer wants you to buy a large package, they will note the coupon with the size requirement. If there is no restriction, sometimes it is worthwhile to check out the trial sizes. The other day I was at CVS and I found Gold Bond powder in trial size for 99 cents. I had 4 coupons for $1 off. I could have purchased a regular size bottle and used one coupon but still have an out of pocket of almost $4. Instead, I got 4 trial size bottles for free! It's not something that we use very often, but sometimes my husband likes to sprinkle a little in his stinky Army boots. The trial size bottles are perfect for that. I keep a basket under my spare bathroom sink where I just toss all of the trial size bottles, jars and tubes. This is perfect for when company comes and forgets a toiletry or when we travel, I have a good assortment of travel size items. Most of these were free!

7. Build a stockpile. I will do a post later on specifially on stockpiling but in essence, your goal is to get to the point where your weekly shopping consists primarily of your fresh fruits and veggies as well as whatever items are on sale and that you have coupons for. You want to get to the point where you are never forced to buy something that you need, which regularly goes on sale, at full price because you need it. When you are building your stockpile, keep your "social" needs in mind. As a military spouse, we are often called upon to make meals for families, baked goods for sale, or contribute to a company barbecue. There are many items that I wouldn't normally buy for myself but I will buy it for those purposes. I keep a good stock of cake and brownie mixes that I have gotten for a very low price and that way if I am called upon for one of these things, I always have something to contribute. Another example is something like macaroni and cheese. Personnally I only like Velveeta Shells and Cheese (normally I make homemade but it is nice to have on hand for the quick throw together). If I find a really good deal on another brand, I may purchase it in the event that I am asked to make a meal for a family in need. The other thing to keep in mind is saving yourself from having to eat out. If you normally cook on most nights, like I do, you will no doubt run into a situation where plans change. I have had times when I just don't feel well or once my husband and I were supposed to go out to eat with friends so I didnt take anything out to cook. The plans fell through and I would have been in a position to be forced to get take out when there really was no need for that. For that reason, I keep frozen entrees in my freezer and packaged meals like Hamburger Helper. You can always pull frozen chop meat and drop it right into a pan to brown and thaw at the same time. Save the eating out for a time that you really want to eat out (and have a coupon!)

8. Bookmark the websites below and pint off the coupons. Whenever printing coupons, set your printer settings to draft/grayscale (you probably want to set this as your default because many of the coupon printers do not give you a chance to adjust your settings and you will waste tons of money on ink). Also, most will allow you to print 2 copies. Once you get the page that says that your coupons have printed, hit the back button, click retry when the dialogue box comes up and refresh the page.

http://www.smartsource.com/

http://www.coupons.com/

http://www.redplum.com/

http://www.cellfire.com/

9. Know your cashiers! This may sound crazy but there are some cashiers who get really upset when they see you leave the store with $100 worth of groceries for $20. They do everything they can to try to stand in your way. When I went to CVS the other day, with the coupons for the Gold Bond powder for $1.00 off (the trial size was 99 cents)...here was thegist of our conversation:

without even scanning she said "You can't use this. Maybe you need to get the regular size!"

Me: "Did you try to adjust down th coupon?"

Cashier: "It doesn't let you do that."

Me: "Did you try?"

Cashier: "You have to buy the regular size one."

Me: "Funny I have done this before. Forget it just take them all off."

I guess now voiding was going to be more of a hassle than scanning my coupons and miraculously they worked! All 4 of them! In addition, she was able to adjust them down. Funny how that works. Other times you get cashiers who are also couponers and love helping fellow couponers. Thse are the best cashiers in my opinion because they will make any coupon go through and if there is a problem they will call the manager and swear under oath on your behalf! There are also cashiers who are thoroughly impressed and will also pretty much go out of their way to help you and may even ask for a tip when you are all done.

10. Present money off the total purchase coupons before the manufacturer or store coupons. Rite Aid and Kmart often put out coupons for $5 off a $25 or $50 purchase. If you present your regular manufacturers coupon first, your purchase will have to be the$25 or $50 after coupons. If you present that $5 off coupon first, it will take the $5 off, then your manufacturers coupons which means even though the coupon states you need a $25 purchase to get the $5 off, you may actually walk out spending $5 or less!! See that! It's all in the presentation!

This should get you started and well on your way! I am definitely looking forward to the big coupon day this weekend! There are supposed to be 5 (YES FIVE) coupon inserts this week! May be a good week to buy an extra paper or 2. Happy Couponing!

Couponing Basics...Setting Up Shop

2009-09-08T07:05:00.000-07:00

If you ask different couponers how they organize their coupons, you may get several different answers. The one answer you certainly will not get is one of those small plastic or cardboard divider folders...you know the ones that you can get for only a couple of dollars. These are great for someone who just wants to save a couple of cents on each shopping trip but for the serious couponer, i just doesn't come close to being enough. Some people don't bother clipping. Instead, they file the coupon fyers by date in file folders. That works for some but in my opionion, that is not conducive to saving on last minute items that you may run across. I prefer to have them clipped and ready at a moment's notice. The biggest trick with the method that I use is to never get behind. The initial set up can take a bit of time, especially if you have already started stocking up on coupons. If you get far behind, it will be like starting all over and will take hours of your time. Here is what I do:

I use a 3 ring zipper binder. While the zipper binders are more expensive than the regular ones, drop a regular one once and you will wish you had invested in the zipper binder. Also, the zipper binders tend to have a few pockets in the front. I use the pockets for current week coupons that I either need to file or have just pulled for use this week. I also store paper clips, scissors, and "stray" coupons. (Coupons for things like magazines or whatever that are good for a single specific issue, restaurant coupons, etc are, to me, not usually worth filing so I stash them there).

Next, I use a couple of different types of dividers. Dividers are important because this is the heart of your organization. The better divided and sorted your coupons are, the easier it will be to locate specific ones. First, I took larger tab dividers and marked off my major sections: Health and Beauty, Household, Food, Stores & Restaurants. I then found smaller divider tabs to divide out the major sections. For example, under the Health and Beauty tab, I have such sections as: Shaving, Deodorant, Hair Care, Meds/First Aid. I have a total of 10 subsections in Heath and Beauty. The Household tab has such subsections as Paper Products and Cleaning. Under Food, I have 3 subsections of Freezer, Fridge and Canned Goods (Non Perishable). Then within each of those areas I have sections like, Meat, Snacks, etc. The refrigerator section is not broken down too far because in most supermarkets, the refrigerator area is relatively small so to me it is not worth really breaking them down. You may feel different about this. My best advice in terms of dividing is to periodically (at least initially when you are starting out) review your tabs and see if it is working for you based on your stores as well as the coupons you get and keep. Under the Stores tab, I have a tab for each of my most commonly used stores so that I have a place to put all of those register coupons (you know the ones you get that print out at supermarkets at the end of your order...btw, those are usually referred to as Catalinas). I also put any other store coupons that that store may put out in there. When I was in Virginia I used to get Bed Bath and Beyond coupons all the tme...for the most part I didn't shop there on a regular basis but when I did, I sure wanted a coupon available so I would stick them in there...no matter how many I got because they take multiple coupons in one order. They alow you to use one of those 20% off coupons for each item you buy and many of the stores actually take the expired ones so I always kept a good stock of them. Here in Alabama,I don't get many of them...actually haven't received any in the 3 months that I have been here so no need for a tab anymore. Under the Restaurants tab, I stash long term restaurant coupons. You know how when you order a pizza, there is often a sheet of coupons on top that are good like forever...I put it there. If it is a short expiration date, I generally stash it toward the front of my book or in my wallet.

Now that you have your book and it is all divided out, you need something to put your coupons in. I, and many others, use the plastic trading card sleeves. Each sleeve has 9 slots. I put one type of coupon in each slot so that when I open the section, I can see everything that I have without digging too hard. In general I don't want to have to pull everything out of the slots to see if I have a coupon. When I first read about this method, I was like "This is crazy!" After only a short time, I quickly realized that ultimately this was a huge timesaver and prevented me from missing expiration dates. I will stacklike coupons in the same section...even if they have different expiration dates. I am very careful though to stack the closest expiration dates on top. Try to clip your coupons close to the line so that they will fit with the least amount of folding. If you have to fold them, do your best to be sure the product and expiration date show. Do not do front and back with these...simply use these one sided. In the stores and restaurants tabs, you may want to use the sheet protectors instead so that you can stash large coupons like the Bed Bath and Beyond coupons. That totally depends on your preference.

The last thing I want to cover for now is where to get the sleeves. These are regular, baseball or collector card sleeves. You can get them online or at a shop that sells collector cards. I have also seen them at stores like Kmart and Walmart (I have seen them near the front of the stores where they stock the Pokemon cards or whatever the latest card is lol). Initially I thought, oh I only need 20...wrong! If I were you I would buy a pack of 50 or 100. In general, you will get a much better deal buying a larger pack and you will use them! I currently have 85 plastic sleeves in mine and really could use a few more. While you may start out small, as I did, if you continue to coupon religiously, your collection will expand so do yourself a favor and save the money by buying a larger pack if you can.

Check out the pictures of my setup (above) and feel free to comment or ask questions as needed. I'll be more than happy to help! If you have a general or specific question about couponing, send me an email at armywife907@yahoo.com. My plan is to do daily posts providing you with the basics that will save you lots of money but if you would like to see a specific subject addressed, please email me and I will do my best to accomodate! Hope this info helped! :)