Be free to live the life you choose.
Becky strikes again. Yesterday she came home from Rite Aid with another money-back purchase. If you have kiddos and live near a Rite Aid, you might want to check this out.
End of summer sale: 50 cents a box for popsicles. Rebate is $1 a box. So these popsicles are a money maker. Paid $4. And will get $8 in return.
We subscribe to our local Sunday newspaper for one reason. The coupons.
Some people say that taking the time to match up manufacturer coupons with local coupons and sales saves too little money to be worth while. For some that may be true. For example, maybe you and your spouse both work 60 hours a week at your six-figure jobs, then come home to take care of your three kids each night and visit your aging parents on the weekends. In that case the dollars saved probably aren’t worth your valuable time.
I’m going to share another scenario though. This is our experience with coupons:
For us, the practice of couponing is one of the activities that has allowed Becky to be a full-time mom and homemaker for our two kids and me for the past 10 years.
Each week, Becky cuts coupons from the Sunday paper and magazines or other places she finds coupons. Then she matches them up with circulars from local grocery stores. Those circulars often have store coupons and other sales. By stacking manufacturer coupons onto store coupons, she sometimes gets things for free or very nearly free. Only buying things we actually use.
This coupon clipping and matching process takes an hour or so a week. It actually saves time in the store when she goes in knowing exactly what items she is purchasing.
Becky saves $50 – $100 per week for our family of four by taking the effort to match up coupons. Not bad for an hour of work. Especially since that hour of work was at home while sitting on the couch.
This practice over the years has contributed to arriving at our forties completely debt-free.
Ben Franklin (Poor Richard) said, “The Art of getting Riches consists very much in THRIFT.” He went on to say that not all of us are equally gifted at making big bucks, but ALL of us can practice THRIFT.
In addition to coupons, we practice frugality by shopping at:
Do you use coupons? Why or why not?
Becky hits the $.50 bread sale once a month. It’s day-old bread, but we freeze it and use it all month. The eight packages in this picture cost less than one loaf in the grocery store.
This is just one way to save on your grocery bill. But it adds up fast if you buy the good stuff…like multi-grain bread.
What kind of food sales do you have in your area?
An easy way to save on fruits and vegetables is to buy what’s in season. We find ours at a local fruit shed for rock bottom prices.
Here’s a picture of a box of 50 peaches for $10. At the grocery store we pay $5.99 for 5 peaches! Buy in season locally!!
For extra savings, buy in large quantities and split the price with another family. Or if you like, chop and freeze them for smoothies throughout the year.