Fall Fun and Fashion

I've decided this blog won't be strictly couponing. I swear I have ADD and I somewhat lack the ability to focus on one particular subject without quickly becoming bored. I'm pretty much all over the place.

Lately, I've been super excited about the upcoming cooler weather. I love organizing the kids closets (that's about the only thing that stays organized in our house). I go through the closet and match up outfits and enjoy layering the boys button fronts with sweaters and the girls tunics and leggings. I have a system that I started for the boy 5 years ago that I've stayed with and it's proven so invaluable. Here's where I come clean and confess what those close to me already know: I'm a kid's clothes hoarder.I have a problem leaving a unique and cute children's clothing item on the rack, especially if it's the last one and marked down like 90% off, I just can't leave without it. I feel like someone won't appreciate it and it will end up in a dump or shipped back to China where they will use it for scraps...it's a weird hangup I have, I know.

Right after my 18 week ultrasound with the boy over 5 years ago, where I found out his sex, I started shopping. I often found that what I wanted wasn't available in his size but it was in a larger size so I just bought it. I buy ahead. I have huge rubbermaid tubs in the bottom of both kids closets packed full of clothes in too big sizes. When they were infants I planned on them wearing a bigger than normal size since everyone in our family is tall and my planning worked out perfectly. I go through their tubs and pull out the size they're in and if I'm missing something, I wait for it to go on sale and buy it. The good thing about living in the south is by the time it gets cold enough to need a winter coat, if I don't already have one stored away, I can get one on sale because the stores are planning for the next season.

When the boy was a baby and outgrew things seemingly overnight, I didn't get rid of anything. We knew we wanted more children and as frugal as I am, I sure didn't want to replace everything. I also knew if we had another boy later that I wanted to use the same monogram so I was able to save those things as well. When I found out our second was a girl, I put most of the boys stuff on Ebay and was able to unload a large amount in a short period of time. I really consider my shopping habits as clothes recycling. I sell the small stuff and use that $ to rebuy bigger.

Dressing a girl isn't near as easy as dressing a boy. I'm very picky about what the girl wears so I'm not quick to shop off the rack in chain retail stores for her as I prefer something more one of a kind and boutique. I broke down and went to Carter's a couple of Weeks ago and found their clearance racks had items for $2.99 with an additional 40% off. Yes, please! I stocked up on solid knit t-shirts, leggings, pajamas, etc. I then decided to check out Oshkosh and they had the same sale there. I found several really cute tops and some basic white capris (that I can't wait to pair with a chambray top) in a too big size that I ended up getting for a total of less than $10. The girl loves to play dress up and put on one of the shirts and I realized due to the way it's made, she can wear it as a dress. I paired that with a pair of boots and instant cuteness for crazy cheap. We got so many compliments and several people asked me if I had it made but, the secret was that boutique looking dress was actually a $2 top! I also frequent Facebook boutique websites looking for them to unload their seasonal stuff crazy cheap and get most of her ruffle pants there and have never paid more than $10 a pair.

Since my love of boutique clothing can tend to get expensive I've recently started going to consignment sales and am amazed not only by how inexpensive the prices are but how often people overlook a quality, well-made piece. I buy most of her smocked dresses either at consignment sales or on Ebay and the most I've spent on one was $15 and only because it was for her birthday party and I HAD to have it. I buy her Christmas dresses in June and her Easter dresses in October. Nobody wants to hold on to a dress for a year just to sell it for more in season.

My most favorite thing to shop for are shoes! I love shoes and especially love shoes for the kids. After "DaDa" the very next word the girl said was,"shoes" & I wish I was kidding. She has to wear shoes to bed and learned her colors from looking at shoes. I hit up the markdown section at the shoe store and buy a couple sizes too big and those go on the shelves in their closets waiting on a little foot to grow into it. I scored a pair of Sperry boots for the boy for only $11 the beginning of summer last year that he grew into this year and he LOVES them! The girl wears an 8 in toddlers and I'e got shoes put back for her up to a size 1.5.

Variety is the spice of life and your kids only allow you to dress them for so long. I'm going to relish in the moments my kids are small enough to look to me for wardrobe advice and the rare occasions the boy thanks me for, "making him look nice". His teachers told him all last year that he was always so well put together and he dressed like a preppy politician. I'll take that as a compliment. I believe the way your children are dressed is a direct reflection of the parent and it bothers me to see parents dressed to the nines and their kids in $1 Walmart flip-flops and a stained t-shirt.

You can dress your kids in quality and quite well, on a budget with some planning. I was able to get the girl a few things she was missing to complete her fall wardrobe for about $30 & now she's set because I planned ahead. Anyone can do it and what's more fun than wearing your yoga pants and a t-shirt to go shopping in your kids closet and not having to spend a dime?

Beginners Guide to Couponing

I've been asked time and time again how I save so much money when I go grocery shopping so I decided to write a blog. 

When I decided to really put forth the effort to save our family as much money as possible it became a lifestyle change. There would be no more running to the store to pick up a few things for dinner 3x a week. This was going to take a plan that I was going to have to be religious about sticking with.  

I am cheap in every sense of the word. If there is a deal to be had, I'll find it. I spend about an hour every week researching prices and deals. I spend about 3 hours every week clipping coupons, organizing my coupon notebook and planning my shopping trips. I hate to hear people complain about not having time to do this. I work full-time, I have 2 young children and we are constantly on the go. You have to decide that you want to put forth the effort and time to quit throwing your money away. I'll try to explain my methods the best way that I can.

I have this notebook in pink:  http://www.amazon.com/Mead-Platinum-1-5-Inch-Zipper-Binder/dp/B007CGUILG/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1373004644&sr=8-6&keywords=mead+zippered+binder

I put my coupons in these: http://www.amazon.com/Avery-Trading-Card-Pages-76016/dp/B0026S8646/ref=sr_1_2?s=office-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1373004744&sr=1-2&keywords=baseball+card+sleeves

I can't stress the importance of being organized, enough. You have to find  a system that works for you. I have a friend that has her coupons organized by aisle in the store. I prefer to have mine alphabetized. I have all my a's, b's, etc in order. It makes it so much easier to look through your coupons when you have them in order to see if you have a particular coupon. 

Ok, now that you have your notebook figured out, now to begin your coupon clipping. I buy at least 2 Sunday papers every week; sometimes I buy 3 if there are several inserts. Here's what I do, I clip EVERY food coupon and most toiletry coupons. Hear me out....You know what your family likes so you won't buy things they won't eat BUT if you have a coupon for say, Progresso soup and your family only eats Campbell's, if you can get the Progresso free or close to it, why not go ahead and get it and donate it. I've gotten so many items for free that we were able to donate 2 boxes of food during my son's food drive at school last year that cost me less than $10. It was a win for my pocketbook, a win for the needy and his class won a pizza party because they collected the most food items.  

When you begin to clip your coupons you'll realize that you have a Kraft cheese coupon, a Kraft Dressing coupon and a Kraft BBQ sauce coupon. I put all of my coupons for the same brand in a single insert on the page. Also with cereal if you do this it will cut your shopping times way down. All of my Kellogg's coupons are in a pocket, all of my General Mills in a pocket, all of my Post in a pocket, etc. You don't want to get to the cereal aisle and flip through 20 pages to see if you have a Crispix coupon or a Cheerios coupon when the cereals at the store are on the shelf with their own brands. Next time you go to the store notice how aisles are set-up like a grid; all of the same brands are together. You will see Ken's dressing all grouped together, Kraft dressing all grouped together, Kroger, etc. If you have all of the like brands grouped together in your notebook, you will know exactly where to flip in your notebook to find that particular coupon.

Ok, your notebook is set-up with coupons in it so let's go shopping! In my Sunday papers we get a Kroger ad, a Walgreen's ad and a CVS ad. I buy 95% of everything at Kroger. I will break down how to shop at each one individually  because they are all very different! I have a spreadsheet that I use for each store I plan on shopping with that week. (I'll add a download at some point so you can print it off and use it). On my spreadsheet I write the store name across the top and I have these columns: PRODUCT, PRICE, COUPON AMOUNT, COUPON AMOUNT, COUPON AMOUNT & my last column is QTY TO BUY. I realize coupon amount is on there 3x and that is in case the store allows you to "stack" coupons (that will be explained). I go through my ads and match up whatever is on sale with what I have coupon for. I then gather all of my coupons for that store, place them in an envelope and paper clip it to the spreadsheet of the store I'll be using them at. I'll break down some different scenarios to help you better understand how this works.

Stacking - Stacking is when you combine a manufacturer's coupon with a store coupon. If you look on coupons sometimes you'll see a Kroger logo or a Dollar General logo on the coupon but across the top it will say "manufacturer coupon"' that means you can use that coupon ANYWHERE that takes coupons. You don't have to use a coupon at the place that put their logo on it as long as it says "manufacturers coupon". Now, places like Publix or Walgreen's sometimes have their own coupons that are not manufacturer coupons that you can "stack" with a mfg coupon. Ie: Trident gum is $1 @ Publix. You have a mfg coupon for $0.25 off and a Publix coupon for $0.50. You can use both coupons and pay $0.25 for the gum. 

Kroger - Kroger doubles coupons up to $0.50. Whatever you do, do NOT download coupons to your card!!!! The coupons that you download do NOT double and they will throw off the system if you're using paper coupons that are the same as the digital. I hate the download coupons and the couple of times in the past that I've used them, my whole shopping trip came out screwy. 

Walgreen's - Walgreen's uses a thing they call "Register Rewards". If the item has register rewards you will have to buy the item and after you have paid for it, the register will print off a coupon for the amount of the register reward. The register reward will have to be used on your next transaction. I don't frequent Walgreen's that much because if you have 5 items, you can only use 5 coupons. Walgreen's doesn't allow you to stack a mfg coupon with a Walgreen's coupon if the total # of coupons exceeds the # of items in the transaction. Ie: Secret deoderant is $1. You have a mfg coupon for $0.25 & a Walgreen's coupon for $0.25. Since you have 2 coupons and only 1 item, you will need to add another item to the transaction that you aren't using a coupon on for it to work. Another example: Secret deoderant is $1. You have a mfg coupon for $1 off 2  and $0.25 Walgreen's coupon. You will have to buy 2 and since you only have 2 coupons, it will take it. Walgreen's is sometimes so close to the price of CVS that I'd rather have to spend the extra dime @ CVS than to have to deal with their weird coupon set-up.

CVS - Like Walgreen's, CVS has a thing called "Extracare Bucks" that work exactly like the Register Rewards. In order to use the Extracare Bucks you will have to purchase the item and then use the extracare bucks in a seperate transaction. CVS will allow you to stack your coupons here and they are very coupon friendly.

With it being so late I'll save my shopping scenarios and tips/tricks for next time. I hope this helps and if you have any questions, feel free to ask.