I don’t know when The Dollar Tree started to sell name-brand stuff but it is slowly becoming more awesome and less lame.
Of course, they still have cheap knick knacks, chtokys, Halloween candy, and party supplies.
But, I’ve also recently discovered they carry $1 spices, Betty Crocker kitchen tools, and full-size rolls of name brand aluminum foil.
Food-wise, it’s still touch-and-go, I think I’ll stick with the grocery store.
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Also, if you’re tired of buying toilet paper and paper towels in bulk just to save a dime…Go to Target. Their Up & Up brand garbage bags, zipper bags, toilet paper, and paper towels are equally as nice as the name brands! And save even more by going to coupons.target.com.
I sure have. It is highly amusing how much stuff people buy even though they don’t need it. Baby diapers, I totally understand, but 20 mustards? I’m sorry, but you will have those mustards for the next 10 years and I’m pretty sure they won’t be any good at that point.
I am a savy shopper. But I’m not that extreme. I’ve recently found a lot of ways to save extra money and wanted to share it with you.
First off, there is the website Hip2Save.com. Go there. IT IS A GOLD MINE. Not only does the blogger have a coupon database, she updates the website multiple times a day with special sales, give-a-ways, promotional deals, free samples, etc.
Redplum.com -> Each day, there’s a special “bonus” coupon so check it frequently.
Coupons.Target.com -> I was amazed when I found this website! They offer manufacturer’s coupons, plus additional discounts for Target brand items! Plus, you can match up a Target coupon with a manufacturer’s coupon on the SAME item. (I recently got a $4 tube of toothpaste on sale minus the Target and manufacturer’s coupons for a grand total of $.75!)
Coupons.Walmart.com -> Same deal, not as good. If your coupon exceeds the price of the item, Walmart will credit the money back to your order.
Next up, the “Coupon Magazine” All You. This is only available as a subscription or in Walmart stores. It retails for $2.50, but it rang up less than $2 when I bought a copy and it had over $60 worth of coupons in it!
Finally, Amazon’s “Subscribe & Save” program. I stumbled across this accidentally. You can buy non-perishable food and home items, such as laundry detergent, dryer sheets, etc., in bulk, save 15% off the retail price, AND have it shipped to your home periodically. The only catch is you must set up a debit/credit card and select a delivery schedule of 1,2,3, or 6 month intervals, and you can’t use coupons.
So far, we’ve bought a 12-pack of Velveeta Shells & Cheese (enough to last us 3 months, we eat it that much) at a price of just $1.50/box! We also purchased Muscle Milk for Clint and a 6 month+ supply of dryer sheets ($10).
I have recently started buying coupons off of Ebay. You know for things that you always hope you will see a coupon for for, but never find one?
I don’t even know why I didn’t think of it sooner, considering you can buy ANYTHING on Ebay! (And I frequently do.) I have even purchased antiques for our home on Ebay.
It was like an epiphany… sitting at my desk and BAM!
So I start searching and some of those coupons I want? Yeah, you can buy them!
Like that Perdue chicken I will buy Clint only because it’s free-range, vegetarian fed, and hormone free, but costs $5/lb? Yep, they’ve got those.
Or good Eggland’s Best coupons that can be doubled. Yep, they’ve got those too.
And then I hit the motherlode–> Morningstar Farms coupons!!!! Now, these have a catch. You can only use 1 per person/visit. But they’re $1.00 off 2 and guess what’s on sale this week? That’s right, Morningstar stuff!
Anyway, back to my main point. We were at Weis on Friday two weeks ago grocery shopping after work. (Let me interject here that I had a really, really bad migraine. To the point that Clint had to find what I needed off the shelves because literally standing 1 foot away I couldn’t focus on the labels that’s how bad it was.) All of a sudden Clint’s going “Look what that woman has her coupons in!”
I just assumed it was a coupon thingee like mine. Like a wallet size holder. (Remember, migraine.) Here she had like a full-sized binder for coupons. A binder! With sleeves like you use for baseball cards.
God help me if I ever have to buy so many groceries that I need one of those.
*Despite my migraine and racking up a $117 bill after discounts, we saved over $23 in groceries between store specials and coupons. AND I purposely shopped to get coupons off of a future visit… $8 worth. The checker remarked on our way out “Wow, you got a lot of coupons!” “Yeah, I planned that…” (all nonchalantly) … you can always plan on my wit even with my migraine. Lol.
