One of the ways I am trying to keep a little more of my income is to save money on my regular purchases. There pretty much is no way around having to buy the basics like deodorant, shampoo, toothpaste, mouthwash, floss, etc. It may take a little extra time and effort but it can be done.
I saved money this week by looking out for deals in the Sunday paper. If you live in a medium to large city, the Sunday paper is usually chocked full of coupons for those everyday items. By spending $2.00 for a newspaper a few weeks ago, I was able to save $35 yesterday. There is a prescription I take that costs $5 after insurance. I was able to find a coupon in the paper for a free $30 gift card for transferring my prescription to another pharmacy. There was a $5 coupon for any purchase over $25. I transferred the prescription and got my $30 gift card. I then used the $30 gift card to stock up on things like deodorant, shampoo, shaving cream, lotion and toothpaste. The total of those items came up to $34.97. I then used the $5 coupon and brought the total down to $29.97. I paid for the purchase with my free $30 gift card I got from the pharmacy. Here is a breakdown of how much I saved:
- Newspaper: $2.00
- Prescription: $5.00
- Purchases: $34.97
- Total: $41.97 - less $5 coupon, less $30 gift card = $6.97 out of pocket.
Did you save money this week on your regular purchases? How did you do it?
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Nice blog - i just clicked next blog from mine :D
this is definitely of interest to me :)
Great ideas! When my kids were younger, my ex and I were like that...constantly looking for bargains. I think part of the fun is the challenge!
*Pizt: Thanks, glad you like my blog. Visit often!
In December, Amazon was promoting their new subscription service for groceries. If you added three new subscriptions, you'd get a $30 Amazon gift card. The service is a good deal in itself because shipping is free, you get a 15% discount, and there's no obligation.
I got a ton of coffee supplies (3 bags of coffee, 700 splenda packets, 3 bottles of flavored syrup) for $47, NOT counting the $30 gift card. I'm going to use that for toiletries, too. Normally the coffee alone would have cost me $36.
I also bought cat food in bulk online. My cats eat wet and dry food and I'm not willing to use a cheap brand. (If you only eat two foods in your life, they'd better be nutritious.) I normally spend about $50 a month, but by buying online it'll be more like $20-25 for the exact same stuff.
Another key on groceries is not to be afraid to go to multiple store for the best deals. Stores will generally have 1-5 loss leaders a wekk, by cchecking the food ads, and a little travel you can stack up.
Recently I subscribed to our local newspaper for the same reason. The subscription cost me $75 so far we have $48.68 to go. We need a new toner cartridge for our printer (still on its first toner cartridge from spring '04) and a coupon in the paper saved us $20.00 on that alone! Something we'll need soon (printer is warning).
The next thing my wife and I need to start doing is to plan out our eating a little farther out allowing more time for advantageous coupons to appear.