Do You Coupon?

I belong to several frugal groups on Facebook and the one comment that I see over and over is “how do I start couponing”.  I hope this will help you get started.

Back in the “old days”, coupons were plentiful, and stores were in competition with each other to get your business.  Unfortunately, those days are gone.  But there are still ways to get coupons.  Each grocery store typically has a website where you can create an account and choose coupons to use.  When you are ready to check out at the grocery store, you enter your account information, and the coupons will be deducted from your total (as long as you bought the right products that match up to the coupons).  Below is a list of some grocery stores (your area may have different stores) along with their web address.  For other stores not listed below, do a google search to find that particular store and sign up.  Stores like Costco and Sam’s do not have an option for "clipping" online coupons.  But they do have flyers each month to show what is on sale – they call them "coupons", but you do not need coupons to get the sale price.  

Here are the stores in my area with their website links and screen shots.  Not all stores have digital coupons, but they will have their weekly sales ads listed.  This gives you the opportunity to compare prices before you head out to the store.

Publix

Create an account and choose the digital coupons that you want. 

Aldi

Winn-Dixie

Create an account and choose the digital coupons that you want.

Costco

Sam's Club

Walmart

But what about coupons that I can hold in my hand?  The paper kind?  There was a time when the Sunday and Wednesday editions of the newspaper has lots of coupons.  That is no longer the case.  The Sunday newspaper will have a few coupons but if you compare the cost of the newspaper to the value of the coupons that you might use, it is not very cost efficient.  If you buy the Sunday newspaper anyway, then the coupons will be an added bonus (if there are any that you can use).

Here are a couple of websites where you can print out the coupons and take with you to the store.  Note:  Publix allows coupons on their BOGO deals, but I am not sure if the other stores allow it. 

Coupons.com

Print out the ones you want.  There is usually a limit of 2 print outs per coupon.

Proctor & Gamble

Proctor & Gamble have their own coupons that you can print out.

You are not done yet!  After you have done the grocery shopping, there are still ways to save money!  There are various apps that will give you cash and/or gift cards when you upload your receipts.

With the Ibotta app, you accrue cash for various items that they have listed.  You check the items that you buy and then upload the register receipt that has those items on it.

Ibotta  

You can use the same register receipts for Fetch and you do not need to choose items first.  They allow all receipts, and you accrue points towards a gift card.

Fetch

You can also use the same register receipts for MyPoints Magic Receipts, but they need to have specific items on it that you have chosen.

MyPoints Magic Receipts

If you do a lot of online shopping, you may want to check out Rakuten.  You can earn cash with your online purchases.

Rakuten

But wait, there's more!  There are many blogs that will alert you to savings.  One of the ones that I use is Southern Savers.  I can get a “heads up” on what the Publix flyer will be ahead of time.  The sales at my Publix start on a Thursday.  On the Monday before, I can see what will be going on sale and then plan accordingly for when I do my shopping on Thursday.  They also have the sales flyers for stores all over the country including online.

Southern Savers

Another good resource is Facebook.  There are a lot of groups on Facebook that share frugal ideas.  One of my favorites is BUDGETING, SAVING, FRUGAL WAYS, GROCERY HAULS AND HOMEMAKING.  I also like Frugal Living/Ideas/Tips

BUDGETING, SAVING, FRUGAL WAYS, GROCERY HAULS AND HOMEMAKING

Frugal Living/Ideas/Tips

There are also Facebook groups for various stores that will alert you to deals.  

Lastly, there are “Buy Nothing” groups on Facebook.  These groups give away various items for free.  You can get furniture, clothes, household goods and even food.  If you want to see if your area has one, do a search for Buy Nothing City (include your city/town’s name).  It is also a good way to get rid of items that you no longer want and have no interest in selling.

If you are interested in reading more about saving money:

How To Save On Groceries (part 1 of 6 parts):  How to Save on Groceries

Rising Prices – Yikes!:  Rising Prices-Yikes 

The Good Ole Days:  Good Ole Days

Do You Buy Food?:  Do You Buy Food

 

Things are winding down in the garden.  The onions are done – they never got very big – not sure what was going on with them.  I gave up on the eggplants.  First it was aphids.  I killed the aphids and ended up killing the eggplants as well.  Planted more eggplants.  Then the ants moved in.  No matter what I did – cinnamon, diatomaceous earth, soapy water spray, etc – nothing worked so I just pulled them all up.  Finally put down some ant killer (I don’t like using pesticides in the garden – this was a last resort).   

 

The fungus got the pumpkin and cucumber leaves.  I bought some stuff to get rid of it but it didn’t seem to do much.  The plants ended up dying.  I planted more cucumber and pumpkin seeds – not sure if they will do well or not.

The watermelons did not get very big.  There were 2 that were nice and round – a nice size.  The chickens loved them!  The rest were very small but the chickens didn’t mind.

                                        

We are still getting green beans, tomatoes and bell peppers.  So far, I have harvested approximately 520 green beans, 27 regular tomatoes, 656 cherry tomatoes, 8 small onions, 20 bell peppers and 7 watermelons.  I also harvested a bunch of basil and made 3 batches of pesto.  

The green beans filled 10 containers – 9 of them are in the freezer (1 container has been eaten).  I have crushed up a lot of the cherry tomatoes and they are in 4 containers in the freezer.  I also made a jar of pickled cherry tomatoes – something new – not too bad.  Some of the cherry tomatoes went into salads.  For the regular tomatoes, I have enjoyed tomato & mayo sandwiches and BLTs.  Even the chickens have gotten to enjoy some of the tomatoes!  I have 4 containers of bell peppers in the freezer (plus some that have been eaten).

The tomato plants got attacked by hornworms.  Every day I needed to go and pull them off the tomato stems.  I have a mason jar filled with soapy water and the hornworms, caterpillars, stink bugs and bug eggs get dunked into the jar.  I also saw a very unusual bug – the Eastern Leaf Footed bug.  The rest of the garden does not seem to have any bug problems.

The marigolds are so pretty!!  I moved some into the raised planter and one side is doing really well.

As of today (July 27), I trimmed all the dead and bug eaten stems of the tomatoes.  I don’t think the tomatoes will last much longer – although there are still quite a few cherry tomatoes still on the plants.  The regular tomato plants do not have any tomatoes left. 

I have started burying compost into the vacant areas of the garden. I found some info on the internet about trench composting – it is what I do and didn’t know it had a name!  In the spring my hubby will till it all together. 

 

Till the next update . . . happy gardening!