I’ve become quite an avid coupon user (read: totally & completely hooked on it). Once you start to learn all the tips/tricks and find yourself some good resources, couponing can become a little bit of an OBSESSION! I think I’ve officially entered the “Crazy Coupon Lady” phase and I have the giant coupon binder to prove it! I seriously get so freakin’ excited about saving big money and stockpiling items my family needs. Four months ago, when I quit my job to become a SAHM, couponing was a way to still purchase the items we need/want within a drastically reduced budget. Now, couponing is a way of life and every day I get a little better at scoring awesome deals. But rather than just jabber on about how much I totally rock for couponing, I’ll show you an example of a couple of recent shopping trips.

Before I do that, here’s a brief rundown of some of the couponing “lingo” I use in this post. For a more comprehensive list, go here:

- B1G1F = “Buy One Get One Free”
- Q or CPN = Coupon
- MQ or MFR = Manufacturers Coupon
- BC = Before Coupons
- OOP = Out of Pocket (actual cash paid)

Target shopping trip - 9/25/2009

TARGET
Total BC = $26.99
Total OOP = $3.67 !!!
Saved = $23.32 (or 86%)

The breakdown:

Scotch Lint Roller – sale priced $2.19
- $1 Target CPN
- $1 MFR (Yes! You can “stack” a Target coupon with a Manufacturer coupon!)
= $0.19

Wonka Gummies – $1.59
- $1 Target CPN (a treat, AKA: bribe, for my boys to get them to behave during this trip)
= $0.59

Purina One Dry Cat Food – $5.89 x 2
- $2 Target CPN (used 2 Qs)
- $3 MFR (used 2 Qs)
= $0.89 ea. (x2 = $1.78)

Fancy Feast Appetizers – $1.29 x 8
- B1G1F Target CPN (used 4 Qs)
- B1G1F MFR (used 4 Qs)
= 2 FREE (x4 = 8 FREE)

Walmart trip - 9/25/2009

WALMART
Total BC = $47.79
Total OOP = $23.63
Total Saved = $24.16 (or 50%)

The breakdown:

Glade Sense & Spray Starter Kit – on rollback for $5.00 x 2
- $4 MFR (used 2 Qs)
= $1.00 ea. (x2 = $2.00)

Ajax Anti-bacterial Dish Liquid – $1.78
- $1 MFR
= $0.78

Nature Valley Nut Clusters w/Almonds – $2.28 x 2
- $1.60 MFR (used 2 Qs)
= $0.68 ea. (x2 = $1.36)

Hot Wheels Cars – $0.92 (x2 = $1.84)
No CPN, another bribe for the boys. When you have both a 2 and 1 year old with you, “whatever works”, works! Dum-dums help too!

Cottonelle Soothing Clean Wipes – $1.98 x 4
- B1G1F MFR (used 2 Qs)
= $0.99 ea. (x4 = $3.96)

Colgate Total Plus Whitening Toothpaste 2-pack – $3.00
- $1 MFR
= $2.00 for 2

Pull-ups Flushable Wipes – $1.64 x 4
- $2/2 MFR (use 2 Qs)
= $0.64 ea. (x4 = $2.56)

Wet Ones Travel Pack – $0.97 (x2 = $1.94)
No CPN for these

Spiderman Mini-Poster/Sticker – $0.50 on clearance

Listerine Total Care Mouthwash – on rollback for $5.00
- $2 MFR
= $3.00

Scrapbooking 3D-Dots – $1.50
No CPN

I forgot to give the cashier a $1 CPN for the Ajax, but in the end I made out anyway because he accidentally rang up one of the $2 CPNs twice. He knew it too and let is slide because it was “too late” to fix it. The Walmart trip wasn’t quite as lucrative as the Target trip, but 50% ain’t nothing to scoff at!

These are just two examples of countless similar shopping trips. So how do I get all my coupons? How do I know how to match up MFR and store specific coupons to get the best deals? I print LOTS of internet printable coupons in addition to the inserts in the Sunday paper. I visit many couponing blogs every day that give fabulous tips and tricks! I have myself SUPER organized (more on that in another post). Lastly, I have family/friends who save & send coupons to me as well. If you go to the “Links” section at the top of the page, you’ll see I have 20+ “Money Saving Sites” listed, but these are by far the Top 5 blogs I visit:

LOVE THESE MONEY SAVING BLOGS:
- A Thrifty Mom
- It’s Hip to Save!
- Cha-ching on a Shoestring
- Coupon Gal
- Common Sense With Money

And of course, the following sites are stalked often, if not weekly:

INTERNET COUPONS:
- Coupons.com
- P&G eSAVER
- RedPlum.com
- Shortcuts.com
- SmartSource.com
- Target Coupon Generator

Happy shopping!

Ok, here’s the freebie I was talking about. I’ve seen wine bottle hang tags for sale on Etsy and wanted to take a stab at making one myself. This is my first, but I’m hoping to make more. They’re pretty easy to make and a really cute way to quickly dress up a wine bottle that you plan on gifting or taking to a dinner party…

Halloween Wine Bottle Hang Tag

You can download the PDF file by clicking HERE. I left a blank spot near the top so that you may embellish it with ribbon or whatever you like. I used a thin black ribbon to make a bow and glued on a purple gem stone. Aleene’s Tacky Glue did the trick!

Recommended: use a paper cutter!

I recommend that you use a paper cutter, if you have one, to get the straightest lines when cutting the tags out.

For best results use a craft punch

If you’re good at cutting circles out, go for it! Me? Not so much! For best results, I used a 1.75″ circle craft punch. You can get them in all sizes at Joann’s (use a 50% off coupon!). I have Marvy, Fiskars and EK Success punches in several sizes/styles. I definitely prefer/recommend the EK Success punches! You can typically get a punch for $10 bucks or less when using a 40% or 50% off coupon.

So there you go! Happy (early) Halloween! Now, let’s go DRINK some wine! ;)

I had decided to stop posting for a while since it mainly consisted of bitching and feeling sorry for myself. Reality check? The bottom line, “life is tough – deal with it”. PUT ON THOSE BIG GIRL PANTIES! I signed up for this, so I better go make lemonade!

I’ve been super busy between trying to keep up with the boys, the house, and avid coupon shopping (read: saving my family buttloads of money). Somehow, through the lack of sleep, perpetual PMS, and Gavin prematurely hitting the “Terrible Two’s”, I’ve also managed to squeeze in a few large craft projects for others. A few of these included deadlines, so I had to call in for reinforcements (Hi Mom!). Whew! Take a look at what I’ve been up to…

In addition to the Dr. Seuss baby shower invitations I made, I also made these adorable cupcake toppers…

Cupcake Toppers for a Dr. Seuss themed baby shower

The photo above is just the start, the “prototypes”. I had to make 32 of these babies! It took me 4+ hours to complete it all, not including designing them on the computer. Did you know a craft punch could make your arms feel like Jell-O? Yeah, especially for a wimp like me!

Dr. Seuss Cupcake Toppers, made 32 of them!

I also made 32 (girly but mature) invitations for a surprise party. This package included the matching address labels, return address labels, envelope seals, and some other note cards that were requested. It took 3 hours just to cut, glue, and assemble the invitations themselves (and that was with my Mom and I steadily working together). Here’s a sneak peak. I had to blur out the details and can’t post any other items, since the party is a SURPRISE…

Floral Suprise Invitation

Lastly, I created an invite for a Pinkalicious themed party for a friend’s soon-to-be 4-year-old. BTW, this is the cutest book with a really nice message…

Please note: I’m not sharing, selling, or doing trade-out work for this invite at this time.

Pinkalicious Party Invitation

I’ve yet to print or cut these since the party details are still in the works. But as you can see, I’ve been BUSY. And there’s also other projects I don’t have pictures of. I do, however, have a freebie that I will post very soon!