31 Ways to Save in 2011

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One of my goals in creating this blog has always been to help people find ways to save more money, cut their budgets, and if needed, get out of debt!  My goal this year is to bring you a different “themed” series each month with ideas for cutting your expenses in specific areas.  This month, my focus will be on “31 Ways to Save in 2011” and I’ll give you simple ideas for making a little extra money on the side along with ideas for how you can cut your current expenses.  I hope you’ll join me on this journey. Start tracking your expenses and let me know how much you’ve saved by following some of these simple steps!

*This post may contain affiliate links. Please refer to my disclosure policy for more information.

Get a cheap steak dinner!

The Chef’s Requested $3 printable coupons have re-set! They are available for print here. They have the two packs of bacon-wrapped filets at Walmart for $3.28-$3.99 (they are $3.99 at my stores). So, you can get them for $.28-$.99 after coupons!

I just went and used my other coupon yesterday and was wishing that I had more, so I was thrilled to find out there was another one available! Who doesn’t love a cheap steak dinner?

(Thanks Tabitha!)

Randalls deals for the week of 12/30

At my Randalls store (Texas), they double the face value of one ‘like’ coupon up to .50 and triple the face value of one ‘like’ coupon up to .39. Check with your store for details on their policy for doubling and tripling coupons.

Here are the highlights of the Randalls ad this week:

*Broccoli crowns – $.99/lb

*Cantaloupe melon – 2/$4

*Foster Farms breaded chicken selections – Buy one, get one free

*Freschetta Pizza – $3.99/each – $2.99 after coupons!
$1/1 printable coupon here (you must register, you can print 2 per computer!)

*Fresh Express or Eating Right salads – Buy One, Get One Free

*Granny Smith Apples – $.99/lb

*Hillshire Farm Lit’l Smokies or Smoked Sausage – 2/$5

*Large Haas Avocados – $.88/each

*Lean Cuisine or Eating Right Meals – $1.79/each (when you buy 5) – $1.45/each after coupons when you buy 6! (and use 2 printable coupons)
$1/3 printable coupon here (this is a manufacturer’s coupon, iti s on pg. 6)

*Minute Maid or Florida’s Natural Orange Juice – 2/$4

*Nabisco snack crackers – 2/$4
$1/1 Nabisco crackers or Easy cheese (any variety) – 11-8 SS insert
$1/2 Nabisco crackers printable here
$10 MIR (when you buy 10) here

SCENARIO#1:
Buy 10 boxes – 2/$4

Use $1/1 coupon
Use 4 $1/2 printables

Spend $15 OOP, get $10 MIR – it’s like getting 10 boxes for .50/each!

*Navel oranges – 2/$1

*Rosarita refried beans – 10/$10.50/each after coupon! (when you buy 2)
.50/2 Rosarita refried beans – 12-13 SS insert (should double)

*Texas Grapefruit – 2/$1

*Thomas English Muffins – Buy One, Get One free (get 2 for $3.69)

$9.99 Deal: Buy 3 participating Pepsi 12 pack, 12 ounce cans and 2 bags of Tostitos for $9.99!
Mix & Match Deal: Buy any 3 Kellogg’s cereals, get 2 free Safeway Apple Juice!

SUPER COUPONS: You must make a minimum purchase of $20 (this is based on the pre-coupon total!)

*Yoplait Go-Gurt – $1.99 (for an 8 pack) with coupon$1.19 after coupons!
.40/1 printable on Bettycrocker.com (should double)

2009: Year in review!

At the beginning of the year, I set a few “goals.” I thought I’d share how I did at keeping up with those goals today. You can read the full post here.

*$40 a week grocery budget (this is for a family of four)I managed to do this all year long and some weeks I actually came in under budget!

*Meeting the following savings goals without touching our monthly paychecks

Gift savings – This will include Christmas gifts, birthday gifts, and other gifts that we need to pay for throughout the year.

Baby emergency fund – If you follow Dave Ramsey, you know that this is. Basically it’s $1000 that you keep on hand to cover any emergencies

Rolling entertainment fund – We have a monthly entertainment budget, but this will cover any spur of the moment “extras” like a weekend getaway or an unplanned family excursion. It’s “rolling” because if we use the money, I’d like to rebuild it 🙂

I was able to do this partially. This year we were met with a few “unexpected events.” Among other things, my husband was laid off at the end of June and then I was mugged in early October. These events (and others) changed our priorities a bit.

We do have our Baby Emergency Fund in place and have managed to keep it “in place.” It really gives me peace of mind to know that money is there in case of emergencies and other “unexpected events.”

We also managed to have a 100% “cash Christmas” this year. It is such a relief to not have post-holiday credit card bills looming over our heads right now!

I loved our family vacations growing up, and we did manage to take one small family trip this year (which we paid for 100% with cash, too and even had money left over!), but our priorities have changed some. We have focused more on quality family time at home and one of our favorite things has become “family game night.” Thanks to the Amazon sales recently, we managed to fully stock our game closet and we can’t wait for even more game nights during the upcoming year!

My husband and I took Dave Ramsey’s “Financial Peace University class together earlier this year and I honestly believe that we are at the point that we are at now because of the changes that we made as a result of that class. Had we not taken the class and put some of those changes into place, some of the unexpected events that we faced this year probably would have had a much greater impact on our family.

I can’t say enough great things about this class (and no, I don’t get paid a cent to say good things…). Even if you’ve read the books, if you’re wanting to get on track financially (whether you have debt or you would just like to be better at managing your money), I strongly recommend that you take the class. I had read all of the books, but take the class with my husband was truly life changing. We are on the same page financially and we can actually have discussions about our finances rather than arguments.

Have said all of that, I hope that everyone has a safe and Happy New Year’s Eve. I’ll be posting my goals for 2010 tomorrow morning before we head out for our free day at the zoo!

Sunday coupon preview is up – FIVE inserts this week!

The Sunday coupon preview is up and you can access it here. There will be FIVE inserts this week! One of the ways that I am able to stockpile items and spend so little out of pocket is by stocking up when there are hot coupons.

I sometimes will buy coupons on eBay, but lately, I have been using a coupon clipping service. The service that I use the most these days is My Coupon Hunter. You can check them out here:

Their turn around time is incredibly fast, they typically have the coupons I’m looking for in stock (including the “hot” coupons) and they don’t have minimum purchase requirements or charge as high of a “handling fee” as some of the other coupon clipping services. I do get a 5% “commission” if you order coupons using the link above, but that’s not why I’m recommending them ~ I’m recommending them because they are reputable and have the best prices from what I have found!

Here are some of the highlights that I see this week:

General Mills Everyday Saver

.50/2 Betty Crocker Fruit Shapes, Fruit By the Foot, Fruit Gushers, Fruit Roll-ups, Fruit Stickerz, and boxes – typically at this time of year, there are catalina deals that match up with these coupons, so you can stock up on fruit snacks for cheap!0

.40/1 Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers frozen vegetables – if your stores double or triple coupons, you should be able to get really cheap veggies using these because they typically go 10/$10 every few weeks

.40/2 Pillsbury Crescent Dinner rolls – good to match up with sales if your stores double or triple

.30/2 Pillsbury Refrigerated Grands Biscuits – good to match up with sales if your stores double or triple

Smartsource coupon insert #2:

$1/1 Carnation Instant Breakfast Essentials product multipack – we use this stuff daily, so these coupons are always great for me!

$2.50/1 Finish (formerly Electrasol) Quantum Powerball Tabs or Gelpacs – this will be a HOT coupon, so if you want some, you will probably want to try to get them starting early Saturday morning – in the past when this coupon has come out, I have been able to stock up on these at Target and I have paid .25-50 out of pocket per box!

$1/1 Frito Lay Baked! Snacks – I LOVE Baked Lays, and there are hardly ever coupons, so I can’t wait for these!

.50/1 Old El Paso Heat & Serve Sides – I have seen these go 10/$10 before, so they would be free if your store doubles coupons!

Smartsource #3:

$1/2 Barilla Plus pasta – makes it .50/each when they go 10/$10 – I always stock up when this happens!

$.75/1 Colgate 360 manual toothbrush – it seems like there are always deals on these at CVS and Walgreens, so they are good to have on hand

.75/1 Colgate Total, Max White, Max Fresh, Sensitive, or Kids toothpaste – it seems like there are always deals at CVS and Walgreens, so it’s good to have on hand

Red Plum #1:

$1/2 Special K cereals – there will likely be good deals on these for all of the people starting their “New Year’s Resolutions”

$1/2 Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice – I love this stuff for side dishes when I’m in a hurry!

Red Plum #2:

$2/1 All liquid laundry detergent – there have been some great sales on this lately!

$1/1 Band Aid product – if you have the Walgreens activity book, those coupons don’t expire until 3/31/10, so you can pair the $2 coupon there with this coupon and get free or close to free Band Aids!

$1/1 Johnsons Baby product – you can get Johnsons Buddy bars for free at Target/Walmart with these!

$1/3 Rice a Roni or Pasta Roni – this makes these .66/each at Kroger and Randalls this week!

BOGO free Stayfree products (up to $7.50 value!)