I thought I would try to make my own potato chips to send in the kid’s lunch boxes. I stood for hours thinly chopping the potatoes and then deep frying them. The kids came home from school and each got bowls full of chips and really liked them. Then they each got one snack bag for lunch the following day. That was it! Hours of hard work and that was it. Definitely worth watching the grocery store sales for a good deal!
Where I live there are no stores with double couponing. So I will never truly become a “crazy coupon lady”. But I do frequent some websites for printable coupons that aren’t in my Sunday paper. Here are some of my favorites: Coupons.com, Hopster.com, and Smartsource.com.
I’ve recently signed up for Ebates.com (wish I knew about this one before Christmas) that pays you cash when you shop online and Kelloggsfamilyrewards.com for all of the cereal we go through. Once you join up with Kellogg’s make sure that you follow them on Facebook for other opportunities to get more points. Another money saver/coupon getter that looks promising is Ibotta. Unfortunately it requires an app that my phone can’t do or that my IPad and tablet are too old to support. And one of my new favorite money saving sites is Checkout51.com. This site gives you 10 or so offers every week. You have to buy exactly what the offer is (any variation and you won’t get the money) then you scan your receipt and post it to your account. They give you credit for the item and once you hit $20 dollars they will send you a check. The nice thing with this is that you can still use any coupons you may have for the item and they still give you money! It is a great way to save money on things you are probably already buying (some of the items up so far have been milk, orange juice, cereals, protein bars, crackers, cleaning supplies…)
Also free ways to earn a little extra money are to sign up for different reward programs like cokerewards.com (if you drink pop, water or fitness drinks made by coke.) My husband and kids have been trained to bring home pop lids from sodas at parties or meetings they’ve attended. So far I’ve gotten magazine subscriptions, and several Shutterfly picture books. Mypoints.com offers gift cards for surveys you do or other emails you click through. I don’t qualify for surveys too often, but get excited when I do! I’ve be rewarded twice through them (both times choosing Amazon gift cards.) Another great one is Swagbucks.com but this one takes longer for me to earn from. This one has a daily poll, surveys, clips to watch and points using their search function. But again I’ve received Wal-Mart and Amazon gift cards.
At our home, we have also decided that our phones don’t define us so we have gone super cheap. (This of course doesn’t include my husband who has an IPhone from work). My teenage daughter and I each have a simple Tracfone and use the family plan. When we bought our phones it included double lifetime minutes. That is a deal that is quite frequent. Our monthly amount (no contract) is a total of $15 for the two phones. This plan does limit your talking minutes and texts, but it is teaching my daughter self-control and phone management (and she hates it when friends waste her time with one word texts!)
I will leave you with my final thing that I have found that I LOVE! It is a recipe for computer monitor, TV screen and eye glass cleaner! It is amazing and I love walking around cleaning things with it! No more wasting all of the alcohol wipes. This is it: Isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) and DISTILLED water. Use half and half and put it in a spray bottle. You will use it with a microfiber cloth that is not washed with fabric softener.
***Looking for a good book or one to avoid? Remember to check out my Book and Movie reviews page!***
Where I live there are no stores with double couponing. So I will never truly become a “crazy coupon lady”. But I do frequent some websites for printable coupons that aren’t in my Sunday paper. Here are some of my favorites: Coupons.com, Hopster.com, and Smartsource.com.
I’ve recently signed up for Ebates.com (wish I knew about this one before Christmas) that pays you cash when you shop online and Kelloggsfamilyrewards.com for all of the cereal we go through. Once you join up with Kellogg’s make sure that you follow them on Facebook for other opportunities to get more points. Another money saver/coupon getter that looks promising is Ibotta. Unfortunately it requires an app that my phone can’t do or that my IPad and tablet are too old to support. And one of my new favorite money saving sites is Checkout51.com. This site gives you 10 or so offers every week. You have to buy exactly what the offer is (any variation and you won’t get the money) then you scan your receipt and post it to your account. They give you credit for the item and once you hit $20 dollars they will send you a check. The nice thing with this is that you can still use any coupons you may have for the item and they still give you money! It is a great way to save money on things you are probably already buying (some of the items up so far have been milk, orange juice, cereals, protein bars, crackers, cleaning supplies…)
Also free ways to earn a little extra money are to sign up for different reward programs like cokerewards.com (if you drink pop, water or fitness drinks made by coke.) My husband and kids have been trained to bring home pop lids from sodas at parties or meetings they’ve attended. So far I’ve gotten magazine subscriptions, and several Shutterfly picture books. Mypoints.com offers gift cards for surveys you do or other emails you click through. I don’t qualify for surveys too often, but get excited when I do! I’ve be rewarded twice through them (both times choosing Amazon gift cards.) Another great one is Swagbucks.com but this one takes longer for me to earn from. This one has a daily poll, surveys, clips to watch and points using their search function. But again I’ve received Wal-Mart and Amazon gift cards.
At our home, we have also decided that our phones don’t define us so we have gone super cheap. (This of course doesn’t include my husband who has an IPhone from work). My teenage daughter and I each have a simple Tracfone and use the family plan. When we bought our phones it included double lifetime minutes. That is a deal that is quite frequent. Our monthly amount (no contract) is a total of $15 for the two phones. This plan does limit your talking minutes and texts, but it is teaching my daughter self-control and phone management (and she hates it when friends waste her time with one word texts!)
I will leave you with my final thing that I have found that I LOVE! It is a recipe for computer monitor, TV screen and eye glass cleaner! It is amazing and I love walking around cleaning things with it! No more wasting all of the alcohol wipes. This is it: Isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) and DISTILLED water. Use half and half and put it in a spray bottle. You will use it with a microfiber cloth that is not washed with fabric softener.
***Looking for a good book or one to avoid? Remember to check out my Book and Movie reviews page!***