Since becoming a stay at home mom in 2007, I refuse to pay regular price for anything. My new job has become taking care of my family and looking for every way possible to stretch a buck. I cut coupons, shop the sales, search out deals online, and look for alternatives to things my family uses anyway. I have been compiling my resources and given the state of the economy, thought that there are other people out there that could use these resources too.
Here are some of the things I do to make extra cash, earn discounts, and stretch a dollar. Feel free to add your own tips and ideas as well!
Shopper’s Hotline
Shopper’s Hotline is a survey program that our family participates in. The company sends you a scanner that hooks up to your phone line. Every time you go shopping (grocery shopping, clothes, toys, etc) you come home, scan everything you purchased, input the total spent, and then put your scanner back on the cradle. It then dials HQ, and transmits your purchase information. Each time you transmit your purchases you earn points which can be redeemed for a debit card that can be used anywhere. You also can earn additional points for answering surveys online through their site. Here are the points for cash break down:
625 points = $10
1,375 points = $25
2,500 points = $50
I don’t remember to scan every purchase every time (I tend to only do grocery purchases) and I have earned a $50 debit card in the last 4 months.
You can receive more information on Shopper’s Hotline by going to https://www.shoppershotline.com/about_.pro
If you would like to join Shopper’s Hotline, call 1-877-999-2949 and ask for Operator 10. Tell them that you were referred by Member #032322966. You can’t join unless you were referred by an active member. (Only one member per household & you must be at least 18 years old.)
MySurvey.com
MySurvey.com is an online survey website that anyone can join. You earn points for answering surveys & for referring friends. Each time you earn 1000 pts you are eligible to receive a check for $10 or you can let your points add up for a larger check later on. You can also opt to get merchandise instead of the check. Since you earn points for referrals, if you are interested in joining, let me know, & I’ll send you an invitation since it is all tracked through email.
e-Rewards.com
Another online survey site. You earn rewards dollars for each survey you answer, and can begin selecting rewards once you have earned $10 rewards dollars.
Pampers Gifts-to-Grow
Pampers diapers & wipes each have a Gifts-to-Grow code on them. Enter those codes into your Gifts-to-Grow account on pampers.com and you can earn free diapers, toys, gift certificates & more.
Soda Club
Steve & I got turned onto Soda Club about 4 years ago at the Great Big Food Show. Soda Club is a way of making soda at home. You purchase the bottles, and the carbon dioxide tanks, and soda syrups through them and can make your own soda, seltzer & tonic water for under 35 cents a liter. The syrups don’t taste exactly like the name brand sodas, more like the store brands, but they are still really good, and since you save so much money we don’t mind the difference.
Make Your Own…
A lot of things that you can buy out, you can make at home for a fraction of the price. Everything from pizza night (the easy transition for most) to making your own laundry detergent! Here are some website that I have relied on:
Laundry Detergent
http://natural-products.suite101.com/article.cfm/washing_clothes_for_pennies
http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/laundrysoap.htm
Baby Wipes
http://www.justpeace.org/babywipes.htm
http://www.naturalbirthandbabycare.com/homemade-baby-wipes-recipes.html
Cleaning Supplies
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/make-your-own-non-toxic-cleaning-kit.html
Baby Food
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/
Meals Under $10
Some tasty meals that won’t break the bank. They work out even cheaper if you buy the ingredients on sale or with a coupon.
http://busycooks.about.com/od/dinnerrecipes/a/tendollarmeals.htm
http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/02/06/recession.recipes.irpt/
http://www.rachaelray.com/food/collections/budget/index.php?category=underten
StartSampling.com
Start Sampling is a great site for getting free samples & coupons for everything under the sun.
Triple Coupon Days
In the NJ/PA area SuperFresh and A&P offer triple coupon deals about once every 6 weeks. They will triple any coupon up to 75 cents, but the coupon has to be from a circular not from the internet. Pathmark also offers triple coupon from time to time.
Double $1 Coupons
Every so often Giant (in PA) will put Doubler Coupons in their circulars. These coupons can be used to double a $1 manufacturer’s coupon.
Upromise
Upromise is where you register your shopping loyalty cards and/or credit cards to earn cash back to send your little one to college. You earn any where from 1%-25% depending on the item or retailer. They are always adding new features and offers so check back often – http://www.upromise.com
Saving with 6ABC
6ABC-WPVI in Philadelphia has been doing weekly savings tips & tricks for the past few months. Here is a link to their website – http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/channel?section=news/consumer/save_with_6abc&id=6272766
Manufactuer’s Websites
Many manufacturers offer coupons, rebates, and/or samples on their websites. Since they tend to want you to receive their e-newsletters, I recommend creating a separate email account using yahoo, hotmail or gmail and using it exclusively for websites that will send you “spam”.
Competitor Coupons
A lot of stores accept competitor coupons that are from the circular or are mailed out (not online coupons. Stores that go together include:
Michaels – AC Moore – Joann Fabrics
Babies R Us – Buy Buy Baby – Baby Depot
Sports Authority – Dicks Sporting Goods
Ask your local businesses too. Many dry cleaners, pizza shops, florists and the like will accept coupons from their competitors to get your business.
Baby & Wedding Registries
Everyone knows that when you get married or have a baby you can set up a registry at your favorite stores. But you can also set up registries for important events – new home, first birthday, christening, redecorating, etc. The benefit of doing this is that if you set up the registry online you don’t have to deal with a person in the store asking when the baby is due or when the wedding is since you are using those templates to create the registry. You will also be sent periodic coupons for discounts for items on your registry. In addition, when it is time to close out the registry many stores offer a 10%-20% off your purchase as you buy the remaining items on your registry. When you want to do the close out, add any & all items you are shopping for the day to the registry before you check out.
For example, when I closed out David’s Baby Registry at Target, I went and got the scanner to update the registry as I went through the store. As each item went into my cart, it got scanned. I updated the registry before checking out & got 10% off my total purchase. Since Target allows you to take the 10% off of diapers & formula (which BRU does not) I was able to stock up on things we would need down the line.
Combining Coupons
Don’t forget you can combine a store coupon & a manufacturer’s coupon on the same item for bigger savings.
Coupon Exchanges
Find friends to exchange coupons with or start a swap box at work in the lunch/break room. Put in any coupons you won’t use, and take the ones you will. This works especially well with pet coupons, baby coupons, health & beauty aide coupons, and cleaning product coupons.
Check Unit Prices
The store brand isn’t always cheaper. Between sale prices & coupons the brand name item can often cost you less. Same is true for buying the bigger package. Check the unit price to see what it the better bargain. Also, if you won’t use it all up before it expires, then buying more of it isn’t worth it.
Shop the Ads
They always say plan your menu based on what’s on sale. I find that spending a few extra minutes comparing ads for the expensive stuff (meat, cleaning supplies, & health and beauty aides) and possibly going to 2 stores can save a lot of money.
Buy Milk at Halo
Or other dairy. Halo Farm is located in Trenton/Ewing area next to the Trenton Farmers Market. They only sell milk by the ½ gal, but it only costs $1.20 – that’s only $2.40 a gallon! Much cheaper than at the grocery store.
Plant a Garden
Even if you are in an apartment you could have a garden that cuts your produce bills during the nice weather, and if you have a house you can grow enough to freeze through the winter months too. Seeds are cheaper than plants, but take more of a time investment. You can grow lettuce, peas, string beans, herbs, onions/scallions, strawberries, tomatoes, and peppers in containers if you don’t have much space.
If you love fresh fruit you can plant blueberry, raspberry, and blackberry bushes in containers as well (some varieties work better than others ask questions at the nursery you choose to use). If you have the space to plant a few fruit trees, there are some varieties of peach trees that don’t need a second tree for cross pollination, and there are some apple trees that have 2 varieties of apple on the same tree! The only catch with fruit trees & bushes is that you often don’t get fruit until the second year, and a decent crop the third year.
Join a CSA
If you don’t have room for a garden where you live (or you don’t want to do the work) you can always join a CSA Farm – Community Supported Agriculture. CSA’s are great because for a flat rate you get a share of the farm each week during the growing season. Most CSAs also have some pick your own produce, but a lot of it is often ready to go so all you have to do is pick it up. For more information about CSAs go to http://www.localharvest.org/csa/
Grocery Coupons Online
Here are a few sites for getting grocery coupons online. You just have to install the plug-in and you are ready to go:
http://www.smartsource.com
http://localsearch.courierpostonline.com/sp?aff=1170&skin=100
http://print.coupons.com/CouponWeb/Offers.aspx?pid=13306&zid=iq37&nid=10
http://www.grocerycouponnetwork.com/
http://www.grocerycouponsusa.com
http://www.pgesaver.com/Sites/PG_eSAVER/Page/HomePage/
Store Coupons
Most of these sites compile printable coupons as well as online coupon codes good at a variety of retailers.
http://www.momsdiscounts.com/
http://www.retailmenot.com/
http://printable-coupons.blogspot.com/
http://printable-coupons.blogspot.com/
http://www.valpak.com/coupons/home
http://discounts.shopathome.com/
http://shortcut.com
http://www.mommysavers.com/
http://www.couponmom.com/
http://www.becentsable.net/
