I was just going to check my email when I saw a new article on Yahoo about 4 Upgrades That Waste Your Money.  I read it through and thought that the point on bulk food stores was very interesting and correct in my personal opinion.  Even if the bulk stores took coupons, you would only be able to use one on each huge pack you bought.  By buying smaller packages along with sales, coupons and as many other savings methods you can pile on, brings the price so much lower.  Think of it this way:

Bulk Store
Buy 1 huge box of diapers for $30.00
Use $2.00 off coupon (if they allow it)
Final Price= $28.00

Target

Buy 3 smaller packs of diapers at $10.00 each
Use (3) $2.00 off coupons

Final Price= $24.00

Even without a store reward, store coupon or other promotion, buying the three smaller ones with coupons would be a better deal. 

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Give the article a read and let us know what you think.

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One way that I have always saved money on my girls clothing is by buying used.  Now, I love to buy my girls new clothes as much as the next person, but practically speaking, they are going to wear holes in the knees of their jeans after wearing them two times.  I have a hard time rationalizing spending $30 on a pair of jeans knowing that in advance.  Spending $5-$7 on a name brand pair at Little Feats Repeats consignment sale sounds a lot better to me.  I have had great luck at consignment stores and sales, Goodwill stores or getting hand me downs from my sisters or friends.  I feel so much better knowing that that stained shirt or torn pants did not cost me a fortune.  I have even gotten great Halloween costumes and other items used.  I will sometimes splurge and spend a little more on a new dress or outfit for a special occasion but I don’t feel as bad when I save so much on the other things.

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I have also had great luck with consigning my own clothes.  It is a great way to make a little extra money on something you already have sitting around.  If you are not going to hand them down or pass them on to a friend, you should really consider consigning.  I have kept most of my girls clothes since we can easily pass them from the oldest to the youngest.  We realized lately that we have a ton that our youngest has already worn that we should really get rid of.  We are getting everything out and sorted and selling them in the upcoming Little Feet Repeats sale.  This is our first time doing it through them but I am really excited.  I have shopped at the last two and LOVED IT.  If you have never consigned before, check out Little Feet Repeats here in Bakersfield or search out a local sale in your area. 

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**If you decide to sell for the first time at Little Feet Repeats, I would love for you to tell them Save At Home Mommy sent you and use the referral number 1872.

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**Carla who runs the Little Feet sales left this comment to make sure you got registered properly:
“Awesome Kerri. I’ll point out for you that when they sign up using your referral, they need to make sure they choose “OTHER” as the referral, and THEN type your info in the box – VERY important that they choose “OTHER” so the system saves what is written in the box (and Tracy did it perfectly ). See you in 5 1/2 weeks!”

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Have you tried Afullcup yet?  If not, you are missing out.  I have used Afullcup since before I even started this site.  When I started getting into coupons, my friend Bethany told me about it.  Every since then, I have used it to search for coupons using their coupon database.  You can easily type in the product you are looking for, and all of the places that coupons for that specific product have been found will be listed.  This is incredibly valuable if you are looking for a coupon for an item that you need but is not on sale.  At least finding a coupon for it will give you some savings off paying full price. 

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They have several other great features on the site as well like:

- Forums

- Blog

- Shopping Lists

- Coupon Trading

If you haven’t checked them out, make sure to give them a try!

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One of my favorite things about using coupons and shopping the sales is that I get to try all sorts of new things that I never would have tried.  Now, I am not saying that I buy a bunch of stuff I will never use!  I am talking about trying new brands of razors, makeup, toiletries, cleaners etc. that I don’t usually use.  There are some brands that I would never buy at regular price that with coupons and sales, I can get for free or close to it and give them a try.  One of my newest favorites is John Frieda Root Awakening Conditioner!  It makes my hair so soft and I just love the refreshing smell. 

While I do love this aspect of couponing, make sure you are aware that this is why they have all these sales and promotions.  They want you to try their products and then fall so in love with them that you become brand exclusive and are willing to pay top dollar for their product.  Don’t fall into that trap!  Have fun trying new things but don’t allow it to cost you more in the long run.

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A super easy yet effective thing I have learned is that having a free junk email account can really keep my inbox clean.  There are so many coupon offers out there that require you using your email address, but let’s be honest, you don’t want all of them filling up your email everyday.  The solution?  Use a free email provider like gmail, yahoo, hotmail or several others out there, to create an account just to use for offers and coupons that you are not interested in hearing from.  This will also eliminate spam worries since they can spam that account all they want:)  Just make sure that you use your real email for products that you use on a regular basis so you will know when they have new offers or coupons available. 

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Sign up for the FaveDiets Quick and Healthy Recipes newsletter and receive the ’40 Healthy Easy Mexican Recipes’ eCookbook FREE! These new E-Cookbooks are quick and easy to download plus they are chock full of great recipes that would are fun to try out. Download yours today and let us know if you find a winner!

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I get questions all the time about eCoupons and how exactly they work.  Here are a few basic things you should know to get you on your way.

What are eCoupons?

eCoupons are coupons that you can load onto your shopping card through various providers on the internet.  First, you will need to create a profile and input your shopping card number for the stores that provide services.  Then, you will be able to simply click to select the coupons you want and then load them onto your shopping card.  When you scan the card at checkout, those coupons will come off and you should see them noted on your receipt.

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Where do you get eCoupons?

The largest sites for you to load eCoupons are cellfire.com, shortcuts.com, UPromise, P&G esaver, SoftCoin and your favorite grocery stores including Vons.com and more!

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How can you best use eCoupons?

Cellfire releases coupons in batches every two weeks.  Two weeks after they are released, they are no longer available to load but they will stay in your account and available to use for another two weeks.  After one batch of coupons is pulled, a new batch of coupons is released and available to load.  If they release the same coupon in subsequent batches, you could still have one coupon loaded from the first batch and be able to load another ecoupon for the same item from the second batch.  This is so hard to put into words so let’s try a visual.

January 1st Huggies eCoupon released and available to load until the 14th.   January 14th no longer available to load but still in account till 1/31.  January 14th new Huggies ecoupon released available to load until 1/31.  Jan 31st no longer available but still in account

1/1——————————–1/14—————————–1/31

                                             1/14—————————–1/31—————————-2/13

As you can see, if they release a coupon for the same item in two subsequent batches, you could have 2 ecoupons for the same product to use on one item.  This allows you to save even more off one item or be able to cash in on a great sale more than once.  For this reason, I always load them all to my card as soon as they come out.

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Shortcuts.com has the same possibility as well.  Shortcuts ecoupons and cellfire ecoupons are not from the same provider but they frequently have eCoupons for the same items.  If you load an eCoupon from cellfire for Huggies and an eCoupon from shortcuts for Huggies, both of them should come off the purchase of one item.  If you had 2 from cellfire and 2 from shortcuts, all 4 would come off.  You see how this can be a major savings?!

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UPromise ecoupons are a little different in that the coupon values do not come off your receipt.  Instead, the coupon amount is added to your UPromise account that can then be linked to a college savings account to save for your child or use to pay off school loans.  These can also be used in conjunction with the above ecoupons.

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A few question answered:

1. If I load a .50 off eCoupon and buy 2 appropriate items, will the .50  come off for both items? No, eCoupons can only be used once before they come out of your account.
2. Can I use a paper coupon for an item that I have an eCoupon loaded for?  Right now, there is nothing in place to keep you from using a paper coupon with an eCoupon.  When you scan your card, the eCoupon will automatically come off if the item was purchased.  This also means you can use a paper store coupon, paper manufacturer coupon and an eCoupon together.

Can you see now why eCoupons are a great way to save?  Since all the above types of eCoupons can be combined with each other as well as paper manufacturer and store coupons, you could easily end up with FREE or close to it items.  Set up your accounts and start loading yours today at cellfire, shortcuts.com, UPromise, P&G esaver, and check your favorite grocery store’s website for more.

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Question: “I’m having trouble getting the bricks coupons to print from your links. What am I doing wrong? }  Help! I’m missing some decent coupons because I cannot, for the life of me, get these things to print.  I’ve already installed the coupon printer-several times now.. Ugh.  Any help or tips would be appreciated. Thanks so much”

Answer: “I just wanted to let you know I found the answer to my problem here:
(It’s from someone named Derek. Anyway, I’ve tried it and it’s worked so far! I am a Mac user and so that was an issue when I followed your links as well as some from other blogs.  I’m now printing like crazy! Awesome!  Thanks so much for all the hard work you do in researching and posting all the great deals”

So how can you fix them, here are the details:

There are two letters inside a Bricks coupon link that tell if you are on Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Safari on a Mac.  The original link code was determined by the browser the original person used when they copied the link.  You can change the 2 letters in the link to the letters that are correct for the browser you are using by using the choices below.  I have colored them blue so you can easily see them.

Internet Explorer on a PC:
http://bricks.coupons.com/Start.asp?tqnm=qekofot7951146&bt=wi&o=54287&ci=1&c=GM&p=8dH6Da9X

or

http://bricks.coupons.com/Start.asp?tqnm=qekofot7951146&bt=vi&o=54287&ci=1&c=GM&p=8dH6Da9X

Firefox on a PC:
http://bricks.coupons.com/Start.asp?tqnm=qekofot7951146&bt=vg&o=54287&ci=1&c=GM&p=8dH6Da9X

or

http://bricks.coupons.com/Start.asp?tqnm=qekofot7951146&bt=wg&o=54287&ci=1&c=GM&p=8dH6Da9X

Safari on a Mac:
http://bricks.coupons.com/Start.asp?tqnm=qekofot7951146&bt=xs&o=54287&ci=1&c=GM&p=8dH6Da9X

Some have 2 options so you will have to try one and if it doesn’t work, try the other.

Thanks so much Sonja for the help!

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Why do I list coupons that I don’t even have?  Because I have readers all over the country and they might have it.  The next week, I might have a coupon that they don’t have so it evens out.  I know it can be a bummer when you get excited about a deal only to find that you don’t have that coupon.  One thing you can do is look on Ebay and see if anyone is selling them.  You would have to do it right away and make sure that they would arrive in time but it can be worth it for really good deals.  There are also coupon clipping services out there but my experience is that you usually have to order a minimum amount of coupons and it has never been worth my while.  Hope that helps!

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How Our Low Price Promise Works
Within seven days of purchase, guests can bring the actual printed competitor ad and a Target receipt of purchase of the same item to our in-store Guest Service area to receive a price adjustment. Photos/copies of advertisements or receipts will not be accepted.
In an effort to ensure that our checkout lanes are efficient and quick for our guests, we’ll handle price matches at our Guest Service desk. If a guest wants to do a price match in the checkout lane, our team members will ring up an item at the current price and then direct the guest to the Guest Service desk to do the price adjustment.
Price matching will apply to current, local print ads for in-store products only. Our price-match policy is not applicable to Target.com or other online ads. The following is a full list of exclusions:

• Target.com or online retail promotion

• Competitor’s Free Product

• Gift Cards

• Limited quantity items

• Open box or damaged

• Clearance or closeout

• Mail-in offers

• Services (warranties, assembly, etc.)

• Bundle offers

• Special order

• Sales-tax promotions

• Liquidation/going out of business

• Special financing

• Coupons

• Used or previously owned

• Display merchandise

• Pricing or typographical errors

• Club or loyalty

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I always have people ask me how many Sunday papers I get and how I get them. My theory is that I check the Sunday paper after it is delivered to my house and see what coupons are inside. If there are coupons that I know I will use, I will go get 3 extra at WalMart. They are only .97 each so as long as the coupons are more than .97, it is worth it. Sales come around often enough that I don’t ever feel the need for more than 4 coupons.

Today is one of those days for me! There is a $2.50 off Quantum Finish dishwasher tabs as well as several others that make it well worth my while to get the extras. Check your inserts and see what works for you!

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I just joined the coolest website called Mom Faves! It is a website for moms to go to find out all the best things from websites to recipes. You can vote on your faves and the highest votes get the most publicity! Go check it out and make sure to vote for Save At Home Mommy!

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• Do it with your spouse if possible. It is important for you to both know what is going on. One person will probably gravitate towards actually paying the bills, but you should both set the budget and know where the money is going. This keeps one person from being “the spender” and the other “the enforcer”.
• Be honest about your spending. You might want to track your actual spending for a month before you try and set a budget. This will help you know what categories to include and what realistic limits you should set.
• Add a miscellaneous category. There will always be things that come up that don’t fit into a category and you don’t need to freak out if you have to get your ink cartridge filled to print more coupons!
• Stick to cash!! I know for some people it works to have a credit card and pay it off every month, but here is the deal. You still owe someone money and if you lost your job today or something major happened, you would still have that bill to pay. If you pay with cash, you owe no one and don’t have to worry about that bill. We have always used envelopes. We put our budgeted amounts of cash into envelopes marked for those categories. When the cash is gone, there is no more spending!
• Stay on top of your finances. Keep your checkbook balanced and keep up with your receipts!
• Base your budget on your pay schedule. If you get paid 2 times a month, pay your bills 2 times a month. That way you aren’t always wondering about bills or forgetting to pay one.
• Have a way to track your spending. This will help you see how much you are saving as well. You can get the Quicken Software for your home for as little as $25 HERE . This can help you build your budget, set up your bill pay schedule, balance your accounts and easily track and analyze your spending.
• Don’t get discouraged. If you overspend or get off track, it is not the end of the world. You are still doing better than you were before. Just get back on track as soon as you can and keep going. It is just like losing weight. One brownie doesn’t mean you trash your diet:)

One of the best resources my husband and I have found is Dave Ramsey. We have read several of his books, listened to his radio program and watched his teaching. His theories aren’t rocket science but they work. I even have the Dave Ramsey Designer Envelope System (wallet) that has the envelopes built right in it. I love it!! You can check out his website HERE and get free downloadable forms and help HERE (scroll down in the middle section to the bottom right)!

Back to the Getting Started guide

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Question: “Do you buy a lot of stuff that you don’t use when you follow all these sales and coupons?”

Answer: No, I don’t but it can be hard sometimes not too:) When I first started, I will admit that I bought a few too many bottles of Pledge and toothpaste. It can be so tempting when things are free or a great deal. The thing to remember is that the whole point of all this is to SAVE MONEY!! Even if things are a good deal, it is important that you only buy what your family needs. Building up your stockpile is important to keep you from overspending, just make sure your stockpile is full of things that you and your family will eat. You will not be able to buy everything your family needs on sale. There are times where I buy things that are not on sale and I don’t have a coupon for, I know gasp. The coupon and deal game has to work for you to help you save money. Focus on buying what you need and doing what you can to keep your out of pocket expense as low as possible.

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