By theoffer | March 11, 2010
Go here to print an Earth Fare coupon for a free 5 lb. bag of Russet Potatoes with any purchase at Earth Fare Market.
Thanks, FreeSnatcher!
Earth Fare Market: Free 5 lb. bag Russet Potatoes is a post from: Money Saving Mom
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By theoffer | March 11, 2010
Missed the first posts this series? Read them here.
Last night when I went grocery shopping, I bought 18 sticks of deodorant. Yes, I said 18!
Did I buy all this deodorant because I heard that there was going to be a shortage of deodorant for the next 4 years? Um, no.
I bought 18 sticks of deodorant because I had coupons which made them free or more-than-free.
Never Pay Retail
One of my biggest secrets for grocery saving success is that I practice the Buy Ahead Principle. Which means, basically, other than dairy products and produce, I aim to never pay full price for anything.
If you’re willing to be patient and observant, you can almost always buy most items at 50% off their retail price or more. Because I’ve been using coupons and bargain-shopping for over 10 years now, I aim to purchase most things when they are 75-100% off of the retail price.
I don’t just buy one of an item when it is at it’s rock-bottom price. Instead, I purchase as many items as I can afford in my grocery budget to tide me over until the next sale.
For many people who are used to buying only what groceries you’ll use in the next week, the concept of buying ahead can be mind-boggling. However, it makes complete sense if you stop and consider it.
Paying Retail vs. Buying Ahead
If your family uses 10 tubes of toothpaste in a year’s time and the retail price of toothpaste is $2.49, if you bought it at retail, you’d be paying $24.90 per year for toothpaste.
If, however, you practiced the Buy Ahead Principle, and you collected your $1/1 toothpaste coupons and waited until toothpaste went on sale for $1 (which it does a few times per year in our area), you could buy 10 tubes of toothpaste for free.
That’s a savings of $24.90 per year!
How to Build a Stockpile of Food and Toiletries
What if you were to practice the Buy Ahead principle on when buying the majority of your groceries? Think about how much you would save! From my best estimates, I would say we routinely save at least $30-$50 each week by practicing the Buy Ahead Principle.
Would you like to see significant savings by Buying Ahead as well? Here are some suggestions:
1) Designate a Small Portion of Your Grocery Budget to Building Your Stockpile
If this is a new concept for you, don’t go out and spend $500 tomorrow trying to build up a stockpile. Instead, designate a small percentage of your grocery budget each week to buying extra of those heavily-discounted items which you know you will use sometime in the next few months.
Even $5 or $10 a week devoted to stocking up on deeply-discounted items can go quite far. If you don’t find any really great deals one week, save your designated “Stockpile Money” for the next week.
2) Designate a Small Area of Your Home to Store Your Stockpile
The argument I often hear when I suggest people practice the Buy Ahead Principle is “But I don’t have any space to stock up.” Well, in very rare cases (say, if your family of 6 is living in a one-bedroom apartment!), I’d agree. But in most cases, there are plenty of creative nooks and crannies in your home you could use to store extra non-perishable food and household supplies.
Maybe you need to clear out some items you’re not using to make room. Or maybe you could install some extra shelving in a closet. Perhaps you could store things under the bed or in a few boxes in a closet. Get creative, think outside the box, and I’m guessing you’ll find someplace you can use!
When we were living in a one-bedroom apartment which only had one small closer, I used a little cabinet in the living room to store extra stuff. When we were living in a two-bedroom apartment, I used the cupboards over the washer and dryer to store extra stuff. I was amazed at how much I could fit in a small space when I set my mind to it!
3) Determine When Enough is Enough
I think it’s extremely cost-effective to Buy Ahead. However, I also think it’s just as important to know when enough is a enough. If you have mountains of unopened tubes of toothpaste falling down on top of you when you open up the bathroom cupboard, you probably don’t need to go out and buy 55 more tubes!
Yes, I bought 18 sticks of deodorant yesterday. That’s more than we’ll use in the next 2 years. But what I didn’t tell you earlier was that I’ll likely donate at least half–if not more–of those. I love being able to share from our surplus of items with those in need. Or just pass on a great deal to a friend, too!
My philosophy is that if there is plenty of an item on the shelf, I have a lot of coupons, the item is free, it’s something we’ll use, and it’s something I can easily donate if we have a surplus, I’ll buy as many as I have coupons for.Your philosophy might be different. So decide when enough is enough for you, and then stick to that.
Twice a year, I go through all of our stockpile of groceries and household items and pare down to the basics which will last me for 4-8 weeks. This way, we never have an over-abundance. In addition, taking the Eat From the Pantry challenge is a great way for us to make sure and use up some of our stockpile.
If you don’t apply any of the other 30 ways to cut your grocery budget that I’ll be sharing in this series, but you adopt the Buy Ahead Principle and stick with a grocery budget, I guarantee you will see a significant savings in your grocery bill. And you’ll likely be shopping less and eating better than ever before!
31 Days to a Better Grocery Budget: The Buy Ahead Principle is a post from: Money Saving Mom
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By theoffer | March 11, 2010
So many of you got in all the All You magazine subscription deal I posted a few days ago that Campus Fundraiser is having to close it off early due to the overwhelming demand.
However, they promised that they would let everyone who ordered by Thursday evening (March 11, 2010) get in on this spectacular deal! So if you’ve been holding off purchasing, time is running out.
As always, please do not purchase this unless you can afford it. If you do have the money for it, I consider it a worthy investment as there are many high-value coupons in this magazine that you rarely (or never!) see elsewhere. There is also usually coupons for completely free products at least a few times per year.
A subscription to All You magazine would also make an excellent gift for a frugal friend! And don’t forget, this rate applies to renewals, as well.
Head over here to read how to order All You magazine for only $0.70 per issue. As it looks right now, this is the last time we’ll ever see a deal this good!
24 hours left to order an All You subscription for $0.70 per issue! is a post from: Money Saving Mom
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By theoffer | March 11, 2010
Coupons.com has a brand-new coupon up for a free $25 gift card when you transfer a prescription at Rite Aid. To quickly find the coupon, just click on the “Rite Aid” link on the left sidebar and it will pull up the coupon.
Rite Aid: $25 gift card when you transfer a prescription is a post from: Money Saving Mom
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By theoffer | March 11, 2010
bTrendie is offering a free $10 credit when you sign up for a new account. The $10 credit will be instantly added to your account when you sign up here.
They have quite a few different things you can get for just a few dollars with this credit, including:
::Organic Cotton Beanie Hats–$1.94 shipped (after $10 credit)
::Dolphin or Cow Sun Hats–$2.94 shipped (after $10 credit)
::Children’s Umbrellas–$4.94 shipped (after $10 credit)
Let us know what great deals you find! You can also hang onto your credit and wait for a great sale.
Thanks, Common Sense with Money!
bTrendie: Free $10 credit is a post from: Money Saving Mom
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By theoffer | March 11, 2010
Picaboo is offering a 20-page Classic Photo Book (regularly $39.99!) for the price of shipping to all new customers. Here’s how to get yours:
::Go to Picaboo and enter your email address.
::Design a 20-page Photo Book.
::Use coupon code AFFLGB at checkout and it should take off the price of the photo book and only charge you $8.99 for shipping (and tax, if applicable).
These would make great gifts for Mother’s Day. Or you could even order one for a Christmas present–if you want to plan way ahead!
20-page Large Photo Book for $8.99 shipped from Picaboo is a post from: Money Saving Mom
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By theoffer | March 11, 2010
Print a coupon for $0.40/1 Sargento Natural Cheese Snacks here. (Thanks, For the Mommas!)
More printable coupons:
$1/1 Ore-Idea Steam n’ Mash potatoes
$0.40/1 Sargento Cheese printable coupon is a post from: Money Saving Mom
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By theoffer | March 11, 2010
Print a coupon for a free full-size bag of any Snikiddy All-Natural Product. Find a stores that sells these snacks here.
Thanks, Good Deal Mama!
*HOT!* Free full-size bag of All-Natural Snikiddy Snacks is a post from: Money Saving Mom
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By theoffer | March 11, 2010
Are you a member of Kraft First Taste? If so, log in to your account and you might find you have a coupon for a free Philadelphia Cream Cheese Minis! If you don’t have a free coupon, you’ll likely have a coupon for $1/1–which should make for a great deal when paired with a sale.
If you’re not a member of Kraft First Taste, you ought to be! They often have free and high-value coupons available to their members.
Thanks, Mojo Savings!
Kraft First Taste: Possible Free Philadelphia Cream Cheese Minis is a post from: Money Saving Mom
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By theoffer | March 11, 2010
I’m so excited! We’ve been working really hard behind the scenes to make MoneySavingMom.com your go-to source for all things frugal–including the best deals at the grocery stores in your area.
We’re partnering with a number of incredible bloggers around the country and, starting next week, we’ll be bringing you just that: the top deals at every single regional grocery store in the USA, including Hawaii and Alaska!
These will be on a special section of our site dedicated to grocery store deals so the home page won’t be cluttered up with dozens of deal lists from a bunch of different stores you likely don’t have in your area.
Plus, to make it really easy for you keep up-to-date with the deals in your area, not only will you be able to access them by category on our site, you’ll also be able to customize your RSS feed or email subscription based upon what store deals you want to follow. So if you have Walmart, CVS, and Food Lion in your area, you can sign up to just get the deal lists for those stores only. Or if you have Rite Aid, Meijer, and Kroger, you can just get those deals delivered to your inbox.
But that’s not all! We’ll also be offering a LITE subscription to MoneySavingMom.com. This is something many of you have asked for repeatedly and I’m thrilled to finally be able to offer it. The LITE RSS subscription and email subscription will be for those of you who could care less about deals, but who come here to read the practical encouragement posts which are woven between the deal posts and freebies. Now you’ll not have to wade through deals to get to the meaty posts!
As always, all the features on our site are free. We won’t ever charge you a dime for accessing information here because we figure you probably have plenty of other ways you could spend your hard-earned dimes. 
All the details on these new features will be unveiled next week. Stay tuned! And as always, thank you for reading here, for telling your friends about this site, and for sharing input and ideas as to how we can improve the site.
Coming Next Week: Grocery Store Deals for every store in the USA–and more! is a post from: Money Saving Mom
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