I'm trying to squeak when I walk

Cheap, frugal, tight-wad, thrifty, penny-pinching, economical...call me whatever you want, but I LOVE saving money. My Mom likes to call me the Coupon Queen. I don't think I'm that good yet, but I certainly try to save wherever I can.

A few tips that I have learned about using coupons and saving money:

• Look to combine coupons and sales. This may mean multiple stops each week (i.e. WalMart, Target, Walgreens, etc), but it will be worth it.


• DO NOT buy an item just because you have a coupon for it.


• View coupons as free money on items that you would normally purchase


• Stock up when you find a great deal (I believe I currently have about 6 bottles of shampoo and 6 bottles of conditioner at home because I got each for about 50 cents). Stocking up will also prevent you from needing to rush out and buy an item and probably pay more than necessary.


• CVS and Walgreens are AWESOME! I could do a whole other post about just these two places, but for now I'll note a few of the highlights. At CVS, you will get MUCH better prices if you are a member of their ExtraCare program. Typically their sale prices are only valid if you present this card. It is free of charge to join. Often, store coupons will print at the bottom of your receipt when you checkout (one of my most recent ones was for a free toothbrush). As an ExtraCare program member, they will sometimes email you a coupon to use in the store (for example, $5 off a purchase of $20 or more). Walgreens has what they call Register Rewards. You purchase a certain item (or a combination of certain items) and when you checkout you get a coupon for money off your next purchase. The best way to shop at CVS and Walgreens is to check out their weekly ad. In my most recent trip to Walgreens, I purchased $36 worth of items and paid $11; for CVS, I purchased $26 worth of items and paid $8. Not too shabby!


• Keeping coupons organized is key. I'm still trying to figure out what works best for me in this area. As of now, I have an expandable file type thing that I have divided out into sections.


• Use websites. I have one BIG favorite on where to find coupons http://hip2save.blogspot.com/. This lady is amazing. She tells you where to find coupons, a lot of which are printed from the internet, and couples them with items in stores to help you find the best value. She does a weekly post called Follow Me Monday. This past Monday's post was about coupon organization. I'm definetly going to use some of her tips to help me organize my coupons! The week before, she went to Walmart and bought $180 worth of items and paid less than $50! WOW!


• Some other good websites include: http://www.stlmommy.com/ and http://www.coupons.com/


• A lot of times you can print a coupon only after entering your name, DOB, and an email address. I have setup an email address that I use only for putting in this blank, otherwise your inbox will get very cluttered, very quickly. I do sometimes check that email account because occasionally they will send more coupons to you via email.


• As for the rest of my coupons, I get them from the Sunday Alton Telegraph and my Grandma saves the coupons from the St. Louis Post Dispatch for me. If you are dedicated to using coupons, it would more than pay to pick up a copy of the Sunday paper.

Do you have any more tips that I can use?

Starting yesterday, each time I use a coupon to purchase an item, I am going to set aside the amount I saved in coupons as savings toward our dream house. I figure if I'm saving toward a specific goal, I will be more inclined to save even more money. I hope to post an entry each month with the amount of money that has been saved toward the house.

Wish me luck on saving for our house!