shoppingonabudget

If you are like me, you grab a bottle of Tylenol when you have a headache or a bottle of cold medicine when feeling under the weather. Unfortunately, this practice can get costly overtime. If you would like to save money with a few over-the-counter medicine coupons, I have a website for you. It is titled Health Zone 365.

On this website, you will find a number of moneysaving coupons for Motrin, Imodium A-D, Pepcid AC, and Tylenol.

I usually avoid mail-in rebates at all costs. Personally, I like to save money upfront, but I will use them from time to time.

This week, my 5 year old daughter had an ear infection. We had to wait about 10 minutes for her prescriptions at Rite Aid. We walked through a few aisles near the pharmacy. My daughter, an avid Sponge Bob fan, saw a yellow Sponge Bob thermometer. Normally I wouldn’t have bought it because we already have a few traditional thermometers, but I considered it a special treat. It cost $11.99 and I noticed a rebate sign.

So, I return home and look at the receipt. It didn’t say anything about the rebate, so I went to the Rite Aid website and was pleased. These rebates aren’t necessarily mail-in rebates. What you do is register for a free account and enter information from your receipt. It automatically determined I was eligible for the thermometer rebate.

I could have requested my $3 check right away, but after some more browsing I saw that there are many other rebates available. Right now until February 28, 2009 you can buy Wonder Waves Garnier Fructis Shampoo, Conditioner, Mousse, or Hairspray and get it for free (with the $2.99 rebate). There are many other products, but they just give you discounts and not a free product.

I am going back to Rite Aid this week and make use of these other products, enter in my receipt information and request my check. Like I said, I usually avoid mail-in rebates. It is usually because I can never remember to save the barcode or mail-in the form, but I don’t have to with Rite Aid’s current program!

I was playing around with Procter and Gamble’s website today looking for coupons and free product samples, when I learned about their eSaver Program. Unfortunately, I can’t participate, as none of my local stores are involved in the program.

To me, it looks like the AOL ShortCuts program. You can upload coupons to your shopper’s card. I love this idea. I was so disappointed to learn that AOL Shortcuts was not available for my stores and now I am with Procter and Gamble’s program too. Hopefully soon.

I haven’t found a direct link to the program. You can click here. Then, look on the right hand side of the page. There is a blue bar with links inside. You want to click on the “Online Coupons with P&G eSaver,” link. If you already have an account with Procter and Gamble log-in, otherwise you need to create a free account.

As of January 30, 2009, these are the stores participating in the program. They are Carr’s, City Market, Dillons, Dominick’s, Fry’s, Genuardi’s, JC, King Soopers, Kroger, Pavillions, QFC, Ralphs, Randall’s, Safeway, Smith’s, Tom Thumb, and Vons.

If you want to save money on groceries, you will hear many people saying you should cut back on meat consumption. Yes, this does allow you to save money, but it doesn’t work for everyone. If you want your meat, avoid precut meats.

As a kid, my family use to love eating chicken speedies. I always remember my parents buying the tub that came with precut chicken and it was already mixed with marinade. The first time I attempted to buy this, I was shocked at the price. I got a large package of chicken (and used less than half for the chicken speedies) and then went to the marinade section to pickup a jar of marinade. It was much cheaper. Don’t pay someone to cut or marinade your meats for you. It is a lot cheaper to do it yourself.

Also, don’t do the counter shopping at the meat department. At my store, it is called the Butcher Block. It is cheaper to get the prepacked meat.

I love using coupons. They allow me to save a lot on groceries. Once this blog first got started, I received a comment from a reader urging me to checkout a website called Taylor Town Preview. I did and I have been going back since.

They have a number of features on the website, but look in the middle column under the heading of “Preview Pages.” This page tells you what coupons you will find in your local inserts. I have been monitoring the website for a while now and they are right on. The coupons they have listed are what I find in my newspaper inserts.

Today, I checked out the website and saw there were many coupons listed for this week. So, I ran out to the store. It is Friday, but one of my Friday newspapers has the coupon inserts. It costs .50 cents. I knew there were many good coupons; therefore, I bought two papers. I was glad I did. Many coupons do not expire for at least two months, so I can fit in a couple of shopping trips.

In short, there are 3 easy ways to save money with grocery coupons.

1 – Visit TaylorTownPreview.com to see what coupons you will find in your inserts.
2 – Buy the Friday or Saturday papers with coupons, as they cost less.
3 – If the above mentioned website shows a lot of good coupons, buy two or more papers. You get more coupons.

My daughter loves drinking Juicy Juice and so do I. Unfortunately, I find their price to be high sometimes, so I am always on the lookout for moneysaving coupons. You can occasionally find these coupons in the weekend newspaper, but right now there is a coupon available on the Juicy Juice website. I am not sure about the value or how long this coupon will be available, but you can get the process started by clicking here.

You want to look under the “Savings for You,” section. Also, if you look over, you will see that they have freebies available for registering for a free account.

I was searching for moneysaving coupons. At the website for Fiber One, I found a link for a coupon, but it took me to another website. That website is titled Eat Better America. There, I did find a few Fiber One coupons, but there were more.

What did I find?

NOTE: These coupons were listed on January 2, 2009. Their availability and value is subject to change.

Save .60 cents on 2 Green Giant Frozen Boxed Vegetables
Save $1 on 8 Yoplait Yogurt cups
Save $1 on 32oz Yoplait Yogurt
Save .75 cents on Wheaties cereal
Save .75 cents on Total cereal
Save .75 cents on Fiber One cereal
Save $1 on Any Cascadian Farm Product
Save $1 on Any Muir Glen Product
Save $1 on Fiber One Boxed Muffin Mix
Save $1 on a 28.3oz Fiber One Pancake Mix
Save $1 on 2 Cheerios Snack Mix
Save $1 on a 5lb or larger bag of Gold Medal White Wheat Flower

Personally, I am not the best baker. When it comes to meals, I take the simplest approach. It usually involves a meal coming from a box or something you heat from the freezer. I am the same way with desserts. I never make cookies or cakes from scratch; instead, I buy the boxes or the bags. For me, it is cheaper and a lot easier.

Since we are Christmas shopping on a budget this year, I spent a little bit less on gifts for everyone. As an added bonus, my four year old and I are making sugar cookies for everyone. I purchased a couple 4-pack of foil container with the see through tops from the dollar store. These will hold the cookies.

We bought a few Betty Crocker sugar cookie bagged mixes, a couple tubs of frosting, and we already had sprinkles here. Most grocery stores have these Betty Crocker bagged cookies on sale. They are regularly selling for 3 for $5 around here (about $1.67 a bag). That isn’t bad considering they make almost three dozen cookies and are a lot quicker than cooking from scratch.

Right now, you can find a coupon for .75 cents off 1 bag of Betty Crocker cookies. You can find the coupon at either BettyCrocker.com or EverydaySavings.com. If you wish to add frosting and sprinkles, also look for sales and coupons. In fact, the Betty Crocker frosting tubs I purchased yesterday had coupons right on them! Each container had a .50 cents off coupon. It was $1 for each tub of frosting.

Each bag states the cookies make about 3 dozen. We get about 2 dozen because our cookie cutters are kind of big in size. So, for a total of $8.42, I am able to make gifts for 7 different people! Not to mention by daughter and I have a great time.

Christmas is quickly approaching. If you haven’t finished your shopping yet, you may be looking for last minute Christmas shopping deals. Unfortunately, many retailers have already reached the cutoff date for standard shipping guaranteed by Christmas. Some retailers still have their guarantee, but you must order by tomorrow (December 17, 2008) at the latest. Since express shipping can cost a lot, your best bet is to finish your last minute Christmas shopping locally. But, what should you get?

Gift Sets

I was in Wal-Mart tonight and they have a lot of gift sets left. These gift sets usually range in price from $3 to $20. You should have a lot of items to choose from, but the selection will dwindle down as Christmas gets closer. I purchase a hot chocolate gift set with two mugs, and two different holiday candy gift sets.

Gift Certificates

You can’t go wrong with gift certificates. Luckily, you can purchase them right up to Christmas. Tonight, I purchased a few Wal-Mart gift cards. What I like about Wal-Mart and many other retailers are the same way, is that you can purchase other gift cards too. For example, Wal-Mart had iTunes gift cards and much more available for sale.

If you have to do anymore Christmas shopping for your kids this year, I recommend heading over to Amazon.com right now. They have a December Deals section (click on the link to get there). I found it by chance yesterday and I felt like a kid on Christmas. Lol, hopefully my daughter will be as excited. I could not believe the great deals they have.

This is what I purchased:

The Playskool Cherry Blossom Market for $17.99. Unfortunately, it is now listed for sale at $29.99, but that is still a good price considering it sells for $59.99.

The Playskool Cherry Blossom Fruit and Cheese set for $11.97. It is originally priced at $14.99.

The Playskool Rose Petal Table and Chair Dinette for $14.99. It originally sells for $24.99.

The Horton Hears a Who You to the Rescue Game for $5.99. It was originally priced $19.99.

The Hannah Montana Song Doll with Swing for $5.99. It originally sells for $19.99.

The Hannah Montana Malibu House Bedroom and Living Room set for $6.99 each. They both originally sell for $29.99 each.

The Playskool Busy Ball Tivity Center for $6.99. Unfortunately, they just raised the price (within five hours of me buying it) to $8.99, but it is still a good deal considering this toy sells for around $34.99.

These are just a few of the many items you can find on sale right now at Amazon.com. I am not sure how long the sale lasts, but as you can see from my examples, they have slightly raised a few prices within only a few hours. So, you may want to buy right away.

Most of these items do qualify for Free Super Saver shipping. According to their website, you have 4 more days to order before Christmas (today being Sunday December 14, 2008).

If you click on the 50% or 70% off sections from the link below, check the headings. They have boys, girls, and so forth. More items are on sale than what appears on the main sales page.

Happy Shopping!