Coupons, Groupons, Holiday Inn on The Mid

Do you love getting coupons, Kohl's Cash, and discount cards, or does it make you quake with fear?

I'm writing over at The Mid today, baring my soul about what a failure I am at staying on top of all such things. What about you? Are you able to keep your shizzle together when it comes to discounts and sales?

Here's the article!

Deal or No Deal?

So we're trying to rein in our spending this summer. Fortunately we decided to so this AFTER I'd already committed to going to a pricey little conference in NYC called BlogHer. Too late to back out now!

I thought I'd share some of what we are doing in case any of these ideas will work for you:

Canceled pool membership: Savings: $450. Verdict: good call. Our next door neighbor has a pool and likes us! Downside: I miss the Chipwiches and Nutty Buddies at the snack bar. Up-Up-Up side: No need to wear a bathing suit in front of numerous town residents. Yay!

Canceled trip to Europe: Savings: 8,000. Verdict: Waaaaaaahhhh.

Putting cheap meals in our weekly rotation: Spaghetti (family of four, $3), Turkey Tacos ($6), Black Beans and Rice ($3). Verdict: Yum. Side dishes? Who needs side dishes?

Couponing: Savings: $20-40 per weekly shopping trip. Verdict: I am glad I'm no longer passing up "free money," but you wouldn't want to be behind me in the checkout line!

I have not yet gotten into the whole stockpiling and "moneymakers" things, but I am learning bit by bit. These websites: madamedeals.com , mrsmoneysaver.com help me plan my shopping each week by showing me what the best deals are and telling me which coupons to use.

They showcase other special offers, too. For instance, my family got 4 free tickets to an amusement park just because we own a Chevy! That saved us $200!

These sites have also alerted me to fun freebies like free Slurpees at 7-11 on 7/11, which have helped get the kids excited about saving money.

Freebies: Taking advantage of local freebies such as free bowling, laser tag and movies. Savings: TBD. Verdict: Good, but I'm finding this harder to squeeze fun activities in with my job this summer, unless you count taking the kids to work with me fun. I wouldn't.

I think our yearly Library Coupon Booklet program, which offers tons of freebies, will be an epic failure this summer because I can't get one of my kids to read a darn book.

Using Coupon Codes: Savings: varies. I have started doing an internet search before I buy anything, just in case there is a discount code. Verdict: Big Thumbs up!

Tropicana Juicy Rewards: Savings: $30. Verdict: I don't see a lot on there that I want, but I think our one-time savings at our (very expensive) petting zoo makes it worth putting my codes in the computer. I think this will handy for eating out, too.

Groupon: Savings: $50 so far. Verdict: fun! We purchased $75 worth of wine for $25 and look forward to getting more local deals through the power of group purchasing. My dear friend and reader, Lisa G., gets all her manicures and pedicures through Groupon.

Mouse Poop: $30. Verdict: Gross but useful. When Molly found an object of dubious origin in her can of refried beans, we complained and received coupons for free Old El Paso and Betty Crocker products. When we sent the poop in for analysis, Old El Paso called and said it was likely a wayward bean. Hmmmm.

Hail Damage? Hail Yeah! Savings: $6-11,000. Verdict: Not finished yet, but a freak hailstorm we had in May will probably result in a brand new roof for us! This is good news because having just bought a new HVAC system, spending big bucks on another practical (read: unsexy) project was at the bottom of our list.

When we saw roofing signs springing up in the neighborhood after the hailstorm we thought it wouldn't hurt to have our insurance come out for a look-see. Turns out we qualified! We'll end up paying our deductible (1,000) and for any upgrades we want, but getting a new roof for a few thousand dollars will be a huge help to us. Not that you can plan on a hail storm, but it's worth being aware of what's going on in your neighborhood.

No thrifting: Savings? About $100. Verdict? Mama wants to shop! Even though I save a ridculous amount of money by buying my clothes at thrift stores, I 've realized I have too many clothes. Soooo, I'm gathering donations together, being honest about what doesn't fit (too much ice cream) and trying to decide what I really need before I let myself go back to the store.

Homemade Birthday Cakes: Savings? About $35. Verdict? Yum. For Tom's birthday I made a gorgeous ice cream cake (ice cream sandwiches, 3 flavors of ice cream, crushed Oreos), and for Molly's I used a free cake mix and icing tub (thanks, Mouse Poop!) to the tune of big savings.

Covering my roots at home: Savings? TBD. Verdict? Thumbs up. I don't want to start coloring my own hair because I love what my stylist, Donna, does. But as someone who is almost 100% gray, and not a pretty gray mind you, I've started buying Nice 'N Easy Root Touch Up to stretch my appointments from 6 weeks to about 8. Tom applied it for the first time tonight. Doesn't he look excited about saving money in that picture up top?

Beach Trip Off Season: Savings? $1-2,000. Verdict? No longer loving it. For years we have gone to the beach the very last week of the summer, after most kids have gone back to school, to the tune of BIG SAVINGS. This allows us to go in with another family for a beautiful beach house with a pool and a hot tub.

I think this may be the last summer for this strategy because the kids have activities in late August. I also don't like having all of the school supplies purchased before I even get to put my toes in the sand. What worked GREAT when the kids were preschoolers isn't working as well now.

So I'm wondering, do you have any money saving strategies to share?

Good Intentions

I get excited when my coupons expire and I can throw them away. I went about a decade without clipping coupons at all, saving (and never using) just the occasional carwash one from the Val-U Pak mailer. I just didn’t want to be bothered with them. I know this doesn’t fit with my frugal personality, but I just can’t handle paper overload, particularly little itsy bitsy pieces of paper.

Within the last year I’ve started clipping again, but with the same results. I forget to use the darn things! If they make it out of the house at all, they end up jammed in the bottom of my purse. I get pissed when I’ve just purchased 6 Lean Cuisines and I realize I had a $2.00 off coupon in my purse, or my car, or on the counter at home. Ugh. I know I should get one of those coupon organizer things, but I just don’t have the heart.

I’m afraid that buying one for myself will invalidate the coupon organizer’s status as the absolute worst present every purchased for me by my beloved. If I admit I need a new one, he’ll do a little happy dance and try to convince me, for the umpteenth time, why it was such a great grad school graduation gift.

We were young and madly in love. We bugged people with our googly eyes and PDA, back when PDA meant something other than Personal Digital Assistant. We lived the carefree lives of students. Tom was excited when he gave me the infamous present because he felt it showed how much he knew me. First of all, he knew I liked to save a buck. He supposed the money I made working at Blockbuster and substitute teaching would go a bit farther if I had a dandy way to organize coupons.

Second, the coupon holder in question was covered with an ivy print. This was the early 90’s and I was crazy about ivy. You may wonder why I didn’t run for the hills at this point, but I found it endearing. He tried so hard. Had I known that the next 16 years would contain holidays such as: “The White Turtleneck Christmas,” and the “We Don’t Do Valentine’s Day I-pod,” I might have felt otherwise. Oh well.

Now the economy is tanking. I keep trying to use coupons and failing miserably. They are taking over my house, but I can’t get myself to throw them away before the expiration date, even if I’m pretty resigned to the fact that I won’t be using them. But, boy, when that date comes, I’m psyched! Of course as soon as I purge them from my paper piles, we get the Sunday paper—chock full of more coupons!

I wonder if I take part in this futile ritual of cutting out coupons for the same reason I buy vegetables and salad for my family knowing full well we won't actually eat them. Into the crisper (a.k.a. “the rotter”) they go, until I throw them out two weeks later. At the store I half-way convince myself I’ll cook and serve this fresh, healthy food at some point, but in the end, I go back to my old stand-by: cheese.

Too bad there isn’t some way to get cosmic credit for coupons clipped, vegetables purchased, and encouraging phone calls contemplated.