Unfortunately, the wonderful $10/$20 KMart coupon I posted about on Thursday has turned into a fiasco. I’m so sorry!
Many of you have been frustrated to plan your shopping trip, drive to your store, fill your cart, and go through the checkout line only to be told that the coupon is fraudulent. Some of you have even been treated rudely by store cashiers and managers for attempting to use a coupon which was hosted on their company’s website.
I wanted to set the record straight on the whole “fraudulent coupon” thing since people keep getting accused of this by KMart employees.
Here are the facts:
::KMart released the coupon as a PDF.
::KMart put the coupon on their website.
::KMart made it readily available to be printed as many times as a person wanted.
::KMart stated on the coupon that it was valid everywhere.
Based upon these facts, it is clear the $10/$20 KMart coupon is not fraudulent.
A fraudulent coupon is a fake coupon–something created illegally by a person to look like a real coupon. A truly fraudulent coupon would never be hosted on a company’s website. It would be hosted on a non-company website or sent around the internet via email or distributed through some other unethical means.
I am very, very careful to only post PDF coupons on this blog which I believe 100% are legitimate coupons. They either must have been posted on the company’s website or released directly from the company.
I’m sure KMart never expected the coupon to go viral and I’m glad that they removed it from their website promptly when they realized it was having a much wider reach than they were expecting. But I am very disappointed that it appears dozens upon dozens of their store cashiers, managers, and corporate customer service representatives haven’t a clue what constitutes a “fraudulent coupon”.
It appears like KMart has re-released the $10/$20 coupon stating it is specifically good in a few cities, but I’m hearing so many reports of it being turned down at stores all across the nation and my readers being accused of fraud, that I’m leery to tell anyone to even bother to try to use it–even if you live in one of those cities.
My sincere apologies to you all that a coupon I posted here has caused you frustration and wasted gas, time, and effort.
Is it possible to eat healthfully on a budget? My friend, Catherine, tackled this subject earlier this week. I think you’ll find her points and ideas very inspiring and helpful. Go read her post here.
So now that you know some of the benefits of menu-planning, I thought it’d be helpful to share some suggestions for planning a budget-friendly menu. However, please remember that there is no right or wrong way to plan a menu. These are just suggestions–take what works for your family, and leave the rest!
1) “Shop” Your Cupboards
I always start menu-planning by looking in my freezer, refrigerator, and cupboards. This simple exercise often yields a great deal of inspiration.
Maybe you open up your freezer and find chicken and frozen broccoli and you open up your cupboard and see a bag of rice. Well, you have the beginnings of Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole. Just add cheese and cream of chicken soup to your grocery list (or make your own Homemade Cream Soup) and you have everything you need for one dinner that week.
One great resource for coming up with recipes based upon what you already have on hand is by using the Ingredient Search feature from AllRecipes. Type in the ingredients you have and those you don’t have, and it will pull up a list of recipes you can make.
Two other websites you can consult for recipes based upon ingredients you have on hand are SuperCook and Recipe Matcher.
2) Consult the Sales Fliers
Once you feel like you’re getting the hang of planning your menu based upon what you have on hand, you’re ready to move onto the next level of menu-planning–planning your menu based upon what’s on sale at your local store(s). This is where you really start to see the savings happening!
Most grocery store chains have their weekly sale fliers available online. If not, you will often receive a copy in the mail. Or, you could even pick one up at the store if you’re going to be driving right by it.
When you’re in the middle of planning your menu and grocery list, quickly browse through these sale fliers and see if there are any exceptional deals on things you need or things you will use in the next few months. Most of the time, the hottest deals of the week are listed predominantly in the front page of the flier. Oftentimes, these front-page deals are “loss-leaders”. (“Loss-leaders” are deals which the store is actually breaking even– or losing money on! They are designed to be good enough to “bait” you into shopping at that store.)
Don’t neglect to look through the full flier, though. Sometimes there are great deals which are hidden on the middle pages. However, remember that just because something is listed in the sales flier it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a great deal. Over time, you’ll start learning what are the “rock-bottom” prices for items you buy and how often they go on sale in your area.
3) Survey Your Coupons
Once I’ve gotten a good idea of what I have on hand and what’s on sale at my nearby stores, I pull out my coupon box to match up coupons with the sales and see if I have any other coupons I want to be sure and use (such as high-value coupons or coupons for free items). I put these coupons in a stack and then it’s time to make my menu plan–which we’ll talk about in more detail in the next post in this series.
What are your best tips for menu-planning on a budget? Comment and tell us!
I’m excited! So many of you have asked for me to do a step-by-step tutorial on how to cut your grocery budget. Now that the blog transition is done and I have more time for writing, I’m tackling a big project during the month of March: 31 Days To a Better Grocery Budget.
This series will give 31 tips and ideas for how you can significantly cut your grocery bill without sacrificing quality or quantity. Some of the ideas might be ones you’re already doing, but I hope everyone is able to pick up a few new things to further maximize the mileage of your money at the grocery store.
And March 1-2, 2010 (that’s Monday and Tuesday of next week–believe it or not!), I’ll be hosting another Freezer Cooking Day marathon right here, with FishMama’s help. If you’d like to join in, we’ll have a link-up on Friday (February 26, 2010) for you to share your plan and recipes.
I’ll be sharing details tomorrow on how I make up my Freezer Cooking Day plan on a budget and how you can, too. I plan to share a play-by-play of my cooking day on Monday and then finish up with a Freezer Cooking Day Accomplishments link-up on Tuesday.
There are new UPromise ecoupons available for the month of January–including coupons for $3/1 Huggies Pure & Natural, $2/1 Huggies Little Movers, $1/1 Huggies Snug & Dry, and $1/1 Huggies wipes.
If you're planning on buying diapers this month using the high-value Huggies coupons here, this is a way to make some extra money buying diapers. Go add these UPromise coupons to your account here!
And if you haven't signed up for UPromise yet, be sure to read why you should consider doing so here.
I often receive emails from people asking if I know of a blogger in their area who blogs about local deals. I'm usually not able to take the time to answer all these emails and I often can't keep up with exactly who blogs about what and where. But these emails have made me realize how much of a need there is for a state-by-state frugal blogger directory.
A few weeks ago, I discovered–much to my excitement!–that Bargain Briana had taken on the mammoth task of creating a state-by-state listing of frugal bloggers. Her creative directory, The Frugal Map, just rolled out today and you'll definitely want to stop by and check it out.
The Frugal Map was created to help readers find their perfect blog match. Whether the perfect blog match is by category, store, location, there is a blog out there for your particular style.
At launch, there are 35 bloggers on the map. I would love to get the map filled out as much as possible with bloggers all over the country! If you aren’t included on the map, please read submission guidelines along with the form here. The Frugal Map has some unique features:
Frugal Map Function: Allows users to find a blogger near their location in an interactive map format.
Search Function: Allows users to search multiple blogs across the Frugal Map Network.
Hottest Deal RSS Feed: Gives users the most recent hot deals from the bloggers in the Frugal Map Network.
Specific Store Landing Pages: Allows users a one stop resource for for store deals including blogger store deal links, resources, and FAQ for the particular store.
Specific Blogger Landing Pages: Allows users to read more about their favorite blogs and connect with them via Twitter, Facebook, RSS, and specific store deal links.
Embeddable iFrame: Embed The Frugal Map on your blog as a resource for your readers.
Wondering what coupons will be in Sunday's newspaper inserts? Head over to the Sunday Coupon Preview to get the full scoop on all the coupons which should be in the two coupon inserts coming out.
If you're new to using coupons and are looking for help getting started, be sure to check out my podcasts here and here.
Wondering what coupons will be in Sunday's newspaper inserts? Head over to the Sunday Coupon Preview to get the full scoop on all the coupons which should be in the two coupon inserts coming out.
If you're new to using coupons and are looking for help getting started, be sure to check out my podcasts here and here.
Wondering what coupons will be in Sunday's newspaper inserts? Head over to the Sunday Coupon Preview to get the full scoop on all the coupons which should be in the two coupon inserts coming out.
If you're new to using coupons and are looking for help getting started, be sure to check out my podcasts here and here.
MoneySavingMom.com is an upbeat and encouraging blog dedicated to helping you find great deals, stretch your hard-earned dollars, and live on less than you make so you can save more and give more. I'm glad to have you here!
