Money Saving Mom®

The following is a guest post by Kimber Daley:

Although I am not normally a Kroger shopper, when I saw the post on MoneySavingMom.com with a link to the amazing General Mills e-coupon (buy 4 boxes, save $6), I knew I had to check out the sale. My husband I ended up running an errand right next to Kroger, so I popped in for a few minutes – and I’m so glad I did!

Here’s what I bought:

3 boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios: $8.97 total ($2.99 each)
3 boxes of Multigrain Cheerios: $8.97 total ($2.99 each)
2 boxes of Kix: $5.98 total ($2.99 each)
2 boxes of fruit snacks: $2.49 each
2 bottles of juice: $4.48 total ($1.99 and $2.49)

Since the cereal and the fruit snacks were participating in the “Buy 5, save $5” promotion and I bought 10, $10 came off at the register. And since the amazing $6 off coupon can be redeemed up to 5 times (WOW) and I bought 8 boxes of cereal, that took off another $12. There was also an e-coupon for $1 off Betty Crocker fruit snacks (also redeemable 5 times) which took off another $2.

To make the deal even sweeter, I joined up for the Old Orchard Fan Club over a year ago, thanks to the recommendation of MoneySavingMom.com. I had earned enough points from surveys to cash in for a free bottle of juice recently, and they also sent me a promotional coupon to try one of their reduced-sugar juices.

I used those coupons today. Unfortunately, the cashier took off $1.99 twice instead of $1.99 and $2.49, but I didn’t notice until I got home. But 50 cents for two bottles of juice is still fabulous!

One quick tip: I started by checking out the smaller boxes of cereal. But I looked at the bottom of the aisle, and found out that the biggest boxes of cereal were on sale for the cheapest price! The huge boxes are normally $5.39, but after the sale and the e-coupon, I paid 49 cents each. It was amazing!

My quick shopping trip ended up costing me $5.40 and I saved $44.48! We are set on cereal for months, and my kids are so excited for the special fruit snack treats in their lunch boxes once school starts up again!

Kimber is a stay-at-home mom living in Texas. She loves playing with her two kids, going on dates with her husband, reading a good book, and shopping for her family (and for Operation Christmas Child)!

Have you gotten a great deal thanks to a tip you’ve found here on MoneySavingMom.com? Take a picture of your deal/purchase and write a short post on the deal details and submit it here. If your submission is chosen to be posted, I’ll send you a $25 Amazon gift card! Note: the more creative, unique, and well-written your post, the more chance it will have of being posted.

After our vacation last week, we had a LOT of laundry to catch up on today.

My initial reaction was to be a little overwhelmed by the mountain of clean clothes, but then I decided to turn it into a fun memory: we popped popcorn, turned on a movie, and had an afternoon Laundry Party.

You know how they always say that Mom’s attitude sets the tone in the home? Well, that was certainly true today!

When I enthusiastically pitched the Laundry Party idea to the kids they were all SO excited about it. In fact, by their reactions, you would have thought I had told them we were all going out for ice cream! 🙂

I think we just might be having some similar parties like this in the not-too-distant future!

For those of you who haven’t heard, I have sad news for you: Dillons announced that they will no longer be doubling coupons beginning August 7, 2013.

Here’s what they wrote on their Facebook page:

In an effort to provide all of our customers with the most value for their dollar, we’re implementing a New Lower Prices program. Effective August 7, we’re reducing prices on thousands of everyday items that you and your family rely on. To make this possible, on August 20, we’re discontinuing our practice of doubling (up to 50 cents and rounding to $1.00) manufacturer coupons in Dillons stores. We will continue to accept manufacturer coupons and other coupons at face value, including digital coupons, e-coupons, Catalina coupons and printable coupons.

We truly believe these changes reflect our efforts in providing the best shopping experience to all of our customers. We hope that you’ll come in and see our new low prices as well as the many other ways to save.
• Downloadable, clip-free coupons daily on www.Dillons.com/digitalcoupons
• Weekly sales and special sales events, such as Mega Event and Cart Busters
• Fuel savings program that offers up to $1 off per gallon when you redeem up to 1,000 fuel points at Dillons Fuel Centers and Kwik Shops
• Loyal customer mailings containing customized coupons
• $4/$10 generic drug pricing (see pharmacy for details)
• Faster checkouts

If you’re feeling really discouraged by this news, I’d highly encourage you to head over to Deal Detecting Diva for a full in-depth analysis of what this means and why it’s not as bad as it seems.

Thanks, Motherhood on a Dime!

We hear a lot of talk about priorities. And it’s with good reason: we need to know what is important in our life so we can make decisions on how to best use our time and resources.

However, what is also equally valuable is to know what’s NOT important. I loved how Kevin DeYoung described these not important things in life as “posteriorities”. Here’s what he said on page 62 of Crazy Busy:

This means, in addition to setting priorities, I must establish posteriorities. This is Drucker’s word for the thing that should be at the end (posterior) of our to-do list. These are the things we decide not to do for the sake of doing the things we ought to do. Making goals is not enough. We must decide what tasks and troubles we will not tackle at all. -page 62 from Crazy Busy by Kevin DeYoung

Are you spending time and energy on things that aren’t really priorities? If so, what can you do to make them posteriorities in your life?

One thing that helps me tremendously is to set yearly goals, monthly goals, and weekly goals. These help me to stay focused on chipping away at things that are important to me or taking slow and gradual babysteps in the direction of where I want to go.

I also find it so helpful to make out a loose schedule for each day with time blocks for each hour of the day as opposed to just making a to-do list. Maybe it’s just the Type A in me, but I have a tendency to create impossibly-long to-do lists. These just set me up for failure since there’s no way I can cram 32 hours’ worth of work in a 24-hour day.

Instead of writing a long to-do list, I’ve found it’s much more productive to make a loose schedule with time blocks at the beginning of each day. Instead of trying to fit my long to-do list into only 24 hours, I start with 24 hours, deduct 8 hours for sleep and 2 hours for margin time, and then schedule the rest of my day within the remaining 14 hours of time blocks.

When I start with only 14 hours — and that’s all I have to work with — I have to be a lot more careful what I plan and commit to.

Here are three questions I ask myself when thinking through tasks on my mental to-do list and writing out my time blocks for the day:

1. Does this task have to be done at all?

Many times, I realize that a task I had on my mental list isn’t a priority at all — just something was feeling obligated to do or thought would be nice to do?

2. If the answer is “yes”, then does this have to be done today?

I’m not trying to encourage procrastination here, but a realistic view of what is a priority for today. If something needs to be done but doesn’t have to be done today, I’ll usually add it to my Google calendar for a later date. That way, I’ve assigned it to a day and don’t have to worry about it until it shows up on the calendar again.

3. If the answer to the above question is “yes”, then can someone else do this task?

There are many tasks that must be done, but that I don’t necessarily have to do myself. These can be assigned as a paid chore to one of my children or delegated to one of my team members.

These three questions help me to streamline and pare down my to-do list and stick with the most important things on my time block schedule for the day. And you know what I love best about pre-planning my day within the 14-hour time block parameters? It helps me to start the day not feeling overwhelmed because I know that everything I’ve planned to do that day actually fits into my day — with room to spare!

What are some things you need to put on your posterities list? If you are still trying to fit them into your life, today is a good day to shelf, trash, or delegate them.

photo credit; photo credit

Shopping trip post submitted by Johanna:

I wanted to share some freebies I was able to pick up this week at Kroger and Walmart. I was hoping for some more freebies to add to this list, but not everything works out the way you plan, even when you plan well. But all-in-all, I am still very pleased of my results. 🙂

KROGER
Colgate Toothpaste – $0.99 Used free digital coupon from Kroger – no longer available
Clear Shampoo for Men’s $5.99 – Used free digital coupon from Kroger – no longer available
Enfagrow Toddler Milk (4 pack) $5.99 – Used $7.00 coupon from mail (received $1.01 overage)
Huggies Wipes $1.99 – Used $0.50 from coupons.com
Total was $0.48 for products + tax.

WALMART
2 Reach Floss $0.97 each – Used 2 $1/1 coupons from coupons.com
Cascade Complete Dishwasher Detergent (64 Pack) $12.97 – Used free coupon mailed to me
Total was $0.00 for products, I only had to pay tax.

One of the tips I have learned from couponing and any manufacturer satisfaction through the years is that if you do not like a product, give the manufacturer a call. I was happily surprised after I called Cascade and let them know that the ‘Basic’ dishwasher detergent did not work well, they made my dishes look worse than before.

She asked me some questions and then let me know she would mail a coupon to me within the week. I was happy enough, then even happier when the coupon came and there was no cash limit written out. The coupon stated 1 free product of Cascade Detergent.

So, my tip to any savvy couponer: call and let the manufacturer know if there is a problem with the product, you never know if they will give you your money back or even better a free coupon. So, I was able to get the biggest bang for my freebie buck!! -Johanna

Have you gotten a great deal thanks to a tip you’ve found here on MoneySavingMom.com? Take a picture of your deal/purchase and write a short post on the deal details and submit it here. If your submission is chosen to be posted, I’ll send you a $25 Amazon gift card! Note: the more creative, unique, and well-written your post, the more chance it will have of being posted.