Getting creative with coupons

Alright, so I kinda feel bad that I've been doing a bunch of generic posts so far. I have so many fun things on my to-do list that would be fun, and I could include tutorials and how-to pictures....but I just haven't gotten there yet.

Things keep changing-- we're no longer moving to Richmond, but still need to find a different place before a baby comes into the picture. Plus we're worried about possibly needing to find new job for Jeremy so I've been trying to find options just in case... (And, gotta mention, I'm in charge of the Primary program and the time finally came that I had to actually write it. Now just gotta get the actual presentation out of the way...)

So, the moral of the story is, instead of being able to focus on making new fun projects and getting baby-ready, I've been trying to do some ahead-of-time packing and preparing, etc. Not as fun...

But something that I'm loving lately and that I mentioned previously here is the thrill of finding great deals and using coupons! I can't believe how exciting it can be sometimes, and seriously, I feel so creative when I find ways to get stuff for super cheap. It's an art really. :) Despite my currently limited space (that takes creativity too), I've been able to stock up on a lot of essentials.

So for those of you who haven't dipped your feet into the world of coupons, I thought I'd leave a few windows to explore. You can read about my personal methods at the link above, but there's also a lot of resources that find great deals for you.

A great one is Pinching Your Pennies.
They have great info, and their homepage is frequently updated with great deals. You can also look up deals by store with ratings of how great the sales are. The site has extra advantages for Utah shoppers, so check those out. Also, find them on Facebook and great deals show up in your News Feed.

Some great tips for shopping with coupons listed on their site:

• Pick one or two stores to focus on. Don't try to get every deal at every store. You'll get burnt out before you see significant savings.

• If a store ad says, "Spend $25, get $5 back," you can use coupons and have it total less than $25 after coupons.

• Stockpile - buy extra when the price is right so you don't have to pay full price later.
  
  
• Don't buy more than you can use before it expires.
  
  
• Get extra newspapers in order to take advantage of the sale.
  
  
• Be familiar with the coupon policies at various stores.
  
  
• Keep coupons in a binder and always take the binder to the store with you. You never know when you will run into something marked down that you have a coupon for.
  
  
• You can save money even without clipping coupons. Use PYP's shopping lists to find out which sale prices are good and how to use the deals like catalina offers and buy $20 get $5 back, etc.
  
  
• Plan your meals around what is on sale this week and what you've stocked up on from previous weeks.

Just with these, you're pretty much set! But if you want more:

A friend of mine from high school started a blog, I Love A Good Deal, that has a lot of kid-related deals and more that's worth checking out.

Also, search for places to print coupons online. Some stores had issues accepting them at first, but I never have problems anymore.

My go-to is
Coupons.com





Also check out:
Shortcuts.com - automatically loads coupons to your store card at these participating stores
Couponmom.com - another way to stay in touch with great deals
Coupontom.com - here you can search for any item and it will tell you where it's located. Helps eliminate hundreds of cut, unorganized coupons.

Anyway, hope these help. It really is fun and once you get started, doesn't take much time at all. With a little creativity, you'll have all your favorite foods stock piled in no time!

And just for fun, I'm planning on making these treats this weekend cuz J's family's gonna be in town. Don't they look delicious :)