Mom Tips: Gas and Grocery Savings in Hard Times
Good grief!Gas prices are getting out of hand.$4.07 a gallon?? My minivan holds 20 gallons, so $81.40 to fill it up?!!OUCHY WAH WAH!!
On top of these big ole honkin gas prices - the grocery bill is really increasing too!
My bill has gone up at least $20 a week. That’s another $80 extra a month in expenditures. So much for increasing my retirement savings this year.
Sorry kids….your college education money went to feed you and drive you around!
Most work at home moms are already feeling the squeeze as business sales and website traffic come to the normal summer slow - but with disposable incomes shrinking….profits are shrinking to an all time low too.
How do we stretch our dollars? And I mean REALLY stretch them….like body-hugging-Spanx s-t-r-e-t-c-h it?!
Well…I for one am going to give the coupon thing a real go.
I’ve never taken coupons very seriously. Even after reading articles about women that have bought $150 in groceries for $5 using coupons. I just couldn’t get hyped up or inspired to give it a try.
No longer. I HAVE to give it a serious try or it’s going to be hot dogs for dinner every night and bicycles for transportation!
Where to start?
Coupons - of course, come in the Sunday paper. I will begin there this weekend. I know there are double coupon days at my store too. (Ingles) So - I need to find out when double coupon day is and make sure that’s the day I shop. A flier comes in my newspaper once a week for my grocery store too - so I should actually study this flier and see if it could save me some money on things I normally purchase.
Important Note: I refuse to use coupons for crap I do not even normally buy. Just because you can buy one box of Little Debbie Cakes for $1 and get another box free - does not make this a good deal for me. I don’t buy Little Debbie Cakes anyway??? So why even spend the $1?!
So - now I am armed with my Sunday paper coupons, the weekly sales flier and double coupon day. A good start.
Where else can you get decent coupons? ONLINE!Really!
From what I have found out from conversations with other moms online, Cool Savings is a great place to snag some coupons. Everything from diapers and paper towels to pet foods and butter! So, I have now gone to Cool Savings and signed up. Wow - right off the bat, found a coupon for the coffee I buy and spaghetti sauce! They’ve been around forever - and have a good reputation.
This isn’t so hard. Why was I so resistant? Geeesh - think of all the money I would have saved over the years.
OK - now the next thing I stumbled upon is amazing. From this site alone, I will save$7.90 off my grocery bill this week. You sign up, type in your zip code and viola! I found coupons for cereal, granola bars, juice and even the sunscreen I use on my face EVERY day! This service is free, easy to use and kinda fun. Check out Coupon Bar for yourself!
Now - most grocery stores now have little savings cards. I know where I shop does. The little Ingles Advantage card is something I use every week without much thought. And I’ve seen as much as a $7+ savings just letting the cashier scan my little card that I keep on my key chain. So, if your store offers this - DO IT! It’s free. If your store doesn’t - try and find another store that does.
Along with this little “Ingles Advantage” card, Ingles also offers .3 cents off every gallon of gas purchased at their pumps using an Ingles gift card. This will save me .60 each time I fill up, so $2.40 a month. That’s $28.80 a year for just average weekly gas purchases.
But - what about some real savings on gas?My husband and I decided to get real aggressive and we went for a new credit card. A credit card?? WHAT?? Racking up debt?NOPE.We shopped around for a credit card that offered CASH BACK on gasoline purchases. We wanted to earn a rebate on all the gas we buy and we wanted to be able to earn this rebate using ANY gas station. Guess what - we found a credit card that met our criteria.
The Chase PerfectCard - Unlike other gas credit cards that require a cardholder to use their card at specific gas stations, this card allows cardholders to earn a 3% rebate on gasoline purchased at any gas station. In addition, a 6% rebate is applied to all gasoline purchases made with the card during the first 90 days. The maximum rebate that cardholders can earn for gas purchases is $15 per month. Cardholders also earn a 1% rebate on all other purchases, which is unlimited.
Because my husband and I are spending around $400+ a month in gas right now (Yep….his car is $53.38 to fill up right now and it’s a little Honda CR-V!!! My minivan, like I said is $81.40 to fill up! I don’t know how long we can keep that up!!!!) BUT….with this Chase PerfectCard, we will get a monthly gas rebate of about $12.13 or more! That savings, along with the .03 cents a gallon savings with the Ingles gift card puts our savings at $13.24 - $15.00!
I know you’re thinking….who gives a crap about $13.24 in gas savings a month?? Geeesh.
I DO!! That’s $158.88 a year that stays in our pockets.
That gas savings of $158.88 a year - along with my grocery store coupon savings and smart shopping - I figure we’re looking at a savings of almost $900 a year! And in my life, $900 is HUGE!
If we decide to use our Chase PerfectCard for grocery purchases (paying off those charges each month!!), we would average over $50 in additional savings per year with their 1% cash back rewards on all other purchases.
So we’re now up to almost $1000 in savings a year. $1000 BUCKS!
My advice - take the time to clip those coupons or print them out online if you aren’t already doing so. Study your grocery store flier. Snag a store savings card - MANY stores have them. Ask around about “cents off” gas purchases programs like Ingles offers.
If your credit is decent, try and grab a Chase PerfectCard, or look for a similar card that offers the rewards that best suit your situation. This card should be used to SAVE you money, not rack up debt you can’t pay off. NO NO NO!
The savings are there for the smart, savvy mom that REALLY wants to slash her monthly expenses.
It pays off.
With the $1000 a year I’m going to save…..maybe my kids WILL get some of their college paid for after all! And maybe my husband and I will have a decent retirement too.
And to me….that’s worth every PENNY of savings.
Good grief!Gas prices are getting out of hand.$4.07 a gallon?? My minivan holds 20 gallons, so $81.40 to fill it up?!!OUCHY WAH WAH!!
On top of these big ole honkin gas prices - the grocery bill is really increasing too!
My bill has gone up at least $20 a week. That’s another $80 extra a month in expenditures. So much for increasing my retirement savings this year.
Sorry kids….your college education money went to feed you and drive you around!
Most work at home moms are already feeling the squeeze as business sales and website traffic come to the normal summer slow - but with disposable incomes shrinking….profits are shrinking to an all time low too.
How do we stretch our dollars? And I mean REALLY stretch them….like body-hugging-Spanx s-t-r-e-t-c-h it?!
Well…I for one am going to give the coupon thing a real go.
I’ve never taken coupons very seriously. Even after reading articles about women that have bought $150 in groceries for $5 using coupons. I just couldn’t get hyped up or inspired to give it a try.
No longer. I HAVE to give it a serious try or it’s going to be hot dogs for dinner every night and bicycles for transportation!
Where to start?
Coupons - of course, come in the Sunday paper. I will begin there this weekend. I know there are double coupon days at my store too. (Ingles) So - I need to find out when double coupon day is and make sure that’s the day I shop. A flier comes in my newspaper once a week for my grocery store too - so I should actually study this flier and see if it could save me some money on things I normally purchase.
Important Note: I refuse to use coupons for crap I do not even normally buy. Just because you can buy one box of Little Debbie Cakes for $1 and get another box free - does not make this a good deal for me. I don’t buy Little Debbie Cakes anyway??? So why even spend the $1?!
So - now I am armed with my Sunday paper coupons, the weekly sales flier and double coupon day. A good start.
Where else can you get decent coupons? ONLINE!Really!
From what I have found out from conversations with other moms online, Cool Savings is a great place to snag some coupons. Everything from diapers and paper towels to pet foods and butter! So, I have now gone to Cool Savings and signed up. Wow - right off the bat, found a coupon for the coffee I buy and spaghetti sauce! They’ve been around forever - and have a good reputation.
This isn’t so hard. Why was I so resistant? Geeesh - think of all the money I would have saved over the years.
OK - now the next thing I stumbled upon is amazing. From this site alone, I will save$7.90 off my grocery bill this week. You sign up, type in your zip code and viola! I found coupons for cereal, granola bars, juice and even the sunscreen I use on my face EVERY day! This service is free, easy to use and kinda fun. Check out Coupon Bar for yourself!
Now - most grocery stores now have little savings cards. I know where I shop does. The little Ingles Advantage card is something I use every week without much thought. And I’ve seen as much as a $7+ savings just letting the cashier scan my little card that I keep on my key chain. So, if your store offers this - DO IT! It’s free. If your store doesn’t - try and find another store that does.
Along with this little “Ingles Advantage” card, Ingles also offers .3 cents off every gallon of gas purchased at their pumps using an Ingles gift card. This will save me .60 each time I fill up, so $2.40 a month. That’s $28.80 a year for just average weekly gas purchases.
But - what about some real savings on gas?My husband and I decided to get real aggressive and we went for a new credit card. A credit card?? WHAT?? Racking up debt?NOPE.We shopped around for a credit card that offered CASH BACK on gasoline purchases. We wanted to earn a rebate on all the gas we buy and we wanted to be able to earn this rebate using ANY gas station. Guess what - we found a credit card that met our criteria.
The Chase PerfectCard - Unlike other gas credit cards that require a cardholder to use their card at specific gas stations, this card allows cardholders to earn a 3% rebate on gasoline purchased at any gas station. In addition, a 6% rebate is applied to all gasoline purchases made with the card during the first 90 days. The maximum rebate that cardholders can earn for gas purchases is $15 per month. Cardholders also earn a 1% rebate on all other purchases, which is unlimited.
Because my husband and I are spending around $400+ a month in gas right now (Yep….his car is $53.38 to fill up right now and it’s a little Honda CR-V!!! My minivan, like I said is $81.40 to fill up! I don’t know how long we can keep that up!!!!) BUT….with this Chase PerfectCard, we will get a monthly gas rebate of about $12.13 or more! That savings, along with the .03 cents a gallon savings with the Ingles gift card puts our savings at $13.24 - $15.00!
I know you’re thinking….who gives a crap about $13.24 in gas savings a month?? Geeesh.
I DO!! That’s $158.88 a year that stays in our pockets.
That gas savings of $158.88 a year - along with my grocery store coupon savings and smart shopping - I figure we’re looking at a savings of almost $900 a year! And in my life, $900 is HUGE!
If we decide to use our Chase PerfectCard for grocery purchases (paying off those charges each month!!), we would average over $50 in additional savings per year with their 1% cash back rewards on all other purchases.
So we’re now up to almost $1000 in savings a year. $1000 BUCKS!
My advice - take the time to clip those coupons or print them out online if you aren’t already doing so. Study your grocery store flier. Snag a store savings card - MANY stores have them. Ask around about “cents off” gas purchases programs like Ingles offers.
If your credit is decent, try and grab a Chase PerfectCard, or look for a similar card that offers the rewards that best suit your situation. This card should be used to SAVE you money, not rack up debt you can’t pay off. NO NO NO!
The savings are there for the smart, savvy mom that REALLY wants to slash her monthly expenses.
It pays off.
With the $1000 a year I’m going to save…..maybe my kids WILL get some of their college paid for after all! And maybe my husband and I will have a decent retirement too.
And to me….that’s worth every PENNY of savings.
