Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Give Thanks With A Grateful Heart

With Thanksgiving being tomorrow I thought I'd post my list of Thanks.

I'm Thanksful:

1. For a loving Heavenly Father that loves me just because He does. Not by anything I've done or do to deserve it, but just because of His grace. Without Him I would be nothing.

2. For a wonderful husband that's loved me through the good and bad. He held me when we lost our first baby, he doctored me when I was on bedrest with both boys and he opened his heart up to the idea of adoption. He's a wonderful husband, father, friend and provider for his family. He also has a wonderful servants heart for others around him. I couldn't ask for a better hubby and am so grateful for our 14 3/4 years together!

3. For 3 great kids! They teach me life lessons everyday and it's fun to watch them grow and discover the world they live in. I love to see their eyes sparkle when they learn something new. I love how the Lord made all 3 of them different so that I can experience the fullness of Him. I love kissing them goodnite, wiping their noses, wiping their tears, playing games w/them and hearing them laugh. They are my blessings.

4. Shelter, clothing, food, a great school for the kids, a wonderful church family, godly girlfriends, a great neighborhood to live in, wonderful parents, etc. So much to be thankful for!

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Today's Dillon's savings....

Today I bought a tube of Colgate toothpaste, a 4 roll pack of Cottonelle TP and on Kit Kat candy bar for only .26 cents!
I didn't intend on getting the candy bar, but my total was negative so I had to put something with it in order for my coupons to be accepted.

Colgate was on sale for 2.06 I had a .50 ecoupon and 1.50 paper coupon
Cottonelle was on sale for .99 I had a .50 coupon that doubled.

I'm really not sure why my orginal total was -.26, but that's okay. As long as I'm saving money I'm happy!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

DISCOVERING THE ART OF COUPON SHOPPING

My friend Rachel has introduced the idea of "coupon" shopping to me. Yes, I knew coupons existed, I just didn't understand how to use them to the best of my advantage. I went to Dillons yesterday and saved 44% on my grocery bill! I paid $39 for $70 worth of groceries. Without going into too much detail I wanted to share a little of what I've learned this week.
1. Dillons doubles coupons up to $1
2. You can download coupons onto your Dillons card. (who knew?!?!) I explain this below.
3. You can save some major money by using all these coupons when Dillons happens to have the same products on sale. This means you need to do some planning by only shopping for things when they are on sale and you have a coupon(s) for that item.
4. The Kansas City Star newspaper has tons of coupons in it!!! Several savvy couponers suggest that you buy at least two copies so that you have more coupons when certain items are on sale.
5. There's some great sites that teach you how to "coupon shop." The first two sites listed are places where you can print coupons from your computer. The rest are sites that explain coupon shopping in more detail.
Here they are:
http://www.slickdeals.net/
http://www.coupons.com/
http://www.moneysavingmom.com/
http://www.comicalcouponcents.com/
http://www.iheartcvs.com/
http://www.becentsible.com/
http://www.mommystayshome.blogspot.com/ (I really like this site!)
http://www.couponmom.com/ (one of my favorites too)


HAPPY SHOPPING!

Here are 3 sites that I found where you can load coupons onto your Dillons card. These coupons do not double, but can be used along with a paper coupons or coupon you've printed online.

The first site is http://www.shortcuts.com/ just follow the instructions. You'll need your Dillons card w/you so you can enter the number onto the site.

The second is http://www.cellfire.com/ You need to have a cell phone number to activate this one, but you can manage your coupons account from your PC. You also need your Dillons card.

The third is http://www.pgesaver.com/ (thanks Kristin for making this more simple!) You need your Dillons card for this one as well.

I have confirmed with Dillons that at check out you may swipe your card and use a coupon from the newspaper, etc. at the same time for the same product! Woo Hoo!!! I got 4 things FREE at Dillons yesterday by doing this! (EXAMPLE: I had a coupon loaded onto my card for .50 off of toilet paper. I also had a paper coupon for .50 off of toilet paper. The toilet paper was on sale for 1.50. So, with my paper coupon doubling to $1 plus my .50 e-coupon loaded on my card, the TP was FREE!!!

Another site I found today that literally is a tutorial of how to use coupons is:
http://www.ehow.com/
when you get there type in the search engine "how to utilize coupons" and it'll take you to several different articles to teach couponing strategies. This is very beneficial if you're going to do this seriously.

Hope this helps!

~ Heather