Buying in Bulk on a Budget

I always give myself some slack in the healthful eating department at the end of my pregnancies and after a baby is born. I know some of you can pull off six-course, from-scratch breakfasts, lunches, and dinners when you have a newborn or are 10 months pregnant, but I'm just not that ambitious.

So for the past few months, we've stuck to pretty simple meals and had more convenience foods than usual. We've haven't gone over-budget and we've not been living on total junk food by any means, but there's been a lot more white flour, sugar, and processed foods consumed in our home than normal.

Now that life has settled down a bit more and we're more adjusted to homeschooling and having three little ones, we're working on getting back to more healthful eating around here. We're slowly using up the extra processed foods we've accumulated and going back to cooking and baking from scratch.

One of the things I'm especially ready to add back in again is using freshly-ground whole wheat flour. However, my dilemma has been how to afford buying wheat kernels.

When we were living in Kansas City, I was purchasing wheat kernels for around $0.69 per pound at Whole Foods. Now that we've moved and no longer have a Whole Foods store nearby, though, I've been on a search for a new and inexpensive source of wheat kernels. The health food stores here allow you to purchase small quantities of wheat kernels, but they are over $1.50 per pound--which adds up really quickly when you bake as much as I do!

I found that buying wheat kernels in bulk was going to save me a large amount of money but my only problem was that buying in bulk meant I'd also have to pay a larger amount of money upfront. I thought about just using some extra non-grocery money to buy a big bag of wheat kernels, but then I decided to challenge myself to see if I could set aside a little bit from our $40 per week grocery budget and, over time, save up enough to be able to afford this bulk purchase.

By staying under-budget and mostly skipping shopping one week, I was surprised to find I had enough leftover after only one month of saving to purchase a 50-pound bag of wheat kernels last week!

I was planning to make a trip to a nearby town which has a bulk foods store to pick these up, but my older sister lives near an Amish Bulk Foods Store which has incredible prices so she offered to buy some for me and bring it with her when she came down for our little sister's wedding last week.

In addition to the wheat kernels, she also picked up a big bag of wheat germ and wheat bran for me--two items which were much less expensive at the Amish Bulk Foods Store than they are at the grocery stores here.

Altogether, the total for all of those items was only $30! I'm guessing the wheat kernels will last me close to a year and the wheat bran and wheat germ should last me at least a few months.

I was so excited to be able to find a way to creatively afford a bulk purchase like this without going over our $40/week grocery budget. And now the wheels are turning in my brain and I'm contemplating saving up for some other bulk purchases.

Since I'm new to buying in bulk, I'd love to have input from those of you who are more experienced at this. What items do you routinely find are better deals to purchase in bulk? Are there any websites or companies you would recommend for bulk purchases?

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Edit: For those of you who have asked, I have this grain mill. My dad bought it for me for Christmas two years ago. I usually grind up about 5 pounds of wheat kernels at a time and use what I can immediately and store the rest in the freezer until I use it. If you do this, it helps preserve the nutrients in the flour.

I usually use straight whole-wheat flour in much of my baking and at least half whole-wheat and half white flour in most of the rest of my baking. Here's our favorite Whole Wheat Bread recipe and here's our favorite Whole Wheat Waffle recipe. I hope to share more of our favorite whole wheat recipes soon.

Do you price-match?

As most of you know, Wal-Mart has a policy to "price-match" any competitor's store prices. I'm hearing reports that Target ads had a notice in them yesterday (see pages 2 and 3) saying that Target will now also be price-matching (we don't get the Sunday paper so I haven't been able to double-check on this myself yet). Hooray for more options!

I personally do not price-match at Wal-Mart for a variety of reasons--the biggest of which is that I find my local grocery stores usually have much better markdowns than Wal-Mart does. In addition, they also double coupons and run catalina offers, neither of which Wal-Mart does.

Do you find price-matching at Wal-Mart (and now Target) to be beneficial or money-saving? Why or why not?

Ask the Readers: Best deal on an mp3 player?

I'm wondering how to find the best deal on a good mp3 player. Are there any great deal-comparing sites, coupon codes, or sales I should know about? Also, I'm interested in thoughts on brands, styles, and models? What do people have and what do they like and dislike? -Linnea

Personally, I'm not a bells and whistles kind of gal (bet you could've guessed that!) nor am I a techno-geek, so I have an Apple iPod Shuffle 1 GB. I love it and use it every morning when I work out. It works great for exercising since it's so lightweight and can just clip onto your clothing.

However, the iPod Shuffle has very little memory (or is it called "space" or something else? See, I'm no techno-geek!) compared to other mp3 players and absolutely no bells and whistles. But it serves the purpose I use it for perfectly so I'm happy as a lark with it. Oh, and I got a really great deal on mine--I earned it free through Swagbucks (thanks to extra points earned from some of you signing up with my referral code on the sidebar!). Otherwise, I'd likely still be living in the "Dark Ages" and using a CD player or radio when I work out! :)

For those of you who have mp3 players or ideas for where to purchase them inexpensively, I'd love to hear your input. I'm sure Linnea's not the only one who could benefit from it!

The Buy Ahead Principle: One of my biggest grocery saving secrets

Allison left the following comment on my picture of this week's $30 shopping trip:

I've enjoyed reading this blog the past month or so since I've discovered it, and you've really helped me snag some good deals. And I think it's neat when you come home from the store with a pile of groceries for only a few dollars.

But every time I see the picture of your groceries, I wonder something like, "What is she going to cook for dinner with easy mac, salad dressing, and jello?"

Is this all the grocery shopping you do? Do you have a garden? Or raise your own beef? How do you round out your bargain purchases to get a meal on the table?

One of my biggest secrets for grocery saving success is that I practice the Buy Ahead Principle. What's that, you ask?

Well, basically, other than dairy products and produce, I aim to never pay full price for anything. Instead, I stock up when an item is on sale to tide me over until the next sale. 

For instance, in this shopping trip picture, you'll see that I mainly stocked up on cereal. In fact, I bought 16 boxes of cereal--enough to last us for at least 6 weeks, likely longer. Did we only eat cereal that week? No way! We ate a few boxes of cereal that week and the rest of what we ate mostly came from items I'd stocked up on during previous sales.

You see, because I stock up on items when they are on sale at my target price (providing I can afford it in our budget), my grocery shopping trips will usually look quite strange and will certainly not be the basis for a balanced menu. But you can check out some of our menus here to see that we do eat a fairly balanced diet. Well, at least we're certainly not subsisting on Easy Mac and Jell-O every meal!

How is it that we can eat a fairly balanced diet when I buy such an odd assortment of groceries each week? It's because the bulk of our meals are based upon what we already have in our refrigerator, pantry, and freezer.

To give you an idea of how this works, here's a rundown of our menu this week:

Breakfasts: Cereal or Kashi waffles and fruit (The cereal was from our big stock-up mentioned above, the waffles were purchased two weeks ago at Target for $0.29/box, and the fruit is from what we purchased this week and leftovers from last week.)

Lunches: Sandwiches or leftovers and carrots or fruit (I had lots of bread in the freezer I'd gotten for $0.50/loaf from Aldi last month and the peanut butter was from our pantry. My mom also gave us some extra lunch meat she had leftover from a lunch they served so we've used that, too. The carrots and fruit were purchased this week or leftover from last week's purchases.)

Dinners: We're eating meals from our After-The-Baby Freezer Stash paired with homemade bread from the freezer and frozen veggies from the freezer. All of the items in our After-The-Baby Freezer Stash were purchased within our usual grocery budget over the course of a few weeks' time as I had a little extra wiggle room in the budget or items were on sale.

Snacks: Fruit, cheese, crackers, granola bars, yogurt (The fruit, cheese, crackers, and yogurt were all purchased this week. The granola bars were from the pantry.)

When I plan the menu for the week, I first check out what we already have on hand. This gives me the inspiration for the majority of the menu. I then consult the sales fliers and my coupon box to decide what items are on sale and in-budget that I want (or need) to stock up on. I also add in any specific ingredients I need to round out a recipe or meal I've planned from the freezer and pantry ingredients.

For many people who are used to buying only what groceries you'll use in the next week, the concept of buying ahead can be mind-boggling. However, I highly recommend you at least give it a try as it can save you a great deal of money. In fact, I would estimate that we routinely save at least $30-$50 each week by doing so.

If this is a new concept for you, don't go out and spend $500 tomorrow trying to build up a stockpile. Instead, just designate a small percentage of your grocery budget each week to buying extra of those heavily-discounted items which you know you will use sometime in the next few months.

Slowly start to build up a stockpile of items you regularly use as you find them discounted by 50% or more with a sale and coupon. Over time, your stockpile will grow until you come to a point where you can begin to pretty much only buy items which are at rock-bottom prices, in addition to produce and perishable items.

Just by adopting the Buy Ahead Principle, you will see a significant savings in your grocery bill. And you'll likely be shopping less and eating better than ever before!

Ask the Readers: Printing coupons inexpensively?

With all the great printable coupons which have been available recently, I thought it would be great to post this question that Andrea recently emailed and asked:

I am new to printing internet coupons and it has taken a toll on my printer cartridges. Where have you found/heard to be the cheapest place to buy/refill them? -Andrea

I'd love to hear your best money-saving suggestions and ideas for printing coupons (and everything else!) inexpensively.

Reader Tip: Save Money by Buying "Scratch and Dent" Appliances

Melissa, from The Inspired Room (a blog dedicated to sharing inspiration for creating a beautiful life and home on a budget), recently wrote and shared this tip with me:

If you have ever thought about updating a kitchen, you know the price tag of new appliances could stop you in your tracks. But did you know there is a way to get a brand new appliance for as much as half of the retail price?

When I remodeled my kitchen a few years ago, I was pinching every penny. I wanted all new appliances in addition to some cabinetry, so the remodeling bill was adding up fast. As I wandered through the maze of options at a local appliance store, I ended up in the back room where I discovered a great selection of "scratched and dented" refrigerators.

Imagine my glee when I found the exact stainless steel bottom drawer freezer model I was looking for at one-half of the retail price! The refrigerator was brand new and came with a full warranty. The small ding near the bottom of the freezer drawer was barely noticeable. And the reality is, we put our own dent in the refrigerator a few months later.

Being willing to accept that small imperfection saved me around $700! If you want to get the most bang for your buck in a kitchen remodel, it definitely pays to shop around for discounted appliances.

Ask the Readers: Saving money on formula?

We've talked about a lot of different things recently related to Having a Baby Without Breaking the Bank. As many of you know, I'm a big proponent of breast-feeding and believe that in most cases, with the right support and determination, most moms are able to breastfeed.

That said, I know there are cases where breastfeeding is not possible--such as when there are medical or physical conditions hindering a mom's ability to breastfeed or when you are adoptive parents, etc. And in those cases, buying formula can quickly become very expensive.

Sariah recently emailed me her predicament and I wanted to post her question for discussion since I know she's not the only one who is struggling or has struggled with this:

I'm about to give birth to our fourth child. For reasons that are too long to get into here, I can't breastfeed my kids. The last three children have required a gentle formula for digestive issues, and I've been very brand loyal to Enfamil. It's scary to me to consider switching to another brand, but Enfamil is so expensive.

Do anyone of your readers have ideas on how to get name brand formula at a discount or input as to whether any of the generic brands (such as Wal-Mart or Target) are comparable to the name brands? -Sariah

If you have suggestions or input for Sariah, I'd love to have you take a moment to comment.

Note: As I do my best to keep this blog upbeat and free from debate and I understand that the topic of breastfeeding vs. formula feeding can (sadly) quickly become a very divisive issue, I would like to kindly ask that all comments be kept to the questions at hand. Thanks so much!

Ask the Readers: Health Insurance

I am wondering if you or any of your readers have any advice about health insurance. My husband’s company does provide our health insurance--at least, they obtain it and then put a certain amount towards the premium each year and we pay the difference (it is an HMO policy--optical insurance and dental insurance are not offered).

The premium went up last year, and my husband was just informed that it may increase again this year--by between 20-60%. We are beginning to research alternate forms of insurance for our family. Do you have any experience with Samaritan Ministries?  We contemplated using them last year, however, my husband was concerned (and still is) about what would happen if we should have a major medical expense arise (such as a major surgery or cancer diagnosis). -Wendi

We personally have private health insurance through Humana (PPO-HSA). We shopped around quite a bit to find a policy which not only had an affordable monthly rate for a family plan (we pay $347/month) but which had the kind of coverage we were wanting.

Since we have a fully-funded emergency fund, we are able to have a higher deductible which, in turn, allows our monthly rates to be lower. Currently, under our plan, we have a $5000 deductible per year and 100% coverage above that. For me, I like the assurance of knowing that were we to have a major medical expense, we would be covered.

We've seriously looked into Samaritan Ministries and other such insurance alternatives but found we felt our current insurance plan was better suited for our family's needs.

I would recommend knowing what is important to you and your family in an insurance plan, knowing what you can afford as far as a monthly payment and a deductible, and then taking some time to really shop around and see what various plans and options are out there.

I'd love to hear from the rest of you on health insurance. What do you have? What kind of rates do you pay? And do you have any suggestions or input for Wendi and her family?

Ask the Readers: Saving money on tax preparation

As the end of January nears, my husband gets in a tizzy to get our taxes done so he can plan ahead. In the past I have bought Turbo Tax every year to do our taxes. After reading your blog for almost a year now, I got to thinking that there must be some form of less expensive tax preparation software. I hate to drop $50 on Turbo Tax!  It’s a wonderful program, but very pricey!  We make more than $50,000/year so we don't qualify for the free programs that out there. Does anyone have a suggestion for a less-expensive solution than $50 for Turbo Tax? -Amy

Great question, Amy! Since my husband is an attorney and my dad is a CPA, we've never had to pay for tax preparation as they work together on getting our taxes filed. However, I know most people aren't in the same position as us so I'd love to hear what you all do as far as tax preparation goes. Any ideas for Amy and her husband to save money on their tax preparation?

Ask the Readers: Deals on TV adapters

Do you know anything about deals on those TV adapter boxes the government is issuing $40 coupons on? I can't figure out where to buy one or what a good price might be. I know I can't be the only Money Saving Mom reader who doesn't have cable! -Catherine

Since we have a digital TV, I've not even looked into what a good deal on a TV adapter box might be. Anyone out there know or want to share hints or suggestions for those who are looking to buy one right now before all television switches over to digital service?

Guest Post: Saving Time and Money With Amazon.com

Guest Post by Davonne Parks, executive editor of Pierce My Heart

With the holidays approaching, many of us are trying to figure out how to purchase nice gifts on a limited budget. While there are many ways to do this, I have personally found that Amazon.com is a great place to save time and money.

Why Amazon.com?

I have yet to search for an item on Amazon.com which I wasn't able to find. I've purchased books, bikes, a projector screen, and much more from Amazon.com for a fraction of the price I've found in stores.

The items we purchase most from Amazon.com are books. I'll regularly see a book at a book store for $20, then go home and search for it on Amazon.com, and find the same exact thing, brand new, for $6 including shipping. This is a great way to make the most out of every dollar when purchasing gifts for other people!

Start By Choosing An Item

Do a simple search on Amazon.com for the item you desire. After searching, you will probably find several versions of the same item. The easiest way to go through these is to right click on the item you’re interested in, then left click on “open link in new tab.” This will open the desired link in a new tab without moving you from the page you were already on, so that you can continue opening the other items in a new tab too.

When choosing between similar items, you will want to take special note of the price, product description, and costumer reviews. Then you can easily go through each tab, one by one, and X out of the items you decide against, thus eventually narrowing it down to your final choice.

Amazon.com vs. An Individual Seller

Once you find your desired item, you will need to choose between purchasing the item from Amazon.com itself and purchasing from an individual seller who is listed on Amazon.com.

Many items sold by Amazon.com have free shipping on orders of $25 or more (Super Saver Shipping). I usually have a list in mind when I purchase from Amazon.com and I wait to purchase until I have a $25 order so I can take advantage of the free shipping, since that's generally a little cheaper than the seller price after adding the seller's shipping charges.

If you do choose to buy from a seller, there are a few ways to ensure a positive transaction. Click on “new” or “used” to the right of the product image and browse those selections. They're usually listed from cheapest to most expensive for buyer ease.

Some things to notice are the shipping rates (listed directly below the item cost), and the seller's information. Their basic information is listed to the right of the item price.

It's important to look at how many sales they've had and their percentage of positive responses. A rating, or response, is what the costumer gives after receiving his/her product (this is similar to the eBay system). I generally only buy items from sellers who have had several hundred transactions, and at least 98% positive feedback.

You can click on “positive” underneath the seller's name and read the reviews. This will allow you to see why they received any negative responses, and you can decide if it's worth buying from that particular seller.

Making The Purchase

Once you've selected an item to purchase, click on “add to cart.” From there, you can continue shopping (repeat above steps) or click on “proceed to checkout.”

Amazon.com will then guide you through the steps of creating an account and completing your order. After you enter your information once, Amazon.com saves it for future use, so after the first transaction the checkout process will be much faster. (For a list of accepted payment methods, go here.). You can also set up one-step checkout at this time, which will save time in the future by setting a default address and payment method that will automatically appear the next time you place an order.

Additional Helps

The Movers and Shakers page on Amazon.com lists items that have been selling much faster than normal, which usually means they're having huge sales on those items. For more tips on maximizing your savings on Amazon, check out this post by Pro Bargain Hunter.

Amazon.com has great deals for every taste and budget, so learn to maximize your savings by shopping online, and you just might find you'll rarely have to fight the crowds at the mall again!

Davonne is the executive editor of Pierce My Heart, an online Christian magazine for young women. December’s Pierce My Heart theme is on giving. She also helps run her husband’s computer business while her daughter is in morning pre-school, and she is learning how to coupon and CVS efficiently.

Guest Post: Teaching on a Budget

Guest Post by Misty from HomeschoolBytes.com

I'm a homeschool mom to five kids, ages 8 and under. In some minds, that makes me either crazy or heroic, but I do have an interesting household most days. See:

Buying school supplies for a large family means I'm always on the lookout for a good deal. And there are plenty to be had if you know where to look. Here are some of my favorites:

Educational Software

Did you know you qualify to purchase the education version of most mainstream software packages if you are a college student, a teacher, a homeschool parent, or on behalf of your child grade K through 12?  Yes, all you have to do is have a child in school to qualify! 

And these are full working versions of the software for a fraction of the cost. You do need to read the education qualifications for the specific software to verify before purchasing, but usually it just requires an education ID of some sort. A report card or one of the free IDS many children get now from the portrait companies at the beginning of the year works fine. (Homeschoolers, you can get a free eligibility letter from Homeschool Buyers Co-op.)

For example, you can get the latest Microsoft Office Pro for $119.95 on The Academic Superstore, a discount of 70% off the same program sold for $395.99 on Amazon. (If you decide to buy from The Academic Superstore, join Coupon Cactus first and get an extra 1.5% rebate. See this post for more information.)

The only downside is when an upgrade comes along you can't get the discounted upgrade price since you don't own a 'Full Version'. In the past, however, I've found that buying the educational version each time is still cheaper than a full version followed by the discounted upgrades.

Educational Internet Deals

1. Freebie of the Day--This is a great site with a free homeschooling resource you can download each weekday.
2. CurrClick--They sell lots of high quality electronic curriculum for decent prices, and if you sign up for their email newsletter you'll get a free downloadable product each week. We really enjoyed a recent free lapbook download about bees.
3. Homeschool Buyers Co-op--For the homeschool parents out there: Did you ever wish you could get the great discounts that schools get by buying bulk? Well, that's what the Walter family wanted, too. So they started an awesome co-op that now has thousands of members. They go out to suppliers and organize great discounted deals for all of us. Best of all, it's free to register. Feel free to explore their site; they also have lists of many free resources. 

Where to Find Used Curriculum

1. Homeschool Classifieds is a goldmine of curriculum listed by homeschool parents for very reasonable costs. And unlike EBay, it's free to list up to 7 items, with only a $5 charge per year to list more. 
Ebay is always a good place to look for hard-to-find items. Try using a couple newer features to help get what you want: Saved searches can send you an email any time an item you're looking for is posted. Bid Assistant will help you grab a bunch of 'like items', specify how much you're willing to pay, and it will do the bidding, item by item until you either win an item or run out of items. A true time saver.
Local Homeschool Co-ops usually have a curriculum sale once or twice a year with great prices and best of all, no shipping!  Find a local group here.

Teacher Discount Cards (for public school and homeschool teachers)

1. Joanns--get a 15% off Teacher Rewards card from Joanns here. If you are a homeschooler, you need to get a PEAH number first here before registering with Joanns. 
2. Staples--Get a Staples Teacher Rewards card here, print a copy online to use right away, or ask for a card to be sent in the mail. (The best deals are found the last month or two of the summer.)
3. And check out this great page for more homeschool discounts including Borders, Barnes and Noble, Kinkos, and more.

All-in-all the internet has not just revolutionized teaching with more resources than you have time to get to, but it has done the same with finding bargains to make teaching supplies much more affordable. I'd love to hear your favorite places to find teaching and educational bargains, too!

Misty is a homeschool mom of 5 in Michigan who, among other things, keeps bees in her backyard, had 2 kids while she was in medical school, loves being a stay-at-home mom, and shows everyone her Kroger receipt proudly displayed on the fridge that reads "Total $0.39, Savings $104.53!"  Thank you, MoneySavingMom!  She currently blogs about homeschooling at HomeschoolBytes and alternative health at DocMisty.

Guest Post: Tips for Saving Money on Organic Food

Guest Post by Patricia Wooster at Project Organic Eating

I think most of us find the idea of purchasing chemical-free food for our family appealing. However, few of us can afford to pay $2 for an apple, or $3.99 for a half gallon of organic milk. Organic food is expensive, and many of the products taste different than their non-organic counterparts.

When I started to experience some health issues it was recommended that I "clean" up my diet. The first few grocery bills were terrifying, but I've picked up some tips and tricks to make buying organic food affordable. It takes a little work, but the savings make it worth it.

Here are a few things I've learned:

::Take advantage of Buy 1, Get 1 Free deals. Most stores allow you to use 2 coupons in conjunction with a B1G1 deal and this often enables you to get the item for pennies. For example, Publix recently had Newmann's Own Pasta Sauce as a B1G1 deal, along with Mueller's Pasta. The pasta sauce is $2.69 and the pasta is $1.17. I had a $1/1 coupon for the sauce, and 2 $0.50/1 coupons for the pasta. For $1.86 I got 2 jars of pasta sauce, and 2 boxes of pasta.

::Clip every coupon you can find for oganic food. The best coupons can be found on the manufacturers website. I've compiled a pretty comprehensive list here. I've signed up for their newsletters, and have received free cookbooks, samples, and substantial savings coupons.

::Get a CVS ExtraCare Rewards Card and take advantage of the weekly and monthly free-after-ECB deals. By saving money on your drugstore and cleaning items you free up money to spend on organic produce.

::Buy locally. Check Local Harvest for a listing of markets in your area.

::Sign up for the Kiwi, Mambo Sprouts, and Eating Well newsletter. They email me a lot of great coupons and recipes. Mambo Sprouts is affiliated with Whole Foods, and they do a great job of providing recipes that use their sale items.

::Compare prices. About 6 months ago I went to the grocery store and wrote down the organic and non-organic prices of about 20 different fruits and vegetables. I was amazed to find the prices weren't much different. I did this three weeks in a row to make sure it wasn't a fluke. It wasn't. Typically, a couple of organic items will be priced much higher than the non-organic, but the majority are within a quarter. I plan my menu around what's in season, so the items I need are always cheaper.

 

Patricia is a mother of 2 young boys. She blogs at Project Organic Eating, where she shares money saving tips, freebies, and kid's health information.

Guest Post: Ten Simple Ways To Reduce Your Grocery Expenses

photo by KitAy

Guest Post by MaryEllen from Centsible Savings

While picking up my milk for the week, I stopped to consider how many people might wonder why I was digging all the way to the back of the refrigerated section. Then I started thinking about how easy it is for anyone to reduce their grocery budget just by following a few simple guidelines. I’m not talking about spending hours every week clipping coupons and scouring the sale papers for deals.These are simple strategies that everyone can use to help keep their food costs down.

1. Look toward the back of the refrigerated section for the latest-dated milk, cheese, meat and other perishables. It certainly won’t help you cut expenses if your food goes bad and you have to throw it out and buy more. 

2. Buy whole milk and mix it with water. It will taste different at first, but you’ll get used to it after a while. If you can bring your taste buds to agree to mixing your milk half and half with water then you’re getting two gallons for the price of one! (Note: Keep in mind that if you have young children, watering down your milk will affect the nutrition of it.)

3. If you’re buying individual fruits (e.g. apples, oranges, etc.) by the pound, pick out the smallest ones. The total weight will be less, and therefore you won’t pay as much, but you won’t notice the difference when you’re eating your apple.

4. Shop early in the morning if at all possible. That is when you’ll find most of the marked down produce, meat, and bread. Even if you can’t shop in the morning, be sure to still keep an eye out for products that have been marked down.

5. Don’t buy too much produce at one time. Produce (especially if it has been shipped a long distance) will not last very long before it has to be thrown out. Try to buy only enough for about one week at a time.

6. If you find a good sale on something you normally buy that has an extended shelf-life or freezer life, stock up. Why wait until later and pay full price when you can buy several now at a much lower price?

7. Be creative and cook with what you have on hand. Make your weekly menus based on what is already in your pantry or freezer. Then you’ll just need to buy a few ingredients to fill in the gaps.

8. Make a list and stick to it when you shop. Unplanned “extras” add up very quickly.

9. Consider how badly you really need something. For example, it doesn’t really take any longer to make pancakes or biscuits from scratch than from a box mix. Yet those box mixes cost quite a bit more than just buying the ingredients would cost. (Cooking from scratch is much better for your health too!)

10. Use coupons. Like I mentioned earlier, I’m not talking about spending hours each week on clipping coupons and scoping out deals. But if something is on your list, you should at least check to see if there is a coupon out for it. A good place to check is the coupon database at www.couponmom.com. You’ll be surprised at the difference fifty cents here and a dollar there can make!

MaryEllen is a stay-at-home wife and mom living in North Carolina. In her spare time, she enjoys sharing money-saving tips on her blog.

Ask the Readers: Where do you find quality children's shoes at a great price?

photo by DrStarstruck

Priscilla asks:

We are a family of 8. Our children ages range from almost 15 to 9 months old. So, every penny we can save does add up.

I was wondering where best to find good quality shoes for the lowest price? Do shoes usually go clearance certain times of the year?

 

Our oldest has gone through shoes faster over the past 2 years and it is becoming discouraging to shoe shop.

Since we only have younger children, I can't speak from experience on how to get larger sizes of children's shoes for great deals but I will tell you our secret for getting small sizes for great deals--consignment sales!

I don't know that all areas have great consignment sales, but in our area, there are regularly large consignment sales put on by groups of moms. We have purchased the majority of our girls shoes at these. I can often find name-brand shoes in very good condition for $3 or less.

I also recommend consignment stores, thrift stores, and garage sales for little kid's shoes. They seem to be plentiful and cheap. Best of all, you can usually get good brands in great shape.

That's just what has worked for us so far, where do the rest of you snag shoe deals?

Moving on a Dime: Part 1

photo by rick

As most of you know, we're in the process of packing up and moving to another city--for the fourth time in less than six years. We always make it a goal to see how efficiently and inexpensively we can pull off a move so I thought I'd share a few tips we've found helpful for moving on a dime.

First off, we always move ourselves--with the help of kind friends and family. We prefer to do the work of packing up our stuff ourselves because it not only saves us money, but it also serves as a motivation to rid our home of unnecessary clutter. (You can read more on this here.)

Not paying for a moving service saves us quite a bit of money and since we try to keep our home pretty clutter-free in the first place and only have a small family, the job of packing things up is not too overwhelming. In fact, we've found we can usually do the whole thing from start to finish in less than four days.

However, doing the packing ourselves means that we have to find a source for good boxes. We've accomplished this in a variety of ways. The easiest way is to find a family who recently moved who has a bunch of boxes they'd love to have taken off their hands. Friends, acquaintances, FreeCycle, or CraigsList are good places to start with.

Another great option is to pick up extra produce boxes or paper ream boxes from grocery stores, Wal-Mart, or office supply stores. The only drawback to this is that you will likely need to hit these stores multiple times in order to procure enough boxes to pack up your home.

Last move, we were in a small town without a local CraigsList or FreeCycle, I was in the middle of morning sickness with baby #2, and we found out we were moving only a few weeks before we actually moved. So, after some simple research, I found 60 good-size boxes on eBay with free overnight shipping that I bought for $53. It wasn't the best deal ever, but it was much better than the prices you'd find at moving stores and it was perfect for that current life situation.

This time around, I'm again in the middle of morning sickness with baby #3 and we don't know of anyone who just moved with extra boxes to dispose of, so we began exploring other options. Ebay prices had dramatically increased, all the free boxes on CraigsList were snatched up within minutes of being posted, so we decided to try collecting boxes from local stores.

After two evenings spent making trips to three different stores and only 25 boxes to show for it, I landed upon someone who was selling their moving boxes on CraigsList for a good price. We were able to get over 100 boxes in many different sizes plus lots of packing materials for $35! It was just the deal we were looking for. I doubt we'll end up using quite all of those boxes, but at least we'll have plenty! And when we're finished with them, I'm guessing we won't have any trouble finding someone else on CraigsList to pass them onto. It works for me!

How have you scored moving boxes on the cheap? I'd love to hear.

Related: For those of you planning a move soon, I shared some tips for successfully moving here.

Input needed: I'm buying a laptop tonight

After a series of unfortunate events, I am buying a new laptop. And, because we're leaving on vacation tomorrow and I need to have it in hand as soon as we arrive home, I'm buying it tonight.

I knew this purchase was inevitable as the problems with my laptop have continued to increase and the 3-year warranty is almost expired. The plan was to buy one before the end of the year and I have had the money set aside for it for a number of months.

Being the frugal person I am, though, I held out for as long as possible but the time has come to hold out no longer since my laptop is completely shot. (I'll spare you the extensive run-down of problems it's experiencing, the biggest of which is that you cannot get on the internet and it randomly freezes up after around 2-3 minutes of use.)

So, Jesse and I will be ordering a new laptop online tonight and I thought I'd ask all of you bargain-shoppers here for some input on how I could snag the best deal. I'm really great at scoring grocery deals, but electronics are a bit out of my league.

I'll be getting a Dell (sorry, Mac people, it's impossible to change my mind so don't even try!) and I need something that can withstand lots of use and abuse and last me for at least a few years.

Where should I look? What should I get? And how can I score the best deal? Any and all feedback is welcome and appreciated.