5 Ways To Save Money On Holiday Entertaining

The holidays are right around the corner and while this season can be filled with fun, family, parties, celebrations and gifts, it can also be a time of financial stress as well. With family in town, extra meals to prepare, and lots of holiday baking going on, we use to really go over our usual grocery budget during the months of November and December. Between what usually ended up being a close to $200 Publix trip before Thanksgiving and another couple hundred dollars spent on our annual Christmas party, we quickly realized after our first year of marriage that we needed to plan/budget better for holiday season grocery spending.

If you entertain a lot during the season an/or play host to family and friends, it may not be possible to stay completely within your normal grocery budget (for us that is $80 a week for all household purchases). But it is possible to spend less by planning ahead and shopping smart. Here are a few of the things we start doing as early as the beginning of October to make our holiday meals and parties more affordable.

#1: Plan Your Menu Ahead Of Time

This may seem like an obvious thing to do but what I am really talking about is planning weeks, maybe months ahead. You don't have to get crazy with the specifics but it is good to know what meat, sides and appetizers you plan to serve because you can then purchase items when they are on sale and/or have a coupons. Do you serve Turkey every year on Christmas day? Then maybe purchase one the week after Thanksgiving and stick it in your freezer for later. We always serve Cheesy Potatoes at our Christmas party each year so when I see them BOGO with coupons at Publix in October I grab the four bags I know I will need and save them.

Things like chips, salsa, mixed nuts, sodas, baking supplies, and more can be purchased even a few months in advance when you see a great price and saved for holiday entertaining. Buying ahead not only saves you money because you bought on sale but it can also be rolled into your weekly shopping budget so that you don't have to spend so much out of pocket right before the event. Have to buy everything the day before a dinner or party means that you have to pay whatever full price is at the time and that can add up fast.

Obviously certain things like fresh produce and some dairy products can't be bought too ahead of time but buy saving on other menu items you will hopefully free up some of your budget to purchase those things week of.

#2: Use Money Off Total Purchase Coupons ($X/$XX)

Many of us already use coupons like the $5/$30 Winn Dixie coupons from Enjoy the City booklets but the holiday season brings lots of these coupons. Target ads, Publix ad, drugstore ads and other grocery stores will often run money off total purchase coupons around the holidays. Most of these coupons are usually for when you purchase a certain dollar amount but many times that dollar amount is for your total before coupons which means that your out of pocket can still be lower than the total requirement minus the money off.

Publix also allows you to stack a Publix money off coupon with a competitor money off coupon too allowing you to save even more. With many of us making bigger than normal grocery trips during the holidays it won't be too hard to hit the $50-$100 total purchase price before coupons that many of these require. I love to use these on items like meat and produce that don't often have sales or coupons to help bring down the cost of those items.

#3: Save On The Basics

You may not be able to find everything you need for holiday meals on sale or with a coupons. Specialty ingredients, fresh items, wine and beer aren't often discounted so you probably will have to end up paying full price. So help offset the cost of these things, I try to save on the basics.

Saving on paper products, dry goods, household items and toiletries can free up cash to be spent on other things. If you are having house guests, it is even more important to stock up and save on these kinds of items so you don't end up having to run out on Thanksgiving morning to the only store open in town to pay full price for toilet paper or toothpaste.

Since paper products are easy to store and don't have an expiration date so you can stock up as early as you like if you find a good sale. I actually buy all my disposable plates, napkins, cups and silverware for our holiday party the year before when they are on clearance. I pack them away with the holiday decorations so that when I take things out to decorate, I just put those paper products in the pantry and don't have to spend full price on them before our party.

#4: Visit Different Stores

Even though I am guilty of doing the majority of my grocery shopping at one store (Publix), when shopping for holiday parties I try my best to get to a few different stores. It is unlikely that everything you need will be on sale/with a coupon at one grocery store. I try to plan out my shopping using the current sale ads for a few stores (for me its usually Walmart, Target and Publix) and then attempt to grab the best deals at each store. Planning ahead (tip #1) really helps with this.

Store promos, money off coupons, BOGO sales and clearance racks vary from store to store. By taking advantage of the best deals in each store you can maximize your budget. Since most traditional holiday items go on sale at least once sometime during November or December, shopping a few different stores will help you make sure you catch the sale.

#5; Look For In Store Promos

Gift card deals, items with purchase deals, and "Buy Theirs, Get Ours" promos are much more common during the holiday season. Be sure to take advantage of these when the occur on items you need.

Target is famous for offering $5 and $10 gift card deals or "Buy This, Get That FREE" year round but they seem to really pick it up in the holiday months. Publix occasionally has a promo where you get their brand item for free when you buy a name brand. Last year their had this promo with items like chocolate chips, condensed milk and other baking items which was great because I was able to stock up for some holiday baking at half the price.

Often these store promos may involve hard to coupon items like meat, deli items or produce. And for other types of items you can usually combine store or manufacture coupons with the deal to make it even better.

What are you favorite tips for saving money on holiday entertaining?

Want to learn more about couponing? Check out the posts below!

Getting Started Couponing: Everything You Need To Know All In One Post!

 

Are you just getting started in couponing? Even though I have a Learn To Coupon page and Couponing 101 post label, I know it can be confusing to sort through all my old posts to read everything. So to simplify the process I have put everything you need to know (well most of it anyways...) here in order with links to the post.

Use this post as your jumping off point into the world of couponing and saving on groceries and household items. Just click on the titles for the links to each individual post. Did I forget something? Let me know. Have questions that weren't answered? Comment or email me and I will be happy to help!

The Basics:

5 Questions To Ask Yourself Before You Start Couponing

Learn The Sale Cycles

Where To Find Coupons

Planning A Shopping Trip

Websites I Use To Plan My Trips

What Months Do Things Go On Sale

Details & Specifics

Couponing Lingo

Unconventional Places To Find Coupons

My Favorite Free Couponing Apps

How Does Stacking Coupons Work?

Making Couponing A Lifestyle

What's A Stockpile & Why Should You Have One

The Stalk My Stockpile Series

Why Using Cash Makes Me A Better Couponer

Saving Money By Buying Meat In Bulk From Zaycon

My Favorite Couponing Websites

 

When it comes to couponing, once you have the basics down all you really need is a few good websites to help you snag the best deals at your local grocery stores. It doesn't take hours of reading or research to save a lot each week. While it might seem overwhelming, if you stick to one or two sites, you will find that building your weekly shopping list can be very simple.

When I first started couponing, I felt like I had to read every site out there multiple times a day to stay on top of the deals. Now I read each of my top sites once a day (if that) and take 15-30 on a specific site to build a shopping list before one of my trips. What I love about all of these sites is that you can build a shopping list complete with links to printable coupons, available store coupons and newspaper coupons. Here are my top websites that I use to help me coupon.

I Heart Publix

Hands down this is the site that I use the most. Since Publix is where I do most of my shopping, I check this site daily sometimes twice a day. Not only does Michele post weekly ads with coupon match ups but she also posts about great deals, high value coupons, Advantage Flyer coupon match ups, store promotions and more. I use iheartpublix.com as the basis for all of my shopping trips.

My favorite features is that I can build my own shopping list from the weekly ad coupon match up and from other deal posts to create a custom list with matching coupons. Each week on Wednesday night I create my shopping list and then use it to pull and cut all my coupons for my Thursday shopping trip. I then take that list and the cut coupons with me to the store to do my shopping. You can even add your own personalized items and prices too. Below is an example of a shopping list you could create. (Click on the image to enlarge it)

 Totally Target

As the name suggests TotallyTarget.com is a website devoted to getting great deals at Target. Kerry not only posts weekly ad coupon match ups but she also posts about current gift card deals, store promotions, mobile coupons, Target.com coupons, Cartwheel discounts, current clearance finds and more.

I love Totally Target because not only can I build a shopping list similar to the one from I Heart Publix but I can also know what extra coupons to bring with me to be on the look out for clearance deals too. Kerry also posts shopping scenarios for gift card deals and $X/$XX Target coupons to help you get even better deals. If you have a Target addiction like I do then a quick stop by this site before heading to Target is definitely going to save you some money.

Southern Savers

SouthernSavers.com is a couponing site that covers all different stores. Not only does Jenny post about grocery deals but she also posts about restaurant deals, Amazon deals, and tons of money saving opportunities both on and off line. She also has an amazing coupon database.

Souther Savers is my go to website for searching for coupons. If you are looking for a coupon for a certain product or even a restaurant or website simply click on the Coupon Database icon in the top right hand corner of the site and search for it. You can also make shopping list for weekly store sale ads with coupon matches for close to 20 stores including Walmart, Winn Dixie, Pubilx, Target, the dollar stores, drugstore and many regional grocery stores.

Money Saving Mom

MoneySavingMom.com is one of the first blogs I started reading when I began couponing. Not only does Crystal post about coupons and great deals but she has tons of good advice on budgeting, frugal meals, living within your means and saving even on a tight budget.

She also shares great recipes, natural and organic food/product coupons and deals as well as store promotions and online deals. Another aspect of Money Saving Mom that I love is that Crystal also shares tips for being more intentional with your time and energy which in turn can save you not just money but a whole lot of stress too. Her site is a great one if you want to start saving money and getting organized in all aspects of your life not just the grocery store.

New to couponing? Check out the Learn To Coupon page and some of these helpful posts below!

My Favorite {Free} Couponing Apps

 

While most of us use our phones for talking, texting, emailing and Facebooking, your favorite little distraction can actually be used to save you money too. On top of shopping the sales and using coupons, I use apps like Ibotta, Checkout 51 and Cartwheel to save even more when I shop. I have tried a bunch of different couponing apps and these three are by far my favorite. They are also the easiest to use and save with too.

 

ibotta:

Hands down this is the app I have saved the most money with today. Since I started using it about a year ago, I have earned over $300 in cash back between grocery offers, movie offers, bonuses and referral credits. The best part is that it can be used on top of manufacturer and store coupons as well which can make products very cheap or even free.

The idea behind ibotta is simple. There are a number of "offers" on everyday products like grocery items, toiletries, paper products, movie tickets and more. You do simple tasks like reading a fact or answering a short question to earn the cash back value for the item (ranges from .25 cents to $2+ per item). 

You go to the grocery store and shop as usual. Once you get home you upload a photo of your receipt with the purchased products on it, scan the products barcode (to prove you bought it) and in less than 48 hours, ibotta puts your earnings into your account. Once you reach $5 in cash back you can have that money transferred to your PayPal account or you can cash it in for any amount over $5 in iTunes, Redbox or Starbucks gift cards. Right now they are also offering a $2 bonus to  new users if they redeem their first offer within two weeks of signing up. Learn more about ibotta here and see an example of using it here.

 Checkout 51 :

This is a relatively new app. It is similar to ibotta in that you grocery shop as usual and then upload a photo of your receipt to earn anywhere from .25 cents to $1+ in cash back for each item. Checkout 51 usually only has 10-15 offers and those offers change each week on Wednesday. Their items tend to match up with the current Publix sale cycles but the app can be used for grocery shopping anywhere.

Once your Checkout 51 cash back balance hits $20  they will send you a check. While the offers are limited they do tend to be for high quality items and many times they will also have generic offers for things like .50 cents cash back on any brand of eggs or milk.

Target Cartwheel:

If you are obsessed with Target like I am then Cartwheel is a must have app for you. Cartwheel is an app that lets you select from hundreds of discounts ranging from 5% to 50% off, and add them to your personalized Cartwheel barcode. When you shop at Target have the cashier scan your barcode at checkout in store. If you don't have a smart phone you can select and load your offers on the computer and print out the barcode to bring into the store with you too. 

You can use each discounts as many times as you want before they expire and you can even stack Cartwheel on top of your Target REDcard discount and other coupons. Offers are always changing and it is a nice mix between brands and general items like eggs, milk and even meat. There are also offers for the Target cafe, clothing, baby products, household items, decor, holiday items and more.

New to couponing? Check out my Couponing 101 posts to help you get started!

How Using Cash Makes Me A Better Couponer

     

For those of you who are new here or don't know, Justin and I pay for all of our groceries and household spending in cash. We budget $80 a week in cash for all our shopping at places like Publix, Walmart, Target or drugstores. We also use that $80 a week to cover things like our occasional organic produce shares ($45 each time, now about once a month) and our twice a year Zaycon chicken order ($70-$80 for 40 pounds of chicken)

Many weeks we spend much less than $80 and so I usually save some of the cash as reserve grocery money for bigger shopping weeks and we also use the extra grocery money to go towards any big bills we might have pop up that month or for any short term savings goals we currently have, like buying a new camera on Black Friday.

In the 3 years that I have been couponing, I have constantly been tweaking what I do to find out what works for us, how much we realistically need of each item, and how sale cycles work in my area. However, one of the biggest and most effective changes I have made is couponing using cash.

Although we were seeing a significant impact on our monthly spending by couponing, I still felt like there had to be a better way to make those savings work for us and have a greater impact on our weekly and monthly saving goals.

I have always been a debit card kind of girl. Justin and I have a budget and a savings plan but we just never made that leap to a cash envelope system.  About a year and a half ago, I started to think long and hard about the benefits of using cash. Justin and I discussed it and decided to try using cash for our weekly grocery, toiletries and household shopping. We decided to try it for the month of January last year and we love it so much it is now a permanent part of our lives. 

Here are just four of the ways switching to cash has made me a more effective couponer:

1. It forces me to stick to our budget. 

Let’s face it, as someone who coupons, it can be so tempting to spend a little more because you are getting a great deal. I try to be as practical as I can in my couponing but I still struggle with this every once and awhile.

We have set a budget of $80 a week for all household shopping. This includes groceries, toiletries, and all household items. This allows me to buy what we need and add to my stockpile, pantry and freezer without blowing our weekly budget. If there is a great deal that I want to stock up on, I have to take into account what else we need that week before I take advantage of the deal.

2. It forces me to plan my shopping trips.  

I have always tried to make a list before I go shopping and stick to it. Before I started paying in cash, I could be more flexible with my list and what I chose to buy. 

Now that I only have a set amount of cash to spend, I carry a calculator with me and as I go through my list I add up my total spending to make sure I am staying on target. This forces me to avoid impulse buys and really ask myself if we truly need something or if I am just buying it because it’s a good deal.

3. It keeps our stockpile under control. 

One of the benefits of couponing is having a stockpile or a supply of grocery and household items on hand so you don’t have to make an extra trip and pay full price for something when you run out. It has allowed us plan our meals better, entertain friends on a budget, and give more to homeless shelters and food banks.

Having a set weekly spending budget helps keep our stockpile at a reasonable size. I can’t buy unlimited amounts of things even if it is a great deal. This has forced us to be more practical about couponing and kept us from failing into the trap of having excessive amounts of things or buying what we can’t use in a timely manner.

4. It helps us save more and balance our budget. 

As I said earlier, couponing significantly lowered our weekly and monthly spending. I was able to start budgeting less for groceries and household items but the number still changed from week to week.

We now pull out two week’s worth of spending cash each pay day. This allows me to know exactly what is going to be coming out and budget the rest of our pay checks accordingly.

If we have extra money left in the envelope at the end of the two weeks, we split it between our long term and short term savings accounts or save some of it for reserve grocery money or our produce share. This allows us to save more on top of what we already budget for savings; and by also putting some of it in a “short term” savings account, we can spent that money on house projects or a fun weekend trip. It also gives us a cushion for those bigger shopping weeks when I want to stock up on meat, butter, or other super deals.

If you are reading this and thinking that using cash is a hassle, just know that I was you a year ago. I could never have imagined how something as easy and simple as using cash would make me a more efficient shopper, couponer and budgeter – but I am now converted to the cash envelope system and I’m not looking back!

 Do you a cash system? Do you have any tricks for being an efficient couponer? New to couponing? Check out my Learn To Coupon page to read about the basics for getting started! 

Couponing 101: Five Questions To Ask Yourself Before You Start Couponing

 

It's been awhile since I have done any couponing basics posts here on the blog. Sure, I try to always do my weekly shopping trips posts but lately I have had a lot of people ask me about couponing basics. As a result I am going to be doing a weekly series on Couponing 101 and cover things like how to get started, where to find coupons and what do all the couponing terms actually mean.

Tonight I am going to cover the basics of starting to coupon. When I really thought about the process of getting started couponing, I realized that if you don't start out with a set idea and plan of attack in mind then you are likely to do what I did and end up buying everything even remotely on sale and end up with piles of things that you can never use.

To help you avoid my mistakes here are five questions to ask yourself before you get started. Reflecting on these answers will help you come up with a reasonable and manageable way to save money while not becoming the crazy lady on tv with 500 bottles of salad dressing and nothing else to eat.

1.) What is your budget?

Setting your weekly budget is the first step to saving on groceries and household expenses. My husband and I have a set cash budget of $80 a week for all household spending. This includes groceries, toiletries, and all household items. This allows me to buy what we need and add to my stockpile, pantry, and freezer without going over board.

When it comes to setting your own personal budget, here are a few things to consider when deciding what is realistic for you:

• When do you get paid? Weekly? Biweekly? Once a month? No set pay schedule? 
•  How many people are in your household? 
• Look at how much you usually spend on groceries and household purchases in a week; do you have too much food leftover at the end of the week or do things often go bad without using them? 
• Do you have any special situations in your household? Allergies? Formula?

After taking all those things into account try to settle on a weekly budget that makes sense for you. Setting a budget could be as simple as challenging yourself to spend $10 less this week than last week and going from there.

 2.) How much do you need and how much space do you have? 

Building up a stockpile is a key part of saving money with couponing but you have to do what is realistic for you. But there is no point in having 50 boxes of pasta if your family of three will only eat two a week. It is easy to fall into the trap of buying as much of a cheap product as possible but unless it is something your family will consume before it expires than even .05 cents is to much to pay for it.

Take inventory of what you eat on a regular basis. Know that all sales usually rotate on a 4-8 week basis and most deals will come back again. If you really will eat eight boxes of cereal in six weeks then by all means buy that many but I always try to stick to just two of most deals unless they are something we eat all the time, something that won't go bad or something that never goes on sale. After a few months of couponing you will have a better idea of what works for you.

Storage space is also something to consider when couponing. I live in South Florida where we don't have basements and can't really store food products in our garage but I do have an extra deep freezer as well as an under the stairs storage area. This means that I need to limit my stockpile to what I have space for. Before you start cutting coupons, think about where you will store everything you are planning to buy.

3.) How much time do you have to spend and where do you want to shop?

Personally, I do not have time to run to every store and grab every amazing deal that exists. I tried to do that for awhile but with a full time job and a life it just wasn't realistic. Today, I shop once a week at Publix (more if there are really good deals and time allows) and I try to get to Target every few weeks. I don't even look at Walmart or drug store ads. While I might be missing some great deals, I am saving my time and sanity by limiting myself.

I am Publix shopper deep down inside. I have no desire to head to any other grocery store. That means I focus all my time and energy on looking for Publix deals and learning the Publix pricing and sale cycles. The same goes for household shopping at Target. I have been able to learn the couponing policies and strategies at each store and by only really shopping at those two places it is easy to stay up to date on current sales, coupons and deals. I also only allow myself to read couponing blogs that specialize in those two places so that I don't have to spend all day hitting refresh on my computer.

4.) What do you spend the most on and what do you want to save the most on?

Do you hate paying full price for toilet paper? Do you want to save on the basics so you can afford things like organic produce or better cuts of meat? Does your baby need a really expensive brand of formula? Are there brands that you love but can't bring yourself to shell out the cash for?

You don't have to go full gorilla on couponing right off the bat. You can start small by saving on certain things and slowly start to free up more money in your grocery budget for other items. Whatever it is that you hate spending full price on is a great place to start your couponing journey. Maybe cutting and printing every coupon you ever see is too much for you. But if you were just looking for and cutting out coupons for diapers, or formula, or Schick Razors (just me?) then couponing may be more manageable for you and you will be more likely to stick with it instead of burning out in a few weeks.

5.) Why are you couponing?

I debated on whether this question should be first or last. Couponing takes time. It can be frustrating. There are so many times when all I want to do is go to the store without a list and just grab whatever I want without regard for prices. But then I remember why I coupon.

My husband and I are blessed that we don't have to coupon to put food on our table. But we do have to cut our spending somewhere if we want to be able to save, go on trips, or enjoy little extras in life. I coupon because there are so many other things that I can spend $50+ a week.

With our cash budget, we often set a fun savings goal for ourselves that we put any of our extra weekly cash towards. Right now we are saving for a trip to the Biltmore Estate over Christmas break. Last year we paid cash for a brand new, long awaited Canon T4i DLSR Camera. Those are the things that I have in the back of my mind when I would rather not get a shopping list together or hassle with coupons in the checkout line.

Why do you want to coupon? Do you want to save so you can pay down debt? Meet a savings goal like a down payment on house? Are you simply looking to be able to provide for your family better for less? Whatever the reason, big or small, keep that in mind as you get started couponing and inevitably get frustrated and consider quitting. Believe me you're going to need it : )

New here? Just getting started couponing? Stay tuned for next week's Couponing 101 post. While you're waiting be sure to check out my Learn To Coupon page for more info on getting started and sneak a peak at my weekly shopping trips to see what I save each week and how.

What do you want to know about couponing? Comment with your questions, suggestions or post ideas!

Couponing 101: Where To Find Coupons

 

Don't miss the first post of this series: Five Questions To Ask Yourself Before You Start Couponing

I would have to say that the one question I get asked in grocery store check out lines the most is, "Where do you get all those coupons?" And the answer is technically simple: from the newspaper, online and in stores. Of course, when you break it down it is not so simple so today I am going to try and clarify what those places for coupons really mean. 

Newspapers

The Sunday paper is where most people start their search for coupons. Some weekends are better than others so before you run out and buy ten copies of the paper you should always check and see what will be featured that weekend. Sunday Coupon Preview is a great website to check to see what will be in your paper each weekend.

There are three main kinds of newspaper coupon inserts.

• Red Plum: 
• often abbreviated as RP
• usually one a week
• contains a wide variety of manufacturer coupons and occasionally store coupons too
• Smart Source: 
• often abbreviated as SS
• usually one a week
• contains a wide variety of manufacturer coupons and occasionally store coupons too
• Proctor & Gamble: 
• often abbreviated as P&G
• one a month, usually the first or last Sunday of the month
• contains all manufacturer coupons for Proctor & Gamble brands (think Crest, Charmin, Bounty, Pampers and many more)

Occasionally there will be an insert from General Mills or a second Red Plum or Smart Source. When coupon bloggers write about where they got coupons they will usually reference the newspaper insert by abbreviation and date. For example a coupon from the 11/3 SS would be from the Smart Source insert on November 3rd. I date all my inserts before storing them for easy reference (more on this later).

Online

Online coupons can come from a variety of places. The main ones would be printable coupon websites, Facebook and manufacturer/company websites. Here are the basics on each one.

Printable Coupon Websites

There are a few main coupon websites that each have a wide variety of printable coupons available each day. Many times their selections change daily so if you see a coupon for something you normally buy you should print it. If you wait, it may not be available later. These websites will allow you to print each coupon twice per printer. I always try to print both copies especially since I do most of my savings with BOGO’s and Publix will allow you to use a coupon for each of the items in buy one get one free.

My favorite websites to print coupons from are:

• Coupons.com 

• SmartSource.com 

• Target.com 

• CouponNetwork.com 

• RedPlum.com 

• Pillsbury.com/

Facebook and Manufacturer’s Websites

This is where you can get really high value coupons for products that you buy on a regular basis.

Many companies have great coupons available only to people who “like” their product on Facebook. Manufacturer websites also can have lots of fun coupons or even reward programs that can earn you coupons. If there are products you buy on a regular basis, you should definitely check out their website and see what they offer. If you are afraid of spam or cluttering up your inbox you can always create a free email account to use just for couponing. 

In Stores

While manufacturer coupons are much more readily available and accepted everywhere, the real deals come when you can stack a manufacturer coupon with a store coupon.

A store coupon refers to a coupon issued by a specific store such as Publix, Target or CVS. Store coupons can be found in a variety of places.

The first place to check for store coupons is in the store itself. For example, in the front of every Publix there is a round display rack. This always contains the current Green and Purple Advantage Flyers as well as any promotional coupon booklets being offered at the time.These can contains lots of high value or rarely found store coupons that can be combined with manufacturer coupons for great deals.

The second place to find store coupons is on that store’s website. Target.com has tons of printable coupons, most of which are store coupons that can be stacked with manufacturer coupons. Publix also offers digital coupons that are used by putting in your phone number at checkout. You can sign up for these and load coupons to your account on Publix's website. These are manufacturer coupons but they can still really come in handy.

New here? Just getting started couponing? Stay tuned for next week's Couponing 101 post. While you're waiting be sure to check out my Learn To Coupon page for more info on getting started and sneak a peak at my weekly shopping trips to see what I save each week and how.

What do you want to know about couponing? Comment with your questions, suggestions or post ideas!

Saving Money On Meat With Zaycon Bulk Chicken: Our Experience

    

Right now through November Zaycon has Chicken Sale Events across the country. Check out their website to find out if there is one near you!

If you follow my weekly shopping/couponing posts, you may find yourself wondering why you don't see us purchasing meat very often. For one thing, we mostly only eat poultry (in fact I don't eat red meat at all). But for the most part, I was stocking up on chicken breasts and whole chickens and turkeys when they were on sale and storing it in our deep freezer. Check out my latest installment of the Stalk My Stockpile series on the contents of my deep freezer HERE.

A few months ago I wrote a post on our decision to try out Zaycon Foods bulk delivery service to order forty pounds of fresh chicken at $1.79 a pound. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts in South Florida usually retail for around $3.99 a pound. Publix puts it on sale for $2.99 a pound about once a month and only a few times a year do they have a sale for $1.99 a pound. I know that many discount stores and Sam's do regularly price their chicken breasts at $1.99 a pound but we personally find that the quality of the chicken isn't quite what we prefer.

So we decided to try Zaycon to get a better price and a better quality all at the same time. Even though I had heard nothing but great things about them, I as still a little hesitant to place an order. I scoured the internet for other peoples' Zaycon experiences and while I found some good reviews I still had a lot of questions.

For one thing, what does a forty pound box of raw chicken even look like? What if it wasn't the quality we were use to? What if we hated it? How much work would we actually have to do to get the chicken into portions that worked for us? Would we regret it?

Here is the short version: It looks exactly as gross as you would expect it to. It was the best quality chicken we have ever bought. We love it. It took about an hour and a half. No regrets, ordering again next time.

Didn't get all of that? Keep reading for the specifics.

The whole process was much simpler than I originally expected. In February, when Zaycon announced a boneless, skinless, chicken breast sale in South Florida I placed our order right away. I had tried to order chicken once before but the event sold out before I could place our order. This time I got right on it. I paid in full for the order online and the total came to $71.60. While that is more than we spend on groceries in a week, I justified the expense knowing how much we would save in the long run. I saved our excess grocery cash from a few weeks to pay for the order out of normal cash grocery budget.

This is a 9x13 pan for scale

I received a confirmation email and a few reminders in the month and a half between placing my order and my pick up date. On the delivery day, we drove to the local pick up site at our assigned time and there we found a large refrigerated truck and two very nice Zaycon workers. We gave them our name, opened our truck and they laid down a piece of plastic sheeting to protect the car, gave us our chicken and that was it. The whole thing took less than five minutes.

Once we got home, we opened our box to find four large plastic bags each filled with 10 pounds of fresh, never frozen chicken breasts. These were the largest whole chicken breasts I have ever seen. They are directly from the processing facility so the two breasts were still connected by fat so we had to do a little work to get them looking more like what you would find in the grocery store.

It took us about an hour and a half to cut the breasts apart, trim the little bit of excess fat they had on them and then FoodSaver them into portions and cuts that we use on a regular basis. I was pleasantly surprised with how easy the whole process was and all in all they had very little fat on them that needed to be trimmed. We froze the individual portions and now have a freezer full of chicken that is prepped and cut to our preferences.

It has been so nice not to have to worry about budgeting for meat each week and it has been so easy to just take out and defrost what we need each week as we plan our meals.  All in all, I found the chicken we got from Zaycon to not only be cheaper but much higher quality than what we typically buy in our grocery store. It  tastes amazingly fresh even out of the freezer and I don't think that we will buy chicken any other way in the future.

Zaycon doesn't currently have any fresh chicken sales going on right now but they do currently have events going on for hickory smoked bacon, Polish kielbasa sausage, bacon wrapped pork filets, Gold Medal beef franks, and pork loin meaty back ribs. Visit their website for more details.

Have you ordered from Zaycon before? What was your experience? 

Are You Earning Cash Back With The Ibotta App?

 

Are you using Ibotta yet? It is an amazing phone app that lets you earn cash back for your regular grocery and household product purchases. What's perfect for me is that you can use this on top of using store coupons and sales which for me has even ended up making some items free or even a moneymaker!

I am not normally one to download alot of these apps but what I love about Ibotta is that it is so simple. All you do is sign up and download the app for free then go about your regular shopping at one of the listed retailers which include Publix, Target, CVS, Walgreens, Walmart and more.

When you get home simply scan any products that are available in your personalized offers and then upload a picture of your receipt. Each product can earn you anywhere from .25 cents to $1.50. And the best part? These are products normal people actually buy. Past offers I have redeemed have been for things like Diet Coke, Advil, DiGiorno, Sargento, Ben & Jerrys, Colgate, Eggs and even Easter candies!

Right now I currently have offers for brands like Healthy Choice, Folgers, Capri Suns, Bird's Eye, Annie's Organics, Lance, Ore Ida and more. Ibotta is always adding new and fun offers so I usually try to check it at least once a week.

I also like that I can do all my scanning and such at home so I don't have to deal with it in the store or use any of my data plan. I just use my wifi at home and do it when I have time.

What to see shopping trips where I used my Ibotta app recently Check them out here! 

When you earn cash back you can choose to transfer it directly to your PayPal account or donate it to a school or to United Way. I have already transferred money to my PayPal twice and and everything went very smoothly.

 Ibotta is currently running a promo where if you sign up through someone's referral link you will earn $2 if you redeem two offers in the first two weeks. Once you have signed up for free you can then invite/refer friends right from your app and earn $1 for each friend who successfully signs up!

Have you used Ibotta? Do you like it? What's the best deal you have gotten using it?

Stalk My Stockpile: The Contents Of My Deep Freezers

                                                                            

 Did you miss the first installments of the Stalk My Stockpile series? Check them out HERE!

A huge part of couponing is having a stockpile of health, beauty products, and household products, a pantry full of food and a full fridge and freezers. A few weeks ago, I mentioned that we were attempting to clear/clean out our freezers in order to make room since we ordered forty pounds of fresh chicken breasts from Zaycon.

 

I knew that we had a ton of stuff in the two freezers but even I was shocked at how much we had managed to fit in them over the last year. While we did have a few things that we had to get rid of due to freezer burn or expiration, I was pleasantly surprised at how little we tossed. Check out our before pics of the two freezers HERE.

 So you see what I buy each week and I am sure you ask yourself a few questions. Do they eat all that ice cream in one week? Where is the meat? What about veggies? And those are all valid questions but the secret of a good sale shopper is stocking up when prices are low. And these two freezer are proof of that.

I am a little nervous to put these photos out there and I am sure that there are some of you who are judging us. But I think it is important to show what we have on hand in our freezers so you can better understand that we don't live off of yogurt and laundry detergent.

Between the two freezers we ended up with 30+ pounds of meat (before our Zaycon order) which included two 10+pound turkeys, 4 bags of meatballs, 10+ pounds of assorted frozen chicken, a large ham, 3 pounds of bacon and more. We have close to 20 bags of frozen veggies, more than 5 kinds of frozen bread, over 10 pounds of butter products, tons of frozen potato products, and so much more.

There is also an assortment of frozen meals, ice cream/dessert treats, pastas, baking supplies, frozen fruit, smoothies, and a few tupperwares of frozen homemade dishes. Obviously we have plenty of food to last us for the next few months.

It was so nice to get an inventory of what we have on hand so I can use it to guide my grocery shopping through the summer. With all of these items and our 40 pounds of Zaycon chicken in the freezers we are going to be able to buy what we want and not have the need to buy anything unless it's on amazing sale.

Inside freezer after:

 

We managed to get both freezers cleaned out and organized about a week before our Zaycon arrived. We were pretty successful at our attempt to eat out of the freezer to make room for our chicken and once we cleaned up and foodsavered our order, all forty pounds of chicken fit nicely in our outside freezer.

How do you organize your freezer? Do you have any tips or suggestions for me? What is the longest you have gone "eating out of the freezer"?

Stalk My Stockpile: Finding The Bottom Of The Deep Freezer- Part One

                                                                            

 Did you miss the first installments of the Stalk My Stockpile series? Check them out HERE!

A huge part of couponing is having a stockpile of health, beauty products, and household products, a pantry full of food and a full fridge and freezers. Over the last year and a half, we have made significant improvements in all those categories and as of late we have actually found that our two freezers are so full we can barely close their doors.

Since we just ordered forty pounds of fresh chicken breasts from Zaycon, I have decided that in the next six weeks (our chicken arrives in the end of March) we are going to make a concerted effort to clean our our regular freezer and chest freezer. I have named it the "Find The Bottom Of The Deep Freezer Challenge".

 

This challenge is two part. One, the obvious, we need to make some serious room in our chest freezer. I have never bought forty pounds of chicken before I can imagine it takes up a lot of room. Two, we have four weddings in three months and I would love to save some of our grocery money for eating out during our wedding related travels.

So over the next six weeks I will be refocusing our grocery/household budget on household products, health and beauty items, pantry staples and then our usual fresh items like yogurt, salad, and some produce. I am going to attempt to buy almost no frozen items. We'll see if I actually succeed....

This week I plan to empty our our regular freezer and our chest freezer and make an inventory of what we have and then attempt to plan our meals around it. I am sure we are going to be shocked by what we have in their.

I know for a fact that we probably have at least 30 pounds of various meats/proteins, lots of frozen veggies, frozen bread (both store bought and homemade), ice cream/frozen treats, butters, pizzas, breakfast items, frozen fruit, and so much more. Chances are we will have to get a little creative with our meals but I am excited to see how it goes.

Stay tuned for the second part of this post where I will show case the contents of my two freezers and fill you in on how they look after the reorganization!

How do you organize your freezer? Do you have any tips or suggestions for me? What is the longest you have gone "eating out of the freezer"?

2012 Yearly Shopping Totals: We Saved Over $5,000!

 
2012  was my first full calendar year of couponing and I was so excited for how my yearly totals turned out! I actually did not keep a running spread sheet of what I spent and saved as I went this year but this week I tallied it all up.

 Since we use a cash only grocery budget, I knew that we had spend less than $80 a week on groceries but since we usually spend less than that I didn't have an actual hard number for what we spent on average each week.

I knew that couponing and shopping sales had allowed us to save a lot this year since we then use our excess grocery budget money to take weekend trips, work on the house and to pay for other expenses but I had no idea how much we had actually saved!

These totals include all of our family of two's food, beverages, household products, cleaning products, paper products, health and beauty items and so much more for the entire year of 2012. This also includes a large stockpile that we have amassed as well as items for donation. All of my shopping trips can be viewed here if you would like to get an idea of what we buy and how we save. 

My 2012 Shopping Totals:
Total retail value of all we bought: $7,604.09
Total spent out of pocket: $2,419.46
Total saved: $5,184.63
Percent saved on regular prices: 68%
Average weekly amount spent: $46.52

It is always my goal to spend less than $50 a week so I am THRILLED that I managed to average out to that goal over the course of the year. Whenever I hear someone say that couponing isn't worth it I always secretly laugh : )   When I think of how couponing has allowed us to shop where we want and buy things that we might not otherwise be able to afford I know that it is well worth the time I put into it.

I am also extremely grateful that we can buy the variety of food and name brand products that we do without compromising how we eat. We may not be the healthiest people on earth but I am proud of the fact that we don't just buy processed foods but we also buy a large amount of fresh veggies, meat and even organic products. 

If you are new to couponing and want to learn how to get started make sure to check out my Learn to Coupon page and get started! 

Did you do a post on your 2012 yearly totals? If so feel free to link up here and share with us all!

Earn Money While You Grocery Shop Using Ibotta

      

Have you heard of Ibotta? It is a great new iPhone app that lets you earn cash back for your regular grocery and household product purchases. What's perfect for me is that you can use this on top of using store coupons and sales which for me has even ended up making some items free or even a moneymaker!

 I am not normally one to download alot of these apps but what I love about Ibotta is that it is so simple. All you do is sign up and download the app for free then go about your regular shopping at one of the listed retailers which include Publix, Target, CVS, Walgreens, Walmart and more.

When you get home simply scan any products that are available in your personalized offers and then upload a picture of your receipt. Each product can earn you anywhere from .25 cents to $1.25. And the best part? These are products normal people actually buy. My current offers list has things like Diet Coke, Advil, DiGiorno, Sargento, Ben & Jerrys, Colgate, Eggs and tons more.

I also like that I can do all my scanning and such at home so I don't have to deal with it in the store or use any of my data plan. I just use my wifi at home and do it when I have time.

What to see a shopping trip where I used my Ibotta app recently? Check it out here! 

When you earn cash back you can choose to transfer it directly to your PayPal account or donate it to a school or to United Way. I have already transferred money to my PayPal twice and and everything went very smoothly.

 Ibotta was running a promo where if you sign up through someone's referral link you automatically earn $5 to start with. Not sure if it's still running but you can click on this reffereal link HERE and see if it works. And since it's free you have nothing to lose : )