Amazing Coupon Database

The Krazy Coupon Lady is a local Idaho blogger with a great coupon/deal website. She has taken things a step further to make things easier for all of us with her new Internet Printable Coupon Database. It is in alphabetical order by brand and I swear it has every printable coupon available anywhere!

Go HERE to check it out - then bookmark it (I'll also be adding it to my sidebar)! I have a feeling you will be using it all the time!

Thanks Krazy Coupon Lady for putting this together and maintaining it!

-Michelle

I won a Lemonade Award!

I'm feeling pretty dang special because I won a Lemonade Award (Thanks Thrifty Soaper!)! Her blog is tons of fun to read - and get this - she posts a scan of the Albertson's ad on Monday (two days early!).

Now that I have been nominated, I get to nominate 10 blogs I love. There are so many great blogs out there! I love all the bloggers in my blogroll, so all of you please consider yourself nominated! I would also like to nominate these four fun blogs:

I recently found the coolest blog Making Life Sweet...one deal at a time. Marne shares frugal tips, recipes, shopping trips, and all the stuff I love! Check out the pics of her stockpile. Hello! Love it - and it is super organized!

I also recently happened up Fabulessly Frugal another Boise frugal blog! YAY! I've had fun reading their posts and scenarios. Great job ladies!

She Does Hair - love, Love, LOVE this blog. She gives fun tutorials of the cutest kid hairstyles. Hmmm...if only my daughter had some hair. :)

I am also in LOVE with Today's Creative Blog. Not that I am creative or crafty, but she features a new fun crafty blog every day. I love to see what other crafty bloggers are doing to get ideas for what I can copycat in my own house.

Enjoy!

Favorite Blog/Site of the Week - The Dollar Stretcher

There are many, many blogs and/or websites out there that have given me inspiration. I love the blogging community and how it is such a great way for people to share ideas, struggles, etc. I have a blog roll, but those are just a few of the great blogs out there.

I have decided to start a series where each Thursday I will share a blog or website that inspires me (that hopefully with inspire you too!).

This week I would like to highlight:

I have been reading The Dollar Stretcher for a long time. When I first got married and was trying to live frugally, I found this site. The Dollar Stretcher is full of great articles from people across the world who are sharing ways to save money banking, cooking, decorating, housekeeping, and anything else you can imagine.

My favorite feature is the Readers Tips section. This section shares a paragraph from readers who share a frugal tip that works for them. I love to read the ideas - and try the ones that I think will work for my family.

I encourage you to check out this site - I'm sure you will love it as much as I do!

Couponing the right way

I have spoken with many people who believe that couponing is a scam and that when they used coupons they never saved money, store brands are always cheaper...bla, bla, bla.

When I was shopping this week, I came upon a situation that made me think those people. I needed some vegetable oil. I had a coupon for $1.00 off any Crisco product. That was a pretty good coupon.

I looked a the shelf tag for 32 oz. Crisco it was $3.99, so it would be $2.99 with my coupon. Hmmm...that still seemed kind of high.

Right next to it on the shelf was the store brand that was on sale for $1.99. Hmmm...again.

Needless to say, I bought the store brand.

I think that there may have been some people who didn't even look at the store brand and would have just purchased the Crisco brand just because they had a coupon for it. That is the wrong way to use coupons. Of course you can't save money that way.

The reality is that in order to save money couponing, you have to spend some time to find the items that are on sale and match them up with the coupons that you have/can get. Luckily for all of us, there are some rockin' bloggers out there that do a lot of the work for us.

Check these out for great match-ups (these are the ones I use regularly):

Be Centsable - This is the home of The Grocery Gathering. The writers of this blog have come up with this awesome concept. Stores all over the country are assigned to different bloggers to find deals/coupon match ups. Check it out to find a store in your area along with the appropriate links.

Money Saving Mom - I think she is amazing and a wealth of knowledge and information. She shares Walgreen's, CVS, and Walmart deals each week and tidbits of other great deals as they become available.

Mommy Snacks - she shares Walgreen's, CVS, Meijer, and Kroger each week.

If you are really interested in some great ways to save money on your grocery shopping, I highly recommend Money Saving Mom's E-book, Supermarket Savings 101. For $8.97 you get that e-book and several others including topics like home management, recipes, craft ideas, gardening, etc. I purchased these when I first started couponing and I have never regretted it! Click here to find out more.

Good luck and please e-mail me with any questions!

It's in my blood...

I finally found a reason for why I am the way I am...

I recently joined Facebook and have reconnected with some cousins who have lived in far away Michigan while we were growing up, so we really didn't know one another. My cousin Nena now lives in Houston and through the MAGIC of Facebook, I have discovered that she is a Walgreen's and CVSing queen - and has a blog! I have added her to my blog roll for all to enjoy - Watch Nena Save!

So...now I know why I am the way I am...apparently it is in my blood!

Blog Award! Woo hoo!

I am super excited that I got my 1st blog award! Thanks to Raging Bear Ranch for the shout out!

So, here are the rules - I get to pass this along to 7 of my favorite bloggers. Here they are in no particular order:

Mommy Snacks - love her! I love that she is a real person and has so many great ideas to share.

The Thrifty Soaper - I love the sneak peak of the Albertson's ad.

The Grocery Cart Challenge - I love her recipe swap she has each Friday. I love how her cute personality comes through in her posts.

Deal Betty - A cool mom with great recipes and deals to share.

Super Coupon Girl - I would call her a coupon expert. She has some amazing stories!

Jane4Girls - She has an annual budget of $800.00 for her family of 4. She shares her awesome shopping trips and some great recipes.

BeCentsable - love their Grocery Gathering, it takes the guess work out of looking for sales and coupon match ups!

Of course there are many more blogs that have truly been an inspiration to me, it was hard to choose just 7!

What's Going on in Frugal Blog Land?

You probably know by now that there are tons of frugal blogs out there, all with their own unique spin on frugality and great deals. I'd like to share some of these great things with you!

Walgreen's Deals
Money Saving Mom has some links to some great printable coupons to get some FREE stuff at Walgreen's click here for details.

For more details about how to get great deals at Walgreen's, check out my post here.

Halloween Stuff
My pals at BeCentsable have a great feature called "Family Tip Friday" - always some great tips and ideas. Today is no different, check out this post on saving money on Halloween. Love the mummy costume idea!

Recipes
Do you like finding new recipes to try? Gayle over at The Grocery Cart Challenge hosts a recipe swap each Friday. Go here and get some great recipes from her and her readers! I usually participate in this as well.

Hair Styles for Kids
I love this website, even though my daughter doesn't have any hair yet :)! She Does Hair has an awesome blog with tutorials on how to do some great hair styles for little girls. Check it out here.

Coupon Binders for Sale
Remember the awesome coupon binder I won that changed my life forever? Lisa is now selling these babies on her new site here. Check it out!

Creative Blogs
Have you heard of Today's Creative Blog yet? I recently found this and I love it. Kim at Today's Creative Blog features other creative blogs each day sharing all sorts of ideas from decorating to scrapbooking to sewing to organization, etc., etc., etc. It is a fun blog to check out and gather ideas. Check it out here.

Weight Loss
Have I mentioned that I love Mommy Snacks? Each week Andrea does a post called Fat Burnin' Friday where she shares her successes and struggles with weight loss. Love her! Check it out here.

I love that there are so many of us bloggers out there to help support each other in this frugal journey - have fun checking out these other blogs, but don't forget about me:)!




P.S. If you have a frugal blog that you would like me to add to my blog roll - I'd be delighted! I have my blog set up so that the most recently updated blog moves to the top of the list and only the top five show - there is a link that can be clicked to see all of them. Please either leave me a comment or shoot me an e-mail savingsomegreen @ gmail dot com. If you want to reciprocate and add me to yours - that's great too!

Check it out!

This week, our family story is featured on BeCentsable's (an awesome blog) Centsable Savings Stories and Struggles weekly feature. Check it out here!