Our deal hunter extraordinaire (see photo below) is busy working on the editorial calendar for Checkout Chicks. She’s looking for suggestions on how to help you save the most on your grocery budget. Are there concepts you’d like to see us cover? What confuses you? How can we help you? Leave us a comment and let us know how we can help us.
But mostly I just wanted to post a picture of my cute daughter on the computer with me. LOL
Totally off topic and completely unrelated to couponing…
My coworker is in the final running for a free backyard makeover from the local tv station. He really needs YOUR help! Just click and vote for Chip Trout and family!
Join the Facebook group to show your support. And please! Vote *every day* from every computer you have!
The checkoutchicks are back!! I’m Aryn. . .your otherwise unknown checkoutchick. . .and I’m ready to enlighten you with my tips, tricks, and tools of the trade. Most of our veteran savvy savers will already be utilizing the same tricks, but I’d like to gear my post toward that soon-to-be savvy saver! I’d like to share my insider secrets with the newbies!
My journey to Thrift Town started several years ago when I was a stay-at-home mommy to my precious little one, Punkinhead. I felt it was my job to try to stretch the household dollars as far as they would go, and I’ll admit now: I took it as a little bit of a challenge. Afterall, when Punkinhead was wee little, I only had myself for entertainment! I played a little game with myself to see if I could get more this week for less than I had spent last week. Does that make sense?
Anywhoo. . on to my tips:
1. www.grocerygame.com - this is the site that started it all for me. There is a cost of $10/2 months of service. For me, this equated to $5/month that I was totally willing to spend for a huge amount of savings. Now, many of my friends (who are also avid spendthrifts) do not utilize this service because they feel they can find the deals on their own. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS FOR SOMEONE JUST STARTING OUT!!! I think it is very beneficial for a newbie to allow someone else to take those reigns at first. The more you see the lists that the pros put together, the more comfortable you become with where to look for good deals, what actually classifies as a good deal, and what time of year you can expect to see certain items. I have been a member of Grocery Game for 3 years and because I work full-time, go to school part-time, AND I’m a Mommy. . I don’t have the time to find the deals on my own like my friends do! I’ll pay the $5/month because it’s well worth it. 
www.afullcup.com - some of my spendthrift friends use this site to track their weekly grocery shopping deals. I do not use it for that purpose because I find the whole site to be a bit overwhelming. However, I do like to track deals at other stores (Target, The Childrens Place, Old Navy, etc) through this site. Rest assured, if there is a sale going on anywhere, one of the thousands of members of this site knows about it and has already posted it! For newbies, I would suggest just logging on and sticking to one forum at a time until you get more comfortable. It is a site that has a tremendous amount of content so you may not be able to navigate around very easily at first. Hang in there, it will come!! Before long, you’ll see why the site has so many thousands of members. . because it’s an awesome resource!
You might be shocked to learn that those are the only 2 tips that I have for right now. If you’re a newbie, I don’t want to overwhelm you! Just a little bit at a time! Stay tuned for future posts in which I release other juicy tidbits related to coupon organization, what constitues a “stock up price” for me, and all my tips for stockpiling.
Super saving. . .
As you might have guessed based on the absence of posts for the past month, I was caught up in the holidays and didn’t have much time to post. Now that the holidays are over and we’re entering the winter doldrums, let’s get excited about saving money!
I heard that a lot of you found some amazing deals over the holidays. ECBs aplenty, sweet deals on Amazon, KBee toys clearance sale…. the list could go on and on.
So tell me about them! Share your amazing deals! Leave a comment with the details so we can all congratulate you on your fabulous deal-finding skills!
Help support Checkout Chicks! I created a small Amazon store with coupon organizers and cookbooks in it as well as some books in the “Women Managing Money” category. Let me know if there are other products or categories you’d like to see added.
After over a week of extreme headaches and technical difficulties, we’re back!
Are you okay? Did you survive? I almost didn’t. I’ve been bursting at the seams to tell you about all the great deals I’ve been finding.
Office Max - 3 boxes of off brand 24count crayons, 3 kids scissors and 3 Sharpie mini highlighters — $.98 including tax!
Horizon organic milk - $1 manager special!!
Huggies travel packs of wipes - FREE last week at Kroger! (Sale price $1 minus $1 coupon)
Have you been deal hunting on your own? Tell me about it! Leave a comment and let me hear about your deals!
Guest poster, Tara, here. Sharon, Aryn, and I all share a love for a great deal. Oh, the stories we could tell…
Well on to the deals, the back to school deals are starting and it’s just the first weekend in July. My son is starting Kindergarten this year and I have already printed off the school supply list. These lists crack me up, I totally understand the reason for requesting a specific brand. I still haven’t figured out why each child for my son’s class needs to bring 20 Crayola glue sticks. Yes, I said 20. I thought it was a typo until I scrolled own and saw that 1st graders needed 16. Yes, I said 16.
Fortunately, I have a stash of quite a few of the items needed on the list. My stockpile of free tissues and wipes have already come in handy! I’m feeling pretty good so far. But, my goal is to pay rock bottom prices for the remaining supplies if they aren’t free. As I perused the inserts today, I eyed the best deals in the Staples ad.
July 6-9, Staples is offering a few penny deals:
Not a penny, but still a good deal:
Just a helpful hint, I understand they allow teachers a higher limit.
But not because there aren’t deals to be found! I’ve been extraordinarily busy these past few weeks and have had to do some harsh prioritizing. It was great to see that friends have been finding their own deals though. I got a bit misty eyed as I read about deal after deal that the ladies have been finding on their own! Great jobs gals!!
Expect to see me back up and running with more deals and steals later this week. In the mean time, post your deal finds on your blogs and add yourself to the Mr. Linky widget. Or leave a comment and tell me about the deals you’ve found.
Free subscription to Bassmaster magazine
Free subscription to Heritage Magazine
Cheap is good…but FREE is better! Join FreeFly’s and get FREE samples of name-brand products!
Ultra XCID Antacid Soother sample
I’m not a big traveler because we can’t afford it right now. (But I do hope to change that in the future!) But when we do travel, I’m always on the alert for the best deals possible. I figure out the costs to travel using our car, then compared costs to rent a vehicle or fly. I always deal hunt for hotels or B&Bs. Of course, I always check to see if any meals are included and figure that into the savings analysis.
I’ve been toying with the idea of using a discount travel service. I found Journey Pass recently and have been looking into it. So far, I feel like it’s the cheapest service out there (a big plus for me) but still provides the services and discounts I am looking for.
So, I ask you dear readers… Would you use a discount travel service? Have you joined one? What do you think about it?
