I walked into the grocery store yesterday and a man from the newspaper had his little booth set up to give out Sunday papers and to promote the subscription.  For 13 weeks, the price was about $32, but for signing up he gave me a $10 gift card to the grocery store. 
Now, I can start back up with The Grocery Game.
Some of you already know this, but last year my husband and I worked and lived at a ministry for a while.  Before moving there, we lived off our stockpile of groceries.  There was no sense in buying more groceries, …read more

Whenever I have spent a considerable amount of effort and time on something, I have frequently heard the phrases, “Time equals money”, “Your time is valuable”, or something along those lines.  I always perceived that the person was saying that what I was doing was not worth the effort.  Otherwise, why would they have said that?
Yes, my time is valuable . . . BUT it takes time to make and SAVE money.  Here’s a recent example . . .
My cabinets are so stuffed that I haven’t used The Grocery Game (TGG) in about a month.  I’ve just been picking up a few things here …read more

As I promised earlier this week, for Frugal Friday I am giving you some tips for playing The Grocery Game. 

When playing The Grocery Game (TGG), you do not clip the coupons until you need them.  It is such a time saver.  Each week, I take the inserts out of the paper, write the date on the front of each packet, and file a week’s worth into a section of my expandable file folder.

Another option is to use a notebook with plastic sleeves or folders and file the coupons that way.

I haven’t used The Grocery Game in about a month.  In December, there were a few sad weeks where there were no coupons in the paper.  It was ok though, because I was busy with preparing and shopping for Christmas.
Last week I spent a few hours going through all of my coupons.  They needed some weeding out and organizing.  I clipped all the coupons that the list recommended I use.  Then I also included some coupons I had that would be expiring soon.  I wanted to see if any of them would be worth the buy.
I headed out to Lowe’s Foods (with a 2-year-old).  We shopped around the store …read more

Most of you do not know this, but recently my husband lost his job.  No problem, right?  He’s a qualified guy that has experience in many areas.  He’s sort of a Jack-of-all-trades. 
The first week he was unemployed I cut back on our spending, but not dramatically.  Week two I really started cutting back.  No eating out unless it was really cheap.  No more grocery shopping, except for essentials.  No buying any extras. 
Imagine how anxious I was come week 4 when he still didn’t have a job.  A few things got us through this hard time.  Earlier in the year we had paid …read more

Ok, I’ve told you about how I started subscribing to the Sunday newspaper so that I can join The Grocery Game.  Now that I have 4 weeks of coupons, I signed up for the 1 month trial. 
The one month trial membership is only $1.  During that first month you can choose as many stores as you would like for only $1.  This is great for me because I wasn’t really sure which stores I wanted to subscribe to each month.  I need to figure out which ones will have the best deals and suite my family best.
Right now I am …read more

 
When I was a married college student I was a dedicated coupon shopper.  I had my coupons organized in my little coupon pouch.  I would shop mainly with my coupons at Ingles grocery store because they doubled coupons and I also shopped the sales.  With my technique I rarely paid full price for anything. 
I’ve decided that I need to get serious once again.  No more tossing coupons into an envelope or my wallet or losing them in a mess of clutter on the kitchen counter.  I got out my coupon pouch this month and began organizing my coupons.  Today I got a mailing of …read more

After writing the post 25 Ways I Save Money, I realized that the post was simply too easy to write.  It didn’t require any planning.  I was just giving you my everyday techniques.  I realized there are many more simple money saving ideas that I use.  Here are another 25 ways to save money and keep you thinking the thrifty way. 
26.  Shop close out stores.  Many times you can get the same name brands, just at close out prices.  I’m thinking “Big Lots!”. 
27.  Get magazines second-hand from friends and relatives.  I don’t have much time for leisure reading, but I do enjoy looking …read more

Recently, my friend Darlene from church introduced me to “The Grocery Game”.  The Grocery Game is an easy way to save hundreds of dollars each month in groceries. 
Teri’s List reveals the lowest sale prices at stores and tracks manufacturer’s coupons to tell you when to use each coupon so that you can get the best price.  It saves you a lot of time and money.
My friend Darlene does great with The Grocery Game.  Many times she pays very little or nothing for items.  She says that she is spending the same amount each month, but she is stocking up and …read more