I came across this clip from Studio 5 when I was looking for something about growing herbs that I saw back when Gregory was first born. I know, you totally needed to know how I found this. Maybe you didn't, but I needed you to hear, okay?
Isn't that gorgeous? I'm going to start embracing everything I don't do now. I think I will actually be able to do MORE when I follow these steps and stop obsessing over all the things I leave undone.
Who's with me?
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Sweet Dealz
So, I've been on a quest lately. A quest to save money. It's fun and ADDICTING. Like the time I went to Staples and got $68 worth of stuff for...$5.79!!! It was AWESOME. My favorite is going to stores and filling my cart up with stuff that will be FREE after my coupons. I got 15 tubes of toothpaste for frrrrrREEEEEEEEE at Smiths when they were doing their cool coupon event. And deodorant, and hand soap, all sorts of stuff that won't go bad so I can stock up! That must be a lot of work to save all that money, huh?
NOPE!!!
Amy the Savvy Shopper does almost all of the work for me!!! Wahooooooo! http://savvyshopperdeals.com is awesome. Here's what I do. I get 6 copies of the Daily Herald Sunday paper--because that's where all the coupons are. I'm sure my neighbors are like, "what on earth?" when they walk by on their way to church. Sunday night after the kids are snuggled into their beds (it sounds so pleasant, doesn't it? We're talking after they've finished with ONE more glass of water, going potty ONE more time, and crying because they don't WANNA go to sleep...) Mike and I get to work. Let's be honest, Mike is just about as excited about this as I am (if not MORE so). We take apart the coupon booklets and lay them out page by page. Then all the first pages go in a pile, and all the second pages go in a pile, etc. That way we can cut out the coupons SIX at a time instead of one at a time (which would take forever...). Mike cuts out the coupons and puts them on papers that are labeled by category. These papers (just ordinary 8.5 x 11 printer paper) make it really easy for us to 1) move the coupons if we need to, say, eat dinner (which is why we try to wait till bedtime) and 2)organize the coupons into my coupon binder.
My coupon binder is a zippered binder like a Trapper-Keeper (oh, the memories!!!) filled with baseball card protectors (they have nine pockets on each page). They've got tabs on them for each of my categories, and then each page has a sub category. The categories I use are basically the same as Amy's: http://savvyshopperdeals.com/utah/blogs/article_fdb0f5f2-3c23-11df-af9b-001cc4c03286.html After that I just watch the Savvy Shopper site. Amy sends e-mails on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays directing me to awesome deals. For instance, yesterday I got the e-mail for Smiths, Maceys, and Reams deals (all the stores whose ads run from Wednesday thru Tuesday). If I click on the link in my e-mail, it takes me to the Shopping Wizard!!!
The shopping wizard is amazing! You can limit your search by category, store, percent savings, savvy rank (which is Amy telling you if it's actually a good deal or not) and keyword. This makes it really easy to search for
1) the best deals at Maceys, or
2) the best deals on chocolate chips, or
3) the best deals at ALL the stores in my area.
While I look at these deals, I can add things to my shopping list as I go by clicking on a plus sign. When I'm done, I say "print list." The list prints out, organized by store and category. And THEN at the bottom there is a list of coupons I need to make sure and bring with me! K. The shopping wizard is GEEK OUT worthy. SRS BZNSS (as we former serious gamers like to say).
Oh wait! This is sounding like an infomercial--"and you can have all this for just 19.99 a month. Call now!!" NOT TRUE. it's Free. FREE FREE FREE. That's a very important thing to Savvy Shoppers. :P Well, the newspaper costs money. But the site (which is funded, I believe, BY the newspaper in an effort to get us to buy MORE of their newspapers) is FREEEEEEE.
To get the best deals on the newspaper, you need to go to Amy's class. There are rates on the savvy shopper site that are a few dollars more expensive than rock bottom (i.e. 21.82 for 5 Sunday copies). I know, because I saw them and said, "hey, that's a good deal and I will save way more than that every month." I called and ordered. THEN later, I went to one of Amy's classes and she showed us the prices we could get if we signed up that night. I haven't been charged yet, so I can't remember the cents, but it's a little more than 18 bucks a month. I was feeling a little sad until she said she'd change it for me (YAY!). And right now they have a deal going where you can get another copy on Sunday for $20 bucks a year. A YEAR!! Even if you are already getting five, which was the limit. You do need to be an existing customer I believe. Whoooboy, I jumped on that one. That way, when I steal Mom's coupons (she doesn't use most of them anyways) I'll have SEVEN of every coupon!!!
It's going to take some time while I stock up on essentials and work on recipes that use the things I can get often with my coupons. Amy spends $155 a MONTH on groceries for a family of five and HALF of the stuff she buys is for storage! She's having a class on September 23rd and you can sign up here: http://savvyshopper923.eventbrite.com/ if any of you want to go. I loved the class--Amy is hilarious, and if you answer questions you get goodies PLUS you can get that awesome subscription deal! And if you need a buddy, I'll come again!
*****
There are another couple of deal sites I like to check--
Daily Deals from the Daily Herald has some great deals for Utah county. Sometimes even half off gift certificates to grocery stores!
http://www.redplum.com/dash has one awesome coupon every day--the other day I got a $5 off coupon for Rite Aid. There's a bunch of stuff that's free after rebate and coupons and register rewards and I want to grab some this week. That $5 coupon will make it so I GET money back for shopping!!!
Daily Deal from the Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune these are mostly for stuff in Salt Lake county, but I don't mind driving up to Salt Lake if it's something incredible--like something I bought from a different site--wait till you see. Incidentally, I get $10 for a friend referral if you click on this link instead: http://deals.mediaoneutah.com/r/4c929fda8 which would be cool if you are interested, but no pressure if you aren't.
| Groupon Salt Lake City has mostly SLC deals, but there have been a couple of Provo chestnuts thrown in. For instance, Mike and I are going to Agatha Christie's Mousetrap at the Covey Center for HALF OFF!!! Yay for cheaper dates! It's funny, cuz I was like, "huh, we were just talking about that." And Mike saw it and said, "HEY! That would be a great way to round off our Agatha Christie marathon." We've been listening to all the Agatha Christie audiobooks at Pioneer Overdrive (it's FREEEE too!)--so it was HIS idea. The other week the daily deal was buy one get one free tickets to Ririe Woodbury!!!!! Okay, so many of you may not know who they are, but they are an incredible and pioneering modern dance company right here in Utah!!! This is the SLC deal that I totally jumped on because I have always always wanted to see Ririe Woodbury! So we are going in January. And I cannot geek out enough about it. This one has a $10 bonus to me if I refer you as well--click here: http://www.groupon.com/r/uu7277478
The Best Daily Deals in Salt Lake City --I just got an e-mail that these guys got a SLC deal. I've only looked at today's (which seems like it's the first one) so really I don't know enough to recommend or not. It looks like SLC deals mostly.
http://www.citydeals.com/ --I LOVE this site! All sorts of gift certificates to local businesses. You can request deals to places you love as well. I'm crossing my fingers for an Olive Garden one. We got a REALLY good deal to Cherry Hill this year when we went for a family reunion. Also, Mike and I were talking about our date to Mouse Trap and I wanted to go to Arctic Circle afterward. I'm basically ADDICTED to their hot fudge oreo shake. YUM. So I though, huh, I wonder if there's anything good on CityDeals. FRONT PAGE. Except it's two $10 certificates for the price of one. Which is AWESOME except you have to use the whole certificate at once (watch out for that). Since we only ever get two shakes there, I don't know that we would ever hit $10 on an order--especially if we have a coupon. Sigh. ANYWAYS, there's a referral bonus here too--click here: http://www.citydeals.com/?ref=CDUMTAyMzkx
NOPE!!!
Amy the Savvy Shopper does almost all of the work for me!!! Wahooooooo! http://savvyshopperdeals.com is awesome. Here's what I do. I get 6 copies of the Daily Herald Sunday paper--because that's where all the coupons are. I'm sure my neighbors are like, "what on earth?" when they walk by on their way to church. Sunday night after the kids are snuggled into their beds (it sounds so pleasant, doesn't it? We're talking after they've finished with ONE more glass of water, going potty ONE more time, and crying because they don't WANNA go to sleep...) Mike and I get to work. Let's be honest, Mike is just about as excited about this as I am (if not MORE so). We take apart the coupon booklets and lay them out page by page. Then all the first pages go in a pile, and all the second pages go in a pile, etc. That way we can cut out the coupons SIX at a time instead of one at a time (which would take forever...). Mike cuts out the coupons and puts them on papers that are labeled by category. These papers (just ordinary 8.5 x 11 printer paper) make it really easy for us to 1) move the coupons if we need to, say, eat dinner (which is why we try to wait till bedtime) and 2)organize the coupons into my coupon binder.
My coupon binder is a zippered binder like a Trapper-Keeper (oh, the memories!!!) filled with baseball card protectors (they have nine pockets on each page). They've got tabs on them for each of my categories, and then each page has a sub category. The categories I use are basically the same as Amy's: http://savvyshopperdeals.com/utah/blogs/article_fdb0f5f2-3c23-11df-af9b-001cc4c03286.html After that I just watch the Savvy Shopper site. Amy sends e-mails on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays directing me to awesome deals. For instance, yesterday I got the e-mail for Smiths, Maceys, and Reams deals (all the stores whose ads run from Wednesday thru Tuesday). If I click on the link in my e-mail, it takes me to the Shopping Wizard!!!
The shopping wizard is amazing! You can limit your search by category, store, percent savings, savvy rank (which is Amy telling you if it's actually a good deal or not) and keyword. This makes it really easy to search for
1) the best deals at Maceys, or
2) the best deals on chocolate chips, or
3) the best deals at ALL the stores in my area.
While I look at these deals, I can add things to my shopping list as I go by clicking on a plus sign. When I'm done, I say "print list." The list prints out, organized by store and category. And THEN at the bottom there is a list of coupons I need to make sure and bring with me! K. The shopping wizard is GEEK OUT worthy. SRS BZNSS (as we former serious gamers like to say).
Oh wait! This is sounding like an infomercial--
To get the best deals on the newspaper, you need to go to Amy's class. There are rates on the savvy shopper site that are a few dollars more expensive than rock bottom (i.e. 21.82 for 5 Sunday copies). I know, because I saw them and said, "hey, that's a good deal and I will save way more than that every month." I called and ordered. THEN later, I went to one of Amy's classes and she showed us the prices we could get if we signed up that night. I haven't been charged yet, so I can't remember the cents, but it's a little more than 18 bucks a month. I was feeling a little sad until she said she'd change it for me (YAY!). And right now they have a deal going where you can get another copy on Sunday for $20 bucks a year. A YEAR!! Even if you are already getting five, which was the limit. You do need to be an existing customer I believe. Whoooboy, I jumped on that one. That way, when I steal Mom's coupons (she doesn't use most of them anyways) I'll have SEVEN of every coupon!!!
It's going to take some time while I stock up on essentials and work on recipes that use the things I can get often with my coupons. Amy spends $155 a MONTH on groceries for a family of five and HALF of the stuff she buys is for storage! She's having a class on September 23rd and you can sign up here: http://savvyshopper923.eventbrite.com/ if any of you want to go. I loved the class--Amy is hilarious, and if you answer questions you get goodies PLUS you can get that awesome subscription deal! And if you need a buddy, I'll come again!
*****
There are another couple of deal sites I like to check--
Daily Deals from the Daily Herald has some great deals for Utah county. Sometimes even half off gift certificates to grocery stores!
http://www.redplum.com/dash has one awesome coupon every day--the other day I got a $5 off coupon for Rite Aid. There's a bunch of stuff that's free after rebate and coupons and register rewards and I want to grab some this week. That $5 coupon will make it so I GET money back for shopping!!!
Daily Deal from the Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune these are mostly for stuff in Salt Lake county, but I don't mind driving up to Salt Lake if it's something incredible--like something I bought from a different site--wait till you see. Incidentally, I get $10 for a friend referral if you click on this link instead: http://deals.mediaoneutah.com/r/4c929fda8 which would be cool if you are interested, but no pressure if you aren't.
| Groupon Salt Lake City has mostly SLC deals, but there have been a couple of Provo chestnuts thrown in. For instance, Mike and I are going to Agatha Christie's Mousetrap at the Covey Center for HALF OFF!!! Yay for cheaper dates! It's funny, cuz I was like, "huh, we were just talking about that." And Mike saw it and said, "HEY! That would be a great way to round off our Agatha Christie marathon." We've been listening to all the Agatha Christie audiobooks at Pioneer Overdrive (it's FREEEE too!)--so it was HIS idea. The other week the daily deal was buy one get one free tickets to Ririe Woodbury!!!!! Okay, so many of you may not know who they are, but they are an incredible and pioneering modern dance company right here in Utah!!! This is the SLC deal that I totally jumped on because I have always always wanted to see Ririe Woodbury! So we are going in January. And I cannot geek out enough about it. This one has a $10 bonus to me if I refer you as well--click here: http://www.groupon.com/r/uu7277478
The Best Daily Deals in Salt Lake City --I just got an e-mail that these guys got a SLC deal. I've only looked at today's (which seems like it's the first one) so really I don't know enough to recommend or not. It looks like SLC deals mostly.
http://www.citydeals.com/ --I LOVE this site! All sorts of gift certificates to local businesses. You can request deals to places you love as well. I'm crossing my fingers for an Olive Garden one. We got a REALLY good deal to Cherry Hill this year when we went for a family reunion. Also, Mike and I were talking about our date to Mouse Trap and I wanted to go to Arctic Circle afterward. I'm basically ADDICTED to their hot fudge oreo shake. YUM. So I though, huh, I wonder if there's anything good on CityDeals. FRONT PAGE. Except it's two $10 certificates for the price of one. Which is AWESOME except you have to use the whole certificate at once (watch out for that). Since we only ever get two shakes there, I don't know that we would ever hit $10 on an order--especially if we have a coupon. Sigh. ANYWAYS, there's a referral bonus here too--click here: http://www.citydeals.com/?ref=CDUMTAyMzkx
WHOAH that was forever long! But I thought you all should know that you TOO could be saving MILLIONS of dollars EVERY DAY! Call now and you too can be happy and addicted to saving money! Limited time offer! If you call now you can get your very own Perry the Platypus plush doll absolutely FREE!!!
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