Money Saving Monday: 5 smartphone apps to save you money

I've recently entered the current decade by getting a smartphone. It's a blessing and a curse. The downside is that my kids have figured out how to work it and can play games anytime they want. (And now they think all phones are like little computers, so they are disappointed when Mckay's old/reliable non-smartphone doesn't do much. It has a color screen! What more do they want?!) The nice thing about a smartphone (beside the obvious Google map and internet access implications) is access to some nice money saving apps. And they're all FREE. For those without a smartphone, you'll like to know that a few of these programs can be used on a computer as well.

1) Target Cartwheel has hundreds of percent-off offers on Target items. Anything from food to apparel, diapers to toys, electronics to outdoor: if Target sells it you can find a Cartwheel offer for it. You can start out redeeming up to 10 offers at a time. As you use Cartwheel more and more, you can unlock extra spots. Each offer can be applied to as many as four like items. To redeem, you show the bar code on your phone or tablet screen to be scanned by the cashier at checkout. You can also use Cartwheel on your computer by printing the bar code at home before going to Target (much like a coupon) and having it scanned at checkout.

Why I like it: As I mentioned last week, you can triple your savings at Target by combining a Cartwheel offer with a Target store coupon AND a manufacturer coupon. The Cartwheel discount is applied after Target coupons and before manufacturer coupons.


The next four apps on my list are cash back apps. To use them, you take a picture of your receipt showing the correct item purchased, and then the discount amount is added to your account. When you reach a certain cash back threshold (the amount is different for each app) you can "cash out" your account and get your money through pay-pal, bank deposit or in the form of gift cards. (Let's be honest here: Amazon gift cards are practically cash.)

2) Checkout 51 - This is one that you can use with or without a smartphone.  Look through the offers and buy the products at ANY store. Upload your receipt to Checkout 51. It's easiest to do this with a smartphone, but you can also use a computer's camera or even a digital point-and-shoot to upload pictures of your receipt. Your purchase will be confirmed within 24 hours and your account will be credited. When your account balance reaches $20 you can cash out and a check will be mailed to you. A few things to keep in mind:

• Offers are available in limited quantities. If you see an offer you want, upload your receipt immediately after purchase to avoid missing out. (This applies to most all cash back programs.)
• Offers run from Thursday to Wednesday. You must upload your receipts while the offer is live.

Why I like it: Checkout 51 has a fresh produce offer each week.  There is always a $0.25 off produce offer on things like grapes, tomatoes, limes, lettuce, carrots, apples, etc. Bananas are always on there. We eat a lot of bananas in our house, so even if I'm not redeeming anything else that week, I know I can always save 25 cents on bananas each week.

3) Ibotta is one of the better know cash back apps. You use it much like the other ones: choose your offers, scan your receipt, get cash on your account. With Ibotta, you'll need to scan the barcode on the the purchased item as added proof that you bought the correct item. Ibotta has offers for most grocery stores, and even has offers for non-grocery stores like Best Buy and clothing stores/website. You'll have to unlock each offer to access it by answering a question or reading a fun fact about the product. It takes 10 seconds.

Why I like it: Ibotta often has an offer for milk. Most households in America buy milk regularly, so that alone will convince a lot of people. In addition to the regular coupon-like offers you'll see for a specific brand, Ibotta will often have offers to be used on any brand of an item. Things like shredded cheese, eggs, bread, ice cream: ANY brand. You can cash out with Ibotta at $10 through Paypal, Venmo or your choice of gift card, like Amazon.

If you are interested in using Ibotta, you can sign up here or use my referral code: pwevujy. Not only does that link me as your friend so we can both earn a teamwork bonus each month, but it gives me a little referral bonus. I'm not sure how much. Someone click and I'll find out. ;)     

4) Snap - by Groupon. The offers on here can go really fast so check frequently and redeem quickly. The offers available on Snap range from cleaning products to food to magazines. They often have fresh produce offers that get used up quickly. Snap can be used on a smartphone, tablet, or computer.

Why I like it: Snap can be used at any store. Sometimes they'll have milk offers. (The "used" milk offer in the picture above was for $1 off a gallon!) Snap also has occasional any brand offers. The offers are random and change often so, like I said, check frequently. You can cash out at $20. Use this referral link if you're interested in using Snap and I'll get a whole dollar after you redeem your first offer! Come on big money!

5) Saving Star - Saving Star works differently depending on the store. For some stores you will scan the product barcodes and upload a receipt. For some stores with a loyalty shoppers card, the Saving Star offer will be connected to your card and the discount will be applied automatically to your Saving Star account after purchase. Check their website for details on specific stores.

Why I like it: There are offers unique to Saving Star, but they also have a lot of the same offers you would find on coupons.com or from Kroger's website. This means you can stock up with several of the same product when it's on sale and still get a good deal. Saving Star has a Friday Freebie offer to get something completely free (usually candy, gum or a snack food). There's also a healthy offer every Tuesday for 20% off a produce item. I've seen offers for oranges, lettuce, bananas, apples, your basic, common produce. You can cash out to Paypal or directly to your bank account.

Like I said last week,  coupons will only save you money if it's a good buying price for an item you're going to use. The same applies for these cash back programs. Shop wisely and try not to buy unnecessary things just to get the cash back from it. I can consistently save at least $1 or $2 each week with these apps depending on the offers.

So, check some of these out. See if you like them. Use them. And let me know if you use any other money saving apps. I'm always interested in trying new ones.



Other apps:

• BerryCart - Cash back on organic, gluten-free and Non-GMO foods.

• Walmart Savings Catcher - This app does the price matching for you. Scan the QR code on your receipt AFTER purchase and the app will search for advertised deals. If any other store had a better deal on something you bought, the difference is added to your account. 

Money Saving Monday: My top 5 Coupon Resources

My husband is currently in his 4th year of graduate school. Before that, he was working on his bachelor's degree. In fact, for the 6+ years that we have been married, he has been a student and the main wage earner in our family. So it shouldn't be a surprise that our family keeps a pretty tight budget. When "extreme couponing" became a new fad years back, I was intrigued for the obvious money-saving reasons but had no idea where to start. And being a busy parent, I couldn't imagine devoting enough time to make using coupons worthwhile. I've been doing this for a few years now and I'm happy to tell you that you don't have to go to extremes of clipping and stock piling to consistently save money on groceries each week.

When I first started couponing, I did a google search and was overwhelmed by the number of couponing websites. Some for printing coupons, some to tell you which coupons to use at which stores: it was too much.

I thought it might be helpful if I shared my favorite "tried and true" couponing resources and websites. If you've ever wanted to start using coupons or save a little extra money on groceries, here are some helpful tips to get you started.

First off, one criticism that many (including myself) have for coupons is that they are mostly for unhealthy/processed foods. While this is true, you can still find coupons for healthier foods and even produce/perishables. You just have to look in the right places.

I have to tell you that I don't get my coupons from a weekly Sunday newspaper. I feel like the cost of a subscription (however low it is) isn't worth it to me. Most of the coupons are for things I wouldn't buy and the ones I do want I can find a similar match to from another place. Now, I'm not one to turn down newspaper coupons from someone else who doesn't want them, so if you know someone who gets the paper and doesn't keep the coupons, ask for them. But you can still save money with out the Sunday paper.

Before I get started, I often have to remind myself that coupons are about saving money. (Duh!) So I don't buy things I wouldn't normally eat or buy. It doesn't matter that a coupon can save me $3 on a $6 razor. If I'm not going to use that brand of razor, I just lost $3. I Also remind myself that Time=Money. I know I could spend 10-20 hours a week researching and preparing coupons to save myself $20, but is my time worth $1 an hour?

1) Kroger.com and Kroger coupons in the mail have been my greatest and easiest resource for coupons. Kroger has electronic coupons on their website that often match the coupons from the paper or other websites. The digital coupons load directly onto your store card and are then applied automatically when you purchase the corresponding items. I love this because it means fewer things for me to keep track of at checkout. When you sign up for a free store card, coupons are mailed to you regularly (make sure your address is connected to your account). I often get coupons for things I buy frequently, like eggs, cheese, tortillas, even produce and meat department coupons.

Kroger is the store I shop at the most, but I realize that not every city has one. Most chain stores with a store card have access to digital coupons on their websites (like Safeway, Albertsons, Marsh, Meijer), so I suggest looking into it for whatever store you have in your area.

2) Coupons.com - This site has printable paper coupons that you'll cut and take with you to the store. These are often identical to what I get through the digital coupons. This means that I can buy more than one of the desired item, since the digital coupons can only be applied once. This is helpful when the price is really low and I want to stock up on an item. You can print up to two duplicates of any coupon per computer (again, helpful for stocking up). You will also find lots of good value coupons unique to only this site. You'll have to quickly download their free printing software the first time you want to print something, but after that it's super easy to use.

3) Target.com - I shop at Target a lot too. The thing that makes Target a little different is that you can stack store coupons and manufacturers coupons for extra savings. Target offers store coupons (found at coupons.target.com, in Target ads or through Target text messages) that can only be used at Target. All the coupons you'll find in the newspaper or other printable websites are manufacturer coupons. Each coupon will be labeled as such so you can tell the difference. At Target, you can use both a store AND manufacturer coupon on one item. For instance, you can buy one box of cereal that costs $2, use a $0.50 off store coupon AND a $0.50 cent off manufacturer coupon and get a box of cereal for only $1. You can save even more when you use the Target Cartwheel app. (More on that next week.)

You're probably thinking that it will take too much time to search through all the store ads and coupons to find any good deals. Luckily, there are many websites that have already done the searching for you and provide a write up of the best deals for a store each week. Here are my two favorite coupon match-up websites:

4) Couponmom.com - Coupon Mom looks at the weekly advertisements for several major grocery stores across the country. They match the sales with any available coupons and write up the best deals for you. You can scroll down the list, check a box on items you'll want to purchase, then email the grocery list to yourself, along with where to find each coupon. This site does use newspaper coupons for a lot of the match-ups, but I can still find plenty of good deals on here with the coupons I have access to.  You'll need to make a free account with CouponMom to see the match-ups.

5) TotallyTarget.com - While Coupon Mom does provides a write up for Target deals, Totally Target ONLY does match-ups for Target, so they can go more in depth and tell you about even better deals. This site will give you a weekly ad match up that corresponds with ALL known Target coupons, Cartwheel offers and any manufacturer coupons. They give updates on any unadvertised sales or deals on clearance items. Target often has gift card deals listed in the ad where the store will give you a $5 gift card for buying 2 of a specific item. Totally Target is really good at matching these offers with the best coupons for maximum savings. This website does not require an account or log-in.


I'm sure there are lots of other helpful coupon websites out there. These are the ones that have worked best for me. Feel free to look for others ones that work for you. Just remember that Time=Money. If I have to check with 15 different websites before I can leave for the store, it's a problem. Not to mention that by then, at least one child will likely be hungry again and then I'll never get out of the house.

Next week I'll share how a few easy to use phone apps can save you even more money. (Not all of them require a smart phone.)




Other coupon websites:
Commonkindess.com - A lot of the coupons are for organic/health food items. I've also seen Huggies diaper coupons. For every coupon you use, they'll donate to your favorite charity.

Kelloggsfamilyrewards.com - Has coupons for some Kelloggs products. You can also enter codes here found on all Kelloggs family products that earn you points to redeem for gift cards and better coupons.

Grocerycouponcart.com - Many of the same coupons as coupons.com.

Pickupthevalues.com - Coupons only for Kimberly-Clark brand products, like Huggies and Kleenex.

Money Saving Monday: Weekly Planner

You may have noticed I've been in a little of a blogging rut lately. The month of January was cold and miserable snowy, and I felt little motivation to blog. 

In an effort to blog more this year and to share some of the great ideas that I have, I'm going to start a series of posts on the same topic. This particular series is called "Money Saving Monday" in which I will blog on Mondays about some of my money saving habits and practices. Mckay has been a college student for all 5 1/2 years of our marriage, so I've learned how to keep to a budget and stretch our money. Now, this will not replace our regular child-cuteness posts or ones about our exciting adventures in Indiana. And I'm not going to promise any sort of weekly regularity with these posts, but occasionally, on a Monday, you might find some helpful tips here to save you some extra cash.

My first tip is to get a weekly planner. Planning ahead and writing things down can save you a lot of time and money. I'm mostly going to talk about how using a planner saves me money on groceries, but I also use it for other things as well.

I got this planner for $8. It doesn't have to be a super fancy, expensive planner. In years past, I've usually gotten cheaper planners around $4-5, but with this year's selection, I found this planner to fit my needs the best. You can easily find one at Target or any similar store. It's about 5x7 inches and fits easily in my purse/diaper bag.

What specifically do I look for in a planner? It needs to have a monthly view so I can see an entire month on one (well...two) page.

On this monthly calendar, I write down Dr. appointments, any activities or meetings, birthday parties, times I'm babysitting for friends, etc. Pretty much anything that varies from our regular daily routine is written on here. Many people have a big family calendar at home to keep track of such things. I like that I can take this with me on the go and write things down as they come up.

My planner must also have a weekly view. I chose this planner because I liked the way this weekly view was arranged. And the boxes are lined to keep my crooked writing on track. Very important.

Every week (usually on Monday), I sit down and plan our dinner menu for the week and write the menu in the "Saturday" box on this weekly page. I plan our menu around food we already have that needs to be used up and foods that are on sale that week that I plan to buy. I also plan it based on our activities that week. For instance, I'll plan a crock pot meal for a really busy day. Or you might notice "fondue" planned for this week pictured above because of Valentine's Day. Mmmmm, I'm excited about fondue. I write down the ingredients we need to purchase as well as any other items in the grocery sales ad that we need to stock up on. My grocery list goes in the "Monday" box. 

Then, because "Monday" is usually entirely full of groceries, I write down coupons I might use on this trip in the "Tuesday" box. I do almost all of my shopping at Kroger, and they have lots of great online coupons that load directly onto your shoppers card. Most of these coupons are the same as ones you would see for printable coupons on other couponing sites, so it saves me the trouble of printing out coupons. And the digital coupons are redeemed automatically when you scan your shopper card and purchase the qualifying product, so there's no chance of forgetting to hand over your coupons at check out. The downside is that because the coupons are digital, I don't have them all in front of my to verify product names of sizes, so I write down the digital coupon information to help me remember. If you can see in the picture above, one of my coupons is written as "$2/1 Bounty 6 roll big." This coupon was for $2 off 1 pack of Bounty paper towels, a 6 count package of big rolls.

(I'll write more about my couponing habits in another post.)

Now I'm organized and ready for a shopping trip! I always have at least one child with me at the store, so it helps to plan as much as possible ahead of time so my grocery trips can be faster and the kids don't get hungry/grumpy, need a bathroom, or get lost looking at toys and candy machines.

Throughout the week, as I'm cooking and run out of an ingredient or notice something we need, I write it down on the next week's Monday. Then when I go to shop the next week, the needed items are already on the list.

 Other features I like in a planner: tabs for each month.

It makes finding each day a lot easier.

 My planner for 2013 didn't have tabs. 

It got pretty beat up with all the thumbing through pages to find dates. And the kids touched it. And I'll often write recipes from online in the planner because it's easier to keep the planner by the stove while I cook than to bring the laptop into the kitchen to read the recipe. So yeah, my planners look well-loved by the end of the year.

 For non-grocery purposes, I often use my planner for writing down lists. 

It might be a list of things I need to do that week (pay water bill, schedule appt, mail birthday card, organize closet). When we're planning a trip, it helps to have all my lists in one place. I make lists for food/snacks to bring, clothes to pack, toys for the boys, things to do before we leave, odd items not to forget like phone chargers, etc.

Having a busy schedule and two kids/pregnancies that have sucked all my brain cells, I often forget things I need to do, so I really like to have my planner with me at home and away to quickly write something down when I think of it. If you don't already have a planner, get one! I bet they're discounted right now with it already being a month into the year.

Cost: $8 per year.

Money Saved: $52 per year

(Ok, so it's hard to measure so this is totally a guess, but I'd say I save at least a dollar a week by being organized and having a planner, whether that's money saved by less gas spent on driving to the store several times, or through saving me time.)

Mckay, the book lover, upon seeing my new planner purchase at the beginning of January, said, "I should get to buy a new book too if you got to buy one." I tried to explain how much money this planner saves us each year and that my purchase was really getting us money back. I don't think he believed me and he's been spending a lot of time at the bookstore...

Day 11: coupons

I'm thankful for coupons. It may seem like a kind of silly thing to be thankful for, but when I can save anywhere from $1 to $10 each time I go to the grocery store, I'll take it! The savings really add up.

I'm not a big "Extreme" couponing person. I rarely if ever get things for totally free. I acknowledge that my time is worth something and I'd rather spend the bulk of my time doing other things rather than couponing. I don't get the Sunday paper, so most of my coupons are store coupons from Kroger, printed off the internet, or are given to me by other people. I do spend about an hour or two each week planning out my menu and shopping list, and searching for coupons. I save a few dollars on every shopping trip by combining coupons with sale items and I manage to keep our weekly grocery budget down to $50-$80 a week (usually closer to $50). It's worth it to me and I enjoy seeing how much I save.

Here is my grocery shopping trip for the week. These 39 items cost $48.

That includes $15 spent on chicken breast and ground beef. Subtract the meat and that's less than $1 each for 37 items.

I'm trying not to make this a *boring* price breakdown post, but I wanted to highlight some of the scored prices that were really awesome:

Cake mix: 24 cents a box

Cream of Chicken soup: 44 cents a can

Cereal: 99 cents a box (and these ones are BIG 20oz boxes)

Pasta: 29 cents a box

On this trip, I saved $12.80 with coupons. A lot of these prices are not typical for me. I just happened to have a few really good coupons that lined up just right with a really good sale. But that's the trick with couponing. You stock up on items when you can get them for really cheap, and use up your stock while you wait for low prices again. 

One critique that many (including myself) have against couponing is that you usually get coupons for a lot of junk/processed food. I've found this to be true, but I also find a good amount of non-junk food coupons. Just use the coupons and food that work for your family. It doesn't save you money if you're not going to eat it or you get sick from eating junk. You may have noticed I purchased a lot of snack food this week. I do not buy these every week and it will take us a long time to consume these. Mckay takes his own lunch and snacks to work and this saves us a lot of money compared to getting fast food every day. We also use the snacks for road trips and 72 hour emergency kits. Plus the holidays are coming up, so you can't blame me for stocking up on hot chocolate (99 cents a box) and Pillsbury Cinnamon rolls (88 cents per can of 8 rolls).

I could go on and on about how I use coupons to save money (and perhaps I already have...). Maybe if there's interest in it, I'll write a more detailed post someday of how I keep our grocery budget low. I'm thankful for coupons and that I'm able to save a little bit of money here and there for my family. When I told Mckay about my planned shopping trip for the day and how much I would save in coupons, he joked, "That's enough for me to buy another book!" My response: "No, this means we get to have a Thanksgiving dinner and do fun things for Christmas." That's partly true; I use coupons and save money all through the year because I'd rather spend my money on fun quality time with my family.

Smart Shopping

I'm pretty happy right now because I got an amazing deal on baby wipes.

Amazon.com has great deals on diapers and wipes, as well as other baby products. I've been buying Dallin's diapers from Amazon for a few months now and I love it. This deal on the wipes was particularly awesome.

These Pampers wipes 720 ct. (pictured above) are listed at $25.00. When I bought them, they were marked down to $19.19. (Amazon's "marked down" price changes a lot, so you have to watch and search around for the best price.) You save an additional 30% when you sign up for Amazon Mom and Subscribe and Save (15% savings for each one individually). It's free, easy to sign up, and the discount applies to most diapers and wipes. This promotion also includes free shipping. The wipes are now down to $13.43.

I discovered a code to use at checkout from The Screaming Penny that saves an additional $1.92. Enter MOMWIPES when you checkout. I don't know if this code works on all wipes or just these ones. Now my wipes, originally $25 are costing me only $11.51. The wipes only cost 1.5 cents per wipe! And they're shipped to my house for free in 2 days! That's a really great deal!

But it doesn't stop there! A few weeks ago, I got a $20 Amazon gift card for $10 through a groupon thing. Basically, $10 free dollars to use at Amazon. I used that gift card on the wipes, so I really only paid $1.51 for 720 baby wipes. And That's why I'm feeling pretty happy with myself.

I love getting a great deal on something, even if it's just wipes.