Being Centsible

We all know the economy is rough right now.

Now I have personally had at least two VERY good bloggy friends (and one is my bff in real life) that have been affected job wise. (or is it effected? I always forget which one is right- HOF will let me know when he gets home. He knows all those grammar rules! He's my smart man!!!!)

Anyway, this is just heartbreaking to me. I just can't believe it's in "my own backyard" so to speak. I know a lot of people that are worried about bills, and the rising price of groceries and this and that... but now 2 friends' families have either had a job loss, a furlough, or reduced hours, or more than one of these things.

HOF and I thought now was a great time to bring back some of my money saving tips.

*although I do have to note I was extremely disappointed in myself this weekend. We did our two trips and Publix turned out great. I saved over $35 and only spent $23. That totally rocked! But, at Kroger I was so upset. I'm still upset. I spent $70 (ish- can't remember exact figures) and only saved $63ish. It wasn't so much the percentage of savings as how high the bill was! I couldn't believe it!!! Although we did splurge and buy the soft drink special this week, which totalled about $12 of my bill, but still! I am still sick to my stomach over having a bill that high. We did stock up at the $0.88 sale, but there weren't really any high ticket items on our bill, so I consider it a failure. I know I am hard on myself, but I haven't had a failure in a while.

Anyway, I have two tips for you today.

TIP #1: It never hurts to ask

I love smuckers preserves. Strawberry to be exact. And this is one thing that the store brand just does NOT compare on for me. I love them. But, I am very disciplined and won't buy them unless I have a coupon and they are on sale. It has been a very, very long time since this has happened. I probably have not had any for at least 4 months. But this week, the stars aligned and I was going to get a jar for $0.90! I was so happy.

Until I got to the store and they were out of Strawberry preserves in the size that was part of the sale!! They were also out of the jam and jelly, which would have been a close second. I know it is silly, but I am pregnant and had my tummy set on some smuckers strawberry preserves, so I was pretty disappointed. So, HOF told me to ask them to substitute the larger size. I had just spoken with the manager briefly, so I know exactly where he was. I went up to him and asked. I told him that I had waited forever for this to go on sale (and my coupons were right there, so he probably knew he wasn't going to be making a ton) and they were all out of my flavor and I wanted to know if I could have the larger jar for the sale price. He said, "sure". There was another manager right there who heard and went to check the back for me. They wound up having the regular size and I got the regular deal. But, just by asking, I would have got a jar twice the size for the discount price and I would have had my coupon, too.

Bonus tip for the day

Get to know your manager. You don't have to know them on a first name basis or anything, but figure out who they are and make it a point of getting in their line of site each time you go. I am given a lot of things just by asking for them and I think a huge part of that is because they see us in there every week and know what our family looks like. We are either on a first name basis or recognized by half the employees at Publix. Kroger has a higher turn-over, but we are on a first name basis with Stella, our store manager, and we know a handful of cashiers.

Second bonus tip for the day

Be friendly to/ get to know your cashiers. There is some gray area with coupons. And when I am with one of my buddy cashiers, I am almost always given the benefit of the doubt. We don't choose our line by which one is the shortest, we choose by cashier. And last week this made a difference of saving $7 on a box of diapers, as opposed to saving $5.

TIP #2: Prescription savings

I have a reoccurring monthly prescription for my pre-natal vitamins. Every month I move the prescription and use some one's coupon. I got a $10 gift card to Target, $25 gift check to Walgreens, and I'm about to get a $20 gift card to Kroger. ( I am most excited about that one!) You can use a different coupon every month! Don't think that you can only do this once! Stores LOVE to get prescriptions, so it is usually easy to find at least one prescription coupon in the Sunday flyer's.

People are always asking me for tips, so I hope this helps.

Happy Saving!