[swt1899]

We use the grocery game. www.thegrocerygame.comWe have saved so much with this. Terri, the founder, does all the sales hunting and coupon picking for you. All you have to do is pick what you need from the list, cut the coupons and shop. I saved $70 this past week on groceries. Start saving and filing coupon sections from your Sunday newspapers. The coupons don't expire for a long time and you will need them for later use. Terri will tell you when to buy certain things to stock up on or when you can use a certain coupon for sale items... more savings.... or more bang for your buck. Also some stores double/triple coupons so many times you can get things for just cents or even free. I plan our meals using this list. Sometimes I will buy it and package it to store in our freezer for later. We have steaks, chicken and hamburger meat stock for a while because of this list. I think they have a 30 day free trial. But it really pays off if you join and collect more coupon sections. They you really see they pay off. It is pretty cheap to join. We pay about $15 a month for it because we subscribe to 2 stores... HEB and Kroger. She has many stores on there. You just have to find the one(s) in your area. It pays for itself in one visit. Trying it out and see what you think. We save so much using it. It's work to do, but getting the family involved it in can be fun. My sister and I compete to see who saves more. Also on the grocerygame site you can print out coupons.Also I save money by making my own laundry detergent. I saw this idea on the Duggar's TV show. It never occured to me that you could do it, but I looked up a recipe (there are many) and found that it is so easy to make. Plus instead of 20-25 cents per load, it is about 2-3 cents per load. We haven't bought detergent in about 6 months. The clothes are just as clean as any leading detergent. I also use cloth diapers. I change my son more often, but we save a bundle and it is more environmentally safe. The chemicals are not biodegradeable and they get into the ground water. I bought my cloth diapers from babies R us and Target and then I bought the covers from Kelly's Closet online. I like the Thirsties covers. They wash so nicely. Another thing I do is I don't use my dryer during the warmer months; I use a clothes line outside in our back yard. Reason why, I live in TX and it is so HOT here. Our dryer heats up the house and our AC workers longer to cool down the house. Our dryer is a gas dryer and our gas bill is a lot lower. Now during the winter it's great to help heat the house. Our heater doesn't have to work as hard. What's interesting is that my clothes dry in the same amount of time as they would in a dryer since it gets so hot here. We also use fans to help cool our house and circulate air. Cuts down on the electric bill. My family also purchased an Entertainment Book. They sell them during the fall (some schools sell them as fundraisers). We use the coupons out of them for those rare times we go out to eat. For example we went to Arby's and got 5 sandwiches for $5. Also some have grocery store coupons in them. Those are nice! You can get $5 off your purchase or something like that. I am a SAHM so I am here at home all day so I never use any lights. We are fortunate to have a house with many windows so I crack my blinds for light. Also check out www.coupons.com or www.pgesaver.com. They have ways you can print out coupons or if you have a grocery store card you can load them onto your card. You can even register for coupons to be mailed to your home or even get free samples of things. I've gotten samples of feminine products, detergent, dishwasher soap, toothpaste, etc.We also shop at Goodwill, NAM and other second hand store for our son's clothes and toys. Children don't wear clothes and shoes for very long and they grow out of toys so we find many "like new" items. Hope this info helps you out. It has saved us a lot of money. Best of luck!