Put your list items in the same order as you’d find them in the store. Though all grocers put produce, dairy, and meat around the edges of the store, beyond that it’s anyone’s guess. They also change the layout fairly often to get you to walk past (and maybe pick up) items you usually skip. Your store may give out maps, especially if it was recently built, or you may have to map it yourself.

When you start the list in your word processing program, lay the page out in three columns or more. Yes, you can get it all on one page.You may even want to get fancy and make a table with space for each aisle in the store. Leave some blank space for occasional stuff like coconut milk.

Post it on the fridge, where you can update it as needed. Find a way to keep a pencil nearby, or it won’t happen.

Paperclip your coupons to the list (or staple them, just don’t damage the all-important bar code). You may want to make a note next to each list item that you have a coupon for — especially if you’re going shopping at a low-alertness time of day.

Update your list document when you start going to a new store, when you stop buying things like diapers (it does happen!), or when your regular store changes its layout (see above).

Taking a little time to do these things has saved me lots of time and money over the years.

1. Shoes: Begin your search at department stores in your local mall such as Nordstrom, Lord & Taylor , and Macy’s. Look for the sales first and collect your coupons! Be sure not to pass by the B.P. Junior’s shoe department in Nordstrom for younger looks! Next, venture to DSW: Discount Shoe Warehouse. You can even shop DSW online to save even more! Make sure you sign up for DSW rewards for even more savings! The great thing about DSW is that they carry name brand shoes for less such as: Nine West, BCBG, Clarks, Gucci, Jones New York, Puma, Prada, New Balance, etc.
2. Clothes: For college girls, a great place for a dressier top would be Nordstrom’s Point of View department. It offers a wide variety of tops and bottoms for all sizes and styles. This department will likely not save you any money but hey, you have to splurge sometimes! Additionally, if you are a Macy’s Visa Card holder, you enjoy the benefits of frequent 20% and $20 off coupons as well as the occasional gift certificate from Macys. This comes in very hands in, let’s say the intimates section, an area that usually will cost a pretty penny, but you can use various discounts! Additionally, Macy’s carries high-end brands like Lactose, Ralph Lauren Polo and Tommy Hilfiger.
3. Accessories: Every girl should go to school with a new bag, whether it be a school bag or a pocketbook. Stores I would recommend for this would be either Burberry or Coach outlets or department stores like Macy’s or Lord & Taylor, where by an off chance, you could find your next dream bag on sale! If all else fails, I always rely on my Longchamp totes sold in Nordstrom for a reasonable ticket price in my opinion.
4. Cosmetics and Personal Accessories: For cosmetics, I believe in investing when investing should be made. I recommend either Clinique or Lancôme make-up: Clinique for everything facial and Lancôme for everything and all about the eyes. It will cost you a lot up front but it will last you a long time and work better than less expensive discount brands. For personal accessories like nail polish, I would recommend visiting a discount beauty supply like Harmons (which accepts Bed, Bath, and Beyond coupons…so save them!) to purchase nail polish, nail care kits, make-up cases, body-wash, shampoo and conditioner and hair accessories like clips and brushes.

All in all, going back to school is a process for guys and girls. It is harder to spend less on getting ready for school than it is spending more. At the end of the day, it takes some thinking before buying and the ability to train yourself to shop smart! Good luck and best of luck with your school year!

Free Offers For Children

If you’ve got a child aged 3 or under celebrating a birthday, capture their precious years with a free portrait package from Olan Mills.  Sign up and print out a coupon for a package that includes one 8 x 10, one 5 x 7, and four wallet sized photos.  If you’ve got a child aged 10 years or younger, sign them up for Geoffery’s Free Birthday Club so they can receive a free gift and birthday card among other perks.

Freebies For You

Join Sephora’s Beauty Insider to receive a free beauty gift for your birthday along with other fabulous perks which include insider access to sweepstakes and deluxe freebies. Get more freebies from Aveda when you register to become a member and receive a free exclusive offer on your birthday.

Free Treats For Everyone

No birthday is complete without ice cream, so sign up for Cold Stone Creamery’s Birthday Club and receive a coupon for a free ice cream creation. Coupon offer only good on the 14 days surrounding your birthday.  If you want cake too,  print a coupon for a free cake at Jack In The Box.  Offer valid on either Chocolate Overload Cake  or New York Cheesecake. Must bring valid ID to use coupon.

This time last year, I began my weekly visits to Bed Bath and Beyond. It began with a few small purchases such as a desk lamp and a shower tote. Then, it turned into bed bug protectors, and then the Egyptian cotton fiber bed. The list goes on! So, Mom, here is the list of MUST HAVES for your child’s first year of college!

1. The Bed: keep an eye out for Macy’s ONE DAY SALE! (they are random!) You may even consider opening up a Macy’s Credit Card to receive a first purchase discount as well as STAR Rewards which include coupons for 20% off or $20 off! Start off with the bedding! Remember most colleges have beds that are TWIN EXTRA LONG. Plenty of stores and websites like macys.com have a “bed-in-a-bag” that will make your life easy! If you want to get fancy, you can get Macy’s Charter Club 500 Thread Count sheets in Twin XL as well for the ultimate comfort for your college kid! The next crucial thing is the bed bug protector. It sounds discouraging but it is necessary! I would also recommend either an egg crate or an Egyptian Cotton Fiber Bed. It is like having a pillow top on your not-so-plush-dorm room bed. They are also available in a feather bed. Another critical purchase: bed-risers! They come as high as seven inches and allow for ample storage space under the bed!
2. The “kitchen”: Most first-years lack a kitchen in their dorm room. However, you can make it work by having a small refrigerator and a microwave! Easy-Mac becomes a close friend to most! The best budget buy: the Keurig. The smallest one costs about $89 (without the coupon!) and the K-Cups average around $13.99. TIP: buy them at Gloria Jeans and get a frequent buyer card and eventually earn enough “hole punches” to get $10 off! (Last week I got 25 K-Cups for $3.99!) It saves a lot of money during the year and allows you to drink your coffee or tea whenever and wherever you please!
3. The bathroom: For most, a common bathroom is a bit of a shock. So, I would suggest you come prepared with the following:

• A plastic shower tote (the cloth ones never dry!)
• Flip Flops (Old Navy—some are available for only $1 on certain occasions!)
• Terry-Cloth bath robe
• DRYING RACK—very necessary! In a small dorm room with poor air circulation it is the only way your towels will dry!

Keep in mind that every student is different, but the objective here is to make sure your student is comfortable and to have him or her be as prepared as possible for the transition! And… always remember the coupons!

1- Learn To Cook
Eat your meals inside your home and save. Learn to make tasty meals from scratch, and you will save even more. Dig out those cookbooks and rediscover your favorite foods. If you have a favorite dish, there is a good chance that there is a easy and affordable recipe out there.

2- Make A Week’s Worth of Menus
How can you save if you don’t plan? Sit down with the entire family and make a list of the meals and foods everyone likes. Then coordinate the meals around the week, and be sure to add breakfast and lunch to the menus. Some of the meals may be homemade, and others convenience meals (i.e. frozen foods or boxed meals), but it’s important to plan all meals in advance. Start the menu at least one day before shopping.

3- Hunt For Coupons
The web is filled with coupon websites that let you just search, click, and print! After you’ve got your meals planned, make a list of everything you need, then search for coupons.

4- Sign Up For Loyalty Cards
If you haven’t already, sign up for your grocery chain’s loyalty card. These programs are free and are often filled with extra benefits like free groceries or promotional offers.

1. Bargain Hunters

To all the bargain hunters out there, be sure to drop by blogs like Good Deal Gal for information on good deals, coupons, free shipping info, etc. Don’t forget to take advantage of store coupons like Old Navy to get information on their latest sales and coupons.

2. Camera Enthusiasts

For camera enthusiasts, hobbyists and professionals, why not give them something they’ll appreciate without breaking the bank for you? Try Borrow Lenses, a website where you can borrow, rent or buy camera equipment you cannot afford to buy otherwise.Purchase a one-year membership for them (where they can get discounts every time they rent equipment) or purchase gift certificates (amount ranging from $10 to $500), so they can choose what to rent. If you’re in or near the San Francisco or San Mateo area, you can choose to pick up equipments at the store. Otherwise, you can choose to have the items shipped to your home.

3. Food Lovers – Coupon Mom

Use Coupon Mom to purchase restaurant gift certificates for 80% off. Give it as a gift or use it to treat other people out for lunch or dinner.

4. Low Deals – eBay

Never underestimate the power of eBay to give you the best choices for the best deals. Remember to be extra patient at this time, as a lot of people will be doing the same thing. And make sure to read all conditions. Sometimes, deals are too good to be true because you’ll be spending too much on shipping. So, be sure to read all the fine print.

5. Cheap Deals

Scour your area for the best deals on events, travel deals or attractions. In San Francisco, try Bay Area On The Cheap for discounts on museum and concert tickets, suggestions on cheap dates, happy hour sightings and farmers market locations.

If you’re resourceful enough, you’ll be able to find last minute ideas and deals for your Christmas gifts. Never give up.

Grocery stores have reward cards for free milk after spending so much money.  One local store even helps you save money for gas.  Best Buy gives me $10 off when I buy a $2,500 TV.  My pet store even has a key chain reward card, for God knows why.  Even after all of this, I still do not feel like I am saving any money at all.  The only part of my pockets getting fatter is the keychain that houses all the reward cards.

We rush to get the card, but why?  Sure we save a few bucks here and there, but it seems like the company could save the development, marketing and printing money from all of the cards and lower the prices.  This would save even more money.

Since we are on the topic of saving money, let me tell you about a website that is pretty good.  It is www.flyertalk.com. It is a site dedicated to earning more miles towards frequent flyer miles or getting deals while traveling.  You can get promotion cards for online purchases and participate in the community discussion boards.

In fact, one discussion there led to thousands of free points and numerous airline tickets.  From a tip at this site numerous visitors bought U.S. minted gold collector coins with free shipping.  They charged as many coins as their cards could handle.  Some, reportedly, even got in the $500,000 plus range.  At first I thought this sounded stupid…credit cards are evil.  Then these crafty shoppers took all of the gold minted coins to the bank and placed them in their accounts.  They paid off credit cards and enjoyed all of the free miles earned through the purchase.

Instead of saving $3 on your purchase of milk, look into sites like this offering true rewards.

• Costumes need not be expensive. Every year people are spending more and more on Halloween costumes because they think that the more expensive the costume, the more it is guaranteed to bring the best results. It is true that the more expensive costumes are of better quality than the cheaper ones, but there are also cheap costumes that are of good quality and can give almost the same effect as expensive costumes. You only need to know where to find them and how to enhance their look. When buying costumes you have two options, you can buy online or the traditional way–physically going from one store to another. But it is obvious that the best bet here is doing the shopping online. When you shop for Halloween costumes online you have a wider reach, you have thousands of stores under your mouse, and it is easier to search for the costume you are looking for. So, if you want to hunt for cheaper but high quality Halloween costumes, better do it online.
• Coupons. Yes, coupons are great for shopping and they are great also for Halloween shopping. Know where to get coupons for the top 2009 Halloween costumes; it is easy, just use your favorite search engine for finding information about how and where to get coupons for costumes. I did a little search, and I easily found some coupons for Star Trek characters, Harry Potter, Wolverine, Hannah Montana and Michael Jackson costumes. You also can check your local newspaper and mailers for local coupons.
• Timing. The best way to shop for any holiday is doing it early or late. You’ll get a lower price for items that are not in season. If you buy Halloween costumes two or three months early, you’ll surely get lower prices for them. If you buy late, the same thing could happen but you’ll have a better chance at saving if you do it early.

I hope these tips will help you avoid overspending during your Halloween shopping.

CVS

Sign up for their free program either in-store or online, and receive the Extra Care card. Each time you spend money at CVS (in-store and online) and use your EC card, you will earn Extra Care Bucks (or ECBs). You’ll earn 2% back for most purchases, or 1 ECB for every two prescriptions filled at CVS. Pay attentions to your local CVS circulars and online to find out current ECB earning promotions and instant savings on certain items. To find out your current ECB earnings, check your receipt or on the CVS website.

Walgreens

Walgreens doesn’t have a savings card, and they ended their EasySaver Rebate Program in May of this year. They do, however, have coupons you can print directly from their website. However, it’s not really the same. If you want to save well when shopping at Walgreens, you’ll have to keep tabs on their Sunday ads and coupons.

Rite Aid

Rite Aid’s Single Check Rebates program is quite similar to the one offered by CVS. This program is also free to join and easy to work. Simply check the Rite Aid website for a list of the month’s current offers, enter your receipt information, and request your check. But unlike CVS’s ECBs, online purchases don’t qualify for the Single Check Rebates, which is ironic considering you can redeem your rebates online. Nonetheless, there are some good deals to be had.

Take advantage of discounts. Does your grocery store have a savings card? Most major chains do, and they are easy and free to get, so take advantage. Read the weekly ads (if you don’t get them via mail, check out the website) to get a feel for what’s on sale that week. Try to plan your meals according to what’s on sale.

Start using coupons.  Look through your local newspaper on Sundays, and start clipping the coupons. You’ll find even more coupons and discounts online, so browse several times a week for the latest offers.

Don’t just shop at one grocery store. One store may have a fabulous produce section, but the prices on dry foods are not so good. It might be a good idea to invest in a warehouse club membership, like BJ’s or Sam’s Club, just so you can save on dry goods and basics in bulk.

Why not try store brands? Most often they have just the same quality as the brands you love and know, minus the name and possibly saving you as much as a dollar.

Start comparing products. If you’re eyeing two different products (say, two bottles of salad dressing), look at the package size. One product may appear to be the same size as the other, but reading the differences in ounces will prove that you’ll get a little more for less.

Perhaps you were clipping coupons before it became popular. For some people, coupons are a family tradition. Your mother used them and now so do you. Or maybe you are new to the wonderful budget savvy side of coupon usage. Regardless of which describes you, where do you store your coupons? Have you put your creativity to work to find the best storage possible?

Coupon Storage Suggestions

Make sure you store your coupons somewhere that you will remember to take them when you leave home to do your shopping. It is so easy to forget them unless you are in the habit of doing so!

Dollar stores give you plenty of options to jump start your creative juices. Buy a small plastic rectangular basket in a color that appeals to you, and keep it at the end of your kitchen counter, on top of the refrigerator or on a table next to the telephone.

Another dollar store option that works is to buy a tin or a plastic container with a top that closes for storing your coupons. You can find these containers in all sorts of vibrant colors and designs.

Small gift boxes from stores, such as discount shops, are another good bet. Gift boxes, like tin containers, can be purchased in an array of bright colors and designs. As well, there are often a number of sizes to choose from, so you can choose the size that will be most accommodating to the coupons you have.

Plastic zip bags are always a good bet because they are see through and slip easily into your purse. As well, if the coupons get turned upside down in the zip bag, they will not spill out and be lost. Clear bags make it easy to read coupons and to know when they expire.

Business size envelopes are another option, as are old greeting card envelopes. If you have too many, then the envelopes probably won’t work. But for a dozen or  fewer, this is a good place to keep them. However, the spillage worry does exist with this option.

Ebates.com- This cool website not only shares current coupon codes for your favorite e-tailers (including The Gap and Barnes & Noble), you also can get cash back! Sign up for free, browse for your favorite websites, and tell your friend about it to receive a $5 referral bonus.

WowCoupons.com- This site is so easy- simply search for retail, grocery, restaurant  and entertainment coupons and print. You don’t need to sign up for anything (which really frees up your email inbox!).  These coupons are good to take with you on your next shopping trip.

CouponMom.com- Find deals on shopping and entertainment, but the real draw is grocery coupons. Get completely free access to grocery and drugstore deals, and download the free e-book “Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half “. You’ll also find coupon codes and free offers.

RetailMeNot.com- Find online discounts to over  20,000 online shops- that includes your favorite chains and more obscure online boutiques. This website always keeps up with the latest deals to be found, and if they ever miss one, you easily can submit the deal on the website.

Well, the days of clipping coupons have not completely disappeared, and a lot of people have migrated this habit online. comScore, the self-described “leader of global Internet information,” states that 53% of consumers say they regularly visit brand Web sites to find promotions.

Some users go right to the brand sites to find the coupons they are looking for when shopping for house items, such as linens for beds or school supplies. The leaders in this category are:

• Bed, Bath & Beyond
• Dell
• Target
• Toys R Us
• Office Depot
• BestBuy

But there are also many coupon and discount aggregator Websites. These sites have coupons available on tons of different brands, products, and categories. These sites tend to be virtual cornucopias of savings. Some of the leading coupon sites are:

• Coupons.com
• CurrentCodes
• Coupon Mountain
• Deal Catcher
• Fat Wallet
  

On some of these sites you can get actual coupons to print out, and in other cases they give you promotion codes, which can be used online to make purchases. Either way before you buy you should do a quick scan of these sites to see if you can save a few bucks.