Tag: Aldi

bloggy stuff

People, please!

Shanny

I haz a grumpy.  I’m so annoyed lately with some basic 5th grade grammatical errors that I’m seeing around the interwebs.   I don’t ask for much, people.  I just ask that you please remember a few things:

  • You lose your keys.  Your sister is loose.
  • Aldi and Best Buy do not have the letter ‘S’ at the end of their names. Check the sign if you don’t believe me.  You don’t go to Aldi’s and Best Buy’s.
  • The plural of book is books.  Not book’s.  (that one is a real stickler for me)
  • There are no books.  There is no book.  Please don’t say “there is no books”.

That’s it for right now.  See, I told you I don’t ask for much!

shopping

I drank the Kool Aid

Shanny

So I’m a couponer now.  I haven’t gone whole hog yet with a big system, but I’m doing better each week.  I’m getting better deals all the time and it’s pretty exciting to start with a GIANT subtotal then walk out paying less than $20.

Things I’m NOT doing:

  • Going to more than one drug store.  I’m a CVS girl and I just don’t have the time or desire to bounce around from drugstore to drugstore.
  • Same with grocery stores.  We use the one CSP works for and the one down the street from us, plus Aldi because you just can’t beat their prices even though the don’t take coupons.
  • Turning my house into a mini grocery store.  We do not have a pantry.  We have precious little storage space.  So while this week’s deals at CVS means we’re set for body wash and lotion for like 6 months, that’s about it.  I can’t be buying 47 bottles of mustard just because they are only 12 cents.  We just don’t have the room.  We currently have 3 bottles of mustard but they all fit in the kitchen cabinets.  I refuse to turn our guest room into a bomb shelter or store steak sauce under our future kidlet’s bed.
  • Paying for coupons.  It just seems counterintuitive to me.
  • Buying 19 papers every Sunday.  I buy one.  There are just 2 of us for now.  Maybe when the kidlet comes home and the demand for granola bars skyrockets then I’ll shell out for more than one paper.
  • Dumpster diving.  I am not judging.  But I am a huge priss.  I can not stand dirt.  I understand that people throw out their coupons and it’s just money sitting in a bin somewhere but it’s just not worth it to me.  Knowing my luck I’d get stuck and have to call CSP and NOBODY wants that drama again.
  • Being as efficient as I know I could be.

Right now my system is very beginner coupon girl I know.  I am currently using a little accordion file coupon organizer like this one from Carolina Pad (holla! Gotta represent my favorite local office supply company) for all my loose coupons.  Then I make my lists and put all the coupons I plan on using at CVS or the grocery into zip loc bags labeled with the store name.  Those are all held in a little notebook in my purse with a binder clip.  Binder clips are my all time favorite office supply, by the way.   I’ve seen/heard of a couple methods and I’m wondering which you all prefer.  I’ve seen people use the big binder.   I can totally see the pros and cons of using this system.  But I’ve also heard of people just filing the entire coupon insert into an accordion or hanging file  and going back to clip each coupon as they need it instead of clipping all at once.  I also see pros and cons with this system.  What do you use and why?  Thank you for your help!

shopping

Clip it or skip it?

Shanny

I recently signed up to receive email updates from Couponing to Disney.  I don’t coupon but I like a lot of her tips and freebies.  CSP isn’t big on coupons (and he’s a grocery store manager!) and we do the bulk of our shopping at Aldi where everything is private label so they don’t take coupons.  But I read recently, I think it was on one of the Couponing to Disney emails, that if you are really diligent in your couponing that your hourly rate (if you equated it to being paid) would be over $80!  That’s amazing!  I have friends who are really into couponing.  They have binders and know how to check all the ads and are real pros at it.  I have been thinking about whether or not I should give it a go.  Thing is though, it’s just us two.  Also, we are short on storage space.  We don’t have a pantry.  We do have a laundry room but it’s more of an extra large closet.  I’ve seen situations where people have mini storerooms in their houses!  Rows and rows of product.  So for those of you who coupon, would it be worth it for me to do it?  I was thinking that if I started now then I’d be pretty good at it by the time the kidlets come home.  But if you have to have a ton of storage space to do it right then count me out.  Help!