Website to Check Out: Ebates.com

Okay, let me say it. It is stupid not to join a free rewards site which pays you money for shopping online. It's free money. Say you were going to do your Christmas shopping at Walmart and Best Buy this year. Your plan is to pend $200 total, $100 at each store. You can go to the store to find your stuff, wait in line, pay your $200 and leave with your stuff and be done. Or you can do what I do and order online and select to pick up at the store. Best Buy has half an hour pickup where you pick up your item the same day after a 30 minute processing period. Walmart offers free ship to store (i.e. no shipping charging) and takes a week or two. Sounds good right? Well, let's make it even sweeter. Instead of going directly to the retailers website, you first went to ebates.com and then clicked on their link to the retailer (after first looking at the coupon codes ebates offers to see if there are any you want to use to get a better deal).

Walmart is offering 2% cash back which means you would get back $2. Best Buy is currently offering 1% cash back. That means you will get a dollar back for your $100 that you spent if my math is right. Not the best deal in the world, but still 3 dollars more than you would have had. You may also want to check another site to see if you can get a better deal for either store. However, for sake of argument lets assume you did decide to go through eBates. They cut a check (or send paypal) once a quarter so long as you have at least $5 accumulated. If you aren't an e-bates member, you can join by clicking here. They are currently offering a $5 signup bonus which means you are gauranteed a check this quarter. Also check out other stores before you shop online. Some stores will give you a larger percentage of your cash back (i.e. 6-10%). I joined eBates in 2007 and have gotten back over $80 from doing the same shopping I would have done anyway. Again, free money. I personally feel $80, or even $3, is worth a couple extra clicks.

Planning menus by sales...

One of the most important lessons I have learned during my years of couponing is trying to plan your menus based on what is on sale and what is in your stockpile. That great sale on hamburger will do you no good if you let it get freezer burned and buying blueberries out of season at $5.00 for a half pint is a good way to sink your budget. As I am trying to demonstrate this month, you really can eat well with a little bit of effort and some creativity.

I used this strategy for dinner tonight which was chicken tortilla soup. The best part is it makes a huge pot which I'll be able to eat off all week. My decision to make this was inspired by the sale I found at Homeland for Red Gold tomatoes. They are on sale BOGO (2/$1.45) and I had a coupon for $.75/2 which resulted in free tomatoes after doubling. It was an internet printable coupon on the Red Gold website if you would like to print it off too.

I started off which a carton of progresso chicken broth ($2.99 -$1/1 doubled = $0.99) and a carton of swanson's chicken stock from my pantry. I added one can of red gold diced tomatoes (with juice) and 1 can of rotel w/ green chiles from my pantry (I always stock up on rotel whenever I see it on sale!) and simmered it will some cut onion. I then added a package of steam fresh brown long grain rice from the freezer (bought on sale for $1 - $.35/1 doubled = $0.30) and a bag of green giant steamers corn ($1.04 - $1/1 = $0.04). Lastly I added two cooked chicken breasts which I diced into small pieces. Once it was done I ladled it into a bowl and topped with some cheddar jack kraft shredded cheese (I had stockpiled this, but it is on sale this week for $2.49 - $.75/1 blinkie in front of cheese doubled = $1.00 package). For under $4.00 I made at least 8-10 servings or $0.50 per bowl. When I get bored with it I can freeze it and have it later this winter as a quick mid-week meal.

Later on this week I'll probably also make some corn bread ($.49 package of corn bread mix w/ 1 can of green chilis ($.79) and some of the cheddar jack cheese.) Or if you prefer sandwiches, use some of the cheddar jack cheese or velveeta (if you have it) to make a grilled cheese.

January 1, 2009...the experiment begins!

First off, happy New Years everyone! Here is hoping 2009 is much better than 2008! Starting today I am going to blog about everything I eat (and how much it cost) for the next 30 days. I REALLY hope I don't have any huge hunger spells! LOL

The responses to my request for coupons are starting to come in. Little Debbie said that they don't send coupons. Dannon said they don't usually send coupons but sent me a "courtesy" envie with a free coupon (for yogurt or drinkables) and a $.25/1 coupon. If Homeland has Dannon yogurt on sale this month, that $.25/1 coupon will equal a free yogurt. I also got a free product coupon for Hostess/Wonder (can use for bread or sweets). I also got some coupons from Land O Lakes which I can combine with with sales (hopefully).

Once I get off the computer I am going to have the following breakfast:

• Special K w/ strawberries (1 serving, 8 servings in box)
• 6 oz cup of yogurt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 4 oz juice

The price breakdown is as follows:

• Special K: $.005 (as I mentioned yesterday, I got 2 boxes and half a gallon of milk for $.08. I'll call the milk free and assess $.04 to each box of cereal. 1/8 of $.04 = $.005 or half a cent)
• Yogurt: FREE with coupon
• Milk: FREE with coupon
• Juice: 1/16 of the bottle @ $.50 bottle = $.03125
• Total Breakfast OOP: $.03625 (i.e. less than $.04!)

Lunch:

• Corn beef and cheese tortilla wrap
• Sugar Free Koolaid

The price breakdown is as follows:

• Tortilla. $2.82 -$1.99 coupon = $.83 / 8 tortillas = $.10375
• Corned Beef. $.56 - $.56 free product coupon = $0.00
• Cheese. $2.00 bag - $1/2 coupon = $1.00/bag divided by 8 servings = $.125
• Koolaid. $2.00 - $1/1 coupon = FREE
• Total Lunch OOP: $0.22875
• Current Total OOP for Day: $0.265. That leaves me with $1.235 for dinner.

Well day 1 is now complete (wooo hooo! 1 down, 29 to go! LOL) Dinner was tasty, healthy and cheap!

• Cheeseburger on toast w/ sugar free koolaid. The burger was made from the 96% lean hamburger I bought last week. It was $3.56 for a package and I used a $3 off meat WT which brought it down to $.56 for the package. I used a quarter of the package for a price of $.14. The cheese was free from the buy 3 koolaid get cheese free coupons (those were great coupons!) The bread was free using a hostess/wonder coupon that expired 12/31/08.
• Total Dinner Price: $.14
• Total for the Day OOP: $0.405 (40 and a half cents) Pretty good start if I say so myself!

Getting ready for the $45 (oop) for 30 day food budget experiment...

Hi, and thanks for visiting! Despite the title of this blog, I am what I consider to be a moderate couponer. I like to use coupons and save money, but I also don't mind missing a deal or two on occasion (which is why I'm not an extreme couponer! LOL) I regularly shop at CVS, Walgreens, Homeland, Target and Walmart. It's not as easier to get great deals at these stores as it is at stores like Kroger and Publix, but with some planning you can do okay.

I just watched a video on yahoo.com where a couple ate for 30 days on $30. Every morning they had plain oatmeal. Lunch consisted of a pb&j sandwich on homemade bread. Dinner was beans and tortillas. Not very appealing and not healthy either. I started thinking that I bet with coupons I could eat a lot better, for not much more than $30. I decided to aim for $45 in 30 days, or a $1.50 per day. I thought it would be a good new years resolution, so January 1, 2009 is my starting date.

To make this realistic, I am not going to limit myself to only what I buy with that $45 though. I am a couponer (and a stockpiler) so I have a certain amount of food in the house. In addition, I have coupons that expire on 12/31/08 (including several for free products) that I will use before the start date. Therefore, to the extent that I have an item already in the house on 1/1/09, I may use it during the month without counting it towards my $45. However, I will not deliberately go out and stock up on items to "skew" my results.

My other caveat is that where I work we are provided with bagels every Friday morning and juice and soda every day. In addition, once a month I attend a meeting where lunch is provided. I am going to take advantage of this because its free food.

I'm going to update periodically between now and the start of my experiment so you can get an idea of the items I am buying. I am also going to start asking companies for coupons to help me reduce my prices for the items I buy in January.

Lastly, if anyone would like to join in the challenge, please feel free! With a little bit of time and effort, anyone can eat great on a budget!