Money, Money, Money

I have been attempting to coupon in earnest lately. I have watched a few blogs and given it another attempt. I have always been a sort of iffy couponer - I always read the coupon inserts in the paper and clip the ones I think I will use. Then, if no child is climbing on me at the checkout, and I had a good night's rest and I have my wits about me, I might remember to use the coupon. More often than not, I will notice I had a coupon for an item about 2 days after I bought said item.

So - I decided to try a little bit harder. Today I scored two tubes of Colgate Total for -$1.75. As in, I made $1.75 by buying these two tubes. Well, I earned CVS Extra bucks, but they are the same as cash. I will use them on my next purchase at CVS.

All this couponing has me reevaluating all my methods of saving money. I am a pretty frugal person - I shop around for the best price, never buy retail etc. So I decided to start a comparison notebook. I have a page for every household/personal item we buy (i.e. toilet paper, dishwasher detergent etc.). I am jotting down the price per unit at each store to find the best deal around. That way, when I see a sale on paper towels, I can pull out my handy dandy notebook (memories of early Blue's Clues, anyone?) and determine if it really is a good sale. So far, it has served me well.

Another way I save money is by using postcards for all thank you notes. I get the postcards and have them personalized at www.vistaprint.com. If you watch, you can almost always get them free plus shipping. So I get 100 postcards for about $4, usually with my family's name or picture on the front. Then, I use postcard stamps, which are several cents cheaper than first class stamps.

What are ways you save money? Please post a comment!