A lot of people may be confused by the title of this blog post but this title has been rattling around in my head for awhile, calling me to write a blog post about these two things. What exactly do I mean by that? Well, in order to save money, you must constantly pay attention to ways to ways to save. And getting connected to others who are also trying to save money will also help you save money as well.
9 Ways Paying Attention Can Help You Save Money
- Look at the back of your receipts to see if there are any advertisements on them that will help you save on a future purchase somewhere.
- Keep your eyes open for coupons and coupon booklets that will help you save money.
I found this coupon booklet filled with great money saving discounts on a table at my bank by paying attention!
3) Join the websites Couponmom https://www.couponmom.com/ or Southernsavers http://www.southernsavers.com/ to see a list of all of the coupon deals that come out each week. It takes a lot of time out of your schedule to find coupon deals and sales and these two websites do the work for you! Go to the sites each week and make out your grocery list by seeing what is on sale in the stores in which you shop, and how much things will cost you if you add the coupons. I must caution you though that because you may live in different parts of the country, all of the deals that these two sites mention may not be available to you, but it’s definitely worth your time to check them out each week before you make out your shopping list.
4) Look through your store sales fliers each week prior to going grocery shopping so you can shop for what is on sale and save money. Also, check your own coupons to see what you have that matches that weeks sales to save even more money. Make sure to always have your coupons with you, in your car, purse, etc. so you don’t get to the store and realize you left them at home. Coupons can’t save you any money if you don’t use them.
5) Research shopping rebate sites like Checkout 51, Ibotta, Saving Star and Ebates and see if you feel they are worth joining to help you save even more money than just store sales.
6) Make sure you pay attention to the expiration dates on all of your coupons, whether they be the paper kind, or digital. Avoid that moment of disappointment at the grocery store when you have an item in your cart and get to the cash register only to realize that the coupon expired two days ago. Digital coupons at Kroger that you can access on your phone will actually tell you how many days you have left to use the coupons you have downloaded, which is a nice reminder.
7) Also, pay attention to when your gas points expire at stores like Stop and Shop, Ingles and Kroger. That’s free money off of your gas for items you were going to buy anyway, so you might as well use them prior to their expiration to help you save money on gas.
8) When it comes to accruing points for store promotions like free turkeys during the holidays, or free glassware, etc. during other store promotions, always remember to give your phone number if that is how you earn points. You never know when one missed grocery order could have gotten you high enough to claim that turkey or free glassware. It’s easier when the orders are automatically totaled by using your card, but some stores, like IGA, require you to give a phone number, and without that information, you don’t earn qualifying points.
Free dishes were available as a special promotion at IGA.
9) Before you purchase anything online, do a Google search for coupon codes for that website because those codes, that you use before your bill is totaled, can definitely help you save money.
7 Ways Getting Connected Can Help You Save Money
1) Follow people on Instagram who are good at saving money. If you are a coupon user, search for other coupon fans on Instagram that also use coupons by inserting the word “coupon” into the search bar. That will bring up a lot of people that have the word coupon in their Instagram name. Check their profile page and see if they have photos of deals they have recently gotten at the stores using coupons. Follow them because they will often post deals they got the same day they got them, and will tell you where they got them, so you can take advantage of the same deal at your local store. Feel free to follow me at Koupon_Karen_Thrifts_and_Saves where I post sales I find in real time.
Here’s an example of how I cashed in on a deal at Dollar General when someone on Instagram posted about a 25 cent sale on all Christmas items. I bought 32 items for 25 cents each. Without the sale I would have spent $44.00 plus tax.
2) Subscribe to blogs, like this one and the Penny Hoarder https://www.thepennyhoarder.com/ that will bring you money saving tips in your email box without your even having to go search for them
3) Don’t be afraid to join shopping websites like Couponmom and Southernsavers listed above. They are free to join and if you don’t like them, you can always unsubscribe.
4) Start a coupon group with your friends or at work or at church. Share coupons you aren’t using and discuss the weekly sales and deals, or set up a coupon box at your place of employment so people can deposit coupons they aren’t using, and take advantage of some that other people left that they CAN use.
5) Sign up for store emails so you can be notified in advance of all of the upcoming sales. Do this at any store you shop at that offers it. This works for grocery stores, department stores, craft stores and even thrift stores. One thrift store I go to even sends me coupons for 50% off on certain days, and always sends a reminder email about specials such as the senior day 25% off deal on Wednesdays. If you don’t want to be overwhelmed with promotional emails in your personal email mailbox, start a new email for free (gmail and yahoo mail both offer free email accounts) just to get the discounts and store reminders and you can just check that one email inbox each week to see all of the promotions. without clogging up your main email box.
6) Some stores ask you to download their app, and stores like Hobby Lobby give you a 40% off coupon each week off any full price item in their store.
7) Get store cards for all of the stores you shop in regularly. Make sure to always have your own store card with you (this is easier if you keep it on your key ring). It’s important to have your own card with you so you can earn promotional points. Some stores will still give you the discount if you forget your card, BUT you won’t earn points on your purchases on shopping trips that you have forgotten your card.
These are just a few ways that paying attention and getting connected can save money. If you know of any other ways, please leave them in a comment below. And don’t forget, each social media sharing button below that you use to share this post will get you one entry into this months drawing…just remember to list which sites you shared it on.
You always have such great information to share about how to save money on TONS of products! Thank you!!
Esther,
You are most welcome. I love helping people save money! Thanks for your comment.
Ok, you hit on a lot of things that Hubby and I do. He is disabled, and in pain all the time. I’m here with him now. Since I’m not teaching anymore, that was a big hit to our income. We do shop the sales and use coupons too. We pay attention and get gas points etc… Here’s something that he and I do at Publix where you are, but… they offer a gas card usually each month sometime, or maybe more often that they will give you $10 off, if you buy the $50 gas and $50 worth of groceries. We try to save the free coupons that we get during the month to use towards the $50 food purchase. It’s a bigger savings this way! Thank you for your post. I did share it on facebook.