Nickels and Dimes

 Updated to add: If you've been using Cashbaq, it's time to switch to ebates.  They have been around longer and they picked up the outstanding amounts owed to Cashbaq's customers! Sign up and start saving money now!

...they add up quickly!

Here's my strategy for adding up some of ours when it comes to grocery shopping. when the sales fliers come out, I go through them and make a list of all the best deals, in order by store- if I need a coupon for that price, I write a 'c' after the time and circle it. Then I make the rest of my grocery list.

Then when it is time to go shopping, I start with the one grocery store in town that is generally the cheapest. I buy my regular items, plus I check the sale items from other stores- and if it is cheaper at my main grocery store I go ahead and get it there, crossing off the item on the list.

I then go to the next store on my list- either the next cheapest one, or the one that has the most items I really feel I need to get and I do the same thing- shop, comparing their prices to the sales prices on my list. I cross off everything I buy, especially the items that were listed for store C, but which I have purchased cheaper at store B.

By the time I have done the first store, I usually find that one of the stores on my list can be eliminated entirely.

This works well for me partly because three of the four stores I have sales fliers for are within a five minute drive of each other- and those three are all on the way to or from the library, where one of my daughters volunteers. One of them shares a parking lot with Walgreens, so I can do my weekly deals there, as well (also comparing prices at the first store) So even I end up going to all of those three stores, my gas expenditures are negligible.
And it usually saves me time, as generally I find I can eliminate the fourth store (which is fifteen minutes away) altogether, and sometimes the third store as well.

Your strategy may be different, and it may need to be based on where and what your stores are, how far you have to drive, and how much time you have.

I also usually take at least one Progeny with me to take advantage of the 'one per customer' special deals, so that we can further maximize our savings (the Progeny buys the special deals at another cash register).

There is another store 45 minutes away that has better deals on certain staples such as cheese and butter, and if those items are not on sale locally, when I am in that town I stock up on those items and freeze the surplus, so I never pay more, for example, than 1.99 for butter at the most, or .99 for cream cheese this way.

Other ways for the nickels and dimes to add up:

Just a reminder that you can win cool stuff with swagbucks, (but you have to use their search engine to win stuff- if you signed up but haven't used their search engine, you're not gonna get the goodies!). I mainly use mine for five dollar Amazon gift certificates, but there are other things, too.

ebates: You get five dollars just for signing up, then various businesses will give you a certain percentage of cash back (cashbaq, get it?) when you shop through them- and these ARE businesses you might just be shopping at anyway. We've purchased eyeglasses online for 30 dollars and then gotten six dollars cash back, and I bought school books through Abebooks:



(I found several cheaper than Amazon) and got six percent of my purchase back.
I haven't bought much here, but what I have purchased has been either gifts where I would have had to come up with something anyway, or items (like the eyeglasses and school books) we needed to have. There are all kinds of things- it's really worth it to look and see if there aren't some regular places you already shop on the list- I bet there are, and that is the key to using this to save money rather than spend it- if it's money you were going to be spending somewhere, somehow anyway, try it through a ebates participating business to get a further discount.

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