Staying (& Getting) Motivated to Save

This is a topic that has been on my mind lately. I think it is easy to get lazy, get discouraged, get overwhelmed, and all sorts of other things that distract from couponing or saving money. 

We get busy with work. 

We get "busy" with relaxing.

We get discouraged with a lack of deals. 

We forget the coupon binder at home. 

We get that craving for fast food...

I've been guilty of all these, and personally for me they seem to do a snowball effect of happening together and one after the other. Some weeks I can be super good and a super dedicated saver, and then some weeks I just give up and buy the pre-made dinners and order pizza for dinner without a sale or coupon in sight. 

So how can you re-motivate yourself? For me, the best way has been to get "safe" results. 

-use a coupon. It doesn't matter for what, just use a coupon on something. That usually gets the ball rolling 

-request coupons and send feedback to companies. When I get those high value "thank you" coupons in the mail, it kinda feels like Christmas and re-motivates me to try and do a great savings shopping trip. 

-take inventory of what I have and need, then take that to the Flipp flyer search app to see which of those items are on sale

-browse the blogs and Facebook pages for the deals posted by them. There will usually be at least one item that has been posted that I can go out and get 

Another great way to stay motivated for me is to not stop. Literally, don't take a hiatus from couponing and just keep doing a sprinkling of items at every shopping trip. Or simply actively searching the rebate apps and the front page flyer specials usually keeps me motivated enough to continue every week - wondering when I can score the next big deal! I also keep motivated and active by spending my lunches entering contests and requesting free samples. Not a lot of effort and when items come in the mail, they spark me on to continue. 

Something I kinda wish I had to keep me motivated? A support team! A team of couponing crazies that will share and mentor and suggest the great deal they found that week. I think that's why I write in this blog, just to feel like I am mentoring myself a little. I enjoy the social media couponing blogs and Facebook deal pages I hop on a few times a day, as in an odd way they feel kinda feel like they're talking to me to keep me going. 

Im open to suggestions and thoughts of how you staying in the "saving mindset" too. There's lots of ways and certainly every person is different, so feel free to share!

My last shopping trip - free is good!

My last shopping trip was pretty fun so just wanted to share it here. I went with my roommate and we both spent $50 each. It was kinda fun to see the differences!

Him:

Meat meat and meat

Pizza

Lettuce

Rice

.28 cent noodles

Canned Beans for a chili

Orange juice

Chips

And Shreddies which we price matched for $1.88

So, he got food. $50 doesn't go very far for food anymore it seems, so this was actually really good as it was a week if lunches basically. 

Mine:

3 bags of price matched smartfood ($2 each!)

2 bags price matched Tostitos 

Milk (we go through one of these bags a week)

Pop pop and cans of pop (altogether like $5)

New Nestea blackcurrent pop and coupon

Chocolate milk

.28 noodles and 2 cans of Italian wedding soup

Lemon liquid

2 bottles of laundry detergent which was price matched, couponed AND rebate app'd

2 bottles Vim which were price matched and couponed

1 bottle Palmolive which was price matched and couponed

2 vileda scrunge boxes plus a coupon

Restoralax bottle and coupon

Frank's Red Hot sauce and a full value rebate form filled out

2 Crunch bar sets and a coupon

2 bundles of organic bananas for $1 (clearance rack but they are perfectly fine!)

So from all this, I got free stuff!:

The Tide deal was probably the best as it was a money-maker. I price matched it for 3.99 each, then used a coupon that was $5 off when you buy 2. On top of this, Tide was also on one of the rebate phone apps for buy 2 and get $5. I have requested that cheque in the mail now!

The vileda scrunge and the Vim were coupons for buy one get one free. Great deals when the items go on sale. 

Restoralax coupon was for the full value of the item, after I wrote in to the company saying I liked their product  

The two Crunch bars were a coupon from Nestle when I wrote in complaining about some really funky Smarties I bought (and didn't eat). They sent me a $2 off coupon, which I used on 2 $1 Crunch bar packages. You can see below the coupons, plus a free sample and coupon I received in the mail the same day. 

The Frank's is a current promotion for a full value rebate of any of their bottles. We were out so it was great timing!

Then yesterday I dragged my roommate out after work to grab something else we are out of: bottled water. 

The store had a one day only deal coupon which I pulled from the web and printed. They have their case of 24 waters on sale for $1.97 (which in itself is a good deal), but the coupon gave a buy one get one free. We walked out of there with 4 cases of water for under $4. 

Something to note for the word "free" though..  Usually you still need to pay the tax. Unless the coupon states otherwise, tax is not included. For the restoralax and the 2 crunch bars which I did in one transaction, I still had to pay $1.53 I think it was. All for the tax man. 

Happy shopping!