Dasindiva.com | A digital diary of all things divine…according to me!

Hello Favorite Readers,

Today’s blog was inspired by this nifty little discovery I made at Publix last night. In today’s fast paced world everything is ALL ABOUT CONVENIENCE. But, as I’m sure you all know, convenience comes with a price. Whether it be paying a few cents extra at the gas pump to go to a pump that’s closest to your house, or buying a Starbucks coffee for the convenience of not having to brew your own in the morning. These things all come with a price tag, and it’s usually a big one! So to help you ladies save some money in 2011, I want to tell you how to maintain convenience while curbing your spending habits!

1) COFFEE! I know this one almost got me too. I was at my friend’s house and she has this adorable little Keurig Coffee Maker that makes individual cups of coffee. On the surface I thought wow, how much she is saving by brewing only one cup of coffee at a time and not wasting a whole pot of coffee. Because let’s face it a lot of the money we waste every year is in the items we end up throwing away. Not to mention the convenience of not measuring out scoops of coffee. Add to that, a single cup brews in about 60 seconds. I thought, hum this is the greatest thing to happen to coffee since, well….coffee. WRONG, I went out to Bed Bath and Beyond to purchase the Keurig and was stunned to find out what the cost of this “convenience” really was. Once you add the cost of the actual machine, anywhere from $89.99 – 180.00 if not more if you want the top of the line gadget and the cost of the actual coffee packets at $10.99 (or more) for a pack of 18, the convenience is NOT worth the cost. That averages out to be about .62 cent/cup of coffee….still beats the heck out of Starbucks & McDonald’s, and heck even the local gas station. BUT, I found still a better more cost effective solution. Folgers now makes individual servings of coffee. They come in little baggies, much like tea bags. They cost 5.00 for a box of 19 which averages out to be .26 cents/cup. Not to mention that there’s no machine to buy, any coffee mug or travel thermos that you already own will do. That’s a savings of $132.00/year. Not to mention the additional $89.99 – 180.00 you’ll keep in your pocket by not purchasing the machine. And on average with Starbucks being roughly $4.00 a cup that’s a savings of $1,366.00/year. Agh, I hear ya I hear ya, you don’t go to Starbucks…your thrifty so you opt for the gas station, McDonald’s or some other fast food restaurants coffee. Well, even with the cheapest .69 cent cup of coffee at the gas station, you still save $158.00/year. Do the math, that’s a lot of savings over the course of the year, and the great news…NO WASTED CUPS OF COFFEE! Plus the added benefit to the environment by avoiding Styrofoam and paper cups!

2) Coupons! Obviously this is self-explanatory. I know you’ve all seen the new shows where the woman sits for 2 – 4 hours a day scanning the Internet, newspapers, and the grocery store circulars for coupons. She walks into the store, grabs three carts, loads it up with about $600.00 worth of groceries and walks out paying $35.00 for the whole bunch. For many of us this would be a phenomenal thing to do. Let’s face it, in reality we don’t all have time to sit and pours over ads to find the best deals. However, what we can do is a few simple…and STILL CONVENIENT….things.
1) Avoid catch all’s like Wal-Mart. On the surface, it seems like a savings with the roll back prices etc. but in actuality if you wait until your local grocery store is having a sales (like the buy one get one deals, and the mark downs on produce) you typically end up saving more. They usually have coupons in the store for those items in addition to the stores promotion, and with the ability to double coupons you may get the item for little to nothing. For example, I went to Publix (local grocery store here in Atlanta, GA) and they had coffee creamer on sale 2 for 4.00…good deal already since they’re typically $2.50 apiece. On top of that they had a 1.00 off coupon when you buy 2 coffee creamers, so now we’re down to 3.00, then I had two coupons for .55 cents off any coffee creamer….that’s another $1.10 off….total spent on creamer yesterday…$1.90 for two creamers that’s .95 cent a piece. Tell me that wasn’t a great deal!
2) Save coupons on your smart phone. If you don’t have time to clip coupons or print them at home, pull them up on your smart phone. A lot of stores now can scan the bar code directly from your phone or punch in the code that’s usually associated with the coupon. This works for groceries and retail stores. I just used mine at The Limited a couple weeks ago and save about $64.00 with a 50% off coupon that was emailed to me. This brings us to #3.
3) READ YOUR EMAIL! I know it’s a daunting task, but retailers frequently send coupons in email flyer’s that are often good for 20% – 80% off their merchandise. Many times these coupons can be combined with other offers and for the coupons that cannot be combined….check out in separate transactions. It may be a bit tedious for the cashier, but…WHO CARES IF YOU’RE SAVING MONEY. It’s their job to help you and if that means taking a few minutes extra to separate your items into multiple transactions to make the best use of multiple coupons, then so be it! Plus, if you’re like me and have a roll over savings account, you get the additional change added to your keep the change savings account. It may only be and extra $3.00 added to your savings account, but if you did this 10 times in a year that extra $30.00 may make your Christmas Shopping a little bit easier!
4) Look at the bottom of your receipts! A lot of retailers now give rewards coupons on your next purchase. For instance, I purchased a pair of shoes from Off Broadway Shoes last month and at the bottom of my receipt there was a coupon for $5.00 off your next purchase. It never expires, and I know I’ll eventually buy another pair of shoes so why not keep the coupon. Another thing on the bottom of your receipts is toll free numbers to call to participate in a survey. The survey typically takes less than five minutes and you’ll get a coupon code usually good for $10.00 – 20.00 off your next purchase. Chances are you’re going to shop at that store again, so why not benefit from the added savings. Plus, these codes can usually be combined with other offers and coupons. They can also be applied on-line, which brings me to my final point on coupons.
5) Google coupon codes. Any time I’m shopping on-line for anything, whether it is at www.shoedazzle.com or www.apple.com, I always open a new tab before I check out and, Google coupon codes for that particular store. It takes less than 60 seconds and sites like retailmenot.com and couponcodes.com shoot back a coupon code for some percentage off or free shipping. Why not use those and get your items shipped to you for free, or an additional 10% – 50% (some times more) off? Sounds good doesn’t it?

3) Buy organic Milk and Eggs. Yes, on the surface they’re $1.00 – $2.00 more, but they last almost a month to six weeks longer in the fridge. Example, I bought organic milk yesterday from Publix. I paid 3.69 for a half gallon….but the expiration date isn’t until May 12Th. The regular half gallon was about 2.00 but it expired April 17Th. I have doubled the amount of time the milk can sit safely on my refrigerator shelf. Giving me more time to use what I have, decreasing the chance I will waste it, and decreasing the number of times in a month I have to go to the store to get a new carton of Milk. This is also the same advantage for people that opt to buy the full gallons of milk. Eggs have the same benefit. So why not utilize this and get the added perk of it being a much better product to put into your body and the bodies of your family members.

4) Buy store brands. When it comes to soaps, body washes, vitamins, medications etc. the generic brands are almost always just as good as the name brand items and are typically 15% – 35% cheaper. Do the math! Makes a lot of cents lol!

5) Shop at discount stores like TJ Maxx, Ross & Outlets. They carry the exact same brands as department stores, and they’re all offered at a discount. I know it used to seem that they only carried last season’s items or outdated and damaged goods. However, in this day and age, that is just not the case. All these stores and outlets are carrying this season’s merchandise. It is undamaged and at a much more reasonable price. For instance, Jessica Simpson Luggage at Ross $180.00 for the full 3 piece set. At a department store or on-line for this same luggage set it could cost you anywhere from $230.00 – 375.00. Why pay more for the exact same stuff?

6) Cook at Home. I know this is an obvious money saving tip. But it’s the most commonly over looked. A lot of people are under the misconception that buying fast food is somehow cheaper, but it is not. Take a family of four to McDonald’s and get them all a $5.00 meal, that’s $20.00. Not bad right, but keep in mind, they only get to eat off that meal once. Now take that same family, go to the store and get all the ingredients for a salad (tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, croutons, olives, cucumbers, carrots etc.) and the ingredients for a lasagna or whatever other casserole you like (meat, sauce, pasta, mushrooms etc.) and a loaf of French bread. Now assuming that you purchased all fresh ingredients, nothing frozen (which would be even cheaper) you’d spend about $45.00. Now, at first glance you may say, “Well Whitney that’s $11.25 per person, that meal is not cheaper”, but think about how many servings a meal like that actually makes. This meal will make at least 8 – 10 servings, doubling your available meals and equates to only $4.50- $5.62/serving. This is a tremendous savings because now each family member gets to eat a minimum of two times for the same $5.00 you would have spent on that fast food meal! It’s like cook once, eat at least twice. How convenient is that! That’s like cooking on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. Who doesn’t have time to cook at least three times a week? You could find that time just in the amount of time wasted sitting in a fast food drive thru line, because as we all know….fast foods never fast lol! Added benefit, a healthier and better looking family !!

Hopefully these simple and convenient tips will help you save in 2011.

~*Kisses, Whitney*~

I have been doing a lot of moving lately due to Mr. M’s job and I have had the privilege to live in some very nice places but one place I wasn’t expecting to move back to was my rental property that I bought right after college. I was in a different place then and didn’t need anything big but now my family needed to move back to Charlotte and since I had the house just sitting there we decided it was best to move back into it. The only problem with it is it is very small! So I have had to get creative to make a small BIG. One room that I have focused on making a sanctuary is our bedroom. We have a couple of different beds but none of them worked for the space. We needed a bed that was high enough off the floor to add storage underneath but didn’t want to break the bank so we built one!

To add extra storage we added drawers as feet.