Vision for Savings

It’s time again this year to reflect and make some plans!  I’m ready to make my 2019 vision board.  Technically, I make a vision book.  I like getting artistic and crafty with my planning. I usually take an old discarded book and alter it to make it my vision book for the new year. 

The idea of vision boards or books is not new.  A vision board project allows you to take some time to sit down and look at your life.  Family, Finance, Employment, Religion, Health, or any other focus you may have for yourself.  You then visualize where you want to be with each in the coming year. 

My vision book is impacted by my choices at the grocery store in two categories!  Financial goals, how I budget the household, and health and wellness.   If I wanted to push it, my family time generally revolves around gatherings and food, so maybe three!  It seems like every year, as I start look at vision for the next year, I always start with those financial things I can cut, or keep low, in order to budget for additional things I want.  Most people look at their disposable income in this way.  It’s the expenses that you have control over that lead you to having money for the things you want.

Other disposable income items other than groceries include, memberships, dining, entertainment, gasoline, utilities, and donations.  Many of these categories can go up or down depending on how closely you follow your actuals through the year.  I admit, every summer my spending goes up without planning.  I just spend more doing things with the kids than I ever plan.  Maybe a last-minute trip or buying sports items or supplies for my daughter’s art projects.  Whatever the case, I now plan to overspend in the summer months. 

Groceries in general, are the category that people try to immediately cut.  In my experience, I can take more weekend trips, and big vacations in the summer if I plan to spend MORE at the grocery store, and less dining out.  My biggest budget enemy is lunches while working, and convenience stops when the kids are with me in the car.  It’s a lot!  I can spend $35 buying fast food for our family, or I can buy groceries and put them in convenience packages for an entire week for $35.  Take a look at your grocery budget, then honestly look at what you are paying for work lunches, or dinners out, and even what you are paying for “Being late and tired.”  That amount far exceeds what picking up an extra $20 in premade chicken salad for quick sandwiches, or a box of crackers and cheese slices would run for these lunches or snacks.

Health and Wellness is my next category.  Yes, like everyone else I’d like to lose weight.  I realize I don’t want to exercise, so it probably won’t happen.  I can however make myself and family a bit healthier.  Junk food is our nemesis.  I love salty snacks and I cannot lie!  So, for me, it’s finding substitutions at the grocery store.  I have found that I enjoy Nabisco’s rice based Good Thins over crackers.  Less wheat and gluten, and I love having a bean-based dip or even a taco type dip instead of chips.  This is the type of thing I look to add to my grocery buys and sub out the less healthy items. We do not run to the doctor’s office a lot.  As a matter of fact, no one in our family went last year.  Healthy eating is a big part of overall health.  Stress reduction is also something that will keep the family healthy.  Not stressing over money, helps.

Once you take a look at your true grocery budget (with some funds shifted away from restaurants, and high dollar convenience foods). It’s time to get serious with your 52-week shopping list.  It’s okay to put on the list “Go Foods” So that you remember to pick them up when you’re in the store.  Easy things like, Chicken breast fillets that can be grilled and tossed in the freezer make up quick salads, or sandwiches without having to run in the door and fix a full meal.  Sting cheese, applesauce cups, Jell-O cups, baggies for crackers or cuts of meat are great things to have on hand before you leave home. 

Next, gather coupons.  Get the My County Market phone app on your phone.  Print coupons from all the major online sites and set a monthly alarm on either your phone or computer.  Use other coupon apps to earn gift cards off everything you buy by scanning receipts. 

If you have never sat down and made a vision for your future year, this may take longer than a day.  That’s okay!  Review and revise your vision as you go.  There is not a wrong way to do this.  Just thinking it through will get you to your goals.  To have ongoing help, follow us on Facebook at County Market Coupon News, we are all savers who look to save money, and allow our families to have more health and comfort all year long.

Come visit at County Market Coupon News on Facebook

Visit County Market Coupon News Cookin w Coupons's profile on Pinterest

All internet coupon print limits are subjective. At the time of this email coupons were available for print. If the daily or weekly print limit has been reached, the coupon will be automatically pulled from the websites. You can try to print again tomorrow. All coupons listed are not available in our stores. We list them so you can order or find them to save you money. Check with clipping services, trade boards, or ebay to find coupons not in your store. It is our intent to help you find as many savings opportunities as possible. Enjoy!

It Starts with Coupons, Ends with Big Screen TV's

Couponing is a way of life. It usually starts with the one expense we can control weekly, our groceries, and ends with large purchases like big screen TV's and cars. Once you get the hang of saving money, you start to apply those practices to all aspects of your life.  There are some coupon lessons that easily transfer to all expenditures.

1.  If you can catch a sale, grab it!  Why buy something when it is not deeply discounted?  Coupon users are sales followers.  We see a savings in many forms. It can be a coupon, loyalty card, or good old fashioned sale.  Sales are the starter for any purchase.  If you buy at full price, you are giving in to instant gratification.  It may not seem like a lot hone you really want to eat your favorite $4.99 cereal, but it adds up to a lot when it's every single week for years.  This works the same for jeans shopping, or even buying Kate Spade purses.  It may be $600 in June, and $400 in October.  Waiting for a sale can save a lot of money.

2.  Did you know that 40% of coupon users said that they feel smarter when they save money with coupons?  It's good for our emotional state to feel better about ourselves.  When you apply coupons to groceries, and then expand to gasoline sales, clothing, household goods, furniture, and then jump to mortgage shopping, automobiles and vacations, you can really add up your savings.

3.  Snowball savings applies to your pantry stockpile AND to your household savings account.  Dave Ramsay is an icon for saving money, and continually talks about your debt snowball.  It's where you take one payment, pay a little extra until it paid off.  Then you take that amount of money and add it to your next payment until you are able to pay off all your debts.  This snowball effect works the same in stocking your pantry and freezer with budget friendly foods.  You can build a nest of savings with your consumables just like you can eliminate debts.

4.  Every American has access to over 1000 coupons on average per year.  Once you figure out how to be above average, you can redeem more than 1000 digital app coupons, just at County Market. Then you can add other digital coupons or rebates from sources like Ibotta, or Fetch.  All of a sudden you are getting email coupon, mailbox coupons and exclusive deals from top retailers.  Coupon users save thousands on the same items that non couponers pay full price.

Every lesson we teach about saving money at County Market can be applied to every single expenditure you have this year.  To learn more, visit our blog for additional lessons!


Come visit at County Market Coupon News on Facebook

Visit County Market Coupon News Cookin w Coupons's profile on Pinterest

All internet coupon print limits are subjective. At the time of this email coupons were available for print. If the daily or weekly print limit has been reached, the coupon will be automatically pulled from the websites. You can try to print again tomorrow. All coupons listed are not available in our stores. We list them so you can order or find them to save you money. Check with clipping services, trade boards, or ebay to find coupons not in your store. It is our intent to help you find as many savings opportunities as possible. Enjoy!

5 Ways to Bake for Less

The cookies need to be baked!  It's time to save money on all those baking needs.  Ingredients for good baking are relatively inexpensive.  Flour, sugar, and eggs are staples at the grocery store and often viewed as CHEAP items.  However, when baking in mass, those items can really throw your December budget.

Some baking items like butter or chocolate chips are considered expensive, and need to be purchased on sale, or with a coupon.  Not to mention those odd things we buy only once a year like coconut flakes, or toffee bits!  These things are something we need for holiday candy and confections, and by the time we load up the cart with multiples of all of them, it's $40 extra bucks!

Here are 5 ways to save money on all your baking needs:

1.  Use the Penny Pincher for Sugars.  All sugars are included, granulated, brown, and powdered.  $1.49 for any 2.  Yes, I'll buy more by shopping with multiple trips.  You can too.  C&H has a coupon on their Redplum site for $1 on 2.  You can print it twice!

2.  Save on sticks of butter!  I go through a lot of butter when making cookies.  Usually I end up using 12 sticks of butter.  Goodness!  I like to buy when Prairie Farms is on sale, from $3.99 on sale 2/$5, just wait for it, and I use coupons.  I freeze my butter quarters all the time on the door of my fridge.  They are small and freeze for months!  I try to keep two boxes there and rotate one to the fridge.  In December it won't matter when the store puts them on sale, I'm ready to go for less.

3.  Utilize all the digital offers you can. We make it easy to install the free Digital coupon app from County Market.  It will have a few baking coupons mixed into the offers.  Be sure to add them to your max card before you shop at the store.

4.  Search your unique ingredients brand websites for offers.  Who doesn't love Hershey?  But did you take a look for Karo Syrup, Baker's Square, or McCormick food coloring?  Whatever ingredient you need, just google them for a coupon.

5.  It's an oldie but a goodie, pick up extra newspaper inserts for the holidays.  There are always Nestle, Hershey, and other baking coupons during the Nov and Dec months.  If you missed Nov, you can buy them online from clipping services and have them shipped to you within two days.  Savings can be $1 to $15 on your baking goods with just newspaper insert coupons.

Come visit at County Market Coupon News on Facebook

Visit County Market Coupon News Cookin w Coupons's profile on Pinterest

All internet coupon print limits are subjective. At the time of this email coupons were available for print. If the daily or weekly print limit has been reached, the coupon will be automatically pulled from the websites. You can try to print again tomorrow. All coupons listed are not available in our stores. We list them so you can order or find them to save you money. Check with clipping services, trade boards, or ebay to find coupons not in your store. It is our intent to help you find as many savings opportunities as possible. Enjoy!