Mr Coffee Espresso Maker and Coupons Saved Me $1360 This Year!

Mr Coffee espresso makers are really something. I love mine, and have to tell you that getting one for Christmas last year was the best gift I have gotten in a long, long time.

I'm just like everyone else, I have my consumer faults too. My one lingering addiction was my double (or more than double) shot in the morning. I, like so many others, are guilty of falling into the trap of spending too much for the ease of having someone hand me my morning Joe. Yes, guilty, I admit it. As good as I was at the rest of my food budget, I am guilty of being too busy in the mornings to pay attention to the details.

Savings always seems to be in the details. What does not seem to be but a few dollars every morning ends up being a whopping $1360 at the end of every year. Ouch!!!

Last year I came to the conclusion that I needed to hang on to the grand I was dropping unnecessarily every year. That's a lot of cash to be overspending every year of your life. So, I asked for the espresso maker during the holidays, and figured I would just have to make my own until the change became second nature.

The thing is that a few months later, making espresso in the morning was just something I did everyday. No hassle, just part of my regular routine. In the end it did not take me anymore time than going through a drive through to get my espresso and I don't need to worry about spilling in the car anymore.

I even found a way to get great quality organic coffee for cheap. I use Amazon, and do not sign up for the subscribe and save. I just wait until what I'm looking for goes on sale (usually at 50% off or more) and order enough to get free shipping. If you don't want to use Amazon as your coffee supplier, although they have good prices and a huge selection, you can do the same at your local grocer. Look for grocery coupons on good quality coffee, and wait for a sale to use your coupons and you will save half or so on the price of your coffee.

The final result one year later is that I am so glad I got my Mr Coffee espresso maker last year. I stuck to my savings goals, and will now happily pocket an extra $1360 a year forever. Would that saving so much on all groceries would be so easily accomplished.

Grocery Coupons and Charitable Contributions

I touched on this briefly in my last post about how to use grocery coupons for charitable contributions and food contributions during this time of year. But in truth, I would be remiss if I got so far ahead of myself and I failed to mention that grocery coupons and charitable contributions really do go hand-in-hand during the entire of the year. Food banks are always in need of donation and there are almost always free items to be found in every week’s grocery sales fliers when you use grocery coupons.

You see, grocery coupons make many good offers exceptional. Every single week there are freebies on nonperishable goods. Freebies make it easy to give to those less fortunate even without much money to donate. All of us can take the time, and use our skills rather than donate money if we are light on financial resources. I saw quite a few people grocery shopping for Thanksgiving dinner when I was in the store today doing my own shopping. Many used coupons, and many dropped a few items in the food barrels on their way out of the store.

But what really surprised me as I walked out the door putting my own donation in the bin, was what I saw happening outside the store. I watched as a teenage girl made a donation to the Salvation Army bell ringer. The red kettles are out in full force today as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches and we get into the thick of the holiday season. I watched as a young woman of 16 put over $50 into kettle. Intrigued, I had a chance to speak with her as we both walked to the parking lot. I mentioned to her that it was quite a generous donation she had just made and to my utter surprise she volunteered the information that she just donated the money she had saved on her Thanksgiving dinner with grocery coupons. She is a long time coupon shopper and does such a good job that her mother charges here with the grocery shopping.

A donation to other charities with the money saved from coupon shopping was an idea I had not really thought of. I usually donate the free food I get when using grocery coupons to the food bank, but that is it as far as the coupons go anyway. She said that the Salvation Army was her charity of choice and that they could use cash donations in lieu of food. She merely paid for the full price of her order that day, and then had the cashier give her the money she saved with her coupons in cash. The cash he saved became her donation. She said her family approved of the idea prior to the trip, her mother deciding that she would have paid full price anyway were it not for her daughter’s excellent shopping skills. One week’s savings was hardly a stretch when she was saving the other 51 weeks a year.

What a fantastic idea from a very generous young woman. It reminded me that there are so many worthy organizations in need of donations especially at this time of year. So this year, I will be making other donations in addition to the free food items I'm able to get at the grocery store with grocery discount coupons. I'm sure the Salvation Army as well as other worthy charities will be on my list.

How to Get a Free Thanksgiving Turkey

Do you want to know how to use coupons to get a free Thanksgiving Turkey this year? I have a simple method of doing so.

Here is what I do to eat my Thanksgiving turkey for free. I find a grocery store where they are offering $5 turkeys with a coupon and $25 minimum purchase. In my local area you can get this deal from Vons. Since Vons offers double grocery coupons, I find 3 coupons for $1 each on something I am going to buy anyway and make my purchases. I save a quick $6 bucks, and then use the savings to get my Thanksgiving turkey for free.

This really simple method is a quick way to save enough to get a free bird with very little effort.

How to Grocery Shop for a Cheap Thanksgiving Day Dinner

Grocery shopping for a cheap Thanksgiving day dinner is a lot easier than you would think if you know how to go about reaping the benefits of the lowest grocery prices of the year. The Thanksgiving week food ads really are the best buy every year for food well below wholesale pricing.

Why?

Grocers use the nostalgia of creating a true feast meal to be shared with with your family and close friends and take the opportunity to have you associate low prices on everything you need to buy to cook your Thanksgiving Day meal. Think that it is a mistake that there is super low pricing on Thanksgiving turkey? How about the pumpkin pie fixings, stuffing, potatoes and cranberries to go with it? It is not mistake, but rather, a carefully planned marketing strategy designed to get you to associate the lowest prices on food with their grocery chain.

What does this mean for consumers?

You can anticipate super low pricing on everything you need to make your Thanksgiving dinner and then some. You should also be looking for the printable coupons and electronic grocery coupons that match the sales to get your groceries for pennies on the dollar. Why not get the most savings you can with coupons so easy to come by?

If you are looking for a way to cut the cost of cooking for the holiday, all you need to do is grab a wad of coupons and match up the sales and you will be eating for cheap for the better part of a week. Even for beginning coupon shoppers, it is easy to grocery shop for a cheap Thanksgiving Day dinner with coupons.

For more info on getting your Thanksgiving turkey for less, check out this post.

Printable Grocery Coupons, Giving Thanks and Holiday Food Savings

What do printable grocery coupons, giving thanks, and holiday food savings all have to do with each other?

The truth is that printable grocery coupons are the means to give thanks, help out someone in need and reduce your own food bills this holiday season.

Let me explain more.

The coming week will see the lowest prices for most of the year on food as grocery chains try to entice you into their stores when you shop for your Thanksgiving Day dinners. It is a sad but true fact that Thanksgiving is one of the few days that we cook full feast type meal throughout the year. The competition for your business is fierce and will become even more so as food manufacturers drop literally hundreds of coupons in an effort to gain your business.

Low sale prices + printable grocery coupons + shopping in a double coupon store = Freebies and great bargains!

So, here is what I do as I shop during the deal week of the year, I think of those less fortunate and buy whatever I can at rock bottom prices to donate. If I can get something for free, great, I "buy" the limit. I then set a budget for the rest of my donations and make every effort to get the greatest number products I can within that limit.

This is a great project to do with your kids, because it teaches the value of community service. The nice thing is that it takes very little other than your time to really make a difference. If you are short on cash, just scale back and donate whatever you can get for free.

Printable coupons are both the fastest and easiest way to accomplish my goals. When the sales fliers come out, I head on over to coupons.com, smartsource.com, mambosprouts and cellfire and look to see which items have matching coupons. When I find a match, I print the limit and then head off to do my grocery shopping.

I can usually get about 100 items for around $30 to donate when using this method every year. That's a lot of bang for my donation money, and a lot of people that will have something to eat this holiday season who would have gone hungry otherwise.

So, what do printable coupons, giving thanks and holiday food savings all have in common? Printable grocery coupons are the means to getting your own holiday dinner for much less than you would have spent, while being able to help others in need. Won't you join me this year?

Where to Find Free Grocery Coupons to Make Your Thanksgiving Dinner Even Cheaper

Wow! I love Thanksgiving week grocery ads! This is absolutely the best week of the year for getting freebies with grocery coupons.

Why?

Thanksgiving grocery ads are notorious for deeply discounted loss leader specials on highly conspicuous items that give the perception that you are shopping in the lowest priced grocery chain in town.

What does it mean for you?

Grab as many free coupons as you can, and collect as many free items as you can. Seriously, deeply discounted grocery bargains and out right freebies do not get any easier than this.

Where should you find all your grocery coupons?

I'm a big fan of online printable grocery coupons because their face values are usually much higher than those found in the newspaper. Really the selection of online printable grocery coupons are as good as the savings. Start your search for coupons online, and then get a few Sunday papers every Sunday for the next couple of weeks and you will have a pantry stuffed full of freebies!

I usually start with coupons.com first since their selection of printable coupons is the best, next I move on to cellfire.com and then have a look at smartsource.com and mambosprouts.com to see what they have. If you go this far and get a couple of Sunday papers for a few weeks, you should have more than enough coupons to grab your share of the bargains.

Happy Thanksgiving!

How to Buy a Cheap Thanksgiving Turkey

How do you buy a cheap Thanksgiving turkey? Thanksgiving turkeys are in the grocery stores now and the signs say that they are already on sale. But are they really?

I have noticed I startling marketing trend over the past 10 years. The closer you get to Thanksgiving, the cheaper turkeys become. The deals will start next week, and get progressively cheaper until the ad breaks for the week just prior to Thanksgiving, sometime around the 23rd or 24th of the month. Prices go up again to more than full price the day after Thanksgiving.

Coincidentally,or not, the best grocery ads of the year run the same week. What does this mean for the frugal grocery shopper?

Now is the time to start collecting tons of grocery coupons, as many high face value multiple coupons as you can. Why? You know the great ads are coming, just as they do every year, and you can reap some serious savings. Finding as many coupons as you can right now will help you to get lots of free items within the next few weeks.

Which items will be at rock bottom prices? Anything you would use to make a full Thanksgiving dinner: turkey, potatoes, stuffing, cranberries, cranberry sauce, produce, baking goods, dairy item, wine, soft drinks...you name it. All the fixings will be on sale,and with tons of coupons you can get a lot of freebies for your efforts. Belive me, this is the easiest week of the year for great bargains and he or she with the most coupons win.

It is not unusual for me to shop more than once this week in the year. I go once to get the fixings for our Thanksgiving dinner and then make another trip through the checkout on the same day just for bargains. If you ever wanted to reap the benefits of free stuff for an extra hour or two of your time, this is the week.

This is how I shop Thanksgiving week deals. I collect as many grocery coupons as I can find in the weeks leading up to the Thanksgiving ad, sort them and get really organized for the week. When I get the grocery ads for the week, I plan my trip, buying all the items for my main dinner and the week on the first trip through the store. I take my purchases to the car and load everything up. Then I make one more run through the store very quickly, just for freebies and the items that are deeply discounted. Then I head home to put everything away.

If there are additional free items to be had at another grocery chain or chains, I go there next and make two trips through the store just for these items. You really can save a lot of money this week with all the thanksgiving food sales and specials with just a little extra time and organization.

Another thing I like to do is to prepare a list of items I will need for either holiday entertaining, baking Christmas cookies, and our Christmas dinner. Thanksgivinig prices are really the lowest of the year, so plan ahead for the rest of the holidays and watch your savings grow. A lot of what you can buy during the Thanksgiving food sales is nonperishable and will keep through the rest of the holidays.

So, do yourself a favor and start collecting free grocery coupons now and you will have options for all kinds of free stuff within a few weeks!

Where do you get free grocery coupons? Coupons.com had 167 of them available for printing the this morning when I checked. They were one of the first and are still the best place to look for high face value grocery coupons. I always start here when starting a printable coupon search.