My Thoughts on Couponing

Photo by Carol Pyles, OOingle.com.

When you hear the word "frugal," what is the first thing that pops into your head?

For me, it's "couponing." Or at least, it used to be.

Have you ever watched "Extreme Couponing?" I watched a couple of episodes and just ended up feeling baffled. Because I used to coupon pretty religiously, and I never saved the kind of money they save on that show.

Here's my current thinking on couponing. I don't think you can do extreme couponing and still claim that you're "living rich." The reason why is because the kind of couponing that you need to do to save 90%, 75% or even 50% robs you of time you could be spending doing truly "rich" things. And by "rich" I mean time with your family and time spent doing things you actually love, like hobbies and other activities.

When I couponed religiously, I would have to carve time out every Sunday to go pick up the Sunday paper, where all the coupons were. And then I'd spend a few hours clipping them and filing them away. But here's the other problem--you also have to plan meals around whatever is on sale that week, and that's not only time consuming, it also limits the types of things that you can cook. So you may end up eating stuff you don't enjoy, or worse, serving stuff your kids refuse to eat and then you're throwing it all in the trash anyway. You may also be doing without things you otherwise need, because you're unwilling to pay full price for anything.

Don't get me wrong, I coupon, to a certain degree. I signed up for Safeway's "Just for U" and I do it all online, but I only spend a few minutes each week checking off items that a) I know will keep long enough to be worth buying in bulk or b) I know I'll use in the week that I buy them or c) either fit with a meal plan I've already established, or will be easy to incorporate into an alternative meal plan.

So yes, I do plan meals loosely around what I have in stock and what is on sale, and I stock up on items when they're cheap. At the end of it all I generally save between 30 and 35 percent on each trip to Safeway. I also shop at the Grocery Outlet and at Sam's Club for additional savings. And the result of all that work is that I'm only spending about $1.82 per person, per meal--and I'm lumping non food expenses into that number, too (like paper towels, toothpaste etc.) Could I do better than that? Almost definitely. But I don't want to devote so much of my time to saving money at the grocery store that I miss out on the other things that are meaningful to me.    

So couponing, well, if clipping coupons is something you like to do and the thrill of saving money ranks right up there with the thrill of jumping out of an airplane or tracking down that rare coin from an obscure nation in the former Soviet Union, you should totally do it. If it's a chore, really, it's not worth it. There are plenty of less time-consuming ways to save, and besides, pigeon-holing yourself into only buying those deeply-discounted items is just way too limiting.

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Kids Skate Free

I subscribe to this little freebie message center, which usually sends me a lot of information about junk I could get for free. Actual junk, like free magnets, samples of stuff I would never use and free issues of magazines I would never subscribe to. I have received a few cool things for nothing though. I got a completely free one year subscription to Martha Stewart Living, for example, which is totally up my ally. And just today came the best one yet:

Kids Skate Free

 What? That seemed too good to be true. I never take my kids skating because it's not something I can afford to do with all four of them. But I clicked through, and it really seems legit. It's a national program designed to encourage kids to get out and move, vs. sitting in front of the computer or TV all day (or Kindle, which is my kids' problem).

So I thought, "No way is there going to be a participating rink near me." But there was! I signed up to get passes for Roller King in Roseville, which is only about an hour's drive from here.

Now, you do still have to pay to rent the skates, but the cost is just $3 per child. And the days and times you can go are limited. For Roller King, you can only go on Tuesday or Sunday in the later afternoon, Friday in the early afternoon or Saturday night.  But during the summer, I can make pretty much any of those times work, so I'm happy. Any low cost fun activity I can get my kids involved in helps my bottom line and their health and happiness.

Here's how it works: visit the Kids Skate Free website and click on "Locations." Scroll down until you find one near you, then register at that rink. Every Sunday you'll be emailed a new set of passes, good for any time that week. You don't have to use them ... if you can't go that week just wait for next week's passes. Sweet!

I'll update this entry to let you know how it goes, but I don't have any suspicions at this point. Sometimes when it seems too good to be true, it really is true. So fingers crossed.

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How we saved on a day out at the Sacramento Zoo

Sacramento Zoo Flamingos. Photo by David Grimes.

This spring break we decided to treat the kids to a mid-week day out. We live in Grass Valley, which is about a 90 minute drive from Sacramento--it's an easy day trip and one we've done many times.

In the past we've saved by packing a lunch, which I still think is a great way to go when times are tight. But our kids enjoy a sit-down meal, too, and there are some smart ways to save if that's what you decide you want to do.

I already knew that El Torito in Sacramento has a "kids eat free" lunch special on Wednesdays, but you can easily find deals like this in your local area by Googling "kids eat free" along with your city. Be aware that sometimes restaurants don't advertise these specials on their websites, so you may need to rely on Yelp or other bloggers to pass along this information. Make sure you call the restaurant ahead of time to confirm that the deal will be happening on the day you plan to visit--sometimes the information you find online is old or just incorrect, and confirming in advance will save you some pain.

So we started our day out at El Torito. El Torito's deal is for one free kids meal free with each adult entree, which means we did have to pay for two kids meals since we have four children and only two adults.

What we would have paid without the discount:

• Total: $45.10
• Plus tax and tip: $56.43

What we did pay:

• Total $33.52 
• Plus tax and tip: $41.87
• Amount saved: $14.56

The amount saved wasn't huge, but we kept the total under $50 which is awesome for a sit-down meal for six people. The total price worked out to less than $7 a person (we kept the price down further by ordering waters for the adults, and letting the kids splurge on lemonades).

After lunch we went on to the zoo. I was armed with a $25 Groupon I bought a few weeks earlier. It was only good for a weekday visit, which meshed well with the Wednesday "kids eat free" special at El Torito. The Groupon was good for admission for two adults and two children, with four free ride tickets included. Here's the regular prices for the Sacramento Zoo:

• Standard Zoo Prices: $7.75 for kids, $11.75 for adults
• Carousel Prices: $2.50 per ride
• Train Prices: $4.00 per ride

What we would have paid:

• $70.50 admission
• $14.50 for rides

What we did pay:

• $25.00 (Groupon admission for two adults and two children)
• $15.50 (Two extra children's admission tickets)
• $0.00 (Ride tickets were free!)

• Total paid: $40.50
• Total saved: $44.50

So for a day out at the zoo plus lunch for a family of six, we kept the cost below $100. That's pretty good for so many people! Here's the final breakdown:

• Total amount spent for the day: $82.37
• Total amount saved: $59.06
• Today, our trip cost $13.73 per person

Have you got a story of big savings? Please post to the comments and share your tips and techniques.

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How to live rich and be frugal

I love having a big family but I will not lie to you, it's hard to afford. And what I don't want is for my kids to ever say that they feel like they missed out on childhood because we never had the money to take them anywhere.

Shortly after my fourth child was born, I resolved to always live richly even though I'm sort of forced to be frugal. And I do a pretty good job of it. I spend a lot less on groceries than a lot of families do, but I still manage to buy nicer cuts of meat, fresh produce and enough exotic ingredients to fuel my once-a-week international cooking day (check out my other blog, Travel by Stove). I find discounted tickets and kids-eat-free specials at local restaurants. I know where all the fun, free and low-cost places are to go in our local area. I know who's having admission specials and how to get discounted hotel rooms.

But to do it I spend a lot of time online, researching, subscribing to online services that offer cash back rewards, links to discounts or other perks. And sometimes I really feel like I want to share all this information I find. I know there are lots of other families out there like mine--they love being a part of a big family but they can't afford to give their children the kinds of experiences they want them to have, because the cost of taking a large family out for the day is just too high.

So I'm going to post all of my best finds here, in the hope that someone else will be able to use them the way we do--to live rich, but be frugal, all at the same time.

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