Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Financial Decisions That Have Saved Us $54,000 in the Past Two Years

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on March 19, 2013 3 comments

Almost two years ago my boyfriend and I moved in together. We are currently choosing to live on less income so that we both can go back to school for graduate degrees. I decided to compile a list of the financial decisions we have made in the past two years that have saved us the most money. After writing this list I have to say that I’m really proud of us!

1. Buying Our Cars With Cash– I drive a Chevy Cavalier that I bought for $2,000 and B drives a Nissan Sentra that he bought for $5,000 we could have easily spent at least $25,000 for these cars USED and that doesn’t even include interest on a car loan (See Our Experience as a One Car Household) Savings- $25,000

2. Renting a House in Our Original Target Price Range– When we were looking for a house to rent we originally decided we could spend $700 to $900 a month but quickly found that it would be very, very difficult to find a very nice home in that price range but we ended up picking out the house we are living in at $900 a month over houses in the $1200 price range Savings- $300 a month or $3,600 a Year

3. Renting a House With Free Water/Sewer/Trash Bill– We have a water well so we don’t pay for water but my sister and her fiancé used to pay $60 a month at their house (see Having a Water Well) Savings- $60 a Month or $720 a year

4. Working Jobs Close to Home– When I worked full time I commuted an hour each way to work. At one point I paid $100 a month just in tolls and I paid about $200 a month in gas Savings- $250 a month or $3,000 a year

5. Working Jobs Where We Don’t Have To Wear Dress Clothes– Dress clothes are expensive, there is nothing else to say! Savings- $50 a month or $600 a Year

6. Negotiating With the Cable/Internet Company- Our current rate would be $130 a month for a smaller package but instead we negotiated to $85 a month for a DVR/HD Channels/Internet/More Channels (See- How One Phone Call Saved Us $343) Savings $45 a month or $540 a year

7. Buying My Treadmill for $30– I had budgeted to spend $200 on a used treadmill but none came along then I got lucky and got mine for $30 (see How I Got a Treadmill for $30) Saved- $670

8. Buying Our 46 in Flatscreen TV for $150– We wanted a nice TV after we moved into our new house so we were able to price shop and use gift cards (See How We got a 46in TV for $150) Saved- $400

9. Getting Our Furniture Secondhand– Almost all of our furniture is high quality but second hand. We could have spent thousands on new furniture but we bought used and saved and our house still looks great. Saved- $3,000

10. Having a $200 a Month Grocery Budget– We try to eat healthy so we can easily spend a huge amount of money on groceries. I’m going to conservatively say that we save at least $200 a month by sticking to our budget. (See More About Our Grocery Budget) Saved- $200 a Month or $2,400 a year

11. Buying Groceries and Household Items with Coupons– We save thousands of dollars by using coupons so I’m going to conservatively say that we saved a couple of thousand dollars in the past two years. (See More About Our Couponing) Saved- $4,000

TOTAL- $54,000 We Saved Ourselves in 2 Years !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was really surprised when I calculated that total! The best part of this is that NONE of these are crazy things. These are regular every day things that with a little bit of extra time and effort saved us a substantial amount of money!

Doing My Taxes for Free

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on March 18, 2013 None comments

So this year for the first time ever, I thought I might owe money on my taxes. This was because of a stream of income from last year that had no taxes taken out of it and in addition I am no longer a student so I can’t claim that as a deduction. I tried asking various people what percentage of someone’s income goes towards taxes and I received various different answers that led me to the conclusion that it’s not that simple.

So for the first time ever, I decided to run my tax information through two different free tax services. Turbo Tax and HR Block. This took me less than an hour to do and to my relief, while I do owe money on my taxes, I owe less than $100 and both programs told me that I owe the exact same amount. While it is a little disappointing not to get a check back from filing my taxes for the first time, it is also a huge relief that I won’t have to take money out of my savings to pay my taxes either. Next year I will be back in school and I will likely qualify for a tax refund again so I can’t be too disappointed.

Note- I am in no way associated with any tax program. This article is simply meant to share my own personal experiences.

Too Many Newspapers and Publix $5 off of $50 Purchase Coupons

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on March 16, 2013 None comments

This is what my couch looked like Saturday morning when I started trying to organize my coupons from the past few weeks. Do any of you other couponers have this problem??? Sometimes I am so busy that I’m not able to go through my 4 Sunday Paper subscriptions to get the coupons out for longer than I would like. So after a vacation and a packed work schedule I ended up with three weeks worth of coupons to sort through before I would be getting even more the next day.

I was excited to find that last Sunday 3/10 there was a Publix $5 off of $50 Purchase Coupon. Usually we don’t get these in Volusia or Orange County, FL. So if you still have that paper you may want to look for it.

I filled an entire laundry basket with the newspapers. We will probably recycle them or burn them in our fire pit. It is a major frustration to me to try to decide what I will do with all of these newspapers. I give as many papers away as I can get people to take. We use them as pet bedding, as fire kindling, as drop cloths when painting, and as many other ways as I can come up with but most of them still end up getting recycled. If anyone has come up with any better ways to use old newspapers please let me know.

Why I Don’t Pay For Underwear and How I Get Free Underwear at Victoria’s Secret

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on March 16, 2013 52 comments

That’s right, you read that title correctly, I generally get all of my underwear for free at Victoria’s Secret! If you join Victoria’s Secret’s Mailing lists and e-mail lists they will send you coupons for free pairs of underwear no purchase necessary (like the ones in the picture above) and they send them out fairly frequently.

A couple of years ago I lived behind an outside shopping mall that had a Victoria’s Secret Store and I developed a system. I signed up for all of the Victoria’s Secret Mailing Lists and would collect all of the coupons I could for free underwear and other items. When I received a coupon for free underwear (no purchase necessary) I would go and pick it up. You won’t pay a cent and they are really nice about it. This was easier to do when I lived behind one of their stores but I still live close enough to our mall that I’m usually able to swing by the store to get my free items before the coupons expire. I do have a Victoria Secret Credit Card which will earn you more free offers but that isn’t necessary to get free stuff. I have also received free gift cards (like the one in the picture above), free perfume, and free $10 at the store. Their underwear really is high quality and lasts a long time.

I often think that frugal living is about figuring out how to get the things you need or want for free and this is a great and easy way to do that if you live near a Victoria’s Secret Store. You can also do this with their other store Bath & Body Works to get free candles, lotions, and hand sanitizers. Remember that this is a marketing strategy designed to get you into their stores in the hopes that you will pick up your free item and also buy something but it isn’t required. I do occasionally buy stuff from their stores when I find great deals.

If you follow the links below and sign up for their mailing lists you will start receiving communication from them about sales and events and also FREE items. Note- I do get a certain amount of e-mail and snail mail from them that doesn’t contain free offers but I find it worth sorting through.

Click HERE to join PINK Nation

Click HERE to join Victoria’s Secret E-mail List

Click HERE to join Victoria’s Secret Store Offers And Events E-mail List

Click HERE to join Victoria’s Secret Mailing List

Note- The information provided is meant to be helpful. These aren’t affiliate links, I am in no way affiliated with Victoria’s Secret and receive no compensation for mentioning them

You can check out my Victoria’s Secret category HERE were I only post about deals from them. Check back often to see when I receive Free Victoria’s Secret coupons.

I also post when I receive free coupons in the mail and e-mail as well as other things I get for free in my Free In The Mail category and you can find the link HERE.

Shopping at CVS and Walgreens Without Coupons

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on March 15, 2013 None comments

Usually when I got to CVS and Walgreens I plan my trips around the best couponing deals and prepare accordingly. I write a lot about my couponing trips but what happens when you need to go to the store last minute for one or two things that you just have to buy?

I really needed mascara and dishwasher detergent. At CVS there was a deal on Almay but it turned out to be a better deal to buy NYC brand, which is cheaper even without a sale. There was an old tag for B1G1 half off of any NYC products and the nice cashier honored their sign and discounted the mascara anyways. She even gave me half off the more expensive mascara in the teal tube. I decided to try the $4.99 teal mascara and the $1.99 black mascara and then compare them so I would know which one to buy in the future. The teal mascara was definitely better. I also bought the Free After ECB (CVS Store Dollars) Jelly beans.

Then when I went to buy the dishwasher detergent I realized that it was between $7-9 at CVS and they didn’t have a store brand. I had a hundred things to do that day but instead of overpaying at CVS I made myself stop at Walgreens on the way home. I made the right choice because luckily it was on sale for $3.99 and I was also able to pick up some cheap .69 cents macaroni which was also on sale. We like to make black beans and macaroni and cheese as a cheap and easy lunch.

Today’s shopping trips only prove how much money I really save by stocking up when I find great couponing deals on the things I use, but they also show that even without coupons you can still save yourself a decent amount of money by smart shopping.

Yard Sale Find $1 Lanterns

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on March 15, 2013 None comments

I recently stumbled across some Moroccan lanterns that I fell in love with! I may end up saving up my free amazon.com gift cards from Swagbucks.com (see Why I Print My Coupons Through Swagbucks) to buy some but in the meantime I was really excited to find these metal and glass lanterns at a yard sale for $1 each. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with them yet but I have a bunch of tea light candles that I can use with them.

3-2-13 Target Shopping Trip

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on March 8, 2013 1 comments

Up & Up Bleach 64 oz bottle and Up & Up Dish Soap $1.64 and $1.99
– $2/2 Up & Up cleaning items (excludes items under $1) Target Coupon
Cost After Coupons- $0.64 + $0.99

RE Picture Frames starting a $1.79
$2/1 Picture Frame Target Coupon
Cost After Coupons- Free

Up & Up Antacid Tablets 72 ct $2.03 (through 3/2)
Use the $1.50/1 up & up digestive health item Target Coupon
Cost After Coupons- $0.53!

Target Boots 70% Off
Cost- ~$11.00

Up & Up Printer Paper 400 Sheet Ream $3.14 (Regular Price)
-$1 Off Up & Up® item $3 or higher Target Coupon
Cost After Coupons– $2.14

February Grocery and Household Item Budget

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on March 3, 2013 None comments

This February (I can’t believe that it is already March as I write this), we did a good job sticking to our grocery budget. Our Totals Were-

Spent- $221.62

Saved- $334.31 (not including savings from stores such as Aldi and Dollar Tree which are hard to calculate)

*Don’t forget that this is for all household items including personal care items, not just groceries*

We did go over our $200 goal for each month but it was actually for good reason. I stocked up on a ton of canned goods like I do every year during Publix’s Viva Italia Sale- click HERE to see the trip. We would have gone much farther over budget but a couple of our relatives had given us Publix gift cards totaling $45 that we used towards this stock up. This is the 3rd year I have stocked up during this sale and the canned items usually last us until next year’s trip, click here to see last years shopping trip.

Free One Night DVD Rental from Redbox

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on March 3, 2013 None comments

Through March 6, 2013, use coupon code DVDNIGHT at checkout for a free one night DVD rental. Remember these codes work once per card!

70% Off Boots at Target

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on March 1, 2013 None comments

My sister and I were at Target today and we stumbled onto 70% off boots! We were especially excited because we are going on Vacation to visit our Aunt next week and she just told us they are expecting 3 inches of snow! So we each got a pair of boots for around $10 a pair. In the picture below, we turned around and realized we had both tried on the same pair of boots!