Clearly I don’t have my bearings quite yet after my trip out of town because I forgot to post an Open Mic post yesterday. Whoops! Amazing thing about it, no one emailed me or questioned it.
In the spirit of better late than never, let’s have an Open Mic discussion today. Open Mic is a post every Thursday (unless I forget, in which case it is on Friday) that is a mini-version of a discussion board. You can leave a comment with whatever coupon, money-saving or debt reduction tips or questions you have and other readers chime in and answer.
When you leave a comment you’ll be able to choose whether you’d like to be emailed follow-up comments or not. Getting comments via email is a great way to stay connected without having to visit the site a bazillion times (although I don’t mind if you come a bazillion times).
As always, I look forward to hearing the voice of the Pocket Your Dollars community. Read through the Open Mic archives here.
Your turn: Leave a comment with your money-saving, coupon or debt reduction question, thought or suggestion.
Two tips: 1) If you are reading this via email or an RSS feed, click on the title “Open Mic” to come back to the site and leave a comment and 2) If you are concerned about your privacy, just reference yourself by your initials and know that I will not share your email address with anyone else.
Yay!! Thanks Carrie. I looked for it all day and never found it. Couldn’t email you because my work blocks my account.
Question: I have a recipe that calls for PoppySeeds. Everywhere I look they are SUPER expensive. Anyone have an idea of what a good price is and where do you buy yours??
The Rainbow I shop at (Bloomington) has some spices packaged in small bags in the produce section. They are WAY cheaper to buy there than the bottles in the spice aisle. I think I’ve seen poppy seeds there.
I would almost never purchase spices at the grocery store because they’re outrageously expensive and – generally – not very good. I get things I use a lot at Costco (like their high quality cinnamon and sea salt), some things at Trader Joes; but things like poppy seeds I always purchase bulk at a Coop. Linden Hills is our closest, sometimes I get them at Whole Foods ( more expensive than Linden Hills or Lakewinds, but still a good price for a small bag). I hope this helps; there are Coops all around the Twin Cities, so just check based on your location. Penzey’s has wonderful high quality spices that people have given me, but I’ve never shopped there myself yet.
Penzey is GREAT! I buy most of my spices there and especially like their Cocoa Powders for baking – so much better!!! Now I wouldn’t say they are a deal, but definitely worth it. If you sign up on their mailing list they have been sending out coupons for a new spice to try the past few months along with their catalog. Spices really do make a diffence in your cooking.
And on the topic of Poppy Seeds, keep them in the fridge, then they don’t go rancid as quickly.
I was wondering if anyone has tips for saving on hobbies my husband has. He’s currently into building models and trains. Thanks! :)
I have a question along the hobby line. Does anyone have suggestions for cheap hunting/fishing etc. gear? Thanks.
My husband is an avid fisherman. He compromised on how much he spends by using Cabela’s Bargain Cave, Ebay, and Craigslist for things he’s looking for. Last week he ordered 12 lures that he wanted to try for 1.99 on ebay. I’m happy because the buget is in tact, he’s happy to get some new things.
My husband also recently got into building model trains. We’ve went to a couple of hobby train shows where people are selling their trains, tracks, etc. We got many good deals at the last one we went to … it was last fall at the state fair grounds. We found out about it from Hub Hobby who had a flyer sitting out on the counter by their trains. He got trains, locomotives, and track for at least half of what the stores charge.
Thanks for sharing…we will definitely have to check it out! :)
Does anybody use Quicken for their personal finances? I’ve been tracking our budget, but want to break things down further than just “grocery, pharmacy, home improvement” stores. Obviously, sometimes a Walgreens entry contains more groceries than pharmacy items. Also, I’m interested in tracking our investments and maximizing those, since we have no debt other than mortgage, and need to boost retirement savings. Thanks!
I use Microsoft Money but Quicken should be similar. I can enter multiple categories for one receipt if i enter as a “split” transaction. Are you sure you can’t already do this?
I have started using Mint.com and I really like it. It’s similar to Microsoft Money. It pulls in all your transactions automatically and you can create your own categories and split transactions. In my opinion it’s a lot easier to use than Microsoft Money (which will no longer be supported) and it’s free.
I am not familar with this site- is it safe?
I am a home childcare provider looking for cheap ideas for arts and crafts for the kids. My problem, many of my parents have told me they throw it away at home. I don’t have a big issue with that, but if I am paying full price for these items, it is like throwing the money in the garbage! Any ideas on how to curb my spending for arts and crafts? Thanks!
Start collecting your toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls. You can make tons of cute animal crafts from them. The kids can paint them first and then add felt or construction paper shapes to them. You can also fill the rolls with candy and wrap for Valentine’s Day gifts for the parents.
Another craft I used to do was collect the popsicle sticks. Paint them and then make frames. Take the old magnets that get sent in the mail and add to the back. Take a picture of the kids at the daycare and then place it on the frame. Take white tissue paper or brown bags and do hand prints with paint. Use as wrapping paper for gifts for Valentine’s Day.
Take the kids artwork and make a book for the parents. Maybe they would keep it!
Just a quick thought!
Another idea with the popsicle picture frame idea, add puzzle pieces to the outside popsicle sticks. It makes a cute, unique frame.
My daughter did this in Sunday School years ago & we still have it on the fridge!
Have you ever purchased supplies online through Oriental Trading? They have all sorts of sales and clearance sales. With my last order, I got free shipping and a $10 gift card for my next purchase. It’s also a great way to buy some items in bulk.
Thanks to all the great suggetions! I have not purchased through Oriental Trading, but have looked.
Thanks again!
http://www.orientaltrading.com has been having some good deals and shipping discounts. Sign up for email newsletter.
Erin Lynn,
Creative Kidstuff gives away their discarded/leftover gift-wrapping supplies. Scraps of ribbons, paper, the scrunchy paper pieces, etc. It an be used for collages or a number of crafts. Just ask the next time you are in Creative Kidstuff and they usualy have a bag full near their wrapping station and they’ll give it to you.
My children attended a christian preschool which was very frugal. Almost all projects/art was made of recycled items. Here are some I remember:
Frozen juice can lid magnets decorated with various items for holidays or seasons
One special one was labeled “Look what Chris made this week” to hang their special artwork on fridge at home
empty thread as flower vase- flower made of scraps of fabric/pipe cleaner
Popsicle stick photo frames
nativity scene creche from toilet paper roll cut lengthwise and glued together, peanut baby, shredded paper hay
Save favorite piece of art work all season, if a better one is created, send old one home and save newest, then once a year have child give as gift to parents in a cheap frame you found on super clearance. Be sure to date and have artist sign art work. Tell parents it was meant as a wall hanging to keep for years.
Potpourri sewn in scrap fabric pillowcase for special lady- all done by children-small size
empty tissue box recovered with fabric or art work to use as grocery store plastic bag retainer
A walk in the supply room at the school one would see milk jug caps, milk jugs, individual milk containers from school lunches, fabric, yarn, plastic containers from all types of food and just about anything else you could think of that wwe typically throw away. Most came from the teachers saving items at home.
I’ve had some luck buying craft supplies at the dollar store. Joann’s and Michael’s also has great sales and coupons all the time for craft supplies and great clearance sales after each holiday/season. (Kids don’t care if they are using snowman stickers in July!)
http://www.familyfun.com has some great ideas for crafts
Scraps of fabric cut up can be glued on sheets of paper. You can even cut the paper into shapes like people, cars,boats, a snowman. Magazines cut up into pieces also works great also.
Something popular in the winter is to put water with food coloring in spray bottles and let them spray the snow outside.
Here is a financial “what would you do” scenario. We owe $7 on our car, and $12K on a HELOC (used to finish our basement). Our home value is rapidly declining, as is everyone else’s. We are approaching the “upside down” mark in terms of what a realtor tells us we can get for our home, still okay as far as what the county says for taxes. We need to refinance soon to get out of an ARM as this will be a much more permanent residence than we anticipated. With extra money that will be coming in, one person in the family wants to pay off the car to just get it done as it is the smaller debt (ala Dave Ramsey). The other person thinks we need to put the money in to the HELOC to put us in the best position for refinancing. (Rate on HELOC is 7.0, car is 4.25) Any opinions out there? Thanks!
Ask the lender what would look best for refinance. We did this in Nov and they suggested
paying off the smaller debt to eliminate it from the books. Now, we pay that amount for the payed off debt as an extra payment on other acct.
Really hard to give advice (even if we had all the details).
Seems you have
1. A mortgage – that you will be refinancing to get out of ARM
2. A HELOC for $12k @ 7%
3. Car Loan for $7k @ 4.25%
you didn’t say how much extra money you had or if it is one time deal or monthly.
If it was me – I’d try to get it from three monthly payments down to only two or possibly one.
a. if you have enough to pay off car – you’ve eliminated one monthly payment or
b. can you pay off some of the HELOC and then combine any remaining balance with the refinancing of the mortgage?
c, or can you combine (payoff car) with the mortgage refinance
d. or all of the above
any of these would reduce your monthly payments
If your ARM adjusts up will you be able to afford the payments? Is it critical (like, if we don’t refi we lose the house-type critical) to refinance?
We are fine in our loan for the next 2 years at least. Even if it did adjust up, there is a cap and it is affordable. It’s not critical to re-finance. I just don’t want to be in the loan long-term with a high interest rate.
We will be getting $7 for some extra work my husband is doing this spring. We’re leaning toward wiping out the car loan completely with that money, then applying that amount to the HELOC and get that one taken care of ASAP. (Goes along with the debt snowball from Dave Ramsey). At that point, our only debt is our mortgage.
That should be we will be getting $7K.
I am trying to clear up some credit score issues, what is the best & least expensive way? Thanks for the help!
The Attorney General’s office put out a great publication last year on clearing up your credit. Here is their link sto some ways to clear it up. Usually it’s just writing the credit bureau to dispute something that is incorrect. Check out their website:
http://www.ag.state.mn.us/
Hello,
I have 2 questions.
1 – I read somewhere on this site about a recipe I think from Rachel Ray (stuffed pepper stoup) can’t fint it now, does anyone remember where this is?
2- Does anyone have any White Elephant gift ideas? Going to a (late) christmas party this weekend and we will be doing this gift exchange.
Thanks!
This should be the link for the stuffed pepper stoup recipe http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=476
Yep, that is it. This is one of our favorites! We make extra and all the juice gets soaked up into the orzo and makes a great hotdish for the next day. :)
To answer your 2nd question – I think that technically, a White Elephant gift is supposed to be something that you already have lying around the house that is in good enough condition to re-gift. However, the best one that I saw at a party was a rubber chicken… The sillier the better! Try the Dollar Tree for some ideas.
Traci – you can use the search feature on the website (the google custom one with the search site button). Someone mentioned that before and now I use it a ton!
Shop in your basement or closet
The stuffed pepper stoup recipe is on her website http://www.rachaelray.com
http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=476 Here is the link.
I’m so glad you are going to try it. It is so good!
FYI – I do add more broth then she calls for, the orzo absorbs a lot.
Sarah Beth — many stores have bulk spices that are cheaper then getting them in the jar. They also have prepackged ones in the produce section.
Cheap arts and crafts, ask the parent to bring in paper towel rolls, gallon milk jugs, if they use frozen orange juice those can’s still have metal tops have them bring those in, also plastic frozen juice containers work for some projects too.
Paper towel or toilet paper rolls you can make shakers, flutes etc.
Gallon milk jugs, you can make into Turkeys at thanksgiving, watering cans in the spring, pigs or a cow just because.
The metal tops to frozen juice you can let the kids make art work then cut the art in a circle, tape it to the front or glue. Then put some magnetic tape on the back — it’s a fridge magnet.
The plastic containers you can also paint and have the kids make into pencil holders.
These are low cost items you can use to make projects too:
Clothes pins can be made into so many things, use pipe cleaners and coffee filters to make bugs and butterfly.
You can use ice-cream Popsicle sticks to make so many things too — and they are cheap.
Terracotta pots are cheap — they can paint those and parents might keep them, have them plant a seed and watch it grow in there too!
Using paper lunch bags you can make a variety of different puppets. If the kids you have are old enough to cut then let them cut out the shapes to go on it. Once in ECFE my son even made a football puppet. He cut out a football, glued it to the bottom of the bag and added a face to it.
Is there any spot on here for a coupn swap? I have some really good coupons that I get in the mail that I end up throwing away. Maybe a coupon swap is needed?
Stocking up – what’s the magic amount?
I just started following Carrie’s system about a month ago and am having a great time tracking down savings. The problem is that I’ve actually spent MORE during this month than usual! I’m well stocked on soup, cereal, crackers, pasta, medicine, cleaning products, lotion, shampoo, etc. And I’ve gotten great deals on these things, and haven’t bought things I won’t actually use.
I don’t want to continue buying things just because they’re on sale. Is there a rule of thumb about how often you can get great deals on certain items? Like, plan on enough cereal to last so mony weeks / months? Or does Carrie let us know when a very rare deal shows up?
How do others plan their stockpiles?
This is a great question! I’m fairly new to this site too and would love to hear how people do this.
I would think there is no “right” answer to this. Each person would have their own amount to plan for. I do home daycare, so the cheaper the cereal the better and the more I have the better. The same goes for crackers, cheese, granola bars etc.
We eat soup by the can and my husband brings it to work so I stock up as much as possible on that. I don’t buy 10 of something just because they are 10 for $10. Only as many as I feel we need.
I would look at the number of people in your family and how much you need for three months or so. The sales will come around again.
Good luck…and I would love to hear what others have to say about this!
This is a great question and I think the answer is different for everyone, depending on your need. When you are first new to the idea of stockpiling it’s so fun and easy to overspend. One thing I did, is make myself take a break from the deal shopping one week and just really evaluate what I needed to make meals. Inevitably, it would be a super good deal on something that week and I usually caved in, but there was always another week! :)
Once you have a good stockpile, try cutting your grocery budget. Take that money and save it towards something that’s exciting (like Carrie talks about) and force yourself to live on that budget. I just cut my grocery/household budget in half in November (I started with this site in June) and that made a huge contribution to our TV fund (which we just ordered this week!!!). I have had to constantly remind myself that I do not have to do every deal. Most of them will come around again. Sorry for the book!!
I’m relatively new to this site, so don’t know if this has ever been mentioned before, but thought I’d share a great way to get low prices on bread…
We eat a lot of bread in our family with everybody taking their lunch to work/school to save money. There’s a Sara Lee outlet/overstock store not far from where we live (in Richfield – but I’m sure there are similar stores elsewhere in the Twin Cities) that has great deals on high quality bread. Their “shelf-price” for the wide-pan, 100% whole wheat loaves of bread is $1.66 a loaf, but I’d say that at least 75% of the time when I stop in there it’s on sale for $1 a loaf (once I even got it for $0.75 a loaf!) The last time I looked at the price of this bread in a regular grocery store it was close to $4 a loaf – so this is a great deal!
Yesterday not only was the bread on sale, but they also had packages of 6 large Sara Lee bagels on sale for $1! Our freezer is well stocked with bread and bagels now!
I also frequent the SaraLee/Taystee store in the North Metro (New Brighton on Silver Lake Road) I cringe when I can’t make it there or am in a jam and I have to pay more than 75cents for buns and $1.50 for bread or bagels. However I found Aldi also has cheap buns so they are usually my back-up (especially on Sundays when the Taystee is closed). They also have a punch card for every $1 you spend. Once you hit $20 you get $1 off your next order.
OH! And if you bring in your own bag they will discount your order by 5% or maybe 10.
Just curious how the rest of you shop for the things you need when they are NOT on sale, or at least aren’t listed on PYD with a coupon deal?
Do you clip all the coupons for the things you usually buy – or do you keep them all intact so when it is referenced by a date on PYD (1/10 Smart Source for example) – you know how to find it?
I guess I am finding it hard to buy the things I need (& get a decent deal), even if they aren’t on sale, without having the coupon already clipped and filed. I find that I am going thru the ads over and over searching for a single coupon, say, if I know I need cheese that week, but it isn’t listed as one of the deals that week.
Any suggestions? What is your method?
If you sign up on http://www.couponmom.com you will have access to their database which could be a big help if you want to keep your inserts in-tact. You just sign in, choose the database on the left panel, then type the name of the item you need, like “cheese” and it will tell you which insert had coupons. Carrie talks about this here http://www.pocketyourdollars.com/2009/06/two-websites-that-will-save-you-tons/ and here http://www.pocketyourdollars.com/2009/11/an-easy-way-to-purge-out-of-date-coupons/
Just a heads up for those who shop at Rainbow Foods. I usually bring my own bags when going to the stores. On Wednesday while shopping at Rainbow Foods, the cashier asked how many bags I have in my cart and gave me a credit of 5 cents per bag. I’ve shopped at Rainbow many times, and it was the first time I was asked and received credit for bringing my own bags.
Do you know if the bags you brought in need to be cloth, etc., or if you can just “recycle” by reusing old Rainbow paper and plastic bags? I have a huge stockpile of them that I use as small trash bags, recycling bags, etc., and if I could get $.05 for using them at Rainbow I’d use that avenue as well!
Somebody wrote about the Children’s Muesem free ticket deal. I can’t find it anywhere and don’t know where she got them. Possible library?
I just read an article about the ” Coupon Queen” and how she got $211. groceries for .42 cents. She didn’t really spell it out for the reader just the basics, use coupons on sale items, buy on sale.Nothing we already don’t know from this site. Has anybody ead her books so can give more detail.
Thanks,
Peggy
The Children’s museum is free the third Sunday of the Month. Check their website for times and deals. Also check library for zoo and museum passes available. The library passes didn’t include the Children’s Museum last time I checked. The passes vary for each attraction but some of them include discounts.
Yes you can use the library pass for the Children’s museum. Our family has done it several times. One pass is good for 4 people. Check the library on mondays/wednesdays, that’s when they tell us to come and get the pass and usually there’s one there.
If you are interested in buying a membership to the Children’s Museum, check out memberships to other Children’s Museums. Usually you can buy an expanded membership with reciprocal admission at all the other Children’s Museums in the United States. Many of these memberships at the other museums area cheaper than at the one in St. Paul. We buy ours by mail (or in person) from the museums in Duluth or Milwaukee and it is still good at the one in St. Paul.
Is it the Childrens Science Musuem you are talking about or just a Childrens musuem?
When heading out to museums, remember the Museum Adventure Passes available at metro area libraries. AND, a librarian at our story time was handing out free ticket vouchers for the recent Sesame Street Live show at the Target Center. No one else wanted them, so we had three free (regularly $18) tickets! This week she said they had actually tossed some vouchers. :( I know they’ve given away kids’ circus tickets, too. I don’t know if all libraries have access to these free vouchers or if/how they publicize them, but maybe it doesn’t hurt to ask!
If you are a school district employee you can get one free admission to the MN Science Museum by showing your Id badge when buying the ticket in person.
I was talking about the Minnnesota Children’s Museum in St. Paul, but we did buy the expanded membership which includes all Science Museums in the country also. We do not live in the metro area to participate in the free pass program from the libraries. We can get them through inter-library loan, but we would never be able to plan a trip around it since we would have no clue when it would arrive.
Coupon question: When you use a BOGO manufacturer’s coupon, can you also use a coupon on the “free” product? Or is it more like a $1/2 situation? I have some Tampax BOGO’s to use this week and there’s a manufacturer’s coupon in the Rainbow ad as well – wondering if I can use both. Thanks!
As for a money management program. My husband and I pay for mvelopes.com. What we LOVE about it is that it works in all your goals and keeps up to date on what you have in the budget that day. It helps you keep ahead of your spending and if you spend about 1 minute every couple days you can keep your budgets on track. After a year they offer a lifetime subscription. You can work in house payments, credit cards, other savings accounts. It is an amazing service. The best part we like is it helps calculate what you save if you are going to pay a little extra. It is SO fun when you see an extra 10 dollars turn into hundreds in the long run! We are currently debt free and FINALLY on our way to having a savings account!!! WAHOO!
Question: I’m new to couponing and have a quick question. Can you use two manufacturer’s coupons on the same item if they are different coupons? For example, I have a $1/1 Huggies and a $2/1 for Huggies. Would I get $3 off or can I just use one? I know you can use a store coupon with a manufacturer’s coupon, just not sure about 2 manufacturer’s. Thanks!
As far as I know, you cannot use both of those coupons on a single item, unless, of course, one of them is a store coupon.
Yet ANOTHER question! Has anyone had any experience shopping Supervalu stores? I got a flyer for Bergan’s Supervalu in South Minneapolis and they have TONS of great BOGO coupons on the front page. Just wondering what their coupon policy is… If I get around to contacting them I’ll let ya’ll know what I find out. Couple be a great deal this week!
Silly me I apparently didn’t read far enough into my ad! Well, this is cool news …. They double an unlimited number of coupons up to $.50 in value every day! Doesn’t beat Rainbow for me, but it’s nice to have an alternative in the neighborhood for low-value coupons.
I received a similar ad for Driskill’s. I haven’t done work on the ad yet, but plan to. I called the Hopkins Driskills this morning to confirm that they WILL accept manufacturer’s coupons on top of the BOGO specials…also, you do NOT need to cut out the BOGO coupons in the Sunday flyer.
There is also an Almsted’s Super Valu nearby in St. Louis Park, but they limit the double coupons to .49 everyday unlimited (.49 and under seems pointless for me to even bother, since their prices are already high). They often have loss leader specials worth coming in for, though. Funny thing is that their sister store in Crystal doubles coupons to .50 everyday unlimited. I called the SLP store a few months back and a work said he didn’t know that the Crystal store went up to .50 and promised to talk to the manager about it, but I never called back to check. I just called this morning and spoke to the manager. He said the difference in coupon policies dates back 10 years before the stores had common ownership. There’s no plans to switch the SLP store to .50 cents. Oh well.
Hope this helps someone else!
Oops! Forgot to mention that Driskill’s does NOT double coupons.
Was it just me or was something posted somewhere about a free download of corinne bailey rae?
Thanks!
Does anyone know where a CVS is in the metro area? Particularly South Minneapolis or Richfield, Edina? I live in S Minneapolis and have never seen one, but would love to shop there. Their website didn’t show any but I know there are new ones popping up….thanks!
I think there’s a CVS at the corner of Franklin & Nicollet.
Yes there is, just drove by it yesterday
I don’t live in the metro – Can you just visit a library in the Metro and get these passes or are they just available to residents? I think this would be a fun family day, but would like to do it at a discount!
Does anyone know of good free/inexpensive ideas for my husband to take our 15-month old little girl to do fun things during the day? He is currently unemployed and at home with her everyday. They would like to get out of the house and try some new activities. Thanks!