Pantry

Pantry

I have been an avid couponer for 6 years.  I have seen a decline in how many coupons I use in a month, but it is still worth my while.  I purchase items on sale and use a coupon with the sale price whenever possible.   Our pantry used to be an unorganized mess which lead to me spending more on food as I was buying things that I already had but didn’t realize it was in the abyss.

When I decided this summer to organize the pantry, I was looking at beautiful bins at Winners, and when I started to add it up it would have been close to $500 to organize, not in my Guess Who’s Cheap Budget. Instead, I hit up the Dollarama.  I bought white bins that are normally used as wash bins.  I also bought 2 canvas shoe bags, 5 rolls of pattern duct tape, and asked friends with kids to save their diaper boxes for me. I was at my mom’s house and noticed she had two boxes out for recycling that kept cans of pop and I took those too.

I used the duct tape and covered one bin.  After I finished it and put it on the shelf I realized that the whole bin wasn’t seen. So for all the other bins I only covered the front and about 2 inches on each side.  I have a bin for each category. A few examples are bread, breakfast (my husband uses about 10 things to make an oatmeal daily) junk food, baking, pasta just to name a few. 

I covered two boxes that held pop cans and use these to store my soup cans.  

I bought two canvas shoe racks and used extra hooks in the holes for reinforcement. One is used for prepackaged snacks such as granola bars and gum and candy.  The other one I use for spices, jello and oatmeal packages.

I then put diaper boxes on the floor and use those to store my extras, based on category.   I have run out of the duct tape, and haven’t covered these boxes yet.

I have been recycling glass jars as canisters since I moved out on my own in 1997. I have large glass jars that Nescafe Instant Coffee came in and use those for canisters. I took the lids and hot glued twine around to give it a custom look. I also use mason jars to store spices and items with less quantity.

This system works well for us, and keeps it organized and looking good!

Please share my blog and comment your thoughts below. Thanks from Guess Who’s Cheap.

Bits and Bites...

I was thinking today we didn't do anything worth blogging about to save money. Then my husband and I started chatting and a few things came up.
1)This morning my husband filled up the car with gas. He went to the Shell station and filled up. This got us some Air Miles.  With any fill up at the Shell Station you get a free hot beverage.  Morgan enjoyed a nice large cappuccino, a nice bonus. 
2)I did two loads of laundry  in cold water, and hung to dry.
3)I popped into Frenchy's and bought a bathing suit for my daughter, a tank top of Minnie Mouse a few sizes too big for when we go to Disney World in a few years, and a purse new with tags. $10.50 I was pretty happy about the finds!
4) I posted a few things on Facebook to sell online.  Here is hoping they sell! On average we get about $30 a week from selling things we no longer use online.  (THIS WILL BE A FUTURE BLOG, WE HAVE PAID FOR DISNEY WORLD 2X WITH ONLINE SELLING!!!!)
5)I went through the flyers to see what is on sale to stock up
6) I sorted through the gifts in the basement to get Easter items together for the girls
7)Using the fireplace to heat the house from wood Morgan cut down when he cleared the lot for our house 3 years ago
8)Called the credit cards and paid off what we have charged in the past two weeks to avoid interest (This hurts cause I did a little bit of shopping on the weekend...oops)

I am trying to think of  a money title that's wittier then Bits and Bites, where I can put in random things. If you have any suggestions leave it in the comments:) I was thinking Pennies and Sense  let me know your ideas
PLEASE SHARE THIS BLOG IF YOU ARE ENJOYING IT, I HAVE HAD 675 VISITS IN THE PAST WEEK, AND HOPING TO GET HIGH NUMBERS FOR GOOGLE ADS

PC PLUS

President’s Choice

Superstore and No Frills has an amazing program called PC Plus.  At the checkout a cashier will give you an application for this program, and you receive a card right away.  I have also downloaded the PC Plus App to my phone and registered my card to receive weekly emails.  My husband also has his own card to compare Bonus Offers.

Each Thursday the PC Plus programs sends you new PC offers.  The offers begin to be catered to your shopping habits, and often have bonus points on items we purchase for our family anyways.  Also the weekly flyers have PC Plus points offers by select items in the flyer.  HOWEVER, if an item has bonus points in the SuperStore flyer and you purchase it at No Frills, YOU DO NOT GET THE PC Points.  Although No Frills is my favorite store, if there are items at Super Store with great product bonus points, I will pop into Super Store for that item only. 

What I like about the PC Plus phone app is that it keeps track of your transactions.  Every month I can click on the My Account section, and view my transactions.  It is a good reality check on roughly how much I spend a month on groceries.

PC World Elite Master Card is a card we use for shopping at No Frills, Super Store and Shoppers Drug Mart.  Charging purchases at these three stores equals more points.  We pay these off monthly and find it worth while for the monthly redemptions.  This credit card used to be our primary card and we found the points racked up faster.  (We have changed our focus to another credit card with air miles for a free vacation someday)

 When you receive 20,000 PC Points you can redeem at the cash for $20, and every 10,000 points after.  30,000 points $30 etc.  We redeem on average $20 per month.   Usually it takes us about 2 months to get enough points for a $20 redemption, but between the two cards it works out well.  We used to save our points and redeem in December to have extra money for Christmas. Now that we are focused on the mortgage, we redeem as soon as we can and plop that amount on our mortgage as an extra payment.

Flyers...

Flyer Time!

Wednesday after work there is a little red plastic bag on my doorstep that welcomes me home.  I love the flyers! I make a mug of green tea and get ready for 20 minutes of home budget work.  

When I first started to watch my prices, I would write down when I got home from the store how much I paid for an item, and record the size of the item.  I would then figure out cost per unit…how much the item costs per ml, L, g and kg.  It gets a bit tricky as some items are priced per pound, be aware.  I am not the math person, and my husband gets calls from me time to time at the store asking him to figure this out fast! It can get over whelming at the store to do this when you are in the moment. 

I first sort the flyers by the grocery stores that I prefer.  No Frills in my town is my favorite grocery store and I start there. The owner is present, and is very helpful with the customers.  No Frills also has the PC Plus program, where you collect points on every day purchases and points when you charge to your PC Master Card (This will be tomorrow’s blog). And….No Frills will Price Match.

I have a small note pad that the paper fits inside my coupon folder.   There is a thin margin that separates the price of the item, and the name of the item.  If I have a coupon for the item I circle the item on my list.  As you may notice in the pic and my list, I have Shoppers Drug Mart out for the 20x the points weekend when you spend $50. I try to spend $50 on these days to earn my bonus points. Normally what I would do is Price Match the items to No Frills. In my town ( and across Canada) Giant Tiger and Walmart will Price Match.

How Do I Price Match?

If you see an item in the flyers advertised cheaper than what it is at No Frills, Giant Tiger or Walmart you may Price Match. I circle item in the flyer, and take it with me to the store. You are allowed to Price Match as many items as you like, but can only get 4 items of the same product. For example, if Dawn liquid dish soap was on sale at a Lawtons, I take the flyer to the store that will Price Match and get the exact item for the advertised price.  I could get 4 of the Dawn liquid soap, and then also Price Match other items, such as bread.

Why Would I Price Match?

I price match to cut down on my driving to other stores. Also, I price match to get points with my loyalty cards.   

Please feel free to leave a comment, include how you do the flyers and save with coupons

Gift Cards

I was trying to think what we did frugal today and my husband came to the rescue.  Today is Valentine's Day, and we went to a movie matinee.  We only go to the movies a few times a year, so it is a real treat!  I bought movie passes at Costco a while for 24.99.   This included 2 general admissions, 2 regular soft drinks and 1 regular popcorn.  We decided not to get the treats today and only used the  admission part of the ticket.  I always take the girls to the 2$ movies during March Break, so we will use the snacks then. 
You can also show your Scene It Card (Cineplex Reward Card) and earn points towards future free Rewards.
Also, we went to Sobeys and used our Sobeys gift card to buy a $50 Home Hardware giftcard.  (we will be painting a dining room table soon that was a yard sale find...stay tuned). This is a hidden secret how this works, so pay attention!
Every few weeks Sobeys has a promotion on the front page of their flyers for bonus rewards if you purchase a Sobeys gift card.  Two weeks ago this is what we did:
1) Went to Sobeys and used our BMO Mastercard and purchased a $200 Sobeys Gift Card, earning 20 airmiles just for shopping.
2) For buying a $200 Gift Card I got a coupon to save 25 cents off of every litre of gas to use one time.
3) Used the $200 Gift Card at Shell to fill up my tank, used the coupon and saved $11 off my fill up
4) Today went to Sobeys with the same Gift Card and used it to buy a $50 Gift Card to Home Hardware where we will buy paint later on this week!   And at Home Hardware we will collect Aeroplan miles!!!

For Valentine's Day we bought each other cards at Dollarama, and enjoyed a movie!  
Please leave a comment, and thanks for stopping by!

Laundry... A Dirty Word

Laundry.  This is a dirty dirty word and a chore that is ongoing.  For the past two years I have found  4 frugal ways to do my laundry and my clothes are still clean!   I talked to an employee at an appliance store when I was shopping for my front end loading washing machine about the most efficient way to run the machine. 

 The answer? Less laundry detergent!   I use one tablespoon of liquid laundry detergent for each load of laundry.  I have a 6 litre glass drink dispenser that I fill with all the same brand laundry detergent.  I am not loyal to a brand, but make sure I don’t mix the brands in the dispenser.  Hanging from the spout is a plastic bottle that I cut to hang from the spout.   Inside of the spout I keep a one tablespoon that I bought at a yard sale.  Each time I do the laundry, I measure the laundry detergent and VOILA, clean laundry.  An extra bonus, the plastic bottle catches any drop from the spout, which every now and then has a tablespoon collected.

Next, turning it on.  I use the QUICK setting on the washing machine!  The cycle is shorter, therefore using less power on the cycle, putting money in my pocket.  At the same time, my other dial for the water is set on cold.  Every load of laundry done the past two years has been done on the cold water setting without switching laundry detergent. 

I hang all of the laundry in the basement.  There are 2 wire laundry hangers always up in the basement.  One is very sturdy, splurged and bought it at Costco for 35.  One broke after 4 months, I took it back to Costco and they replaced it with one that has been working past year and a half.  The other rack is from a yardsale that cost 3.00.  I see these at yard sales frequently, many people get the idea they are going to be frugal but don’t stick with it.  I won’t lie, it takes about 5 minutes to hang up each basket of laundry, and I let it hang for two days, that’s why I have 2.  In our spare bathroom my husband has hung rope, from the Dollarama, the length of our bathroom to hang sheets.  On each wall he attached an eye screw and tied the rope. We have 3 ropes in total.  Answer to how to hang dry sheets solved!

Also, use coupons to buy your laundry detergent.  Match a coupon up with local flyer deals!