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www.totsy.com is an oline children’s clothing store that is currently offering a free $15 credit on any order when you use the coupon code “15CREDIT” at checkout.
The code can be applied to shipping charges, too! (Shipping is $7.95.)
Happy shopping, and happy saving!
I’m a stickler for healthy food. You literally couldn’t pay me a million dollars to eat anything genetically modified or feed anything genetically modified to my kids. With that information, and with the prevalence of genetically modified foods in this country, you can imagine how high my food budget is and how difficult it is to find healthy foods.
I buy as much organic food as I can because organic isn’t allowed to contain any genetically modified ingredients, but there aren’t many organics around here. I shop online for healthy groceries at Amazon, Vitacost, LuckyVitamin, and other online retailers, but they don’t sell perishables. I did shop at the AppleGate Farms website for organic meats once, and I tried Organic Prairie and U.S. Wellness meats, too. They all had good products, but the prices were steep, and they charged shipping.
In an effort to avoid shipping fees, I started driving to a Martin’s store about an hour away (yes, with 3 young kids in tow) once a month for a mega-shopping trip. Martin’s has a lot of the foods we buy, but they’re not always in stock. It became tedious, so I contacted the company of the brand of cheese I buy to ask if I could buy in bulk directly from them. They replied that they don’t sell directly to consumers but that I could try to have a store closer to me order it in for me.
A health food store about forty minutes away agreed to order me a case, but their price was more per block than I paid at Martin’s. I admit, I gave in once for the sake of convenience, but after that I tried another store.
I called a health food store about a half hour away and asked about a few products. After each one, they said “Hold on, let me check the price.” After the third one, they told me that I could look on their website for products and prices. I told them that I had looked but that I only found herbal tinctures on their site. They replied “Not that page, the food co-op page.”
“Co-op?” I asked almost gleefully. There was a food co-op that I could order from? Clearly it had to be too good to be true. Not so. There is a food co-op, and the pick-up location is at the store a half an hour north of where I live.
I can’t tell you how ecstatic I was. With 3 kids, I usually buy in bulk anyway, and I find it much easier to place orders than to actually go shopping for individual items. The next issue, and one of the most important, was prices. They were cheaper than what I had been paying!
I was so excited. I was amazed that I could be part of a food co-op. I live in such a small town that I thought we’d never get many of the conveniences that larger areas have. I had looked online for food co-ops for months but had finally given up. Then, out of the blue, I stumbled onto the UNFI co-op (thanks, God, for little miracles).
Of course in my excitement I told friends and family, but I’m still excited, so now I’m telling you. I’m not rubbing it in or bragging or anything like that though – I’m sharing it with you! It’s United Natural Foods Buying Clubs. Their website is www.UnitedBuyingClubs.com. And don’t worry if you’re not into healthy food that much, they sell hot dogs and frozen pizzas, too!
Beyond the Traditional Lemonade Stand
TRY2YPPN 50% off = $7.49
https://www.createspace.com/1000243463
Basic Budgeting
TRY2YPPN 50% off = $3.49
https://www.createspace.com/3464619
100 Income Streams for Full-time Moms
TRY2YPPN 50% off = $7.49
https://www.createspace.com/3449570
Do You Know What God Made?
Y22UEBF5 $1.90 off = $4.99
https://www.createspace.com/3500828
Guess What We Saw on Our Walk Today
Y22UEBF5 $1.90 off = $4.99
https://www.createspace.com/3498114
Eggcellent Egg-Free Breakfast Recipes
(Price recently reduced) to $16.95 Code: THANKS50 for 50% off = $8.47
http://www.publishamerica.net/product14444.html
As I was writing my grocery shopping list last week, I noticed that although I didn’t have a large variety of items to buy, I still always ended up spending hundreds of dollars in a single shopping trip. The items themselves aren’t cheap to begin with, but when you buy them in the volume that I do, expensive doesn’t even begin to describe the cost.
I listed the items I needed, and then I thought about how many of each item I actually needed to buy: 9 cartons of milk, 8 tubs of yogurt, 8 blocks of cheese, 4 frozen pizzas (hey, everyone needs a break sometimes), 3 loaves of bread, 3 boxes of cereal, 2 cartons of eggs, 4 jars of sauce, and so on, and so on. I know that’s alot to buy, but we live pretty far from the grocery store, so I make one big trip every month and then go to other random stores closer by (that don’t carry most of the things we need) for smaller, less important purchases.
Anyway, since I go to a specific store for specific items and buy specific brands, I thought that should count for something. I emailed Amy’s, a company that makes frozen convenience foods using no genetically modified ingredients, and told them how much we enjoy their frozen pizzas and that we appreciate them not using genetically modified ingredients. They responded by sending me a thank you and a coupon book!
Next, I went to the Stonyfield Farms website and found their coupon page. I printed out coupons for yogurt and milk. Not only that, they also have a rewards page where you can enter codes from the lids of Stonyfield Yogurt for points that can be redeemed for free milk, yogurt, or other items.
At the Horizon Organic website, I printed out coupons for milk and cheese. At the Organic Valley website, I printed out coupons for milk, cheese, eggs, and cream. I was on a roll! I just searched online for the website of specific brands that I buy, and nearly all of them offered coupons.
Then, a friend suggested I try coupons.com. I went to that website, and although I was only looking for coupons for food, I found coupons for diapers and wipes there. Not only that, I also found a coupon for $5 off a Graco brand carseat that I need to buy for my son in the next month or two.
After that, I was hooked on coupons. I thought I’d save at least $25 on my next shopping trip. With coupons in hand, I loaded the groceries onto the checkout counter at my favorite grocery store. Then, I handed over my Martin’s rewards card, a store loyalty card, to receive an even greater discount on certain groceries I purchased there.
I watched the total climb higher and higher as I thought, I’m still gonna spend way more than I thought I would. I saw the total. It was over $300. Then, the cashier scanned my huge pile of coupons one by one. The people behind me, and my three kids, were growing impatient. I silently guessed my savings would be $20. I was wrong. The cashier told me my total, around $273. I was shocked as I blurted out “I just used $40 worth of coupons?!” To which the cashier replied, “And if you’ve got any points on your loyalty card, don’t forget to redeem them for gas in the next two days.”
Gas? Yes, my minivan was practically on E. The grocery store had a gas station, too, and they gave discounts on gas based on your grocery purchases. I needed gas anyway, so I went to the pump and ran my rewards card under the scanner. To my surprise, I got 50 cents per gallon off of my gasoline purchase! I filled up and saw that my rewards card had saved me another $10.
I went to a different store the next day and used the diaper coupons I had, but I was amazed that I saved $50 in one day by simply using coupons for items I regularly purchase and a rewards card at my favorite grocery store. So I guess the moral of this story is: brand loyalty pays off.