Money-saving and Household Essentials

Welcome to the third Money-saving Monday!  I hope you’ve been enjoying the posts and learning a little bit.  I know it’s different from my regular posts, but being a stay-at-home mom of three boys, money-saving is a daily part of my life.  We just go through so much stuff….food, diapers, clothes, wipes, etc.  If I didn’t get the cheapest prices on stuff, I’d definitely have to get back to work!

So, today, I want to talk about getting the things you need all the time, the household essentials, at the cheapest prices.  I know not everyone uses everything I’ll talk about (diapers, for example) but there should be at least one product your household uses a lot.

Tip #1 Figure out what your household essentials are. What are the household essentials for me and my family?  Right now, it’s definitely diapers, wipes, toilet paper, laundry detergent, paper towel, dish soap, and garbage bags.   These are items that I try to keep stockpiled at my house.  They are the items that you buy in big enough quantities that you don’t want to have to buy if they are not on sale or you can’t get a good deal.  You want to be prepared and keep enough around so you don’t pay way too much for them.  I hate, hate, hate spending money on toilet paper, but we have to have it, right?  So, if I can at least get it at the best price, I feel better.

Tip #2 Comparison shop.  If you’re not in a hurry to buy your diapers or garbage bags, you have time to shop around for the best price.  Not only that, but you can wait for stores to have the items on sale, so you can combine that sale price with a coupon.  These days, it’s super easy to compare prices Online.  You can visit the store’s websites and look at their Online store ads.

Tip #3 Amazon There are two great ways to save on Amazon.  First, if you are a Mom or Dad in need of Diapers and other baby essentials, you should join, or at least try, Amazon Mom. You can start with a 30 day free trial, get 20% off diapers, plus free two-day shipping.  Amazon generally has comparable prices on diapers, plus you don’t have to drag your kids to the store with you.  Also, they often have coupons you can “clip” to save even more money.  If you’re not picky about the brand of diapers, you can find a great deal.  Just click on the picture below to sign up through my affiliate link.

The second great way to save on Amazon, is Amazon Subscribe and Save.  This is a great way to buy things like toilet paper, paper towel, laundry detergent, garbage bags, etc.  You get free shipping, you can “clip” coupons, and if you sign up for 5 or more subscriptions, you get an extra 15% off the already discounted price.  The best part is you can cancel your subscription at any time.  I often subscribe to 5 things, get the products, then if the price has gone up, I just cancel.  You can choose how often you would like your subscription to come too, which is cool.

Tip #4  Combine, Combine, Combine  When you are buying household essentials, always remember to combine coupons with sales.  You can get coupons from your local paper, you can get them Online in places like Coupons.com, and you can even get them by signing up for emails from the company.  For example, I’m signed up with both Huggies and Pampers, and get coupons sent to my emails.  Also, don’t forget stores like Target, or even grocery stores, have their own store coupons that can be combined with manufacturers’ coupons.  If you’ll remember from my Target post, they have an app called Cartwheel, but they also have store coupons on their website and coupons you can get from subscribing to their text system.  Many grocery stores have loyalty cards and/or coupon books with their own store coupons.  While I don’t always find the cheapest prices on household essentials at grocery stores, specific sales and double coupon days, can really make them a stock-up price.

Tip #5 Phone Apps While I’m sure there are a ton of cash back apps out there, the best one I’ve found for rebates on household essentials is called Ibotta.  It’s a free app that provides you rebates, cash back, from buying specific products at specific stores. It’s free to sign up, and it’s simple to use.  First, check the app to see what products have rebates from the store you are shopping at.  Second, purchase your product.  Third, verify the product by scanning the bar code and taking a picture of your store receipt.  The app leads you through the whole process.  Once you have $10 in rebates, you can cash it in.  It can go directly into your Paypal account or you can get a store gift card from places like Starbucks.

Tip #6 Stock up Even if you have enough toilet paper right now, or enough laundry detergent to last for two weeks, if one of your household essential items is at a great price…But it!  Remember these are items that your household uses all the time, and will never go to waste.

Now, I hope I haven’t overwhelmed you with all that coupon talk.  It does take a while to get a hang of everything and using it all together, but the results can be worth it.  If you have any questions, please comment below, and I’ll be happy to help you out.