When I was pregnant with Darah, I was a couponing DIVA!!! I stocked up on about a 6 month supply of diapers and wipes (that was before I became a cloth diaper fan) and each package I purchased was at least half off, if not more. We had enough toilet paper to last a year, and our pantry was overflowing with food (some great, some, admittedly, junk) that I routinely got at 50-75% off with my coupons. From the perspective of our budget, it was awesome!
So what happened? That little bundle of joy that came into our lives in August 2009 stole our hearts, as well as all of our energy. You know how that goes, probably! It’s a good thing I had such a stockpile, because I fell off the couponing wagon for about a year.
When I quit my job and we were down to one income, I knew that getting back into couponing was pretty much necessary. Our grocery budget just couldn’t be $350/month for a family of 3, anymore. So, I dipped my feet back in the waters, and while I never returned to my former couponing glory, I did start saving a good chunk of money each month and re-establishing some stockpiles of various products we go through quickly.
And then, on my 31st birthday, we found out that we were expecting. I was reeling with morning (who am I kidding? ALL DAY) sickness by the time I was 5 1/2 weeks along, and basically, anything that wasn’t necessary for my family’s survival went by the wayside. Coupons did not make the cut.
I’ll be honest, even though I’m feeling significantly better than I was for the first 3 months of the pregnancy, my coupon binder is still collecting dust. It can be so hard to get back into couponing when you don’t have a good supply of coupons on hand and have to re-build. Also, just taking the time to clip and sort coupons is a big ask when there are so many other things demanding your time. I have been wondering if all that work that goes into it really is worth it, or if I should just give up, altogether.
Then I learned about SavingStar, a site designed to help simplify the process of saving money on groceries. This site is full of PAPERLESS coupons. That means you don’t have to go buy a paper, print anything from your computer, or clip anything. Everything is digital!!! These coupons work at over 100 chains (that’s 24,000 stores) across the nation. The odds are pretty darn good that your favorite grocery store is one of them!
Basically, all you need to do is register your grocery and durgstore loyalty cards on SavingStar. That’s something you are already using at checkout, but now grocery coupons from SavingStar are loaded on your card, so if you purchased anything that has a coupon, you save money. That’s so easy!
What happens next is a bit different than using traditional coupons, though. Instead of the money you saved coming off your bill at the store, the savings you earned are added to your SavingStar account. That process can take between 2-30 days, just depending on when the store sends the purchase data to SavingStar. So you do have to wait a little bit for your savings, but they will come!
Once you have at least $5 in your account (that doesn’t very long to accumulate when using coupons, I promise), you can cash out by having your savings deposited into your bank, sent via PayPal, or you can get an Amazon gift card or make a donation to American Forests.
New coupons are added each week. So instead of going out to get a paper and then clip and sort all those coupons, just log into SavingStar and click on the coupons that interest you. This makes using coupons super easy, and its something I feel confident I can do now, and continue to do even when we have our new little one in May and I’m SERIOUSLY strapped for time.
Check out SavingStar.com. You’ve got nothing to lose and money to save!
Disclosure: I am receiving a gift card from the sponsor in exchange for sharing my honest opinion about their services, which I have provided.