STOCKS, DIVIDENDS AND COUPON SAVINGS

It was a slow week for dividends, only collected one payment for the week from Great Plains Energy (GXP).  While it was only one dividend payment, it was a decent one, since GXP is one of my long term holdings and I own a good number of shares.  Stocks trended lower this week from their recent highs, but I look at it as a good thing, especially since I've got a purchase order in for next week.  I'm hoping the prices stay down a little longer until my order goes through.  Market timing is not a part of my long term investment plan, but if I can buy on the dips, it couldn't hurt.

Had a great week of savings on groceries.  I'm working on improving my extreme couponing and it's really been paying off.  Through coupon match ups with store sales, I was able to save 54% on my trip to Gerbes this week, which included three 2-liter Diet Pepsis for free!  Matching coupons with store sales at Schnucks I saved over 67% on my purchases.  On this trip I got two packages of Barilla pasta entirely free and paid only 17 cents each for Nissin Big Cup soups!  I also got Minute Rice, which normally sells for $2.38 a box, for just 79 cents each!  Since I like rice, and Minute Rice is my favorite, I stocked up on those.  I'll pick up some good deals on personal care items tomorrow at Walgreens and use their register rewards to purchase my favorite Stouffers entrees which they have on sale in this Sunday's ad.  I think what I like most about coupons is, they allow me to do the majority of my shopping outside the big box retailers.      

WEEK IN REVIEW: STOCK DIVIDENDS, PURCHASES AND COUPON SAVINGS

This past week was kind of hectic for me.  We've been busy at work getting ready for a big corporate inspection on the 22nd.  On top of that, we've been busier than usual due to increased traffic from people who've gotten their tax refunds.  So it's been kind of crazy there.

On a brighter note, I collected several dividend payments.  In my taxable portfolio I received dividend payments from REIT O, limited partnerships LGCY, EVEP and SGU.  For my IRA account I collected dividends from SPY, T, DE and ABT.  Also purchased a stake in NYB for their current dividend yield of 7.72%.  While NYB may be somewhat risky, the price was right and the rewards in high yields and possible capital gains made it worth the risk for me.  

On my shopping trips this week, I continued to benefit from my version of extreme couponing.  I saved a handy 38% at the grocery store by matching coupons with sale items.  On my Sunday trip to Walgreens I saved close to 50% off my total purchases!  I also got 2 more chances to win $3,000 with their customer surveys.  It's been really great, since I've started couponing, to keep my house so well stocked with food, cleaning supplies and personal care items.  I have never had my home so well stocked in my entire life.  Coupons are the way to go.  I even save $25 on work I had done on my Honda Civic by using a coupon from the dealership.  

While I was at the Lake of the Ozarks for my annual February get away at Port Elsewhere, I made good use of coupons to buy food for the condo so I didn't have to go out to eat.  While there, I shopped for new shoes at the Nike outlet store and got an $80 dollar pair of Nikes for $21, almost 75% off!  All the savings from coupons and sale items are making it much easier to weather the slump in the economy and rebuild my investment portfolio after paying medical bills from my heart attack.  It also helps make it easier with ongoing medical bills for follow up care.  

HOW TO GET A 1250% RETURN INSTANTLY!

Racked up some great coupon savings at Walgreens this week!  I used register rewards from last week along with coupons on sale items.  I purchased personal care and grocery items which would normally retail for $30.65, for just $8.68 out of pocket.  From today's purchases I received $6.00 back in register rewards, making my actual cost $2.68, for a total savings of just over 91%!  I continued my savings spree at the grocery store, where I saved a handy 50% on food purchases.  I bought enough food at the store to make 6 meals for a total of $3.00 or 50 cents per meal! 

Picked up coupon booklets from my neighbor and a St. Louis Sunday paper to restock my coupon binder.  I spent $2 on the newspaper and got close to $100 in coupons!  Even if I only use 1/4th of the coupons I clip, what a phenomenal return on a $2 investment.  Wouldn't it be great if you could regularly do so well with stocks? 

This is why I get so excited about coupons.  If you spend $2 on a newspaper and get $25 in coupons that you actually use, that works out to a whopping 1250% return on your original investment!  What's even more amazing is that this is an instant 1250%, meaning if you repeated this each week just imagine what your annualized return would be.  The $2 per week would total $104 per year.  Multiply 52 weeks x $25 in usable coupons each week and you've managed to increase your original $104 buying power to $1300, or $108.33 per month on average.  

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Hope everyone had a happy and safe new year's eve and new years day!  Got my new year off to a great start by replenishing my supply of coupons from Sunday's inserts.  Picked up some bargains, including a new Kindle as a late Christmas gift, on my regular Sunday shopping trip.  In total I saved 50% off my bill with coupons and sale match ups, almost enough to pay for the Kindle.

Coupons do take time and effort, but are well worth it.  I spent about 4 hours Sunday clipping coupons and getting them organized.  But I estimate I'll save several hundred dollars in the next couple of months just from this past Sunday's coupons!  Not bad for a few hours work. 

FOUR COUPON INSERTS SUNDAY JANUARY FIRST 2012!!!

There were no coupon inserts in today's paper, but I did get some great printable coupons on Sendearnings.com (click link this page for their free sign up). 

Next Sunday, however, we can look forward to restocking our coupons with 4 inserts in the January 1st newspaper.  There will be 2 Smartsource inserts, one Redplum and one Proctor and Gamble.  Pick up a few papers and stock up on coupons for your favorite products, it's a great way to boost your purchasing power with very little effort or expense.

MORE ADVENTURES IN EXTREME COUPONING!!!

Just got back from my weekly trip to Walgreens.  I bought $27 worth of merchandise for $8.60.  I used a $5 coupon matched with a sale on a Gillette Fusion razor system, normally $12.99, on sale for $9.99 with a $4 register reward.  With the manufacturers coupon, I paid $4.99 for the razor and got $4 back in register rewards.  For my second purchase I bought 2 bottles of my favorite laundry detergent, which was on sale buy one get one free.  The laundry soap was $6.99 a bottle, with the second bottle free.  Using the $4 register reward it made the total for both bottles $2.99 plus tax for a total of $3.22.  Less than half the price of one bottle of detergent!

So, for less than the sale price of the razor ($9.99), I got the razor and 2 bottles of laundry detergent.  The razor will make a nice Christmas gift and they don't have to know I only paid .99 cents for it ;0).

$102 PROCTOR & GAMBLE COUPONS IN SUNDAY'S PAPER!!!

It's a coupon bonanza in Sunday, October 30th newspapers with 3 coupon inserts.  Proctor & Gamble's insert promises to contain over $102 in coupon savings!  Red Plum and Smartsource also have inserts in the upcoming paper and promise even more great ways to save. 

I'll also be looking for new coupons on SendEarnings.com.  Their coupons section has provided me with some fantastic deals and I've never had a problem redeeming any of their printed coupons in any of the stores I shop.  The cash back is a great little bonus as well.

Pick up some coupons and save yourself some money!!!

SAVED 50%+ SHOPPING AT WALGREENS!!!

My adventures in extreme couponing continue with today's shopping trip to Walgreens.  I matched coupons with advertised sales and register rewards for a savings of over 50%!  I purchased over $100 worth of merchandise including toothpaste, laundry detergent, lip balm, mouthwash, soft drinks, snack items, candy, coffee, kleenex, Aleve and Bayer aspirin and paid a little over $40 for everything.  My total savings was over $50 or over 50% of my purchase.  Making half of everything I purchased free!!!

I take Aleve (for arthritis) and Bayer low-dose aspirin (for my heart) on a regular basis.  Was extremely happy to get a 6 month supply of both at next to nothing!  When you're looking to trim a few bucks from your budget, you just can't beat coupons!

SAVE MONEY, HELP FIGHT BREAST CANCER!

Look for the Proctor & Gamble coupon insert in the upcoming Sunday paper for over $97 in coupon savings.  For every P&G coupon you redeem, Proctor & Gamble will make a donation to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.  Save some money and help support a great cause!

SAVED 41% ON MY GROCERY SHOPPING AT GERBES!

Didn't really need much in the way of groceries at home, but am planning to spend an extended weekend with friends at their Lake Ozark condo, so I picked snack and food items to take along on my trip.  For $18.26 I got: 2 boxes Cheez Its snack crackers 13 oz., 2 boxes Stouffers Stuffed Peppers, 1 bag fun size Baby Ruth candy bars, 1 bag fun size Butter Finger candy bars, 2/4pks. Yoplait Yogurt and 2 pkgs. Chips Ahoy cookies.  The peppers will make a nice dinner one night, saving some cash by not eating out.  The snack items will come in handy while we hang out and watch movies or play cards at the condo.  The regular retail price of items purchased:  $30.68.

COUPONS HELPING ME RETIRE EARLY

Thanks to coupons I'm beginning to see the possibility of early retirement once again.  A few years back, when I lost my job to the economic downturn and had to take a much lower paying job, things didn't look too good for an early retirement.  Then, after suffering a couple of heart attacks last year and being faced with ongoing expenses for medical care, I had pretty much given up hope of retiring even a few years early.  Now I'm beginning to think I might get out of the rat race earlier than I expected, thanks in part, to using coupons. 


I've only been maximizing coupon use since June of this year, but in that same time period I've been able to triple my monthly savings and investment amount.  While my income from my job has actually declined with less hours, I've seen a dramatic increase in earnings from SendEarnings.com due to increased use of printed coupons.  They pay 10 cents for every printed coupon redeemed, which may not sound like much, but when you're using a lot of coupons, it really starts to add up. 

My taxable stock portfolio produces 8 dividend payouts per month, 2 of which I'm currently reinvesting for growth and the remainder I'm having paid in to an FDIC savings account which pays interest.  My taxable account is set up for automatic investments each month to increase my stock holdings.  Both of my retirement accounts are also set for automatic investments.  So by the time I actually retire I can expect to draw at least 8 payouts per month, while continuing to reinvest dividends in at least to stock positions each month for increased dividend income. 

With the money I'm saving by couponing, I'm also paying off the remainder of my old debts and will be debt free much sooner than I expected.  As soon as that happens, I'll be able to triple my monthly investment contributions once again which should lead to a much earlier retirement than I had hoped for. 

COUPONS, COUPONS, COUPONS!!!

Attention Couponers:

Sunday August 28, 2011;  There will be 3 coupon inserts in the Sunday paper.  One Proctor & Gamble, one Red Plum and one Smart Source.  Don't miss out on the chance to stock up on some great coupons!  A lot of my coupons expire August 31st, so it will be great to pick up new ones for more great deals on shopping.  This week I'm taking advantage of the buy 10 get $5 off and buy one steak get one free deals at my local Gerbes store.

DOG DAYS OF SUMMER

Well here it is, August 2nd, central Missouri continues to suffocate under sweltering heat, I'll sure be glad when the heat wave is over.  The heat in Washington saw some relief with the deal to raise the debt ceiling, although I wouldn't say it was a victory for either side or for the U.S. economy for that matter.  Be that at is may, most seasoned investors know that adverse market reactions to bad economic news make for great times to pick up bargains on good stocks.  So I'll be concentrating on adding to some of my positions while prices are down and looking for bargains on new additions to my portfolio.  I think I made a good decision to sell some stock last month and pay off high interest debt.  Not only did I free up cash flow, but I got out of the stocks before further declines and put the money to good use.

Collected some great dividend payments at the end of July and the first part of August, so I'm pretty happy about that.  My investment company added an FDIC insured account for parking cash as an option to their traditional money market account.  With the interest on the FDIC account being .5% compared to .01% for the money market account, I've moved my cash to the insured account to pick up some additional interest. 

While the stock market is not doing so well, I've been racking up bargains right and left with couponing.  Picked up $97 worth of merchandise at Walgreens Sunday for just $24 and saved another 67% on my weekly grocery shopping at Gerbes.  The only problem I'm having is finding anything I actually need.  I've built up such a stockpile of groceries, household and personal care items that my shopping lists are getting smaller and smaller.  The good thing about that is I'm able to wait for the very best deals.  Which means that my average savings are going up with each trip to the store.  When I started couponing, I was averaging a 20-25% savings each trip.  Now I routinely save 50-75% on my purchases, allowing me to keep more of my hard earned money. 

SAVED 37.5% ON THIS WEEKS' GROCERY BILL!

My grocery budget for this week is $25 but I plan to purchase $40 in groceries.  I scanned the grocery store ads in Wednesdays' paper to see who was having the best sales on items I needed.  I decided to make all my purchases at the local Gerbes store.  This week the store is running a special:  if you buy 10 of any items from a large selection, you recieve $5 off.  I picked out 10 items I currently need, plus some stock up items, and prepared my shopping list.  I then matched up items on my list with the current coupons I have on hand.  I was able to find another $8 off with coupons.  They also have a special on one of the stock up items I'm buying, so if I buy 5 I'll get a catalina for $2 good towards my next in store purchase.  

So this trip I'll spend $25 out of pocket and I'll get another $15 in groceries free, for a total savings of 37.5%.  This does not include the frequent shopper's discount I'll get at the register when I use my shopper's card, so the total savings will most likely be higher than 37.5%, but even if that weren't the case I'm still getting a great deal.  The $15 I'm saving on this trip represents the entire cost of 2 bottles of Wisk laundry detergent, 2 large bottles of Tropicana Pure Premium Orange Juice and a weeks supply of Yoplait yogurt, making them entirely free! 

MY BIGGEST SAVINGS TO DATE WITH COUPONS!

Sunday I made my weekly Walgreens trip and scored my largest savings to date.  I purchase $178 worth of merchandise for $56 in cash.  By taking advantage of advertised sales, manufacturers coupons and register rewards I was able to save around 70% overall.  I got several items entirely free with coupons and register rewards including 4 Dove Men Care body wash, 2 Sun laundry detergent (75 loads), 2 Dove Men Care deodorant, 2 Reach toothbrushes and 2 Colgate Total toothpaste.  Since I've already accumulated about a years worth of deodorant, body wash and bar soap and about 6 months worth of laundry detergent, I was able to give some of the surplus to family members to save them a little money as well. 

While it didn't have anything to do with coupons, I also got the best deal ever on a 27" LCD TV.  I've wanted one for a long time, but wanted to wait until the prices went down.  Since my televisions both work great, I didn't see any need to replace them right away, so I've held off buying.  As it turned out, the guy who rides to work with me bought a larger LCD and gave me his old one free of charge.  You just can't beat free!  I've decided to put my oldest television in the next yard sale and use the cash to purchase more items for my stockroom. 

MORE GREAT COUPON SAVINGS ON GROCERIES!

I checked out the grocery store ads today and it looks like Schnucks had the best overall sales.  I made a list of sale items I needed, matched up my coupons and headed to the store.  This time I filled the cart, getting $76 worth of groceries for $46!  My overall savings this trip was a little over 40%.  I also got a coupon for $5 off my next purchase for purchasing $15 worth of Kraft products.  I plan to use the $5 in conjunction with more manufacturers coupons to stop by tomorrow and pick up six packs of Oscar Meyer and Ball Park franks, which will make the hot dogs almost free!!! 

I'll finish up my weekly grocery shopping by picking up the rest of the items I need at Moser's and Gerbes.  Moser's has a good 10 for $10 sale going and Gerbes has a great deal on Lays Potato Chips and a buy one get one free deal on steaks.  I plan to get produce, salad dressing, bologna, frozen vegetables and croutons at Mosers for around $10.  At Gerbes I'll buy steaks and potato chips and I'll stock up on hand soap and deodorant (5 for $5 sale) while they're on sale.

I installed shelving in a large closet off my living room for non-perishable items and I'm beginning to get a good stockpile of items.  As for groceries, after tomorrows' shopping, I shouldn't need much for a couple of weeks at least.  My freezer and refrigerator as well as all my cabinet space is pretty filled up.  I've spent so little money in the past month and I can't remember having so many groceries in my house.  I LOVE COUPONS!!!

SAVED 61% ON MY WALGREENS PURCHASES!!!

Got up early this morning, got my coupons clipped from the paper and made my weekly trip to Walgreens.  This trip I purchased several personal care items for my stockpile, soft drinks, pasta and miscellaneous items, which would normally have cost me $27.06.  With coupons, register rewards and advertised pricing I saved a total of $16.57 or a little over 61% off my total bill!

Not quite sure, but I think 61% might be the highest percentage off on any of my shopping trips so far.  Like I've said before, I may never get to 100%+ savings like some of the people on TLC, but if I can consistently save 30-75% off, I'll be extremely satisfied.  By far, the biggest savings for me is how little I eat out anymore.  I went from eating out 8 or more times per week to practically 0.  The food I fix at home is so much better than what I got at the restaurants.  It's healthier, tastier and a whole lot less expensive.

For more printable coupons, I have added links to Coupon Mom and Coupon Cabin on the MBCI link exchange section.  Happy Savings!!! 

HOW I GOT $85 WORTH OF GROCERIES FREE!!!

A coworker, who doesn't have a car, asked me to take them shopping today so they could stock up on food and household supplies.  Since taxis are so expensive, they offered to pay me $50 to take them shopping.  I had made up my shopping list yesterday when the grocery store ads came out, so I agreed to take them and did my own shopping at the same time.

I matched up my coupons with sale items and picked up a few extras that I didn't have coupons for, but were on sale.  Our first stop was Walmart, where I took advantage of all my buy one get one free coupons to add to my stockpile of body wash and deodorant.  Since everything I bought was buy one get one free I got $22 worth of products for $11.  Next up was a stop at Super D's for 4 bottles of Trend laundry detergent, which was on sale 2 for $3 and I added those to my detergent stockpile.  From there we stopped a block over at Schnuck's where I purchased enough tortilla stuffing mix and tortillas for 4 meals.  With coupons and sale pricing I paid $5.12 total.  The final stop was Gerbes Supermarket where I stocked up on frozen vegetables, ketchup, yogurt, pierogies, fried chicken, stir fry vegetables, candy bars and Parkay margarine.  With my frequent shoppers card, manufacturers coupons and doubling I got everything for $20.  So I spent just under $50 and got a total of $85 in groceries and personal care items.  Since I shopped with my coworker and they paid me $50 for taking them shopping, I spent $0 of my own money.  While it might seem like I ran all over town to save money, I drive a Honda Civic, so I doubt I used even a gallon of gas since all the stores were close together and I don't live far from my coworkers house. 

The whole point of all this is, when you begin to look for ways to save money, opportunities present themselves that you would never have thought possible.  The way I look at it, for a couple hours of doing something I like to do, shopping for bargains, I made $85. 

GREAT COUPONS FROM SENDEARNINGS

Just printed off some great money saving coupons from Sendearnings.com's coupon section.  I got coupons for Milky Way candy bars, Ball Park Franks, Yoplait Yogurt and more!  Right now they have a $5 sign up bonus going with Sendearnings, so if you're interested in picking up some great coupons and making a little extra cash, now would be a great time to take advantage of their free sign up! 

I'm especially happy with the coupons I got today, since Milky Way is my favorite candy bar and I love yogurt.  It's nice to get a good deal on them though, so I'm looking forward to my next trip to the store.

GREAT RESOURCE FOR LEARNING EXTREME COUPONING!

In one of my latest searches on couponing, I came across a great website to learn how to maximise your savings with coupons.  It's called The Krazy Coupon Lady and you can visit her website by clicking on the title of this post or by following the link on my link exchange.  I'm personally hooked on shopping at Walgreens and she has a fantastic video showing you how to get the best deals when shopping their sales.  If you're interested in saving money by couponing, this is one site you definitely don't want to miss!