Beating Broke

Personal Finance from the Broke Perspective

How to Coupon for Healthy Foods

By Leave a Comment

Years ago, during the coupon craze, I bought my share of convenience foods that I could get for just pennies.  Thanks to couponing and buying the deals, I was able to save a great deal of money on groceries.  But over the years, I found that the money I saved wasn’t really saved after all.  Instead, the money just went somewhere else—to the doctor.

I had high cholesterol, high triglycerides, and after a while, serious stomach ailments that required me to go see a specialist.

I eventually switched to a Paleo diet, focusing primarily on eating fresh fruits, veggies, and some meat.  Since the change, my cholesterol is nearly 75 points lower, I no longer have high triglycerides, and my stomach is much improved.

I still try to keep the grocery budget trim, but it’s much harder to do so without using coupons.

Coupons for Healthy Foods?

Coupon for Healthy Foods
Couponing for Health

For years, I just assumed that there are no coupons for healthy foods, especially foods that aren’t processed, but that’s just not true.  If you know where to look, you CAN find coupons for healthy foods.

Where to Find Coupons for Healthy Foods

The best place to start is the manufacturer’s website.  Here are a few of my favorites:

Organic Valley—sign up for the mailing list, and you’ll receive coupons straight to your e-mail box.

Earth’s Best Organic—you’ll find coupons for baby items here.

Blue Diamond Almonds—sign up for their newsletter, and you’ll regularly receive offers

Whole Foods Coupons—you’ll find coupons for a wide array of products sold at Whole Foods

Other Ways to Get Coupons

There are other ways that I like to get coupons for healthy foods:

Facebook

Some companies will occasionally offer a coupon when you like their Facebook page.  This is my favorite time to like the page.  Also, companies sometimes post coupons on their Facebook page as their status update.

Write to the company

I admit, this sounds old fashioned, but I’ve had great success with writing to the companies individually.  I will find the e-mail address of the company on the product, and then I’ll send them an e-mail.  I usually let them know why I like their product and thank them for making it.  My kids have food intolerances, so if the company makes a product my kids can actually eat, I thank them for that.

I don’t specifically ask for coupons, but more than 50% of the time, they send me coupons.  Some companies are very generous and send several high value coupons.  If you create a stock letter for this type of e-mail, you can send out several e-mails, each to different companies, in a relatively short period of time.

Of course, just as when you’re using coupons for processed foods, the best way to stretch your savings is to stack the coupon with the item when it’s already on sale.

While getting coupons for healthy foods is a bit more difficult than couponing for processed foods, you still can use coupons to lower your grocery bill.

What are your favorite strategies for lowering your grocery bill when shopping primarily for healthy foods?

Earn Rewards with Swagbucks

By 3 Comments

It’s been a while since I last wrote about Swagbucks.  A little over a year to be exact.  And almost 3 years before that.  I’ve been using Swagbucks for a long time, I guess.  What is Swagbucks?

Swagbucks is a rewards program.  You earn rewards called Swagbucks for doing a variety of activities.  What sort of activities?  Glad you asked.

Swagbucks Search

Earn SwagbucksThis is probably the easiest way to earn Swagbucks.  You can install the Swagbucks add on for your browser and set the Swagbucks search as your default search so that when you search in the location bar it directs you through their search engine.  When you use their search, you can randomly win Swagbucks.  It’s not every search, but depending on your search volume, you might win about once a day.  Your winnings will vary, but they can range from lower amounts like 5 Swagbucks all the way up to 20-50.  The search feature is powered by Yahoo search.

Swagbucks Polls and Surveys

This is probably the second easiest way to earn Swagbucks through the program.  You log into the site and take a poll.  The payout is usually something like 2 Swagbucks for each poll you take and the polls are usually pretty short.  You can also take surveys which tend to be a little longer, but the payout, which varies, is usually a bit better as well.

Swagbucks Coupons

Swagbucks has a relationship with Coupons.com that allows for you to sign into their site and print off coupons.  Because of that relationship, there’s always a pretty good selection of coupons on stuff you’ll use all the time.  For each coupon that you redeem, you earn 10 points.

Swagbucks Shopping

Like most rewards programs, Swagbucks has agreements with all kinds of online retailers where you can click through a link on the Swagbucks site and then earn points based on the money you spend at the retailer.  For example, their homepage is showing 4 Swagbucks for every dollar spend at Walmart.com right now.

Swagbucks Daily Crave

This is a newer way (to me at least) to earn Swagbucks.  There’s a link on the sidebar of the Swagbucks site that leads you to a new page that shows you some videos.  You earn a Swagbuck for watching a few of them.  Pretty easy to use and easy to earn a few Swagbucks each day.

Swagbucks Play

With the play feature, you can play online games for Swagbucks.  The amount you can win varies depending on the game, but certainly a great way to have a little fun and earn some Swagbucks easily.

It’s pretty easy to earn Swagbucks and work towards rewards.  Do a few of these tasks each day and the Swagbucks will add up pretty quickly.  And trading the Swagbucks in for your rewards is pretty easily too.

There’s two ways to redeem your Swagbucks.

Rewards

This is my favorite way to redeem Swagbucks.  For me, the thing I redeem them for the most is the $5 Amazon gift card.  It’s only 500 Swagbucks.  There’s a whole bunch of different places that you can get gift cards from, and you’re sure to find at least one or two that you’ll want to have.

Swagstakes

While it’s never a sure thing, Swagstakes can be a fun way to redeem your Swagbucks.  Obviously, Swagstakes is a play on Sweepstakes.  You redeem your Swagbucks for entries into a Swagstakes with the hope that you’ll win something worth way more than your Swagbucks are worth.  The entry “cost” varies by the Swagstakes, but most are less than 20 Swagbucks per entry.  I don’t use this option very often as I tend to prefer the sure thing of a gift card, but I have entered a few of them.  Never won yet though. 🙁

Swagbucks is a pretty cool rewards site that I’ve been using for years and I’ve never had a bad experience with them.  Over the years, I’ve redeemed my Swagbucks for a whole bunch of Amazon cards.  Depending on how much I use the site, I’ve sometimes earned a new card every month.  On average, it’s more like every 3-6 months though.  Still, for a few minutes a day, it’s an easy way to save a bit of money on my Amazon purchases.

 

 

Have We Lost the Meaning of Frugality?

By 23 Comments

My grandparents were married during the Great Depression.  Their first few years together were spent in severe economic hardship, and the financial lessons they learned during that lean time never left them.

They always had one car.

My grandma wore the same dresses throughout my entire lifetime.  I think when she died, the dresses she still had were 25 to 30 years old.

They rarely went out to eat, opting instead to cook and eat simple meals at home.

My grandparents did without much of the time, and they were very frugal with their money.

They sold their house when they retired and lived in a 5th wheel trailer parked on the side of our lot, less than 20 steps from our house.  All of their possessions fit in that space, and their home was not cluttered.

Has the Meaning of Frugality Changed?

Lost FrugalityNow, the definition of frugal seems to be different.  People try hard to avoid doing without.

Now, the motto seems to be, “Why do without?”  Live like the Jones’ without spending money like the Jones’.

Whereas my grandparents carefully bought the groceries they needed, today’s frugal zealots clip coupons and create grocery storage spaces out of their garages.  They have rows and rows of processed food that they got for pennies on the dollar thanks to couponing.

Many mom bloggers are making their fortune sharing all the hottest deals available.  Kids’ winter jackets for $8!  Hurry, buy women’s turtlenecks for $4 today only!  Get your child the Barbie princess house for the low price of $48!

Hurry!  Hurry!  Buy the bargain.

Do You Really Need That Bargain?

So many consumers are on the hunt for a good deal that they never stop to ask themselves if they really need the item that is on sale.

What if your child doesn’t need the Barbie princess house?  What if your child has so many toys, she whines about picking them up and doesn’t take care of the ones she has?  Is that Barbie princess house still a good deal?

What if you never even thought about buying that item until you saw it on sale and didn’t want to miss out on the savings?

We’re Overwhelmed with Stuff

Look back at pictures of people’s homes from 60 or 70 years ago.  Their homes were not cluttered.  They were much more like the minimalists’ homes of today.

Now, we take advantage of so many “deals” that our homes are overflowing.  Here in Arizona where there are no basements, and therefore no built in storage, most people can’t park in their garages because they’re stuffed with possessions.

We don’t need all of this stuff.

Snagging a great deal on something we don’t need isn’t a deal.

It’s a waste of money.

Keep More Money in Your Pocket This Holiday Season

We’re entering into the busiest shopping season of the year.  There will be good deals, plenty of them.  You’ll likely be tempted to buy as many gifts for yourself as you will for others.  After all, the prices are so good.

But ask yourself one simple question–Do I need it?  If you don’t, it’s not a deal.

Do you think the definition of frugality has changed?  Do you or someone you know struggle with buying more than you need because something is on sale?