Hard to believe we are winding down to the last few days of 2016. Time flies when you are having fun, right?

While it may seem like the blog is just a plethora of toy and kitchen deals these days, I assure you there is much, much more to come next year.

January is when I put the focus of “getting back on track.” Several of us are bombarded with bills from the holidays or just beyond stretched far beyond our income due to being incredibly busy during this time of year. I always spend extra time in January putting focus on saving money and sharing ways to help you live within your means.

I have been working behind the scenes on a “30 Days Money-saver” type series. I’ve got a few tweaks to make and should be ready come January. You won’t want to miss it!

I’ll also be spending time teaching those of you that consider yourself “coupon newbies” on how to work the deals at the stores as it can be incredibly overwhelming when you first begin.

You’ll also see more store deals and coupon match-ups. I’ve been asked by my readers to add more Target posts to the Jewel/Meijer deal focuses so that is in the works.

And for those of you that have been with me for the long-haul you may have noticed something missing this holiday season—Giveaways! Yup those will be back in the beginning of the New Year…including one of your favorites….STARBUCKS!

So if you would like to learn how to coupon, learn how to pay down your debt, possibly win a giveaway and find some hot deals/coupons in the meantime, then make sure you sign-up for my all new Coupon Geek Newsletter so you won’t miss these posts. NOTE: If you signed up for this prior to July 2016, you’ll need to do so again as it’s a new distribution list.

I thank you for hanging in there with me as I put the pieces back together of the website after my previous blogging hiatus. I’m hoping that 2017 will be the best blogging year yet!

I mentioned that I helped teach a Budgeting 101 class a few weeks ago. My part of the class was focused on groceries and entertainment. The class enjoyed the materials and I thought you might, as well, so I am sharing them with you:

Saving Money on Groceries and Entertainment

After figuring their “fixed expenses,” (such as utilities, mortgages, car loans, etc.) most people will notice that two categories take up quite a chunk of the rest of the budget. These things are groceries and entertainment costs. With a little help and planning you can reduce these things so that you can have leftover money each month to pay off bills or begin building up a savings account.

Let’s start with Groceries.

Say you budgeted $100 for groceries each week. Let’s see if we can find some ways to reduce it down to $75 and then slowly cut it back just a little bit more over time. Always remind yourself that for every $5 a week in savings you find, you’ll save $260 at the end of the year. That money can add up to things such as making an extra car payment, reducing credit card debt, paying on a student loan, etc. Just keep reminding yourself that $5 can add up to a lot over time!

The first place to start overall is to never shop without a grocery list. By planning ahead you’ll have a better idea of how much you are spending and if you are overspending before you even shop. Alter your meal plan if you are trying to make too many meals that require too many ingredients that you don’t already have on hand.

Next, begin by taking one month to keep ALL of your grocery receipts. Each time you come home from the store, pull out three highlighters and “judge” how well your shopping trip went in this manner:

~Green: These are things that were on your shopping list and you needed.
~Yellow: These are things that weren’t on your shopping list but you truly did need. Key word = Need, not want!
~Red (or Pink): These are things that weren’t on your shopping list and you probably didn’t need them but it sounded like a good purchase in the store.

By highlighting your receipts each week, you’ll start to see just how much “impulse” buying you might be doing. The best tip I can share to try to eliminate too many impulse buys is to put any item that’s not on your shopping list in one part of your cart. Before you check out, evaluate each item and determine if it’s something you truly need (if not, go put it back!)

At the end of the month, take a look at all your receipts. Think of a stoplight when you view your colors:
~Green means Go/Good
~Yellow means Slow Down! (these can add up to a lot over time)
~Red/Pink means STOP (as they are usually impulse buys you need to learn to avoid.)

Are you seeing a lot of yellow highlighted items? Could you have avoided those by planning better and not paying a higher price? Are you seeing a lot of red highlighted items? Could you have avoided those by being a “better shopper” (not shopping when tired/hungry or with the kids, as they are adding items to your cart?)

Don’t forget that you can also save money by using coupons. Most grocery stores offer their own coupons that you can stack with a manufacturer coupon and pair with a sale to get great savings.

Hopefully combining these items, along with my list from “31 Ways to Save On Your Grocery Budget Without Coupons,” will help you save money each month on groceries.

How to Cut Entertainment Costs

The next part of your budget to try to start cutting back on might be Entertainment Costs. These would be outings such as dining out, movies, sporting events, vacations, hobby expenses (books, crafts, scrapbooking) and yes, even shopping trips!

The first thing to remind yourself is that having fun does not have to cost a lot of money. You can even find a lot of things to do for free! And there are several ways to save money on the things you do decide to take part in.

~Crafts: Always look for store coupons before shopping. Places such as Michaels, Hobby Lobby and JoAnn Fabrics regularly have discount coupons. Check your local thrift stores for items as they can be donated. Garage sales are often great sources for materials, as well.

~Shopping Trips: Always look for store coupons before shopping. Most stores will offer discounts during various times of the year. Keep a list of things you’ll need over the next few months and watch for big discount days to take advantage of extra savings. Check clearance spots/racks as you might find things of value there. Never leave on a shopping trip without a list. Use cash and only bring with you what you can truly afford to spend.

~Dining out: Limit yourself to only so much money a month for this and when it’s gone, it’s gone. This will also teach you to appreciate the outings even more and they will become a special event and not just a drive-thru experience. Check for restaurant coupons before dining out. Sign up for birthday clubs as most places often offer discounts. Go on “lunch dates” rather than “dinner dates” as they are often cheaper. Find legitimate sites to take surveys where they offer to pay you in restaurant gift card options. Find restaurants that offer “Kids Eat Free” nights to save more. If you are online a lot, join Swagbucks and work on earning gift cards that way.

~Movies: Go to a matinee, as the prices are cheaper. Follow sites like Living Social and Groupon as they often offer discounted movie tickets. Take advantage of store deals on gift cards such as “Spend $100 in giftcards, get $20 off your next grocery purchase.” (They sometimes include gift cards for theaters.) Rather than go to the theater, wait and rent it on Redbox or Blockbuster Express.

And here are just some of the options you might have for cheap/free entertainment:

1. Full-Moon Walks
2. Library Trips – You can get books, movies and games for free
3. Picnics – Find a new park you’ve never been to
4. Family Game Night –Find board games at thrift stores and/or garage sales
5. Check online for Free Museum Days
6. Find a dog park and watch the puppies play
7. Bike Rides
8. Free Entertainment at Farmer’s Markets, etc.
9. Free craft days at craft stores, libraries, churches, etc.
10. Letterboxing & Geocaching
11. Watch local sports teams and cheer them on
12. Watch a parade – they often have free items to give away
13. Enjoy a snowball fight or making a snowman in the winter
14. Bake cookies and bring to the less fortunate
15. Swap babysitting with friends so you can go out for the evening
16. Visit family nearby
17. Find a “pick-your-own” farm and pick fruit/veggies
18. Find forest preserves and go hiking
19. Take advantage of “free fishing days” where you don’t need a license to fish
20. Take a trip to the Zoo. Watch for discounted tickets or try to find free zoos.
21. Watch your paper for inexpensive classes, such as cooking, crafts, gardening, sewing, etc.
22. Sign-up for free classes offered at hardware stores, such as Lowe’s or Home Depot
23. Swap “free time” with spouse so you can each have a fun day to yourself without needing a babysitter
24. Set up potluck BBQs with friends, switching houses each time
25. Watch Groupon, Family Finds and Living Social for discounted deals in your area
26. Have a scrapbooking night with friends
27. Watch for town-wide garage sales to save on clothing, toys, kitchenware, etc.
28. Watch for discounted days at your town swimming pool.
29. Check to see if your town offers free movie nights or other park events.
30. Have a “backyard camping” adventure putting up a tent in your own yard
31. Have a “something different” day once a month where you do one thing you’ve never done before
32. Play “flashlight tag” at night and catch fireflies while you are out there.

Over time, you’ll start to find more and more ways to save money on outings and still have fun. Take any extra money you would have spent on those outings and put it towards your bills or into a savings account.

By having a budget, creating meal plans, shopping with a list, taking advantage of inexpensive entertainment and planning ahead for purchases and gifts, you can save a lot of money over time. Use Dave Ramsey’s “snowball” approach to paying off debt and take that money and pay off your smallest bill. When that bill is paid off, work on the next one, etc. It may take time and patience but you’ll eventually get your bills paid off and start to build up a savings account. Budgeting can lead to a more secure future for yourself and your family.

Disclaimer: All material on Coupon Geek is copyrighted and cannot be used without written permission from CouponGeek.net.

Here are a few ways that I worked on saving money for us on 8/1/11. While I won’t be able to post these daily, I will add a round-up when I can this month:

~I took the kids blueberry picking as a fun outing and froze the blueberries to save us money later when they aren’t in-season. We had a great time as a family and it will save us on our grocery budget later.

~On the way home from our outing, the kids wanted to cool off with some ice cream. Back in 2009, I picked up several McDonald’s coupon booklets for $1 each and they came with 12 coupons–3 sets of four freebies. One of them was a free small ice cream cone. These booklets usually come out around holidays such as Halloween or Valentine’s Day or even when school begins. So call over around that time and see if your local McDonald’s has them. They are are a great way to save on “treats” and they make nice additions to birthday presents for parties.

~My husband’s company took the employees and their families on a summer outing, which included a show and a meal out. The food portions at the restaurant we went to were incredible and we both ended up taking half our meals home. I used these for our dinner the next night. Portions are incredibly over-sized at most restaurants. When your meal comes, cut them down to a reasonable size and take the rest home. This is a great way to save on your grocery budget, while still enjoying a meal out, as you can turn it into a lunch or dinner later. If you are going to a dinner and a movie outing, see if you can catch the movie first for two reasons: 1) You’ll have great mealtime conversation about the movie you just saw and 2) You don’t need to worry about leftovers going to waste.

~It’s the beginning of a new month, which means coupons flip. I made sure my paper and ink levels were fully stocked beforehand and I made sure to take time to check out all the major coupon sites, such as Coupons.com, RedPlum, Coupon Network and Smart Source, to see if there were any great savings there. Also, typically the first Sunday closest to a new month tends to have a lot of coupon inserts in the Sunday paper. So never forget to check as you might miss out on the big insert weekend. Coupons = Big Savings!

~I received a Free Redbox Rental Code via text on my cell phone, as they always send one out on the first Monday of the month. While I didn’t get to use it, I wanted to share that with you in case you weren’t signed-up and wanted the freebie.

Just a few ways I saved a little money on 8/1/11. It all adds up!

One of the things in our budget is a little category called, “Entertainment.” If we let it, it could become quite a big chunk of our money, right? But how about if you paired a fun family outing with a savings in your grocery budget later on?

Yesterday, I took our kids out on our annual blueberry picking outing. I’m so happy to see that the pick-your-own type farm that we go to still charges the same price as when we began doing this 3 years ago. It’s hard to find that with anything these days, isn’t it? But they are holding steady at $1.98 lb.

The kids look forward to the tractor ride out to the blueberry bushes, we pick for as long as we can stand the heat that day and then we take a little time to enjoy some fun doing the free activities they have there, which is kept simple with sandboxes, slides, swings, etc. I like that they don’t sell food there but offer a couple picnic tables for a fun picnic lunch together.

The kids always have such fond memories of doing this together and even ask when we are going at the beginning of summer. Since it’s free to get in, we just pay for the blueberries. I’ll keep some for us to enjoy for a few days and then I freeze the rest. A few months from now, blueberry prices are going to soar back up in the grocery stores and that’s when I start dipping into our stash. It’s nice to still have blueberries for waffles/pancakes, smoothies or for yogurt toppings without breaking my grocery budget.

How did our day end? We picked 4.84 lbs in the maybe hour we were there, which turned into: the bags below, several stolen handfuls by the kids while I was freezing them and a big bowl that I saved for us to enjoy this week. I’ll probably pick up a few more blueberries at the farmer’s markets to add to our supply, as well. I’ve found that I’ve had better luck with my blueberries if I “flash-freeze” them on cookie sheets before I put them into the Ziploc bags. This seems to help them from becoming one big clump later on.

As you can see, I took some strawberries that I froze earlier this year (again, just by flash-freezing on a cookie sheet after de-coring them) and threw them in the bag with the blueberries so I have a ready-made “smoothie mix” for later. They end up being a lot cheaper than the store-bought ones–and you can’t beat farm-fresh flavor!

Check out the pick-your-own places near you and see if you can’t find one that still has reasonable prices and turn it into a fun outing along with some savings! You might find that your kids have just as fond memories over this as they would an expensive trip to the theater.