Belt Tightening Tips for the Frugal Mom

If you are a Mom chances are you already have an honorary degree in household finance management. After all it tends to be the Mom who is in charge of some of the important stuff like the groceries, clothing, sundries and housekeeping supplies. Among the many accolades that a certified Mom can claim, complex inventory management is one of them. And balancing all that on a modest family budget? That can be a challenge.

Do you remember your own Mother clipping coupons from the paper? While it may have seemed like a lot of work to save .25c on a box of rice, the reality is that over the course of a year, those small savings can really add up to a significant amount for the average family. Is it worth the effort? Absolutely, especially if you take some tips from people who excel at saving such as extreme coupon types.

The good news is that the modern Mom has a whole new arsenal of tools available compliments of the worldwide web that make searching for deals and even downloading discount coupons easier. At the push of a button or a quick browser search you can easily find great offers on a variety of services, retail merchandise and even entertainment. However there is a strategy to finding, retaining and then shopping in a method that makes the most of your coupons. Think of it as more of a game plan to help you save and even though it takes some work, it can also be fun.

Understanding the Psychology of the Loss Leader

The most important role of a retail store is to drive traffic through its door. Once the retailer has you there, consider the entire store from the layout to the positioning of products and signage as a sort of psychological warfare. The retailer isn’t trying to hurt you but they are aiming straight for your wallet.

Don’t believe us? Check out the article “How Retailers Get You to Spend More” by Fox Business. Interestingly across the board household incomes have dropped while the article discusses how that has lead to an increased arms race at the retail level. So if your last trip to the grocery store or mall netted some unplanned purchases you should feel less guilty about your lack of will power and perhaps a little more resentful to retailers who set the clever spending traps we find so hard to avoid.

The loss leader can be a tremendous opportunity to save money if you know how to work the system. For instance, understand that they are designed to get you into the store. Once there the assumption by the retailer is that you will buy a number of other products that have been carefully placed near the coveted special priced item. You can however beat that system by purchasing the greatly price reduced loss leader and leaving without making any other purchases.

Tip: If you are concerned about your ability to resist temptation to purchase other items, leave your wallet and purse in the car and take only a limited amount of cash to cover your purchase of the loss leader item. Problem solved.

Finding Printable Coupons Online

Time is at a premium for most Moms and while the desire to save money by finding and clipping coupons might be there, making the time to actually do it is another thing entirely. Retailers enjoy creating campaigns and incentives to both provide loyalty rewards to existing customers while inviting new ones to try their products or services. The customer saves and the brand has an opportunity to make a new connection with buyers; it is a winning proposition for both.

To address the obstacle of time, manufacturers have moved a portion of their coupons online. These sites can be browsed from mobile devices or from home to select and place offers in a cart. These offers can then be printed and filed for the next shopping trip. Visit CouponsHQ for a preview of the amazing discounts and offers available which you can conveniently access online.

Tips to Help Utilize Your Coupons

Are coupons the thing you tend to forget (along with fabric recycled shopping bags) every time you go out to get groceries? You aren’t alone and it is about building a habit that sticks and motivating yourself to shave hundreds of dollars off your grocery bill every year using nothing more than printed coupons. Some families even save a thousand dollars or more annually. It is an activity well worth investing your time in.

Here are some tips to make it easier.

1. Browse for online coupons while you multitask. For instance, if you are sitting in a waiting room why not use that time to check out a website and bookmark offers to print when you return home? Make the most of your downtime to find great incentives to help you save at the checkout on everything from groceries to retail merchandise.

2. Invest in a small accordion file that you can keep in your office or in your kitchen and organize tabs by product type. Some ideas include food, sundries, cleaning, entertainment, takeout, pets and any other category you may wish to use. Filing your coupons increases your chance of using them on your next shopping trip. A small portable file will enable you to take your coupons with you.

3. Let your friends and family know that you like coupons and which products and brands you use most. When they are out and about they are likely to pocket one or two for you to assist. Return the favor and swap coupons. It can be a little fun to make it competitive too. Frugal is the new black.

The average family will continue to learn to become more frugal and spendthrift as the global economy inches forward with small signs of slow recovery. While there is not much we can do to speed up economic change, at the microeconomic level families are already doing their part by tightening their budgetary belts, making more of the income they have and finding ways to avoid wasting money. And the good news is that our children will be even better at it than we are in the future, having grown up with an appreciation for frugality and economic resourcefulness learned of course, from their Mom.