Getting Thrifty and Saving Money

Hello friends!  Today, I interupt my normal crafty posts for a post about saving money.  I am a pretty thrifty mom...I try to shop the sales and not buy more than we need but recently my husband and I watched a few episodes of Extreme Couponing and I found myself thinking that I could do even more to save our family a little money. 

Have any of you seen Extreme Couponing?  Boy...it is extreme and I don't plan to get too crazy but I have found that taking a little extra time to match coupons with sales is worth it (like only paying 50 cents for name brand cereals or crackers and free deodorant) and I have found a few sites that are really helpful.  So, I thought I would share a few thoughts/sites with you all today since I figured a lot of you might be interested in saving some extra money, especially around the holidays.

First, if you shop online at all I recommend Ebates
 They offer cash back on your purchases from a huge list of great stores like Old Navy, Nordstrom, The Body Shop, Nike, The Land of Nod, Target, Osh Kosh, Magazines.com, Toys R Us etc.  And there are often special deals too (for example I recently got an email with a code for 50% off everything at the Body Shop online). Plus when you sign up initially you will receive a $10 gift card (after you make your first $25 purchase).  I personally don't shop a lot online but still thought it was worth signing up.  I figure after a year I should have a good amount of cash back to use for next year's Christmas gifts!  But if you shop online a lot, it will be even more rewarding.

If you like Kellogs products, their Rewards program is a great way to earn points to purchase coupons (like $1.50 off one item...this is how I got cereal for just 50 cents) or you can save up your points for bigger rewards.

Coupons.com is one of the best online printable coupon sites that I have found and did you know that Target has printable coupons too?

There are a lot of expert extreme couponers out there who blog every day about great deals too.  One site that I especially like is Mindfully Frugal Mom because she focuses a lot on all natural/organic products.

And finally if you have any sports fans in your family, I was very pleased with my recent purchase from Finish Line  They have some great sweatshirts priced at 2 for $35 plus free shipping and you can get a little cash back too if you go through Ebates 

I hope this is helpful to some of you!  Please know that I did not receive any $ or requests to mention these sites, I just have found them beneficial to me so I thought I would share with you all.  I'd love to hear about any great sites or ways that you save money so please let me know in the comments section!