Have you seen the Wal-Mart ads on television that say how much you can save if you buy something at Wal-Mart versus going out to get it like saving so much by making breakfast at home versus going out to buy it? There is truth to that, but you have to remember that many of us don’t end up needing to go out for breakfast and in most multi-child households, cereal is the norm.

We all have to decipher between needs and wants in order to save money at the grocery store. Deciding to buy a box of cereal or going out every morning to buy breakfast is easy to decipher between.

Then there are times when we have to try really hard to decipher between the two. The easiest way to separate the two is to make a list to take to the store. This way you can see what you need and you can sit back and look at the list and get rid of anything that you might not need or that you can tell you simply want.

Sometimes we turn wants into needs at the grocery store and we can’t fall into that budget busting habit. If you go without a grocery list and say you want cookies, then you’ll need milk to go with them (This isn’t the best example, but you can understand what I mean). When you end up turning wants into needs, you will always leave the store paying more than you ever intended.

The only person who can tell you what is a need and what is a want is ultimately up to you. You can’t expect anyone else to tell you what you need, as we all have different needs with the exception of basics like water, food and shelter.

None of this means that you have to give up the things you want to save money, just cut back.

If you’ve ever read on the internet about my next tip, then you know that there are some out there who take it to the extreme. I want to make my tips for the everyday person.

So here’s tip number two:

Coupon clipping isn’t scary and it can be your best friend.

Alright, so this topic is kind of obvious, but I think that everyone should be reminded about this money saving tool whenever they can. I know that sometimes I can get waist deep in coupon clipping tips on the internet and just want to not use coupons at all, but then I wouldn’t be saving any money at any stores!

Using coupons does not have to be limited to the grocery store. When times get tough, a lot of restaurants and entertainment facilities start putting out and accepting coupons.

My very favorite place to get coupons is not the internet. I actually love the Sunday edition of the newspaper. Now, don’t get me wrong, before I shell out the $2 or so for the paper, I always check to see if there are coupons and if the coupons are worth the price of the paper. I typically come out not only recovering the cost of the paper, but actually saving up to $50 in groceries and other items.
My second favorite place to find coupons is online. Websites like CouponMom.com, Coupons.com, and CoolSavings.com. There are plenty of coupons available on these sites and they are updated frequently.

Here’s the thing about coupon clipping that you have to understand:

You won’t save ANY money if you start clipping and using coupons on items you don’t want or don’t need.

With that being said, just remember to always make sure that you’re clipping coupons for items you actually already use or could be substituted for an item you already use.

So now you have a stack of coupons, it looks pretty intimidating doesn’t it? Well, it doesn’t have to be. The best way to make sure those coupons get used instead of just becoming a stack of expired coupons is to organize them into the layout of the store you plan on using them. For example, I “could” use my coupons at Wal-mart, but there my favorite grocery store offers “double” coupons on some days. So, when I organize my coupons I lay them out according to where that item would be in the store and the path I would take to get to them.

I also have a small “coupon-organizer” that I can separate the coupons by aisle or type.

Coupon clipping may seem like a very small thing, but if you manage your time in the grocery store, organize your coupons, and (again) only clip the coupons for items that you will use, then coupon clipping can be one of the biggest parts of the frugal life. And you don’t have to have a doctorate to do it either…

I haven’t used a check at a grocery store in years. I have always used a credit or debit card when I’m out because it’s 1) faster and 2) more convenient. Chris and I have a collection of checks built up just so we can send off our cable, electricity, and gas bill every month but other than that, we never use checks.

There are more frustrating things that go on at the grocery store, but when you’re stuck behind someone who is writing a check it can also be quite irritating, especially if you only have a few items and you have your card ready. Of course, incidents like that have really become less frequent than a few years ago, but every now and then you will get the person who wants to write a check.

Really, when you think about it, writing a check at stores like Wal-Mart have become a moot point. After all, when you write a check, even if you fill the whole thing out and waste everyone’s time, the store runs the check like a debit card. It is electronic now and this way the stores are protecting themselves somewhat from check fraud.

I get annoyed when I see someone pull out a check book at the very end of their grocery store trip. Once everything is rung up and it’s time to pay is NOT the time to look for your checkbook in your gigantic purse; if you’re going to go ahead and pay with a check, perhaps you should have it ready before the entire order is finished. It’s not a surprise that you have to pay at the end. /end rant

I wish stores would ban checks for a number of reasons. I know that there are a few arguments in favor of check writing, like it is easier to keep up with your bank balance when you write a check. However, even that argument is somewhat flawed because you may record a deposit in your check book, but now banks are depositing checks whenever they want to and not necessarily in the order that you actually put them in the bank.

Whenever I go to the store to pick up a few things to clean the house, I have noticed that there are more and more new kinds of cleaners and dusters; just basically a lot of things that I have never needed in the past to get my house clean.

I think that it’s important to show everyone that they don’t need Swiffers or Shamwows to clean their homes.
So here are a few tips to save you some money on the cleaning aisle and in your house when it comes time to clean up:

1) Paper towels can be a waste. While I think it is important to ALWAYS use a clean cloth to clean up in the kitchen, it isn’t necessary to have three rolls of paper towels to clean. Reusable towels are a good alternative to paper towels. You can clean up with them and throw them in the wash with your towels. This will also help reduce some waste that comes from your house.

2) Lysol or any other concentrated antibacterial cleaner is your best friend when it comes time to clean the kitchen. Before I discovered this tip, I can’t tell you how many bottles of pre-bottled Lysol or Formula 409 I went through cleaning up around the house (especially in the kitchen). One day while I was getting ready to mop the floor, I discovered that you can also use Lysol to clean counters. So, I put the recommended amount in a spray bottle and fill the rest of the bottle up with water. One bottle of concentrated cleaner can last our house 3 months (and that’s also using it to clean the floors).

3) Swiffer dusters are nice, but a wet cloth can do the same job. If you have a lot of knick knacks in your house and have to walk around and dust them every single week, then maybe a Swiffer duster will save you some time, but if you don’t, a wet cloth could be the cheap alternative that you are looking for.

4) Plastic bags from the grocery stores can be a good alternative to buying trash bags. Okay, unless you have completely started using reusable shopping bags, then I’m sure somewhere around your house you have some of those plastic shopping bags. I keep all of mine and use them as trash bags. This keeps us from having to buy trash bags. While you’re probably thinking that they are just too small to be used as trash bags in the kitchen trash, think about it this way: How often have you walked past your kitchen trash that you probably should have taken out yesterday? When you use smaller bags, you have to take the trash out more often and therefore, there’s less stink to deal with.

Now these tips might not be fore you or you can pick and choose which ones sound like something that you may give a try.

If you have gone to the grocery store recently and wanted to pick up a few Cokes you may have noticed the prices of Coca Cola products are outrageous. This is one of my reasons why I stopped drinking soda, but this is also why Coca Cola has posted a profit growth of 15% for the third quarter.

The Atlanta based company reported a net income of $247 million and earnings equaling out to 50 centers per share. This is up from the third quarter 2008, when the company posted a net income of $214 million and an earnings of 44 cents per share.

Of course the company is going to be posting higher profits this year, the cost of a 12 pack of any Coke product has jumped from $3 to $4.50 at my local Wal-Mart. This week you can find them on sale at Walgreens for 4 12 packs for $10, that is the cheapest I have seen Coke products for in months. Even in the 24 pack cases that are sold at Wal-Mart, they have been around $7 for a while.

This was one of my reasons why I should definitely stop drinking sodas; it was getting to be a very expensive habit and since it is the only thing that I had to have to avoid negative side effects (those awful caffeine withdrawal headaches that would happen after I decided to not have a Diet Coke before noon), I decided it would have to stop.

A spendthrift is someone who spends money; a lot of money and it can be considered wasteful the way he or she spends it.

Have you watched the movie Confessions of a Shopaholic? I watched it a couple of weeks ago, and while my shopping habits haven’t really gotten THAT out of control I have made a couple of splurges in the past that I know haven’t been the best shopping decisions.

It can be difficult to go from being someone who buys what they need and picks up a few extra things as well to someone who buys the bare minimum of what they need from the grocery store, often foregoing their favorite brands for the cheaper, generics, brands that are on sale, or the brands that have the coupons out that week.

The best, and easiest way, in my opinion, to go from someone who spends money to someone who saves money is to watch the flow of cash out of your bank account, closely. If you can watch that balance drop, then you are going to be far more likely to put down the debit card and head for the door.

Of course, there are times when shopping is more of a habit than a hobby and sometimes you may actually need to talk to someone about your “problem.” In the movie I was talking about earlier, there is a scene toward the beginning when the main character, who has maxed out her credit cards and can’t pay the bills, sees a really expensive green scarf on a mannequin and the mannequin starts talking to her (in her mind). The mannequin tells her that she needs the scarf and somehow she pools the money together to get it.

Thiis is just one example, even though it is a fiction example, of how shopping can actually become an addiction.

My biggest tip that helps me though, and I know I’ve said it a million times, is to MAKE A LIST. If I have a list, I won’t spend as much. If I have a list, there is a lesser chance that I will bring home things that are not on the list. If I make a list and arm myself with coupons, my savings are even greater (however, you have to remember not to buy something just because you have a coupon, make sure that you need it).

I suppose most people know this, but I really wanted to share my experiences with our readers today. Here’s the number one way I believe Chris and I could save money in our house and you guys could probably save some too if you have this problem:

Don’t go to the store for one item.

The reason: You will NEVER leave with just one item.

With the exeption of just a couple of times, most of the time when we go to the grocery store for JUST a gallon of milk or JUST a loaf of bread or something similar, we always find ourselves purchasing a lot more than we had planned on buying. Most of the time, we always go without a list when it’s a “quick trip” for just a couple of things and I think that’s where we get in trouble.

Last night we went to Wal-Mart to waste some time while we were waiting for our house to finish being “bug bombed.” Well, we actually needed milk and sour cream (I really wanted to make tacos for dinner the next night). Because we were wasting time we shopped around the store and also remembered that we didn’t have any shredded cheese or Crystal Lite. An hour later and now we’ve bought that plus Halloween candy and vanilla extract. That wasn’t one of the bad times either.

I suppose if we could just hold off until we needed to actually go grocery shopping it wouldn’t be so bad. However, when you’re completely out of milk there can be an issue. I can’t cook a lot of things without milk and every morning for breakfast Chris and I usually make a bowl of cereal…which isn’t so great without milk.

I find another way to possibly avoid the potential problems that can arise when you go shopping for one item is to stick to your guns. Write exactly what you need down on a list and get only that. Keep yourself from getting distracted by end caps and other promotional eye catching products.

Or…just don’t let me do the grocery shopping, haha.

When Chris and I moved out on our own one of the first things that we got (I can’t remember if we bought it or if someone bought it for us) was a deep freezer and it is one of the best things that we currently own because it saves us so much money on food.

We save money with the deep freezer when something goes on sale. For example a few weeks ago, boneless skinless chicken breast tenders went on sale at a local grocery store. I was able to pick up a few bags for less than $3 (not bad for something I pay $6-$7 regularly). Without a deep freezer I would not have had anywhere for the chicken to go and now I have a freezer full of chicken that will last us for a while.

I also use the freezer for bread…yes, bread. I was shopping through the aisles at Wal-Mart and noticed something; bread costs almost $2.50 a loaf here. That is outrageous in my honest opinion. When we’re running low on bread I hit up the local Wonder / Hostess store. I can get bread for less than $1 a loaf there (sure it is close to the expiration date, but as long as it’s not moldy it’s ok in my opinion, haha). I’ll buy several loaves and freeze them; it’s something that my parents did and I suppose I’ve continued the tradition.

So what keeps in the freezer? Well, of course meats will. Anything that you find in the freezer section of your grocery store will.I have been told that milk will, but I have never tried it. I do freeze shredded cheese and haven’t had any issues.

I’ve included a YouTube video on expiration dates. Have a look!

It is a huge deal when banks charge everyone and their mother huge overdraft fees. Bank of America was one of the worst. The bank would hold your deposits or allow small transactions to go through prior to the larger deposit being made. Of course, this led to many overdraft fees being incurred by the customer. For every transaction that the customer made, they were tinged $35.

Bank of America just announced though that on October 19th, it will begin laying off the serious overdraft fees and only begin tinging the account once it reaches a $10 overdraft in one day. This means accumulated and not that you can continue to overdraft as long as it doesn’t go above $10 (at least this is the way I understood it). The account holder also has to have the account back in the black in five days time.

That’s not the most exciting news regarding the overdraft fees in my opinion, though. I like the fact that customers will soon be able to opt out of the program just by visiting a Bank of America branch or calling a yet to be determined phone number. Of course, the program I’m referring to is the one that starts the overdraft problem in the first place. I would much rather be declined at the grocery store than begin incurring overdraft fees at the bank. My embarrassment is less than the  $35 that the bank would charge me for the “overdraft protection”.

Bank of America will also be limiting the number of overdraft fees that can be incurred in a day to four. This is down from 10. The rule that it could charge 10 overdraft fees in one single day was put into place earlier this year. It is nice to see that rule gone and a new, better one in its place.

I don’t know if this will position BofA in a more positive light, but anything helps when it comes to the business practices this company has been doing. I know I talk a lot about the company, but I also hold a credit card from them and have yet to see my interest rates spike or my credit limit reduced. I haven’t had one bad experience with the company (knock on wood, right?).

I haven’t used a check at a grocery store in years. I have always used a credit or debit card when I’m out because it’s 1) faster and 2) more convenient. Chris and I have a collection of checks built up just so we can send off our cable, electricity, and gas bill every month but other than that, we never use checks.

There are more frustrating things that go on at the grocery store, but when you’re stuck behind someone who is writing a check it can also be quite irritating, especially if you only have a few items and you have your card ready. Of course, incidents like that have really become less frequent than a few years ago, but every now and then you will get the person who wants to write a check.

Really, when you think about it, writing a check at stores like Wal-Mart have become a moot point. After all, when you write a check, even if you fill the whole thing out and waste everyone’s time, the store runs the check like a debit card. It is electronic now and this way the stores are protecting themselves somewhat from check fraud.

I get annoyed when I see someone pull out a check book at the very end of their grocery store trip. Once everything is rung up and it’s time to pay is NOT the time to look for your checkbook in your gigantic purse; if you’re going to go ahead and pay with a check, perhaps you should have it ready before the entire order is finished. It’s not a surprise that you have to pay at the end. /end rant

I wish stores would ban checks for a number of reasons. I know that there are a few arguments in favor of check writing, like it is easier to keep up with your bank balance when you write a check. However, even that argument is somewhat flawed because you may record a deposit in your check book, but now banks are depositing checks whenever they want to and not necessarily in the order that you actually put them in the bank.

Alright, so speaking from a quite personal experience, I was wondering when all you thought that it would be okay to file an insurance claim. The other day, Chris and I were at the grocery store when we realized that the car next to ours had hit the side hard enough to leave a dent in the side of the car. I, of course, was quite angry (because this is my car ). We filed a police report and I called State Farm about the dent and they said that if I took it to a repair shop it would be $200 due to uninsured motorists and they would cover the rest.

That’s all fine, but I know who damaged my car and I would really like for them to pay the deductible, not me! When it comes to parking lot accidents it seems like it is so easy to get away with damaging someone else’s car. In this case, my car was dented and the other car (no matter if I got their license plate number or not) got away with it without having to pay the uninsured motorist’s deductible.

I just hate that some thug-wannabes were able to scam my insurance company like that. I have told my insurance company about the car that I am SURE did this and they said that because there wasn’t enough “proof” they couldn’t do anything about it. That is complete and utter BS!!

I will promise something to the people who dented my car; If I EVER see your car again, I will do something to your car to where you will KNOW I spotted it and noticed it hanging out in a parking lot where I already was. Revenge is a … well you know.

What would you give up to have a highly customized credit card?

Question:

Perhaps the real question is what kind of concessions would you be willing to make on things like APR and benefits to have a card that is uniquely you?

Answer:

I would rather have an ugly card than to have to worry about my 30% APR or not having any kind of benefits from the card. I have seen where people have to pay higher APR’s on the cards that have a cute picture of their cat or dog or kid just because the credit card company went through the “trouble” of putting a customized picture on the card. This isn’t always the case, but, like I said, I would rather have an ugly card.

So the truth is, I would not make any concessions when it comes to my credit cards and how they look. I never see my credit cards anyway because they’re always stuck in my wallet. If I’m at the gas station, I use the blue one. If I’m at the grocery store, I’ll use the red one. This is how I know my cards.

Where I live, health food stores are hard to come by, but I do know a little about their goods. So, when I came across this article called “10 Things Health Food Stores Won’t Tell You” on SmartMoney, I just had to talk a little about it.

1. Organic doesn’t mean healthy all the time. A survey recently found that consumers believe that organic foods have more nutrients in them than other non-organic foods do. This is very debatable. While organic doesn’t mean more nutritious it does mean it is a FDA monitored word that means that no synthetic or harmful (like pesticides) substances were used in growing produce and that no antibiotics or growth hormones were used in raising livestock.

2. Label standards are guaranteed to be the same today as they were yesterday. Once there were regulations on what was to be considered and labeled organic, lobbyists started hitting up senators for weakening of the regulations. It has worked on a few occasions, such as when two Alaskan senators sponsored an amendment to a wartime bill that would open the door for seafood caught in the wild to be labeled organic.

3. Our store sells overpriced prepacked goodness. Heath food doesn’t have to eat up your entire grocery budget for the month in a week. You can do things like shop at farmer’s markets or join a co-op to get healthy organic (and locally grown) produce. I find it absolutely ridiculous to pay 3 times more at the grocery store for organic beef versus regular beef.

4. There is no regulation on dietary supplements. The dosing instructions as well as the daily amounts on the bottles of dietary supplements (sometimes called vitamins if the store can get away with it) is not regulated by the FDA. Claims that the companies make on the bottles don’t have to be entirely accurate and things can end up being banned in the future. What you may be taking right now as a supplement, may, in the future, be a banned toxin (see: ephedrine).

5. Just because it’s from a health food store doesn’t mean you won’t gain weight. Recently, in my small town, a Smoothie King store has popped up in a strip mall. Everyday in class, I would see a quarter to a third of my classmates with the cups ranging from the “small” 20 oz size to the behemoth that they call a “large.” Smoothie King drinks are good, but they are FULL of sugar, and where there’s sugar, there’s calories. Many of the smoothies offered are meant to be meal replacements, but many times I would see people having a Subways sandwich with the smoothies. Now, I don’t know what they had in the cups, but I’m sure they weren’t looking at the nutrition facts when they were ordering (I always have to because too much sugar makes me really sick).

If you want to read the rest of the list check out the source.

It happens sometimes; we lose our jobs or end up not having enough money by some other means. Sometimes this ends up on top of the already daunting task of entertaining for a group of people. Whether it be a small group of friends, or a party, here are a few tips to help entertain a group of people when you’re on a budget:

Decorations and Decor – Candles are a good way to make a room feel luxurious and it does create a certain kind of softness around the room. You can get candelabras at Target or other home stores like Bed, Bath and Beyond for a centerpiece. Smaller candles can then be placed around the base of the centerpiece and along the table. Candles can be very inexpensive if you start collecting them while they’re on sale.

The mood of the room can also be manipulated through music, and that can easily be done through a mix on an iPod. You don’t need one of those iPod players either; simply get a 3.5mm male to male stereo jack and plug it in to your existing sound system.

One tip is to mix and match dinner plates and glassware, but this is up to you. You’re the only one who knows about the kind of guests you will be entertaining and if they will appreciate mis-matched dinnerware.

Drinks - It may seem tacky to some, but having guests bring their own booze can be a very simple way to save a lot of money. Most guest end up bringing a bottle of wine as a house gift for a party, so instead of storing the wine, use it for the party. There are many different flavors of vodka now available also, you can try to mix up martinis or other fruity drinks using flavored vodka. Since a bottle of vodka will also last much longer than a bottle of wine, this could be another option depending on your guests.

Dessert – You can make your own chocolate covered strawberries. They seem very expensive when you go to a candy store and they cost $3-$4 each, but they are actually very inexpensive and easy to make. Simply go to the grocery store and go to the baking section, there should be all kinds of “melting” chocolate available. Some of it you can even put in the microwave. Then, buy some fresh strawberries, go home, and cover strawberries until you’re out of strawberries or chocolate.

Things you can do without – You can eliminate or cut back on fresh flowers because they are going to be very expensive and won’t last. This comes back to the decor, but you can decorate with things you already own. The source suggests a house plant, but that’s entirely up to you.

You can use these tips as guidelines when trying so save some money on a party. Good luck!

I’m going to tell a story about someone I know who tried desperately to save a little bit of money when he tried to start growing fruit, grapes to be exact.

He knew little about growing fruit or anything really, he just knew he wanted to grow grapes and that his grandfather grew grapes, raspberries, and blueberries when he was young (so how hard could it be, he thought). The idea to grow grapes came from the fact he was tired of paying so much per pound for grapes when he went to the grocery store.

So after making the decision to grow grapes, he went to Sam’s Club and purchased a set of 4 seedless grape vines, they were all different kinds. The set of grapes cost $15, not bad if they proved to be fruitful.

He took them home and planted them in large buckets with holes drilled in the bottom, these buckets he had laying around his house so they were free. However, the soil was not free. He ended up buying Miracle Gro garden soil for fruit (or something similar). Each bag was close to $10, and if I remember correctly he bought 2.

On a daily basis, he watered the grape vines and every week or so would put in some extra Miracle Gro hoping that they would “liven up” a bit. Two of the vines died. He then had to put up a small fence of chicken wire to keep his dogs from getting to the vines (grapes are toxic to dogs). As the two grew, he also had to make sure they were growing in the right direction and not all over the place, at this time pruning was required.

Winter was coming and the buckets were too small for the two vines that survived. He managed to wrap the vines up in something a bit bigger, smaller than plastic bins but bigger than the buckets. I would try to describe the set up but I would fail miserably. At this time you’re probably asking yourself, “Why didn’t he just plant them in the ground?” Well, I’ll answer that the best way I know how: The ground is simply too harsh to plant the grapes and I think he wants to take the vines with him when he moves.

Spring rolled around this year and the vines began to bloom. The one “on the right” began to produce grapes! The one “on the left” produced vines…

On a daily basis he went outside and watered the grape vines. It was like clockwork, he would wake up and water the grapes one gallon of water each. Then he realized that the grapes on the one “on the right” weren’t getting any bigger, so it was time to upgrade the pot…once again. This time he purchased 18 gallon plastic bins and drilled holes in the bottom. ($8 each) Then, more soil was needed…

So here we are today…there still aren’t any grapes. The ones that are on the vine “on the right” are sad and really not getting much bigger and are starting to turn from green to…dead.

He is persistent that he just wants to grow something and that he likes growing them, but I know the entire project started as a way for him to save a little money and enjoy some fruit from home.

Grocery auctions.

At a grocery auction you are basically getting the same items as you can from a discount grocery store (beaten up packages and cans and out of date items).

This was what was for auction last June 6th at Schleeter’s Auction in St. Mary’s, Ohio:

Meats: Steaks, Ham, Roast, Chicken, Luncheon Meats, Hot Dogs & Sausage

Fruits & Veg. Cheese, Snacks, Crackers

Juice & Pop, Soaps & Cleaning items and lots more

All items sold in large & small quantities.

Bidding takes place to see how close to MSRP the customers at the auction are willing to pay. For example, a bag of cheese curls which normally retails for $1.99 was bid up to $1.50, so anyone who wanted it at that price could buy it and so on…

So, I want to ask the question…Would you shop at a grocery auction?

So, what we want to know is:

“If you are, what are you doing to cut back”

For example:
I am cutting coupons, a lot of coupons and buying items that are on sale. I only buy beef from the grocery store when it goes on “clearance” (meaning, a day or so before it’s “sell by date”). I also buy a lot of something when it goes on sale (if it can be frozen). One of my favorite stores is the Wonder bread store where I can get 4 loaves of bread for $1.

I do not know how many times this has to be reiterated, but peanut butter in jars is safe this time. It is only items that are made in large amounts like grocery store cookies. You can still make your own peanut butter cookies at home. You can even enjoy a piece of white bread covered with honey peanut butter, but it is not such a safe idea to have Keebler’s soft batch peanut butter cookies. That’s the difference.

So go enjoy your peanut butter and jelly sandwich (as long as you make it yourself).

From the AP:

Officials are focusing on peanut paste, as well as peanut butter, produced at a Blakely, Ga., facility owned by Peanut Corp. of America. Its peanut butter is not sold directly to consumers but distributed to institutions and food companies. But the peanut paste, made from roasted peanuts, is an ingredient in cookies, cakes and other products that people buy in the supermarket.

Peanut butter is getting a bad reputation because of whatever is going on in these factories that are processing the peanuts. As long as there isn’t a problem with peanut butter sold in jars at the grocery store, I guess I’ll have to be baking my own peanut butter cookies.
Source

The only good news is that the peanut butter in question was only sold to food service companies and not by grocery stores.
From the AP:

The salmonella bacteria that has sickened more than 400 people in 43 states has been conclusively linked to peanut butter, state health officials said. Health and agriculture officials said last week that they had found salmonella bacteria in a five-pound package of King Nut peanut butter at a nursing facility in Minnesota. The peanut butter was distributed to establishments like hospitals, schools, universities and restaurants and not for retail sale to consumers, King Nut said.

Source

Sure, the stores will close early tomorrow with bare shelves, but today you can fight with people for that last bath gift set.

It was a strange scene yesterday for me, while I was with a friend at Sephora, there were several men in the store looking…very, very lost. Sales associates in the store were trying as hard as they could to help them, but the guys were just still clueless. This is (even against my better judgment) a gift card is best. I can just imagine the present Chris would bring me home from Sephora (and what I could imagine would be funny).

I’ll be baking for the remainder of the day for tomorrow’s Christmas get together with our family, so I actually have to go to the grocery store for some holiday rush shopping.

This leads to lots of gift cards.

I am, for the most part, opposed to gift cards. Here’s why. I don’t like gift cards because it is like giving an interest free loan to the businesses. In our economy, a business can just as likely go into bankruptcy, and are no longer required to redeem these cards. MarketWatch talked about this in an article just after the Sharper Image filed for bankruptcy.

Not worth the plastic they’re printed on: Sharper Image bankruptcy means consumers may find gift cards worthless

At the same time, if I’m given a gift card to say, Walmart, I’m probably going to use it to pay for groceries…which is something I will need, and having the gift card makes it feel like a “discount.”  A gift card to a grocery store will be used fairly quickly, and Walmart is doing well right now…haha.

Recently, to help slumping sales, Simon Empson of Broadspeed.com launched a BOGOF deal on Dodge Avengers in Europe. He sold out of the autos in 4 hours.

Ah Ha! I knew someone would do something to help flat lining car sales. I suppose the best way to do this here would be to say, “If you buy a new car, you can choose a used car for free!” or “We’ll throw in a Tahoe!!”

So what makes generics so inexpensive? Many of the generic brands do not advertise at all. For example, when is the last time you saw an ad for Great Value (Wal-Mart brand) cheese? Now, when is the last time you saw one for Kraft slices? At the same time, when you go to the grocery store, you will see both brands and also see the prices next to them. Some of the time a consumer is determined to buy a certain brand (there are certain things everyone has to have the name brand of), but when the price is a big difference (say $1 or more on a bag of chips or spaghetti sauce) then it gets hard not to buy the generic brand.

Frugality means spending smarter and becoming creative with the ways you shop. When utilizing all resources available, dollars can be stretched further and wallets have a bit more cushion.

The first step to frugal (and green) living can be summed up in an old and simple clich?: ?Waste not, want not.? Recycling not only can benefit your bottom line, it benefits the planet. Several different brands of lunch meat are packaged in reusable plastic containers. In my household, we now reuse these containers for leftovers. This way we don?t have to buy Rubbermaid or Ziploc containers. The other great part about these containers is they feature a plastic recycling number on the bottom so when the container has served its purpose, it can be recycled at a proper facility.

Recycling aluminum cans may not offer a large amount of money per pound (around $0.77) but something is better than nothing. Over three months, I can accumulate enough for around $20. That is $20 I would not have otherwise had. Some states offer cash back from deposits on glass bottles.

On the side of greener living, saving energy can save you money. Change the light bulbs to CFL?s. They use a quarter of the energy a regular light bulb does. Also, in the warm summer months, try to use a microwave or toaster oven in place of the regular oven, especially during the heat of the day. The heat from the oven can raise the temperature of the house by 2-5 degrees, making your air conditioner work harder.

Rising food costs add to the strain on our wallets. Every nightly news cast seems to mention that inflation is up and food costs are through the roof. The easiest way to stretch a dollar at the grocery store is coupons. The Sunday news paper is a great place to get plenty of coupons, but it is not the only place to find the discounts. There are now ample online resources for coupons (ex. http://couponmom.com/ ). After all that coupon clipping, to get the most out of the coupons, try to find a grocery store that doubles coupons (and find out up to how much they double them). Some grocery stores even triple coupons on certain days, which can lead to serious savings on items you may have purchased anyway.

Another tip that has personally helped me save hundreds of dollars: Purchasing second hand items does not mean that it has to look like second hand items. EBay is a great resource for used items (many in excellent, very good used condition, or even new but without tags). I recently purchased a pair of $70 jeans on eBay for $10 (shipping included). They were never worn, but were missing tags. As far as clothes shopping goes, make sure you know your measurements so you get clothes that fit. Getting such a great deal on clothes online isn?t a rare occurrence. I purchased a second pair less than a week later for $8 shipped. I understand that eBay isn?t for everyone. If that is the case, then local thrift stores also offer second hand clothes for significant discounts. Most weekends, no matter where you live, yard and garage sales can be found and deals are everywhere. Regardless of which option is for you, remember, you will have to dig around a bit for a great deal.

I believe the key to living frugally is cutting costs. Over time, the pennies and dollars you save add up and can help with things you are saving for. With a little practice anyone can become affluent in frugality.

In a KFC commercial a family goes around a grocery store to see if they can make a meal for $10…the same meal they can purchase at KFC for $10. The answer is a short no.

An Applebee’s commercial promotes a new special where 2 can eat for $20. The meal includes an appetizer to share.

Even Outback is getting in on the fun. They are promoting a $9.99 meal with a sirloin steak.

Even with rising food prices, restaurants may be seeing that smaller profits are easier to deal with than no profits.

In a recent trip to Jackson, MS my husband and I noticed that the one store in Ridgeland looked closed, all the time. It wasn’t until later I realized it wasn’t.

With the new health craze, the doughnut king has fallen. Doughnuts are the epitome of sugar and grease, so therefore have no place in our health conscious society.

Now, to increase profits and minimize losses, Krispy Kreme is going to offer new menu items like ice cream and make stores smaller (opting not to have stores that produce the sugary concoction in view of customers). Oh well, hopefully a microwaveable doughnut will still be acceptable.

Anyway, I am thinking, where does this leave the dollar store? I have always gone into the dollar store and found gems as well as junk. Sometimes I can’t believe what you can actually get at the dollar store for..well…a dollar, but if you were to buy the same item in Wal-Mart it could be over $3.

At the end of August, the Dollar Tree (DLTR) posted 2nd quarter profits were 15 percent higher than the same quarter 2007. As far as profits, they’re doing well only because everything else is getting more expensive, everyone is looking for a way to cut back.

As for now, the Dollar Tree is going to remain with the Everything’s $1.00 theme. We’ll just have to wait a while and see what happens in the future.

So, what’s going on with milk?

Well, it looks like oil prices have a serious effect on everything. However, oil prices should effect every aspect of grocery store prices and not just milk alone. Milk’s price has inflated higher than many other grocery store items. The only items I can compare are eggs and other diary products.

Another culprit is the growing demand from China. China is becoming more modernized and they are beginning to take advantage of the same luxuries Americans have. Also, they, and other countries, are buying our commodities. Our dollar is also at a low and other countries can get our products cheaper than in the past.

I also can’t bring myself to buy Heinz 57 anymore. It’s $3.00-$4.00 for a small bottle, Kroger’s brand is half that and tastes fine. Wal-Mart’s version of Heinz 57 is bad. It’s really trial and error with store brands. Kroger gives a satisfaction guarantee when you purchase their brands. And not all Wal-Mart’s brands are bad. It’s mostly personal preference.

In our town, we only have Kroger and Wal-Mart. I also really like Target brands, but we don’t have a local Target.

Just try things out and you’ll save some money.