GainesvilleMoms.com

I just met an amazing woman. Her name is Jamy Seay (pronounced SEE). She has a 5-year-old son.

Here is why I think she is amazing:

-- On a recent shopping expedition, she bought $80 worth of packaged goods (mac ‘n cheese, cereal, etc.) to donate to her church. She used $80 worth of coupons and paid about $4 in taxes.

-- On another outing, she bought toothpaste, tooth brushes and other toiletries, and with a combination of manufacturer’s/store coupons and store credits, got .50 cents back (the story paid HER .50 cents to shop).

These are all local stores right here in Gainesville.

Here’s her web site, where you’ll find her blog, coupons to download and print, and her stories of her shopping outings.

http://www.seaykopitiam.com

She apologizes for her grammar errors, but I believe saving money is a universal language.

Let me know what you think.

wow, and I thought I was a coupon queen!

I know what you mean. I'm not great with coupons but this makes me want to become a believer again.

It would be worth it for me just in cereal.

Hi, Thank you for the mention. I hope I can help everyone to save money during this time.
thank you.
Jamy

This is me with coupons. I love the Sunday paper (Gainesville Sun...I will enjoy you even more now that I have met the fine woman working on that awesome paper) something about that extra thick edition on Sunday that is so full of promise. I clip out coupons for stuff I buy regularly, or will need at some point, or do not need and will never use and will likely go in the food donation bag that my mailman picks up for the local "stamp out hunger" program. Mission accomplished, I put them in a drawer in my kitchen to be used on my next excursion to Publix (you know about every 10-30 minutes). Fast forward…Publix trip….get to register young cashier asks sweetly, “do you have any coupons ma am” (as I am getting over the disappointment of being recognized as a ma am and trying not to feel too old and fuddy duddy, I realize that I FORGOT THE COUPONS! Oh well, I will use them next trip (you know in 10 to 30 minutes). Fast forward to spring/fall cleaning…sift through junk in drawer spot envelope of coupons and look inside, check dates…yup expired…into the recycle bin! I figured I spent about an hour of my time and saved nary a penny! That is why I LOVE the Publix BOGOs (buy one get one free). I just swing in, load up the cart and am out before I have to begin carrying my daughter because she is now bored and so over the cute, germ laden (not that I am freakish about that) green carts that look like cars. I feel smart when I look at my receipt and see that I “saved” the amount the casher circled for me “you saved 25.87 ma am, too bad you had to spend 200.00 to accomplish that! Looking forward to reading the article, I could probably learn a lot .

This is so funny. I just wrote a blog on my frustrations with coupons:

http://raisingboys.gainesville.com/default.asp?item=2212386

I wish I was good at finding coupons and could save all this money, but I'm so bad at it. I never see coupons for the things I usually buy, and I just don't have the energy to go on a treasure hunt every weekend when I could be playing with my boys. So for now I'll just stick with the Buy One, Get One Free sales and generic brands (which are just as good as the name brands most times). But at least this gives me hope that one day I'll get it.

When I first came to this country, I met a no. of elderly ladies who used coupons to save $ on their shoppings, so at that time, I thought coupons were only for old ladies (ie on fixed income). Never gave much thought on coupons and always thought I was very smart in budgeting cos the shops I mostly did my shoppings were Save A Lot and Wal-Mart but since I started my smart shopping, I hardly step foot in these 2 stores.

I nearly fell off my chair when I read about a Texans woman who spent $800 on her annual grocery budget the last 4 years (and that include meat, rice, bread, oj, milk, shampoo, .... you name it, she has it). I was very inspired by her story, I thought I would investigate into it. (this lady does not recommend buying Sunday paper and I can understand why. In fact, you can get every kind of manufacture coupons online).

I do not do any clipping of coupons, I did all my coupons online.

I started on June 1st and I had at least 12 free toothbrushes . And all my cereals were under $1 a pack (ranges from 50cents to 80cents).

I get the kick out of this and I even started a smart money shopping series where my readers can download my weekly smart money shopping.

http://www.seaykopitiam.com/smart-money-download/

Now that I am into this smart money shopping, I not only get my toothbrush free, I am getting money back from the stores . Check out some of the posts that I have written about this adventure.

Jamy from seaykopitiam.com

Hi Jamy,
Thanks for the tips on downloading coupons. I need all the help we can get to keep grocery costs down.

Hi newsmom,
You are most welcome.
I just written a post tonight about how I paid less than 50% of what it would have cost me.

http://www.seaykopitiam.com/2008/06/28/i-pay-less-than-50-of-what-it-costs/

Regards,
Jamy

Hi,
I am not sure if any one of you guys are reading my blog.
I posted last week where I got all my diapers free (in fact, I was paid 86cents for buying diapers in Walgreen).
If anyone of you is interested to buy free make up, CVS has free Relvon's limited edition for free.
Jamy

More free stuffs today.
Sorry did not post earlier. Was busy the whole day.
Jamy

More free stuffs this week for grab.
Jamy

I have been thinking of the CVS cash back deals. How do you do those? Do you buy the item that you get cash back for and then do a second transaction while still at the register to use the cash back on the next purchase? And the repeat for the items?
(Doing multiple transactions at a time each visit?)

Where do you get all these coupons?? That is my problem I can never find coupons for stuff that I use...

and I never even knew how those cvs cards work..I need major help especially with two children and a very tight budget..PLEASE HELP.