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When Chrissy and I first started BeCentsAble (just one year ago!) we envisioned reaching out to individuals who were coming from the same place we had been just a few months prior…
Typical families spending more on food and household items than necessary because we didn’t know that we didn’t HAVE TO! We didn’t have the knowledge and resources to do it differently.
As BeCentsAble has grown we have been longing for the opportunity to SHARE this resource with those who are new to the whole idea of it!
As a result of our fortuitous features in the media lately, we are finally reaching you, the audience we’ve always intended to speak to. But we realized our blog is not prepared for you!
To address that issue, today marks the beginning of a new series entitled Starting Over!
This series will be aimed at getting you started on the right track to frugal shopping.
I must preface this with the strong encouragement that you take a workshop, either online or in person first, or at some point while you are preparing yourself.
Where (and How) to Start!
When you first begin to realize that you’ve been spending twice as much on food, household and personal care items than you could be you might think “Okay, what’s the catch?”. It’s natural to wonder how on earth you didn’t know these things!
I’ll tell you, there is NO catch. There is a lot of knowledge behind it and those of us writing blogs put a lot of time into figuring out how it all works best together, but we are not scamming the system, we are not breaking any laws (although it sometimes feels that way when you get a really amazing deal on stuff you used to PAY for), we are simply using all the strategies out there to their fullest potential and to our greatest benefit!
Now, your second thought is likely: “I’m doubting I have time for this…if it’s so easy, why doesn’t everyone do it?”
Here’s where we (and the dozens of frugal blogs and resources we feature and link you to) come in. It’s not easy when you first start, it takes time and energy and frankly, a lot of failure, but we’ve gone through all of that for you and have developed this amazing resource to save you all of that time and discouragement.
How BeCentsAble Helps You:
Find the Real Deal
Once you’ve got a handle on the fundamentals of couponing and store incentive programs, you have to understand how to ‘read a sales flyer’. This is the BIGGEST challenge for any frugal shopper.
- How do you know what’s truly ‘on sale’ and what’s a ‘phantom’ sale?
- How do you quickly compare prices across your local stores?
- What if a store has a great “unadvertised deal” – how can you know ahead of time to make the most of it?
Make the Deal Sweeter
It’s great to get a $4 box of cereal for $2, but what if you can get it for $1 just by adding a coupon? This is what we call “Rock-Bottom Pricing”.
Many, many people tell us they don’t use coupons because it’s just too much work and they don’t save enough money to justify it.
- How will you find coupons for random items that are on sale each week?
- How would you know that you can save more on an item by using a coupon available on the Internet vs. a coupon from your local newspaper inserts?
- How will you find rebate offers for items you are buying?
Make Sure All the Deals Don’t End Up In the Garbage!
It’s great to get all of these things for little or no money but it doesn’t do your family any good to buy things you don’t end up using just because they were on sale.
It’s also the bane of frugal shopping to head out without a PLAN!
- How do you get yourself organized to shop without spending HOURS each week?
- How can you be sure all of the food you buy at “Rock Bottom” prices doesn’t go to waste?
- How do you know how much of an item to stock up on?
We’ll answer all these questions, and MORE, over the next few weeks.
Next week we’ll get you started with a step by step plan. Going slowly will ensure you don’t get overwhelmed and you have an opportunity to get comfortable with all that you’ve learned before diving into the deep end!
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