Weightloss - ad awareness

Have you ever actually paid attention to commercials, billboards, signs, all the ads you see every day?

I have, and noticed a huge percentage are for things that are not good for you or your budget. Try it - while watching an average 30 minute TV program, note how many commercials you see for fast food, packaged foods that aren't healthy, weightloss scam products and treats. How many ads for those items do you see every day in the newspaper, magazines, coupons, sales ads, billboards, signs in the store, on your computer, packages for other foods or anywhere else? Our world is saturated with them, and odds are good that heavily advertised foods are things with a very high profit margin, meaning they're made of cheap, unhealthy ingredients like bleached flour, corn syrup, sugar and hydrogenated fat with little real nutritional value. How often do you see ads for plain bran, fresh celery, green beans or other inexpensive healthy foods? Almost never, because their profit margin is not high enough to afford to saturate the airwaves with ads. There are few exceptions, like almonds, orange juice and milk, where industry organizations promote the product when one producer can't.

Studies have shown that repeatedly seeing ads for particular products makes you more likely to buy that product, even if the individual ads don't make an impression. Just recognizing it increases the odds of buying it.

So what do you do? Ads are everywhere, and many are good ads that can save money and direct you to helpful products. The best advice is to be aware of what you're buying and what you're eating. Take note of what items you're frequently seeing ads for, and look at the ingredients and nutritional information for those items. If you know what's in it, you're far less likely to get something that's horrible for you, even if you have been blasted with ads for it. Try new items you don't recognize, look high and low on the shelves instead of in the middle where the most expensive brand name items tend to be, and try to stick to the outside edges in the store where the least processed items are. Less messed around with usually means more healthy! Support products that are healthy, and eventually we can make a difference in what we're exposed to :)

Saving money, coupons and deals

I've been asked a few times lately what we're doing to save money, and how I come up with "magic" shopping trips. I set up about 2 trips per month where I get over $100 of stuff for less than $50, and I'm not talking about clothes on sale but necessities.

I use couponmom.com to find deals. Many of the best are at CVS. Many times I can get items like toothpaste almost free, sometimes I actually get paid to buy items when the combo of the sale price, extra bucks and coupon value add up enough! I stock up when I can get items free or almost free, so I don't have to buy them when we run out at full price or at the mercy of their regular sale price.

I get the Sunday paper for the coupons. I cut out any that we might use, and put them in a little organizer with an envelope for each category, like refridgerated products, soaps, paper products, toothpaste and others. I also go to manufacturer websites for coupons, and places like coupons.com, smart source and red plum online. I watch the store aisles when I'm shopping for the little coupon devices with the blinking red light. I grab a few copies if it's something I might use and save them, often the item will be on sale in a week or two, after the coupon dispenser goes away! Everything gets filed in my little organizer, so I have the coupons with me if I notice a great sale at a store that isn't covered by Couponmom, which is most of the stores I go to. Couponmom only covers the major stores, and often prices are better in smaller stores.

I go to walmart.com, to their "In Stores Now" button, then free samples and order everything we might use. It's completely, 100% free and no obligation - even the shipping! The samples often come with a coupon, or bonus samples of the same brand. I recently got one of dishwasher detergent that came with a coupon for free rinse aid, and several other coupons for the same manufacturer's items! Even if the samples don't come with a coupon, it's still a freebie. Sometimes it's household items, sometimes food, always fun to get a freebie!

As another bonus, I use Upromise. All you do is sign up (free!) and link your credit, debit or store membership card to your account (also free!). Then whenever you go shopping and buy qualifying products, the manufacturer deposits a few cents into your Upromise account. You can also shop online through their portal and get a percentage back from many retailers, or use Upromise's website to get online coupons. The online coupons work automatically if you buy the product with an attached card. You don't get the cash back or that amount off your bill, it just goes into the Upromise account. Mine is for the kids' college funds. It's not much, but by the time they're ready it should be a bit to help, and it will have cost me a grand total of Nothing. Very little time and absolutely no money!

A trick I was surprised to learn is that you can use multiple coupons in one transaction. Like if you have a coupon for a box of cereal, and you buy 2 boxes then you can use 2 copies of the same coupon in the same purchase! That really adds up, especially if you can combine it with a sale like when the store is offering "buy one, get one free" (BoGo) or "buy one, get one half off" That leads to a lot of my freebies! A common deal to be able to get with cereal, oatmeal and cosmetics.

It's never very much at once, but I've calculated the time it takes me to figure out a magic shopping list vs the savings, I get paid at least $50/hour for that time! Isn't it worth saving $50 for an hour of your time?

Freebies

A tip for those looking to be green or just on a budget..

2nd hand isn't always bad! I watch the free section on Craigslist, FreeCycle, thrift stores and yard sales for many items. Mostly clothing. Since I'm losing and the kids are growing, there's not much sense investing a lot in our clothes that won't fit for long.

I just got a whole pile of jeans free on Craigslist from someone moving! I'd guess 15-20 pairs, way more than I need, so I can pass on the leftovers to someone else, add them to our yard sale box or recycle the denim into crafts if there are any damaged ones.

Most of the pots in my container garden are recycled freebies or cheap 2nd hand buys, and most of our furniture is too. I'm usually able to get a much better quality item that way too, like my TV stand is a very nice, high end solid wood piece that we got 2nd hand for cheaper than buying another new pressboard piece of junk one that we'd have broken in a year. My finds often require a little elbow grease to get them into shape, but once they do they're usually really nice stuff! Good for the environment, good for your wallet, good ideas :)