I received an advanced copy of the new book from “The Coupon Mom” back in December. It’s taken me this long to digest the book and write this post because there is so much great information in it. I was excited when I had the opportunity to read the book because I’ve seen Stephanie Nelson on television and she makes it look easy.

In her new book, “The Coupon Mom’s Guide To Cutting Your Grocery Bills in Half,” Nelson shares her secrets on getting the most for your dollar. She starts by talking about what type of shopper you are: busy, rookie or varsity and has advice throughout the book based on each shopping type.

What I like about the book is that Nelson is not only a mother and savvy shopper, but she’s well spoken and clearly uses her business background to help shoppers learn techniques that can help save their families a lot of money. Here’s some of what I’m taking away from the book:

• Even though I’m a busy working mother, I can save money with coupons. Nelson’s personal strategy is not to spend hours every week cutting coupons; instead, she saves the circulars each week and puts a date on the front. No clipping coupons yet. When she’s ready to shop, she consults her Web site’s Grocery Deals database to find the best deals for the week. The database will tell her which circular to find the coupons and then she simply clips the coupons she’s using for that shopping trip.
• Knowledge is power, or in Nelson’s case, store and pricing knowledge is money. She says to learn what is on sale, when at your local grocery and drug stores (as well as other stores) so that you know when to buy what. An example she gives is that her local grocery store puts chicken on sale once a month. She knows when this happens and buys four weeks worth of chicken when it’s on sale.
• Combine store coupons with manufacturer coupons to receive maximum benefits. Before reading this book I didn’t even realize there was a difference between a manufacturer coupon and store coupon, let alone that you can use them both on an item and save big! I think this is the secret to how Nelson can go into a store and get $100 worth of groceries for pennies (see video below).
• Sign up for and use couponmom.com. Nelson’s Web site is a goldmine. This is where the time saving techniques really come into play. Every week her site is updated with local discounts. The magic is that you can find discounts in  your local area simply by clicking a few pages of her site and you be rewarded with a grid that tells you what items are on sale, which coupons to use, where to find the coupons and it will show you a final price you’ll pay for that item. It also shows you when you can get things for free using sales and coupons. You don’t have to do the legwork, just use the database to find the deals.

The book also has chapters on wholesale clubs, the breakout of drugstores and their rewards programs, how to use couponmom.com and chapters about how to save buying meat, vegetables, dairy and sweets. She even throws in some recipes that she uses with her family. This book is like an encyclopedia for saving money. Well worth the read because even if you implement only one of her strategies, you’ll surely save money.

If you don’t believe it or haven’t seen Nelson in action, watch this short clip where she gets $100 worth of groceries for 25 cents!

Photo credit: Stephanie Nelson

Related:

• CouponMom.com
• Stephanie Nelson’s Coupon Mom show airs on You Tube every Thursday. “In her new series, Nelson teaches real families how to save BIG by sharing her infamous tips and tricks on how to get the biggest bang for your buck without sacrificing quality.”
• “The Coupon Mom’s Guide To Cutting Your Grocery Bills In Half” Amazon link and reviews
• Time.com’s Q&A with Stephanie Nelson, “Coupon Mom: How To Cut Grocery Bills In Half“

Sunday’s “Parade” magazine featured a great article about families learning to live with what they have, not what they want or think they need. The article profiles several families who’ve had to learn the hard way how to cut back. To make decisions to live differently after job loss or a business failed.

Wants and needs have always been very different things. Wants being things we desire like more money, fancier cars, larger homes, luxurious vacations, and more. Needs are just what we require to live: food, shelter, enough to pay our bills. The need category can tend to get long when we over indulge and think we must have items in order to get by.

We tend to think we need things. We collect things. We buy more things. Things, things, things. Nikki Willhite of allthingsfrugal.com states it this way:

It is said that we spend the first half of our life accumulating possessions, and the second half giving them away. This is true for most people.”

Willhite, ends her article, “Wants Versus Needs,” eloquently:

Learn to live with less. Learn to shun envy. Appreciate what you have. If you have less, you will appreciate what you have more.

The “Parade” article ends differently, but with an equally telling message about desiring too much:

Is there a lesson to be learned from 2009? “We now know what every 85-year-old knows,” says Ted Klontz, a financial-behavior consultant. “Chasing after money is meaningless.”

Photo credit: dinny.

Related:

• Read the full article from Parade.com
• Read Willhite’s article, “Wants Versus Needs.”
• Helpful tip sheet for kids on getting them to understand and differentiate a want vs. a need, especially when spending their own money. From PBSkids.org.
• Balancing Motherhood’s Finance archives.

When my son was born several people gave me bags and boxes full of little boy clothes their children had outgrown. I was ecstatic. I didn’t have to buy him clothing for most of his first year.

I saved much of his clothes in old diaper boxes and kept filling them up, saving them for baby number two. Then, three years later, came the ultrasound that proved we we’d be needing pink items.

What to do with all those clothes?

I contemplated keeping them once again, in case we have a third baby but opted to get rid of them. By the time we might have another child my son will be 5 or 6 years old and I’d need a second house to keep all the clothing he’s outgrowing. It’s just not practical. But, neither is buying all new clothes for each kid . We donated the clothes to another family who had a newborn baby boy and she has already started passing them along as well now that her son has outgrown some of the clothes.

So, the girl news started spreading and we started getting offers of donations from friends’ children who’d outgrown their baby clothes. “Bring ‘em over,” I replied to each offer. The boxes came and I haven’t had to buy much for my daughter.

Apparently, this is a new trend.

I rarely buy new clothes for my kids. The rate at which they outgrow their clothes is so fast, they don’t have time to ruin the ones they have — giving other families the chance to use the leftovers.

Consignment is hot

Resale seems to be a growing trend as well and not just on sites like eBay and Craigslist. In Orlando, we have a shop, Once Upon a Child, that pays cash for kid’s clothes that are in good shape. So, you sell some clothes and you buy some clothes. I’ve purchased several gorgeous dresses here for as little as $3.50. They would retail for at least $20. I have a hard time paying $20 for an item of clothing that is only going to last three months. Once, I sold some clothes and bought a few “new” outfits and walked out with more money than when I went in. It actually felt like they were paying me to take the clothes.

“The New York Times” wrote a great article about this trend — and it’s not just for people who need to save money. Everyone is realizing that there are great quality products and clothes out there that are hardly used. Why buy new when you can have “nearly new” for a lot less cash.

Instead of boxing up all my daughters clothes as she steadily outgrows them, I’m going to try resale and earn a few bucks, or just use the money to trade up in size so that I can outfit her for longer without having to always buy new.

Related

• Read “The New York Time’s” story, “For Firstborns, Secondhand Fits the Bill.”
• “How to Find and Sell Used Children’s Clothes on eBay.”

Suze’s done it again — giving away her newest financial book for free. Spell it with me, F-R-E-E! I think this is amazing. Absolutely amazing. When so many are having a hard with with money and finances, Suze and her publisher are giving away something for free. And, it’s something to help all of us in 2009.

The free book offer is only for one week (expires Jan. 15, 2009) and is for her just released book “Suze Orman’s 2009 Action Plan.”

Suze was on Oprah last night, I haven’t watched the segment yet, but plan to this weekend. As many of you know I think that Suze gives Americans the smackdown that we need in order to live financially honest lives. Sometimes her advice may seem harsh, but it’s the kind of talk we need to get our finances in shape.

• Download the book now.

It’s a new year, let’s start it out right by learning how to manage our holiday spending money. I know the memories of Christmas 2008 are still only a week old, and who wants to start thinking about what presents you are going to buy for the next Christmas, but it’s exactly what we need to do now.

Start Saving for Christmas 2009

Years ago I joined a Christmas club at my local bank. It’s proven to be one of the best things I do each year. Here’s how it works:

You open a separate account, often called a Christmas Club account, at your bank. This account allows you to deposit money, but does not allow you to take any out. Determine an amount to be taken from your paycheck every pay period. Even if it’s only $5 or $10 — it adds up. Every time you get paid, that amount will automatically be deposited into your Christmas Club account.

In November (or whenever you bank determines) the bank will release the total funds to you.

So, let’s say you did $5 each paycheck, starting with your next check.
Let’s assume you get a check every two weeks.
That’s $10 a month.
12 months.
At the end of the year you’ll have $120 to spend at Christmas.
Cash.

Even if it’s only $120, that’s a present, two, three or more. Even if it’s not your entire Christmas budget, it’s a start.

I started my club when I didn’t really think I had the money to save for holiday shopping. I was using credit cards to pay for presents and suffering those consequences later in the year. It was hard to put away money that I didn’t think I had, but in the end I never noticed it was missing. Over the years, as I saw the benefit each Christmas, I upped the amount I was saving from each check. When Christmas came I had enough money to spend on presents, buy a tree and enjoy the holiday knowing that I wouldn’t be swimming in debt afterward. It’s a feeling of relief that every family should have.

Set a Budget

Another benefit is that it helps you set a budget for shopping. If you pre-determine how much you will spend, and have the cash to do it, you’re less likely to overspend. If you never take out that credit card, you never have to. Using cash will be your new modus operandi.

I came across a new Web site that is taking the bank’s Christmas Club idea to the next level. SmartyPig.com helps you set up an FDIC insured bank account online. And, there are more benefits than just saving money:

Kiplinger’s magazine says, “SmartyPig’s stroke of genius: You can make your account public so family and friends can chip in toward your goal …

The company has partnered with more than 25 retailers, such as Amazon and Macy’s where you can redeem our savings for a gift card with a bonus of up to 5%.”

Of course, this kind of savings account isn’t just so you can spend money on other people. You could set up an account for your next vacation too – now, that’s a Christmas present I like!

Photos courtesy Darren Hester and Andreas Rueda.