Frugality is a good thing!

I bet that when Martha Stewart started out, she was a frugal shopper. Even now she grows her own vegetables and fruit, bakes her own bread and even gets eggs from her own chickens. That Martha is money smart.

I don't have an extensive garden or laying hens, but I match those money smarts by shopping the sales and using coupons. In the Chicago area, the main supermarket chains are Jewel and Dominick's. In other areas of the country, offshoots of these two stores often double coupons, especially in the East and South. Here, Jewel and Dominick's do not double/triple coupons; however, they do take expired coupons. And using coupons with sale items can get you a great deal. For example:

Right now, Jewel has a 10/$10 sale going on for Aquafresh toothpaste and toothbrushes. I had five $1.00 off coupons for any Aquafresh toothbrush. Once I got to Jewel, the toothbrushes that were on sale were actually twinpacks. Bonus!

I got 10 toothbrushes for free (I paid tax, of course). Not bad! And you can get your free toothbrushes, too: in Sunday's paper, there is a $1.00 off coupon for Aquafresh toothbrushes. There's also a $0.75 off coupon for Aquafresh toothpaste, making it just $0.25 at Jewel--not bad! Look for the coupons in the insert with the Nestle logo on top.

And a heads up for a great deal at Walgreen's: From Jan. 4 through Jan. 10, Walgreen's will have Garnier Fructis shampoo, conditioner and certain styling products on sale for $2.99 each. In the January 2009 Easy Saver Catalog, Walgreen's has a $2.00 off coupon for those products, bringing each down to just $0.99. This is a good deal for Fructis, but it can get even better: in tomorrow's Red Plum insert in the coupon section, there are two coupons. One is for $1.00 off any Fructis shampoo or conditioner, and the other is for $1.00 off any Fructis styling product.

At Walgreen's (as well as Target and a few other stores), you can stack the store coupon with a manufacturer's coupon. So, after the Walgreen's coupon and the Red Plum coupon, you can walk away with FREE Fructis hair products! What a great deal!

As an avid couponer, I have approximately 10 manufacturer's coupons from previous inserts, so I'll be stocking up on my Fructis shampoo and conditioner. I like the shampoo and conditioner (and their shampoo & conditioner in one), and while I haven't yet tried the styling products, now is the time to do so, since they'll be FREE! For all you coupon newbies out there: the Walgreen's Easy Saver catalogs are located at the front of every store in the same caddy with their current sales ads. If you don't see it, ask an employee for one. Take several, and get in on this great deal.

Frugality...as Martha would say, It's a good thing. ;)