So What's New with the Grocery Dilemma?

If you read in an earlier post, my grocery store (which doubled 99c coupons to 1.98) closed. I am a die-hard couponer, so this hurt. Other stores around here double 50c coupons, but that's it. I've been looking for a new grocery store.

While I haven't found one single store to shop at, I have found a way to help lessen the grocery bill. I've been mystery shopping! (If you are interested in mystery shopping, check out Volition's website.)

For those of you who haven't heard about mystery shopping, it's basically evaluating a store without revealing that you're doing so. When I've done mystery grocery shops, I've had to go to a number of departments in the grocery store and ask questions, evaluate service, etc. etc.

Mystery shopping does not rake in the big bucks. Far from it...but it does help a little with my groceries. You see, the company I shop for pays around $10 reimbursement for the groceries I buy when performing the shop. This is great for me because:

1) I'm already out there grocery shopping. No extra driving (good for the environment and $$).

2) I am looking around for a new grocery store anyway and get to see some I may not have known about (I have an Aldi's shop soon, so I am eager to check it out!)

3) I get $10-12 free groceries for my evaluations

4) The "reimbursement" payment for the groceries is not taxable. If they paid me a fee for the evaluations, it would be taxed.

So this has been one way I've been putting a dent in the grocery bill. Pretty soon our local farmer's market will be up and running, so that will help too!

Long time, no blog!

Wow, I just realized it's been way over a month since I've blogged!

I'll spare you the details, but I've been way busy with my teaching jobs and haven't had a lot of time for blogging, but our Spring Break is coming up soon so I should be catching up with a few of the things I've been thinking about, so check back soon :)

Cheap and Green Dilemma!

One way I save money is by shopping at a grocery store that is very close (saves gas/less pollution) that doubles coupons that are 99c up to 1.98. Occassionally they'll even have triple coupons. And best of all...they take my expired coupons. Now, they've never said they take expired coupons, but I've never had one rejected so I have continued to use them until someone tells me they don't accept them!

The closeness of the store and their coupon policy has helped me save A LOT of money. Mind you, they are not the cheapest grocery store, but when you combine a sale item with a doubled (or tripled) coupon, you can get stuff very cheap and sometimes free.

So, you ask, what's the dilemma? Well, I have heard they are closing that location! The next closest location is 20 miles away. Yes, there are other grocery stores in the area, but none as close and with the same coupon policies. What to do?

One idea I have is to stop by a branch close to my work maybe once a month and stock up, but with sales changing each week, it may be hard to match up the coupons with the deals.

I can, of course, go to one of the other big grocery stores that offer 50c coupons doubled, I just won't be able to get quite as good savings.

My last idea is to visit the Aldi's store...it's not very close, but it's not too far, either, and I've heard they have some good prices there (although no coupons, I think).

Any suggestions for me?

Teaching Green

Workbook pages, dittos, xerox copies...paper, paper, paper!

Anyone who has a child in school knows about the deluge of paper sent home EVERY DAY. Honestly, much of it is needless. I'm not just saying that as the parent recipient of all this stuff, but as a teacher myself.

From the teacher's standpoint, we have all this great information to share. We don't want our students to miss a bit of it! I could honestly make a textbook sized handout of all the good info I find for my students. No one wants to shortchange education for green, so what do we do?

I teach at a high school and I try to reduce all the paper by emailing my students their homework as attachments. They type their answers on the homework and send it back to me- no paper! I also have a website with all the documents they can download and save. Added bonus for the teacher: your bag previously full of papers to grade is remarkably lighter and easier to carry (those of you who teach know about those heavy end-of-quarter bags full of papers!)

I would love it if my son's school would send the PTA letter by email, and post other information on their website. Hopefully, with continued nudging, this will be the case eventually. But in the meantime, we empty our backpacks right over the recycling bin.

Biodegradable trash bags

In the past year, we've really reduced our waste by composting, recycling, and making purchases that don't have excessive or non-recyclable packaging. I'd like to say we were like the writer for BBC News that tried her best not to buy ANYTHING plastic or packaged in plastic for a month...it's much harder to do than you think! But, in reality, we do still have some trash that can't be recycled. We've always used the generic white kitchen trash bags, so I thought I'd look into biodegradable trash bags.

First, I found biobag dog waste bags. They're around $5-6 for a box of 50. Kind of expensive, but I didn't want to put something biodegradable like dog poop in a plastic bag that wouldn't biodegrade. So I lucked out and bought some from drugstore.com when they had a sale. I'm pretty happy with them. I thought about the biobag trash bags, but it seemed pointless when the stuff in the kitchen trash is stuff that won't biodegrade anyway...so I bagged the idea (ha ha).

And then, when I was cleaning out the litter box (into a white trash bag), it occurred to me that I could use the biobags for this job. We use feline pine litter (love it!) and we have a fair amount of used litter each week, so I bought some kitchen sized biobags for the job. It makes sense since the pine litter will biodegrade. Overall, I am pretty happy with them, with the exception of their expense (again, wait for the sales) and they can puncture more easily than regular bags.

Hopefully these kinds of trash bags will catch on and eventually cost less, but in the meantime we'll continue to use them for our pet clean-ups. Do any of you have tips when it comes to biodegradable bags, or know of any other good brands?

Jumping on the bandwagon!

It seems everyone else is blogging about the past year, so I was thinking how we were living cheap and green in 2008.

I'm a big believer in baby steps and doing what you can. It would be great to be the perfect eco-family but let's get real: it doesn't work that way. But I do look back at seemingly small things I've done that have made an impact.

Probably one of the most noticeable has been our trash level. Months back I joined in on Enviromom's One Can A Month Challenge. I never expected to lower our level to only one can, but we did! It also led me to investigate composting, and to be much more conscious of buying products with less packaging.

And the up side to the bad economy was that we became more conscious of our driving habits and energy usage.

We have almost stopped using paper towels thanks to our super absorbent kitchen towels (think sham-wow) and by sheer luck, our trash pick up started picking up recyclables #1-7.

We switched over to low flow shower heads and put aerators on kitchen and bathroom faucets...and never noticed a difference in performance, just in our water bill.

Lots of little things, over a year...but it has made such a difference in our budget and in our impact to the environment. Living cheap and green is the way to go :)

But overall, I think what I am most proud of (and probably have never blogged about?) is that my son is picking up these little habits...and thinking about them. I am proud he rinses his cup and sets it on the counter for later use instead of using 5 or 6 cups a day, and that he turns the tv off when he's done watching, and puts recyclables in the bin.

So my assessment of the past year? Pretty good job...except I still haven't made homemade yogurt yet! (See March 24th's entry!) Sounds like I have a New Year's Resolution...

Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays!

With work and the holidays, I have been neglecting my blogging, but hopefully I'll get back to it more in the New Year.

In the meantime, have a wonderful holiday!