So it's been a little shy of a week since we moved back to the beautiful Big Island of Hawaii. I love it here (as I type sitting on my Lanai in a tanktop and shorts in October. ).My husband (the actual travel nurse) is at orientation right now as I am doing what I do best, be on the laptop JK JK. I'm actually getting back to my savings habits.
While in the process of moving to the BI (Big Island for the rest of the post), a lot of people scoffed and asked "..wait isn't it expensive to live there?" ....THUS the reason for this post .. I've seen some post in the travel nursing FB group and I thought, why not share with others (even if they don't live in Hawaii just how they can stretch their $$ a little farther). Now, as a nurse I know working 12 hours shifts doesn't allow for a lot of time for some of the things I'm going to be discussing. These are just ideas and who knows, maybe there is a couple out there like us, where one is working and the significant other does have the time to help save money.
Hawaii can /cannot be expensive depending on YOUR lifestyle. A. I'm not a girly girl. I don't buy tons of hair product, makeup (in hawaii makeup is minimal anyway). Sometime I do buy clothes but never $100 worth. Usually it's just to replace a tank top or so (retail shopping will be mentioned later). After the initial purchase of a tent/sleeping bag and boogie boards we usually spend our days off at the beach snorkeling/beaching it up or hiking to some random waterfall. B. I cook almost every meal and if not home we bring snacks /food with us from home.We rarely eat out and if we do it's the random trip to Yougurtland or shaved ice. When we camp out we usually do 1 meal out a day just to break up the sandwich/hot dog routine
Usually I can find a part time job to help with our income but sometimes I'm unable to secure such a position so, anyway I can help our little family, I try .
NOW, as the Chief Financial Officer of my house ( nice title huh?) I'm pretty much the one that knows what's in our bank account, how much income there is, and the one that does most of the food shopping.
First and foremost, for those that don't know me personally, I am a couponer.. NOW, I'm not an extremest. I don't buy things I need just because I have a coupon. I DO NOT buy in bulk ( I only get enough for the both of us) and I keep in mind we are only going to be living somewhere for X amount of months (usually 3, sometimes 6). ...So... Step 1. COUPON.
There are TONS and TONS of sites to help with this.
Coupons.com
Target Coupons
Krazy Coupon Lady
Retail Coupons
All you need is a little printer and you're solid.
ALSO collect the Sunday's paper. If you live somewhere that has a state paper and a city paper, get BOTH. They sometimes have different inserts. ALSO if you live in a Suburb, get the major cities paper as well as yours. They're usually different inserts , sometimes even differing in offers (one will be a Buy One Get One, were as the other paper will have the same product but it's 50% off with one).
NOW... Step 2. Find your weekly ads or use a matchup site.
One thing that's great about the coupon world is that it's gone crazy on the internet. There are SO many great websites that will do the work for you. These sites already have all the matchups with what's on sale in the store and what coupons go with the product. Usually they'll post the link beside the item so you can go right to the coupon if you don't have it already.
Here are some of my favorite sites:
Money Saving Mom: Store deals
Coupon Diva Matchup
Now, keep in mind many matchups vary by location. I know in Hawaii the sales are usually the same but the prices are much different (aka higher lol) Milk is $5 a gallon and Bread is $4 a loaf etc etc.
Step #3
Know your stores coupon policy. While in North Carolina I came across this amazing store that actually doubled coupons on certain days, sometimes tripled.. AH-Mazing. In Hawaii, not so much. Some don't even allow printed coupons.
THIS is why one of my favorite stores is Target....(get ready for it!)
SO Target- Target has this amazing coupon policy where you can stack coupons. Stacking is when you can combine coupons together. You can stack a manufactured coupon and a Target coupon TOGETHER. I always go to Target's coupon website and then compare to what's on coupon.com and then if there are two of the same I print them:
Example:
Coupons.com has a dove soap bar coupon for .50 off
Target.com coupon for the SAME dove soap bar for $1.50 off,
Guess what? You can put them together and get $2 off the price in the store
Just be careful that they're the same! Sometimes I've gotten to the register and one is for shampoo and the other is for conditioner of the same brand, just read the small print.
Step #4 Shop the sales!
Ok, So...A lot of people will make dinner lists based on what they want to eat for the week. Well, a way I have found to stretch the dollar is using your weekly ads (mostly online or in your Sunday paper). A little tip my mother helped me with is to see what's on sale and make meals out of that. That doesn't mean that all my meals are items that are on sale but a lot of my sides items (rice, pasta, veggies/salads) can usually be. I do this by still eating healthy and avoiding as much processed food as I can . I don't buy many boxed meals and plan meals that will help with packed lunches for Josh and small lunches for me while I'm at home. By combining sale items and coupons you can really make your meals go a LONG way. That being said if an item you use a lot goes on sale, buy a couple. Example: one thing we love is Betty Crocker's Simply salad pasta. I usually add tomatoes and cucumbers (and only use half the included seasoning) . When I have a coupon and it's on sale, I usually buy 3-4 boxes . I know we will use it up over time and it doesn't go bad. ALSO the freezer is your friend! When meat goes on sale (ground turkey is $6.99 here) I usually buy 3-4 packs of it , freeze it and thaw it out as needed. Going in with a list/plan usually helps the "what do you want for dinner tonight, " while in the store hungry mode :)
Step #5- Use your smart phone!
There are SO SO SO many apps for grocery shopping and rewards programs! Some of my favorites are
Targets Cartwheel
Shopkick
Swag Bucks
Bing
Target (again... yes) Cartwheel- FREE
OK again for those that LOVE Target, Target has came out with an app called Cartwheel. You go on the ap and it has lots of deals ( 5% off market pantry bread, 10% off market pantry pasta sauce) you can ADD this to the coupons . All you do is load the offer onto your page (you can only have 16 at a time) and it loads it unto a barcode at the top. All you have to do is when the cashier is done scanning everything is show him your phone and he can scan the code with his scanner and it takes off MORE $$ off your overall price.
Shopkick-Free, Rewards system.
I LOVE this app. It uses big stores like Target, Macy's, Walmart, etc etc. Every day is different. You get "kicks" for walking in the door. All you have to do is walk into the store and pull up the app and there you go! You're already shopping there, you might as well get points for it. It usually rewards you 20-50 kicks (sometimes 100 on special days). SO... while you're shopping they have scan kicks you can get. Just look at what today's scans are and it uses your camera on your phone to scan the barcode of the product. It will give you anywhere from 10-100 kicks for each item. Now, here comes the best part, the rewards! They range from 500-50,000. The easiest to earn are the store gift cards. You can get $5-$25 gift cards depending on how many points you want to use. If you go to two stores in one day, you can easily earn at least HALF of the points needed for a $5 gift card. There are ones for Amazon, Target, Walmart, Best Buy, Gas Cards etc etc. I know a lady that blogs about using these towards all her Christmas gifts. Can you imagine? Spending no money and just using these cards to buy all of her Christmas gifts. It may seem time consuming but it only takes me about 25-30 minutes. Usually I leave an hour before I have to pick up my husband from work (1 car) and walk around Walmart/Target scanning my items. I don't purchase anything and know I'm earning money towards a giftcard, plus I tell myself I'm burning calories by walking (plus it's usually raining by night time so it's not like I'm missing time out by the ocean ) LOL. Oh and I forgot, Target has free wi-fi, so You're not using your data while using this app.
Swagbucks-Free
Alright, this one is a bit more time consuming but similar to Shopkicks in regards to rewards. So, you can take surveys, play games, and/or watch movies. A lot of the times I don't qualify for a lot of survey's, SO I really don't try anymore BUT...the movies are a great point earner. At home (actually doing it right now) I'll put my phone on vibrate and open up my swagbuck TV app and let the little video's play . They're all about 2-3 minutes long but after 5 videos you get 2 points.. and on Wi-fi you're not using any data and you're multitasking. ALSO if you install swagbucks on your tool bar It will alert you when they've posted a free code on their facebook (sometimes worth 5-8 points)..BUT you can earn giftcards/points towards trips etc etc. I usually devote 30 minutes to it a day and have around 700+ points. ALSO one of my FAVORITE ways to use this app is printing coupons from it . If you go to their website and click on coupons they have THE SAME coupons from coupon.com BUT it keeps track of them electronically and about a week after you use them at the store you'll see you will get points for printing them/using them . This gets you major points.
Bing-free
This is an app but I prefer to use the website. Basically you set up a profile at bing, then you use their search engine and it keeps track of how many times you search and you get rewarded points for using their search engine. In turn your points add up (quickly) for gift cards. I just redeemed my points for a $5 gift card from Amazon .
Step #6 Become inventive.
SO...I've recently become a morning coffee drinker ( I blame it on the triathlon training LOL). While living in California I realized buying coffee out is a HUGE deal but my wallet doesn't like it. 1 cup is usually $3-4 dollars, Solution? Home brewing. Everytime we move/relocate I go to my local goodwill and buy a coffee maker for $5. I've never had one that didn't work. I always clean it out and voila, :) Lately it's been EXTREMELY hot here (lower 90's, upper 80's= SUPER hot for the BI) So... the furnished apt we are living in right now has a Nutribullet . I brewed a cup of coffee today, poured it and my creamer into the cup provided by the NB, as well as some ice, THEN blended it.. Voila! Instant blended/cold coffee! ( I paid $5 the first day for a cup at a local shop down the street).
Comparison:
Home Brewed Coffee:
One container of coffee= $6.99 here,
Filters $1.50,
Creamer = 3.99
Total = $12.50 + $5 for the Maker= 17.50 for a months worth of coffee (ingredients)
Coffee Out (compared to the $17.50)= 3 and 1/2 cups of coffee out. :)
ALSO, Bread... phew, Bread here is $5 a loaf. I LOVE bread and we are constantly making sandwiches for our beach days , so I looked up a few recipes on Pinterest (a great DIY website I'm sure you've heard about) and decided to try it. It called for 5 Ingredients, 1 I had a home.
Bread Flour- $ 5.09
Honey ( an experimental add) $6.79 (YOUCH)
Active Yeast- $1.99
Total=13.87 = Yields 4 LARGE loaves = vs 4 medium size loaves = $20.00 = $7 dollars in savings + the taste of Homemade bread :)
If I can maybe play around with the honey and substitute sugar for the same amount and make it last for 2 cycles of batches (8 loaves) then it could really be a money saver :) buying it every other batch...Produce/Food- So that one breakfast full of strawberries and oranges you just HAVE to have...well.. produce availability and prices vary from region to region. Take California, LOADS of strawberries and oranges for really cheap, Hawaii? Strawberries cost almost $6 a little square box. My advice find other things that you like and only get the things you really enjoy on sale. One way I get around it ( as much as I hate buying anything frozen/not fresh...) is for my smoothies I buy frozen bags of fruit. It's still $$$ but they're more likely to go on sale than the normal produce. I also frequent farmers markets. Today everything I bought cost $2. I got 2 cucumbers, 2 green bell peppers, a bag of tomatoes, etc, hard to find those prices at the grocery :)
Step 7 - Retail shopping
I used to be kind of a brand snob but times have changed and now something that's clean, nice looking, and cute is all that I need. I have found a love for good, Goodwill's/Thrift Shops. When we lived in LA I found an AMAZING Goodwill between Beverly Hills and Hollywood. You would have thought I went shopping at the major stores. It had Calvin Klein, Anne Taylor etc etc I had some really cute things from there.
Here is a website that I love using for retail stores :
Retail Stores Coupon Site
FOR TRAVEL NURSES:
Housewares- On the mainland most of our apartments are what I call skeleton apts when provided for by our agency. Mostly a bed, dresser, kitchen table, couch, and a coffee table. We are responsible for everything else- Linens, Trashcans, etc etc...SO..One thing that my husband and I have discussed is setting aside around $25 for a start up budget. We try to live minimalistic like and only travel with what can fit in my Honda CRV, SO when it comes to our kitchen we do travel with a few appliances (juicer/pizza maker and 4 rubbermaid storage containers) and then the rest we just buy. I usually go to the Dollar Store or Goodwill to find what I need and get things SUPER CHEAP. Things don't have to match or look cute, just function. By the end of the assignment I just take them back to Goodwill and start over with dishes/misc stuff at the next assignment. It saves us lots of space.
To sum this LONG, LONG post up our goal for this traveling adventure wasn't necessarily make money but to see the US (and maybe the world?) We say we're not rich when it comes to money, but very rich in friends and experiences :)
Due to the way we live we've been to amazing national parks, many BEAUTIFUL islands of Hawaii, visited family members numerous times, and just enjoyed life being Car, School, and Credit Card Debt free. We arn't perfect and have help from family and friends but these are a few tips I've discovered and figured should pass on :)
I hope you're still with me and hope one of these ideas helps :)
Enjoy and Aloha
Lori
