As Hurricane Earl makes his descent on the East Coast, many are faced with unexpected expenses to prepare for his possible destruction.  From the looks of it this morning, there are three more behind him, so frugal preparations are of the essence.  In the midwest, we are fortunate enough not to bear the brunt of a hurricane, but have experienced flooding in recent years due to some of the larger storms.  Our main threats here are tornadoes and ice storms.  Both can leave quite an impact, a tornado (usually) leaves a concentrated path of destruction, and an ice storm can cripple several states. 

In 2007, we were without power for 17 days due to an ice storm. While we thought out everything and assumed we had prepared accordingly, many preparations could not be made without having experienced such a disaster.  Disaster preparation can be very costly, especially if you are stuck purchasing items at inflated prices in the aftermath.

I wanted to share some things that I personally learned in hopes that you can utilize them, regardless of what type of disaster you may face.

1.  Buy an inverter for your car. You can then charge/run small appliances off of your car batteries. Look in the camping AND automotive sections of your store (walmart sells them).  You can also find them in the computer section, near the  laptop accessories.

2.  There are some clips that attach directly to a car battery’s posts that hold a car adapter. (ours came with our electric filet knife) You can then bring your car battery inside and run fans, coffee pots, laptops, portable DVD, etc. if you use it with an inverter (mentioned in step 1.)  Just remember to stick it back in the car to charge it occasionally. 

3.  Stock up on some card games and board games. You won’t need those movies if you don’t have power! Hasbro has some really neat card games out now, and there are plenty of coupons to match. Stock up on these at when the coupons are out and hold onto for a power outage.

4.  Take a trip to the library to check out some books.  Try some audio books- they can entertain the entire family.

5.  Purchase extra charcoal/firewood if you have a charcoal grill. You can keep a running fire in a charcoal grill with firewood to sterilize water and warm things up.

6.  If you use a charcoal grill and commonly use starter fluid, look into a ‘fire starter’.  This is an aluminum cylinder that you fill with your charcoal.  Just wad up a piece of newspaper and stick it in the bottom and light it.  Your charcoal will be ready in minutes- perfect every time.  These are less than $10 at Walmart and Lowes.

7.  Clean and fill your bathtubs with water just in case you run low on drinking water

8.  Don’t forget a manual can opener.

9.  Make sure every last piece of clothing is washed and put away.  If you’re without power for long, you’ll be wishing for clean underwear!

10. Kerosene lamps or lanterns (in addition to flashlights).  I recommend a rechargable LED lantern, as you can recharge them in your vehicle and won’t have to worry about costly fuel and fumes.  These make great outdoor lighting for other events, so you will be able to reuse it.

11. Make sure you have a couple of small flashlights for each child. They break and get lost easily. Walmart has some for $1 that come with extra batteries.  Also, look for headlamps for your children.  These will free up their hands to read and will provide entertainment for YEARS to come. 

12. Avoid generic batteries.  Although they initially seem cheaper, you will find that they last about 1/10th the time as the more expensive ones (that only cost about 3x as much).  You’ll get more bang for your buck if you purchase name brand.

13. Buy large packages of glow sticks in the dollar section at Michael’s or your dollar store.  There are normally 20 to a package. Around Halloween, these pop up everywhere.  They will provide great entertainment for the kids and also allow you to keep your eyes on them in the dark.

14. Refill your prescriptions.  Ask your pharmacist for coupons, or keep your eye out for other promotions.  Many pharmacies accept competitor’s coupons (including CVS and Kroger).  Also, check out the medicine’s website and call your doctor to see if there are coupons available.  Many offer coupons that work in addition to your co-pay.

15. Take inventory of your kitchen gadgets.  Did you know that you can use a Pampered Chef stoneware bowl and a 9" round pan to make a dutch oven that will bake bread on your grill? 

16. Grab some paper plates and utensils.  This will help keep clutter under control and is much less expensive than running the dishwasher.

What types of preparations do you make when presented with a disaster?  Do you have any cost saving tips?

I’ve been MIA for the past couple of days, I sure hope you noticed!  I’ve been very busy presenting at the Missouri State Fair, where I was able to spread some of my knowledge about saving without coupons, Ultimate Couponing, and Sensible Shopping amongst hundreds of people.

I was hoping to have some downtime to post in the evenings, but I took both kids with me this year, so downtime was a rarity.  It was 112 degrees when we left on Friday, so we were all pretty exhausted!

One of the things that I saw this year that stood out from the rest was the amount of families pinching pennies.  Instead of seeing kids running around with corn dogs and sno-cones, the parents were pulling coolers and making turkey sandwiches.  People were packing water bottles in their backpacks and refilling them in the many available fountains.  The midway was pretty empty throughout the day.

We took in some of our own water bottles, also, and there were vendors set up on every corner with the Missouri State Fair branded water.  It was ice cold and only $1 per bottle.  The food prices in the actual restaurants weren’t too bad either.  At the Poultry House, a 3 piece chicken tender with chips, beans, and a drink was $6.  Much less than buying it at a restaurant.  Of course, food from the vendor stands was a little higher than that- ok, maybe a lot higher than that. 

We got to take advantage of some of the free shows near my stage.  Luckily, the kids stage was right outside the door so we were able to watch these shows between my breaks.  Some of them were so great!  The kids loved Jump! The Ultimate Dog Show and the Ronald McDonald show.  Ethan and I thoroughly enjoyed the Vocal Trash concert, too!

Want to know what the kids’ favorite part was?  My husband’s aunt went with us to help with the kids and took the kids on an extended tram ride during one of my longer presentations.  It was 50¢  per rider, so they went through the entire fair and through several of the outlying campgrounds.  They had a blast!

Now it’s back to reality- the house is in shambles, we’ve got 5 birthdays this week, 4 the next, school and football start this week, and it’s our last week of baseball.  Throw in 4 workshops and it’s going to be a hectic week!

What a week!  I’m getting ready to dive back into the deal posting, but wanted to offer an apology for my absence.  The hubs and I went on our annual (okay, 3 times annually) adults only camping trip in the middle of nowhere last weekend.  Within a couple of hours of our return, my very healthy grandmother became ill and was taken to Urgent Care.  They sent her to the ER, who then admitted her.  She had to have a triple bypass surgery on Friday, because she was 95% blocked. 

My neph-dog also had knee surgery this week, so we’ve had to take turns caring for him, too.  He’s spending the night with us tonight!

It’s been a whirlwind week for us, and it will remain so for a bit longer- until we can get her back on her feet again.  She did amazingly well with the surgery and should be home sometime this week, but it’s still a long recovery process.  

If you see any great deals and would like me to share them, email them to alicia@gatewaytosaving.com.

If you’ve been following my blog since conception, you might already know the story of my dual birthdays.  For those of you who don’t, sit a spell and I’ll fill you in.

July 22nd is my real birthday, and has been for the past 29 years.  A true 29 years.  Next year, I’ll still say 29, but we’ll all know that it’s not.  Shh.. I trust you all to keep my little secret.  July 22nd is also the anniversary date of the first Gateway to Saving workshop, ironically, the Christmas workshop was the first class.  Ultimate Couponing didn’t come along for a couple more months.

Prior to then, I tried to keep my discount shopping under wraps.  It was so much fun to show up to Christmas with extravagant gifts that fell under the $5 limit, or to watch the look on our friends faces as they opened up our cupboards.  As the recession started to hit, I began to feel a little guilty about keeping all of my secrets to myself, so I started giving friends tips and hints.  It began to consume my life.  I was already working 50-60 hours a week and spent every waking minute at home answering phone calls and emails with questions.  I’m the type of person to put friends ahead of my own needs, but after so long, it began to get a little old.

A few of my friends got together and asked me to host a class, so I could teach them all in one sweep.  It was definitely the answer I had been looking for.. but wait.. I DESPISED public speaking.  I was the kid in high school that would slip off to the bathroom when it was my turn to answer a question, or would skip school the day of an important oral presentation.  This fear carried over into college, and would you believe that I actually selected my first major because it avoided all communication classes?  By the time I was done with the immense amount of college, I felt much better about public speaking, but it still wasn’t one of my favorite things, by a long shot.  It fell somewhere between sticking needles under my toenails and dealing with a batch of seed ticks. 

With the encouragement of my friends and the promise of a small class, I said to myself, ‘What the heck?’ and agreed.  The class was scheduled for my birthday, unbeknownst to my friends.  It became quite the celebration, cake, gifts, and the whole nine yards.  Instead of the nine people that had registered, nearly FIFTY showed up to hear me speak.  Local media caught wind of it, and within a month, my classes were the hottest thing going.  I could pack any venue I booked.  I was still working full time, and could not devote the necessary time to both, so when the economy took my job in November, it was a blessing in disguise.  Since then, the classes have tapered way off, but are still enough to allow me to stay home and devote my time to helping others take control of their lives.

In a way, it was the best birthday present I’ve ever received.  I now have a somewhat successful business and come home from a workshop grinning from ear to ear.  I don’t remember ever doing that at my ‘real’ job.  I’ve made tons of new friends and hear success stories on a daily basis.  It was definitely worth it to give up that birthday for a class!  Now, I try my hardest to schedule around it. 

I could have not done this without my friends, and the constant encouragement from Connie and my husband, and you- my readers.  I want to thank each and every one of you.  Every time you visit the site, click a link, attend a class, or become a fan on facebook, it gives me that extra encouragement to keep Gateway to Saving going.  Thank you for everything!

I just wanted to remind you that you can print or download some of my printables to help with your Mega Sale shopping by clicking on the ‘printables’ tab above.

**Smile!  It’s a Mega Sale!!!**

First thing’s first:  Kudos to the United States Postal Service.  You have successfully caused me more anxiety issues today than I’ve had in the past year.  I understand that the time of mail delivery may vary due to conditions that are out of your control, but this is a LITTLE extreme.

If you ‘like’ (I still really despise that term) Gateway to Saving on Facebook, you’ve been given a heads up that there is a HUGE Mega Sale at Dillons, Gerbes, and Kroger (yes, and all other affiliates) this week.  If you don’t ‘like’ us on Facebook and missed this early notification, you ought to get ‘yer rump on over there and ‘like’ us.  There is going to be a LOT of free and cheap stuff with this sale.  I mean a LOT.  Definite stock up time.

While I’ve had a full listing of the items featured in this week’s sale for nearly 2 weeks now, I’ve been waiting for my ad to get here to confirm the prices of these items.  In Southwest Missouri, we really don’t fall into any of the other ‘ad regions’ and seem to have higher prices than other areas.  Sometimes these prices are nearly triple, so I want to be careful of what deals I post and what coupons I order.

I get the ads mailed to me, and usually receive them on Mondays- around 10:30 a.m.  There was some severe flooding around here last night, so I sat on pins and needles while I waited for my mailman to arrive.  The kids were getting really tired from hopping up every 10 minutes to check the mail.  When he finally got here around 1:30, I threw everything else down (including my Kraft cheese coupons and my free Soap Opera Digest- and I am dying  to know what’s going on with Sami and Rafe) and ripped the Dillon’s ad out.  I ran to my office and turned the computer on while scrambling to get the ad open.  Wait- Kraft Singles are $1.79?  I thought they were part of the mega sale.  As I looked further down the ad, this is what I found:

Notice the dates?  (and my freshly painted toenail?)  Yup- it’s LAST week’s ad.  Talk about an immense letdown!

So, since I don’t have an ad, I am going to give you a small listing of the Mega Sale items.  Order coupons at your own risk.  Some of this stuff is free in other locations, but it might still be pretty high here.  I’m only listing items that I’m purchasing coupons for myself.

• Kraft Shredded Cheese
• Sargentos Cheese
• Kraft Singles
• Philadelphia Cream Cheese
• Amp Energy Drinks
• Nilla Wafers
• Keebler Cookies
• Keebler Crackers
• Nabisco Crackers
• Pepsi
• Spaghettios
• Scotch Brite Sponges

I’m holding off on posting prices and ordering other coupons UNTIL I get confirmation of the ad! 

Buying more now will save you later!  Order more coupons from Coupons by Dede or The Coupon Clippers.

BREAKING NEWS!!!!  Hy-Vee is on it’s way to Springfield, MO as a part of the new Community Improvement District at Kansas and Battlefield. 

You have no clue how excited I am about this!  Hy-Vee does not double coupons, but runs enough in-store promotions to offset it.   I recently STOCKED up on Kraft shredded cheese for 20¢ per package with NO coupons!  The best part?  They are not AWG supplied, as the rest of our stores are.  AWG stores all run the same sales at the same times and stock identical products.  Hy-vee brings some tasty alternatives, an impressive meat counter, a full seafood counter, several restaurants, and so much more. 

The nearest Hy-Vee is at Osage Beach and is a wonderful store.  The problem is that I spend a lot of $$ elsewhere when I make the trip up there!  It is not really much further for me, but there are so many great places along the way.  We are in Springfield so much anyways, it will become just another stop- although it is on the wrong side of town. 

The Springfield News-Leader has a small blip on it today, and there will be a feature on KSPR at 10:00 tonight. 

Today was Ethan’s big day- and momma left the camera at home.  You see, I was just as nervous as he was about his first golf tournament.  We made sure that he had decent clothes and since Brad couldn’t get off of work, he even made me trade him cars (with the promise to wash his) so that Ethan wasn’t embarrassed bymy white polka dot paint job (see right).

I tried to fully educate myself on what we needed to do to prepare for this, but no one seemed to know the answers, or as my husband put it, you’ll figure it out when you get there.  Well, figuring out that ball markers were a necessity when I got halfway across the golf course, on foot mind you, was not a learning experience.  It’s something that a somewhat experienced golfer should have passed on to his T-totally inexperienced wife and son.  No worries though- one of the other boys came through for him.

I spent the first 20 minutes or so trying to hide the confused look on my face.  I must have failed miserably because one of the other dads came up and spent the entire tournament explaining to me what was going on and how to help Ethan play to his fullest.  Turns out, he is a golf coach and his sons are pretty well known on the youth circuit.

Another thing that super mom wasn’t able to do was take him to practice beforehand.  It had been 14 months since he’d played a round of golf!  He took lessons one summer and has played a total of 4 golf games his entire life.  Of course, this same mother didn’t know that he should be there early to go to the driving range (chalk another one up for Dad).  Thank goodness they were running just a bit behind and we had about 10 minutes to hit some balls.

When it came time to tee off (I believe they call it Tee Time), Ethan was extremely nervous, which is rare for him.  He didn’t do so well on the first 3 holes.  As we progressed, so did he.  He ended up tied with the best score on the last 3 holes- and one of the kids won the National Championship last year!  The parents were all bragging on how much he’d improved.  When I told them of his previous ‘experience’, they were dumbfounded.  He really has some potential, he just needs to compound on it.

Even though Super Mom also didn’t know to take in water bottles or bring her camera (like the terrible phone pics?), she did know to ask her husband if the clubs were still the right size after 3 years.  Husband rolled his eyes and said, ‘yes’.  Poor boy- they are 3 sizes too small!!!

OK, you just KNEW this was coming, right?  ——–>Insert Brag Photo Here <———–

That’s Ethan on the left with his 3rd place trophy.  He was quite a ways behind the other two, but he is also a long ways behind them with experience.  We had an absolutely wonderful time- and I’m almost tempted to go buy me a set so we can do this more often during the summers!

I had a GREAT day off yesterday!  We took the kids (and my nephew) to the beach, did a little shopping, went to dinner at our favorite pizza place, and came back for a ball game. Today is Katie’s first day of school- summer school, so we wanted to have one last hurrah before she became a ‘big kid’.

However, today, my BIL and his gf are coming to pick up my nephew.  I invited them for dinner partially so that I would be forced to clean today.  I have a TON of work to do to get this place is a mediocre order!  I will pop in and out, but if you find a great deal on something, a coupon, or have any tips, send me an email and I’ll get them posted.  I just won’t have a lot of time to look for them myself.  I’ve got cabinets to clean out, trash to haul, laundry to do, closets to clean, floors to vacuum, and I’ve got to come up with some place to hide all of this garage sale stuff that’s taking over the house!

Hopefully, things will return to normal by tomorrow, and I’ll have a clean house.. all to myself, so imagine the work I will get done!

In the past few weeks, there has been an increase in the amount of fraudulent coupons that are circulating the internet.  I’m sure you’ve all received the free coupon for Doritos attached to an email in the last week or so. FAKE, FAKE, FAKE!  That coupon screams fake!  Why?  Because you received it as an attachment to an email.  Because it’s a .pdf file for a free product.  Because it’s been reported by Frito-Lay as fraudulent.  Need any more reasons?

Here’s a VERY brief overview into the life cycle of a coupon:

1. Coupon redeemed at store by consumer
2. Retailer ships redeemed coupons to clearinghouse for processing
3. Clearinghouse tallies up the total due from each manufacturer and bills accordingly
4. Clearinghouse distributes payment from retailer to stores based on legitimate coupons they have turned in.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to create a fraudulent coupon- just a beginner’s graphic design skill and a barcode font.  It’s very easy to create a fake coupon.  Just because a coupon scans doesn’t mean that it’s legit.  Many cashiers and store managers assume that if a coupon scans they can take it.  So when Frito-Lay receives a bill for.. oh, say.. $200,000 (10 bags per store at $4 each, 100 stores per state- just a LOW estimate) and they haven’t issued a coupon, they are going to look into it.  When shown these coupons, Frito-Lay is not going to write the clearinghouse a check.  If they don’t pay the clearinghouse, the clearinghouse can’t pay the store.  If the store doesn’t get paid, they are going to become more leery of accepting coupons.  Then, when a customer tries to use a legitimate coupon, they might just catch a lot of crap, resulting in a miserable shopping trip and an increased bill (or large empty space in his or her pantry).

So, how do you tell if a coupon is fake?  A lot of it is common sense.  Remember the life cycle of a coupon?  It can take up to 6 months to process and determine that the store won’t get reimbursed for the fraudulent coupon.  Do you know how many coupons can be redeemed in a 6 month period?  There is a website dedicated to fraudulent coupons.  Cents-Off is a good resource to investigate fraudulent coupons.  The problem with Cents-Off is that they are only partnered with a limited number of manufacturers, so you will not see all of the fake coupons listed- and it can take up to 6 months to appear on the list.

Here’s a few tips you need to remember:

• If you receive a coupon attached to an email as a .pdf file, it’s fake (unless it is directly from the manufacturer).
• If you get a high value or even free coupon as a .pdf from a manufacturer’s site, although it was obtained legitimately, don’t be surprised if you see it listed on a list of fraudulent coupons.  Sometimes a manufacturer doesn’t realize the impact of the viral internet and pulls the coupon, realizing that it has been printed thousands of times- so they report it as fraud.
• If a friend ever hands you a coupon that obviously looks printed and is for a free product, it’s fake.
• If you see a coupon that looks scanned or is not centered on the page- it’s fake.
• A fake coupon scans just like a legitimate one!

They are really starting to crack down on those who use or create fraudulent coupons.  Cents-off offers rewards for information on those who intentionally take advantage  of manufacturers and retailers. A recent indictment even tells of a group charged with $250 million in coupon fraud!

If you’re in doubt, don’t use it!  It’s that simple.  If a coupon really has you puzzled, shoot me an email.  I’ll be glad to look into it for you.