Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a safe Holiday and are ready to jump into this new year. Many of you have been reading the deals and sales that Julie and I post about for quite some time… I’m hoping a few of you have just found your way here after committing to spending more time managing your budgets and spending. Good for You!

What can you expect to find here? Julie and I write about both sales and deals that we find interesting….both in stores and online. We share information on good coupons to get your hands on…what to expect out of the inserts in the Sunday LJWorld… and how to put those coupons to good use. Occassionally we share an idea on how to make a deal work… maybe by sharing a recipe or a decorating tip; ideas to remind you how to make frugal work for you.

I guess I should start with a few of my own deifintions:

A sale is when the price of an item has been reduced. Personally, I’m not usually impressed by a sale alone unless it is a high percentage off … or an item that very rarely sees a reduced price.

A DEAL is a little harder to come by and takes a little work. A deal is when you take the afore mentioned sale and combine it with another type of discount; a coupon or a code for instance, further reducing the price. To make a deal happen you usually have to do a little planning and be prepared.

Here is a great example:

I only like to buy Gold N Plump chicken, which is sold at Target. I know that Target puts that particular brand of chicken on sale every 2-3 weeks so I keep an eye out for it. Yesterday was the end of a week long sale on this chicken so I thought I would grab some. When I opened my email yesterday I saw an email from the Gold N Plump company (I subscribe to their e-newsletter) sending out their monthly newsletter and COUPON. This month’s coupon was for $2 off of any package of chicken. WOO!

I printed the coupon twice and headed to the store. When I got there I found that many packages of the chicken had $2 or $1/off at register coupons attached to their packaging because they needed to be used or frozen within a couple of days. When you see a coupon like that, from the store, you can use that coupon in ADDITION to your paper manufacturer’s coupon…it is called doubling.

I got a family pack of drumsticks (my kids love ’em) …for $0.49 + tax.

The chicken, normally $6.49 was on sale for $4.49. Great SALE.
I had a coupon for $2 off that I received from the manufacturere…good planning on my part.
When I got to the store there was an additional store discount…. dumb luck on my part.
Final price of $0.49 for 14 pieces of chicken …. EXCELLENT DEAL.

See how that works?

So…whether you are new to Shop Talk or a long time reader….I hope that we can help you find some great sales and deals this year. If you are interested in more daily deals and shopping tips, information on couponing and frugal living you can visit my personal blog, SuperJenn and hopefully find something that helps you out. Keep up with SuperJenn and Shop Talk on Facebook, too! As always, feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Here’s to a Frugal New Year!