Sometimes finding exactly what you want for homeschool curriculum is frustrating, not to mention time consuming. Aside from hopping around to garage sales and curriculum fairs, there are some mega deals to be found online. The trick is to find them! Half.com and Ebay are both owned by the same company, but are two very different websites but both offer treasures to be found. However, there are some VERY important points to remember.
Ebay
Ebay.com can be intimidating if you have never used it, and there are a surprising number of people that haven’t – for that very reason. Registering for an account is extremely easy, and takes no time at all. Finding what you want isn’t too hard, but there are a few things to watch out for:
Read the description- Duh. You’d think this would be a no-brainer, but statistics say that only about 25% of Ebay shoppers actually read the description of what they are buying.
Look at the shipping charges-Some items have a calculator built in that will charge you actual shipping, just enter your zip code. Some charge shipping and handling charges, so know what you will be paying BEFORE you bid.
Who are you buying from? This is VERY important. Ebay works hard at protecting their buyers, but ultimately it’s up to YOU. Look at the feedback. If they have very little feedback, you are taking a chance.
Once you bid, you are committed to buy the item, regardless. So be sure it’s what you want.
This is a new tool I finally figured out so you could easily see what homeschool curriculum was available on Ebay:
Half.com
Half.com isn’t a bidding community like Ebay, but you will still want to look at who you are buying from and avoid questionable sellers. Half.com is very similar to Amazon, just a little cheaper on the shipping charges, and a little less protection from fraud. At Half, when you buy the book, a standard shipping amount ($3.49 for standard, more for expedited or international) is automatically added, and you can expect your book within a week or two.
Both Ebay and Half.com are excellent for finding good deals on homeschool curriculum or textbooks, and have policies in place to help you if something still goes wrong. It’s sort of like like online garage sale-ing!
Lately it seems there has been a revival on using coupons – in a BIG way. This isn’t your ordinary using a coupon when your store is running a sale, this is crazy couponing that can cut your grocery bill by over 90%. You read that right. If you watch any of the coupon videos we have posted here, then you will see women save even more than 90%. How do they do it? Now, that part is not so simple – but it can be done. Just ask the Coupon Queen (watch the video at the bottom of this post)
How it’s done – Basically
Saving money with coupons is work, but work that can pay fairly well if you figure it by the hour. The more you do it, the less time it will take you, but figure on spending at least 3-5 hours every week putting it all together at the beginning. Like a job, more time = more money. Collecting enough coupons will also take some time, and some searching out the best sources, but… the more coupons you have the more you will save! Having the right coupons on hand when the right store is offering the sale is key.
I’m not a coupon-guru, but have been matching coupons and store sales for over 30 years.After researching this coupon phenomenon, I’ve decided it’s just taking it to a deeper level. Spend the time, you’ll save the cash – along with experience.
Basically start with these steps:
Find local stores that will double coupons and take more than one coupon for an item. Using a columnar pad sheet or Excel on your computer, start your list.
Once you have your list of stores written down along with their coupon policies, then you will want to find the best way to get their weekly sales flyer. Note the dates the flyer typical comes out.
Start accumulating truckloads of coupons. A few ways to do this would be to ask your neighbors and friends to pass along their stray coupons, buy the Sunday paper, and if all else fails, buy them off of Ebay. There are many websites that will list best coupon finds, but this is a bottomless pit you have to decide how much time you will spend searching for coupons. We listed a few websites at the bottom of this post that offer printable coupons.
Organize your coupons. Here is a video that shows an efficient way to organize your coupons with a binder you create yourself:
Now, there are two stores that are mentioned frequently that seem to be where many of these amazing stories are really from. CVS Pharmacy and Walgreens both have in store programs that compound ways you can save. Watch this video from Coupon Mom and you’ll see what I mean:
Don’t have time to do all this work?
I hear you. Over the years, it seems there are seasons of life that you have more time than money, and other seasons you have more money than time. Regardless, most of us still want to save money anyway we can. The best way that I’ve found to make the most of your grocery dollar is with Walmart’s Comp program – especially if you live in a more rural area that driving from store to store isn’t practical. That may not be the official name of Walmart’s program, but it’s where Walmart will ‘comp’ any sale price that you can offer proof of the price. This way, I sit down with all the local ads (I pull Kroger’s off the internet and print them out-just make sure the date is somewhere on the print out) and write down the best price for every item that I need for that week. Often, I will even use whatever meat is on sale to plan that week’s menu. Then, I’ll match whatever coupons to the sales, and I’m off to the store. Just don’t forget your sale ads, most Walmarts won’t give you the sale price without it.
For items available at CVS and Walgreens, if you have one close by, I would look into that, too. We don’t have one by us, so it’s not something I’ve tried….yet. (plan to, though!)
Stockpile the best sales
Our final tip is to begin your grocery back stock if you haven’t already. I know that most budgets don’t have much wiggle room, but if you are saving anything at all with your coupon efforts, take that extra money and buy extra of items that are the best deals. Many of the videos I’ve listed here show outrageously stocked pantries, and that is where much of the saving takes place. It’s those emergency trips to the store for a forgotten item at full price that can burst your savings bubble! I really hate paying full price for anything.
Websites to find coupons and savings:
Southern Saver – If you live in the SE part of the US, this is absolutely your best coupon site! Even if you live elsewhere, SS has lots of info on how to coupon from the ground up.
Kroger – you can view current sales, click on the items you want and print a list in only a few minutes. There are also coupons you can download to your Kroger Card if you tend to forget them.
Coupons.com – THE coupon site, you can scroll through hundreds of available coupons easily and print the ones you want.
One of our objectives is to save you time finding the best resources for what you need… FAST. This resource can take up some precious email time, but it’s well worth it! You may have heard of Kim Komando, she calls herself “The Digital Goddess” (I know…) and really does deliver on providing answers to everyday online problems and other tech challenges. What some people might not realize, is she gives you really helpful and useful information in other areas than just electronic.
Important! I want to be sure you know up front, before I proceed with this Kim Komando “commercial”, first, it’s completely free, and two, I receive absolutely nothing for writing this! This is just a resource I’ve gotten so much benefit from I wanted to share it! Actually,
Due to the sheer volume of email I receive, I really try to unsubscribe to anything that is not immediately useful. However, I get 2-3 emails from Kim almost everyday, and while I only read about a third of them, the information is priceless. One email told me how to find unclaimed money and legitimate places to check if you might have some hidden away unawares. Between my husband and myself, we found $1850! Another useful tip was a warning about “grey market” digital cameras. We all know when the deal looks a little too good to beware, but I’d never heard of ‘gray market’ cameras, and I had bookmarked several sites that fell into that category. Kim is also a photography buff, and offers a wealth of reliable info you won’t want to buy a camera without.
Website of the Day is another newsletter of Kim’s you can sign up for and receive Kim’s best website pick online. I can’t tell you – well, actually, I am telling you - how many amazing resources I have discovered through this newsletter alone. Everything from coupon sites to educational sites (like Google Earth when it first came out) to fun stuff and more. She shares amazing videos she’s found, as well as ideas on working online, free computer programs, scam alerts, money saving sites, and much more!
All the emails are very short and to the point, and is well worth the time to weed through. The subject line of each email is accurately tagged, so if it’s not something you care about (like calibrating your HDTV), you just delete it.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I have! Oh, did I mention she gives tips and hacks into your computer, too?
Sometimes finding exactly what you want for homeschool curriculum is frustrating, not to mention time consuming. Aside from hopping around to garage sales and curriculum fairs, there are some mega deals to be found online. The trick is to find them! Half.com and Ebay are both owned by the same company, but are two very different websites but both offer treasures to be found. However, there are some VERY important points to remember.
Saving money with coupons is work, but work that can pay fairly well if you figure it by the hour. The more you do it, the less time it will take you, but figure on spending at least 3-5 hours every week putting it all together at the beginning. Like a job, more time = more money. Collecting enough coupons will also take some time, and some searching out the best sources, but… the more coupons you have the more you will save! Having the right coupons on hand when the right store is offering the sale is key.
.