Tech Savvy Guest: Caroline from Smarty Pants Mama Shares her Favorite Money Saving Sites

Smarty Pants Mama, aka Caroline, combines her expertise in technology, education and consulting to reach out to fellow moms through Smarty Pants Mama. She finds Smarty Pants Mama to be a great resource for moms, new and veteran, looking for ways of being a smart mama!

Caroline is a true smart mom whose money saving ways have been featured on a Miami – WSVN segment on The Grocery Game where she shared her insights on how smart shopping can save mom hundreds of dollars of month. Caroline and I have known each other in real life for years and today she’s here to share a couple of her favorite ways to save her family money.

Are there websites that can truly save families money? Yes!

Coupons, giveaways, freebies and more. You name it, you search for it, and you will find it online. The cyber world, while bountiful with fabulous resources for moms, can be quite overwhelming for many of us. It’s often a challenge to figure out which sites are worth it and which ones are just junk. As a pretty successful coupon clipping, money saving Smart Mama, I’ll share 2 fantastic online resources.

TheGroceryGame.com

I have saved well over $4000 in 14 months using Teri Gault’s weekly shopping list from TheGroceryGame.com!

The idea behind The Grocery Game is to use a combination of manufacturer coupons with store sales (advertised and unadvertised) to get the lowest possible price of an item.
You will see an item on the list when Teri, founder of The Grocery Game, believes that the price, let’s say of Heinz Ketchup, has hit its rock bottom price. At this point, she recommends to stock up (I have had as many as 4 large ketchup bottles in my pantry.)

This strategy will prevent last minute shopping runs for a recipe, which in turn will typically lead to a full price purchase. The Grocery Game wants you to have all, if not most ingredients, constantly stockpiled in your kitchen. The weekly updated list outlines exactly where coupons can be found (online or in Sunday circular.)

TheGroceryGame.com offers a 4 week trial that is certainly worth it. They also have a great referral program.

Pro: color coded, detailed information on coupons, decent message board to get support
Con: monthly fee after trial period, not updated until mid-Sunday morning

BabyCheapskate.com

In the summer of 2007 my husband and I walked into Target with 60 Target/Gerber coupons. Baby Cheapskate had posted that using this online coupon along with the current pricing of Gerber baby food, a 2-pack could be purchased for 2¢! Sounded unreal! Well, it wasn’t! We walked out with a ridiculous amount of baby food, and spent under $1.00! You should have seen the cashier’s eyes when I kept handing her more and more coupons! Baby Cheapskate had my heart from that moment. For smart mamas of formula drinking, diaper-wearing little ones, Baby Cheapskate is essential. A weekly post details the best deals for diapers and formula. She includes links, coupons information and restrictions. See the site also for other great deals circulating throughout the cyberworld and the real world!

Pro: updates daily for last minute deals
Cons: honestly, I can’t come up with one!

I encourage you to try these sites and see how they can help you and your family be a Smart “Saving” Mama family!

Visit Caroline’s site, Smarty Pants Mama for the latest Smart Mama savings ideas, recipes, CPSC product recalls, teachable moments, reviews, giveaways and more! Be sure to let her know you saw her guest post here!

If Caroline looks familiar, you might know her from the Huggies’ Potty Project, a reality web series on potty training that can be found here. She has also presented at various conferences on the role of technology in education and can be found on Twitter and Facebook.

Huge thanks to Caroline for sharing her money saving ways. She pays for her family’s subscription to The Grocery Game and was not compensated for this guest post.