My Frugal Heart Beats for Twitter

I'm still a little new to the whole Twitter scene (melissawgaffney, if you'd like to follow me). It's kind of neat to see celebrities on there - Joel McHale and Bethenny Frankel are some of my favorite tweeters (is that the right use of the word?), but I think my favorite thing about Twitter is how instantly you can find all kinds of deals!

First off, you can follow some of your favorite stores. Much like Facebook, if you follow certain stores, they are likely to post special promotions or deals on Twitter. It's a good way to keep informed on sales all in one place. Since I never pay full price at Banana Republic, I like to follow their tweets letting me know it's 30% off sweaters and outerwear!

Here are some of my favorite deal tweeters:

1) Fantabulously Frugal - I love Lisa and her sweet, sweet deals! She keeps up with EVERYTHING! Check out her blog, too!

2) Free List - Free List is just like it sounds - it lists anything from classifieds in your town that are free! The posts can be a little overwhelming, but it's a good way to score anything from free skiis to free hot tubs to free cars (okay, no engine, but still). I'm following Free List Seattle, but there are lots of Free Lists. Check for your town!

3) Groupon - I've mentioned Groupon before, and now I'm in love with their tweets! They send out a fantastic deal every day for restaurants, spas, events and more for numerous cities! Last I checked, they were in 45 cities. Find the Groupon for your area!

4) Target Daily Deal - I can't spend time every day checking Target's site for good deals, so they tweet it for me! Their Daily Deal tweets are great! Just 3 days ago, Dyson vacuums were on sale for $299 - normally $400! Can't wait to see what they have for the holiday shopping season...

5) Travelzoo - if you love to travel, or just need to find deals on how to get where you need to go cheaply, you must follow Travelzoo. They have great travel finds ($29/night at the Tropicana in Vegas?!) for last minute getaways or they can give you a head's up when you plan something in advance.

Do you tweet? Who do you follow that makes you laugh, think, or save money? I'd love the suggestions!

Saving Money with Groupon!

Hey all! Apologies for the lack of posts recently - Frugal Femme and I have taken turns being on vacation, so the blog has taken a back seat. Anyway, back to life, back to reality...

So there's a great website I came across recently called groupon.com. What is it? It's a site that features deals in certain U.S. cities. You can get deals on restaurants, spa treatments, events, cooking classes, etc. There is a catch - to get the great deals, Groupon gets a GROUP (hence the "group" of Groupon) rate from the businesses participating. If enough people sign up for that day's deal, you can really score. If not, better luck tomorrow.

It's not yet available for all cities (17 cities right now), but check it out here!

Cutting Coupons to Trim Your Budget

Maybe some of you grew up in a similar household - I'd remember coming home from school and watching my mom cut coupons at the table. I'd see coupons for 30 or 40 cents off, and remember thinking "That doesn't seem like a lot of money." Then, we'd go to the grocery store, and I'd watch my mom rifle through her stack of coupons and be so embarrassed. My mom was the Queen of Coupons.

Until recently, I pretty much thought coupons were a waste of time. But after I noticed the difference it made on my grocery budget, I thought it was worth the 10-15 minutes to save $10-$25 each trip! Typically, I get the Sunday paper (which I love to read with a cup of coffee anyway) and sift through the coupon section.

But there is a digitally savvy way to be a smart shopper now - online coupons. There are great sites like www.couponmom.com or www.coupons.com. You essentially just click on the coupons you want, print them out and start saving money on your grocery bills. Some sites like www.pgesaver.com let you load the coupons on your grocery store savings card!

There's even coupons for organic food. I recently signed up at Kashi (www.kashi.com) to receive coupons and already got one for a free frozen entree. According to a good friend, Amy's Organics also offers coupons if you just email their customer service department and ASK (thanks Stace!). That's all!

Any other good coupon collecting tips out there? Here's to eating well and saving money!