2011 is the year of savings

In January, I decided 2011 is going to be the year of savings. The year of never paying full price. The year that I become more fiscally responsible.

I'm here to tell you it's totally working. 2011 savings so far? $678.76!!

Here's the thing...if you dig enough, you'll realize there are ways to save money everywhere. Before I order anything online, I first type in the product name in a google search along with the words "coupon code." About 75% of the time I find ways of not paying for shipping or getting 10-25% off my order.

There are great websites that offer daily deals such as Groupon, CBS Local Deals and Living Social. These are fantastic for finding deals on a wide array of things such as facials, dental care and travel deals. Now there are also websites that have capitalized on the popularity of these, like The Dealmap, that combine all the deals into one e-mail sent to you daily. Also, Restaurant.com is great too, offering gift cards to restaurants for incredible prices. It's not uncommon to find deals where you only have to pay $2 for $25 off.

In terms of the grocery store, there are oodles of ways to save. Many stores have their own cards you swipe when you check out, and I found out you can go online and electronically load coupons on to those so there's no clipping. I saved $43 on one shopping trip that way! There are also plenty of other coupons you can cut through places like Coupon Mom and Coupon Suzy.

Do you feel like you always have coupons to clothing stores but inevitably leave them at home? I started keeping a Ziploc baggie in my purse with all my coupons so I always have them with me. As soon as I get one in the mail, I put it in the baggie. Also, don't be afraid to ask! I've saved more than $60 in the past few weeks by asking store workers if I could use coupons on sale items (at Macy's you sometimes can), and also asking another store if they could still give me a discount even though I forgot my coupon. (When I worked in retail, I would always take care of polite people.) 

Hopefully these tips help you save too! Let's make 2011 the best one yet!

P.S. Thanks for all the nice Facebook comments on my hair! My shameless way of asking for compliments totally worked!!