[FreshMango]

Member name: FreshMango

Name: H

Location: Oregon

Stores I Shop at: First Alternative Natural Foods Co-Op, Grocery Outlet, WinCo, Trader Joe's, Fred Meyer's, and Market of Choice.

Weekly grocery budget: I shop bi-weekly, with a budget of $100 each trip. I am unemployed and disabled, so I receive $200 in food stamps each month. I can usually get two weeks or more worth of food for under $75 (I only buy for one person. I do splurge on one or two items each trip, or else I'd go )

Number of people in my family: 1

Number of pets: 0 (but I take pet food coupons to buy petfood to donate to several severely low income and homeless people I know, that have pets.)

Years Couponing/Refunding: I've used coupons randomly, but not an active "couponer".

Favorite Coupon of all time: $1.00 off Santa Cruz juice. The lemonades were on clearance from $4.48 to $1.25 so with the coupons I got two bottles for .50 *shrug* it was a good deal for really expensive juice.

What I hope to get from AFC: I'd like to learn how to pile coupons and all those fun tricks. I don't really need to be getting money *back*, I'm not quite that dedicated, but I'd like to save some money at least.
I typically don't buy major brand names -I stick to organics and local foods as much as possible-, so I think it isn't going to work very well, but I'm willing to give it a shot. I also don't buy much stuff other than food, and I don't do "Buy 3 get $1.00 off!" coupons because the food would go bad before I got to the 2nd or 3rd box. To me that's a waste of money, not saving. Cleaning supplies for me consist of a jug of white vinegar, a bottle of tea tree oil and some baking soda. Oh, and some Dr. Bronner's if I can afford it.
That goes for household cleaners, and body cleansing!

Hobbies/Interests: A bit of a crunchy granola head, I'm into reading, music, knitting, organic gardening, photography, tea, freebies (love these!!), bike riding, pottery throwing, sustainable living, and I am trying to work my way back to a more vegetarian diet.

[A2Woman]

Welcome to AFC! I'm also new here, and enjoying the $$'s I'm saving!

[Jaime]

[CuppyCake]

[Drea]

[VivLyn]

to AFC!!!

[catt4ever]

Hello and Welcome to AFC !
I'm new here too and ready to save $$$ ! I use vinegar & baking soda to boil out my sink drains...interested about the tea tree oil

[mgmetts]

Welcome!

[crosscountrysoccermom]

Welcome!

[imbikerdude]

Originally Posted by catt4ever

Hello and Welcome to AFC !
I'm new here too and ready to save $$$ ! I use vinegar & baking soda to boil out my sink drains...interested about the tea tree oil

I love tea tree oil. I use it on all my cuts and scrapes. It really helps me heal well. I love essential oils as well.

[Carrie]

Welcome to AFC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[moneymaker]

Hello and Welcome to AFC

[Pepsilady405]

Hi!! Welcome to AFC! You're going to love it here! My best advice is to read read read!! You can learn so much! Yes, you will spend quite a bit of time here! Take that time and do it! If you factor in how much money you're going to save by learning and reading on here than you are actually going to paid a lot of money for the time you spend here!


I'll share with you what was shared with me when I first joined! Thanks to "oldtingrl" !


Your Username ~ when you click it..it'll take you to your personal profile page.


Settings ~ when you click this..it'll take you to the page where you're thank you's and reps are listed. It also gives you access to your control panel, networking, settings & options, private messages, subscribed threads, moderation, miscellaneous, your notepad, and blog.


Inbox ~ this takes you to your Private Message page (this is basically the AFC version of in-house email).


Update (this only appears when you have a new message in your Inbox or on your profile page) ~ it will have a number next to it too. This will allow you see how many messages you have.


Logout ~ pretty obvious what this one does.


At the bottom of every page, on the left hand side you will find "Acronyms and Terms used here". If you see a term or abbreviation you are not sure about, you can click that and it will help you find what you need to know.


To see all the new chatter that is coming in for all the forums, you can click "Forum" (this is found at the top of the page, on the left-hand side). When you click this, a little box will scroll down and give you a little list of items to choose from. Click "New Posts" and it will show all the newest threads for the forums as they are submitted.


Giving/Receiving "Thanks" or "Rep" is a fun feature here at AFC. If you see a post that has inspired you, helped you, or given you a moment of pause , you can click the "Thanks" button (located at the bottom of each post; it's blue with a little gold arrow picture) this will insert your username at the bottom of their post. This lets them know you appreciate their post. OR If you would like, you can click the "Rep" button (located at the bottom of each post; it's blue with a + sign picture). When clicking this you're given the opportunity to leave a small comment, telling the poster what you appreciate. They're both a way to show your appreciation, but you can only do one or the other..not both. So, when you see someone's username listed under your post..you'll know you've been "Thank'd" and your post is much appreciated.


If you have any questions, just holler. We're so glad you're here.


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[jaybeza]

Welcome to AFC!!! We are so happy you are here with us!!

[amjmom]

Welcome!

[bigshirley]

Welcome to AFC!!

You'll find plenty of coupon savy folks eager to share all the tricks of the trade!

We are SO glad to have YOU!!!

Quick tip - plan meals out ahead of time for the entire week by using the sale ads. Keep duplicate coupons of items you know your family loves. (especially items that store well or freeze, that way you can stock up on them when they are on sale!)

Additionally, always keep a pre-made shopping list of your "must haves" (so you know what to always get when it is on sale).
By pre-planning according to the sales...you will save time and $$.

[Couponclipper003]

[deniseweber]