Get To Know Your Local Bloggers – Our Real Deal

*Go here to read more about my “Get To Know Your Local Bloggers” series*

This weeks next local blogger to be featured is Michelle from Our Real Deal.

Blog address – www.ourrealdeal.wordpress.com

My Quick Review:  If I could sum up Our Real Deal in one word it would be “real”.  Michelle keeps her blog very true to it’s name.  Our Real Deal is a mix of Michelle’s family life and the great deals that she gets.  One thing I really love about Michelle and her blog is that she is an actual deal seeker!  I have said it before that anyone can become a “deal blogger” but that doesn’t mean that they actually seek out deals themselves.  Michelle does and she is pretty darn good at it too – see “exhibit A” up top aka her stockpile!  Michelle has much more to offer but I will let you hear about it in her own words…..

Let’s start off easy with questions that I know most people would like to know -

What is your name? Michelle Kelsey

Where are you located? I grew up in and still live in Alexander, NY – a tiny little town ½ way between Buffalo and Rochester and just outside the Attica Prison Gates… Hey – if they get out, they are not stickin’ around!!

Do you work outside of the home? Yes, I work full time for the “USDA”… I am not in the meat packing department though… I am with a division called Rural Development.  Essentially – government mortgages…

Do you have any children and/or pets? My husband and I have been married for almost 12 years (although together for almost 20 WoW), we said I do as the millennium changed – 12/31/1999, dancing to Prince’s “2000 – 0 -0 – Party’s over…outta time” We have 3 wonderful kids, A son Joshua (Bub), who turns 11, Dec.12th (and is already so excited that he can’t breathe about actually turning 12 on 12-12-12… we all need a claim to fame – right??), a daughter – my FUTURE BFF – Delaney (Lulu) who is 19 9, and the BA-BAY,
Conner (ConnerKerryKelsey – no nickname, he just gets called by his full name ALL the time… I have no idea why!!) We have one big fat, Golden Retriever named LOGAN JAMES KELSEY… also usually screamed at by his full name since he is a year and ½ and is still chewing EVERYTHING up. Seriously, I do not know what is up with the names in this house..…

What are some of your favorite things to do when you aren’t blogging? Well I can promise you it is NOT my laundry!! I do LOVE to cook and bake, but I hate to clean up so that’s out… If time is truly my own, I LOVE to read, shop, and to play poker… I think that is why I love couponing and “catching” the deals… it is very similar to gambling – or as I like to think of it, my healthy addiction!!

How about some blogging questions, shall we? -

Why did you start your blog? I started following other deal blogger’s and as is usually the case, whatever someone else has, I want… LOL!! Also, I know I am more accountable if I document my plans and other than deals, I want to be held accountable for many other things, like meal planning and freezer cooking etc. as well as the “great re-organize/re-model” I have forever going on in my home… and my original plan to organize and ‘archive’
the thousands of recipes I have in binders and such… Meals, Deals, and Random Ramblings was the original intent and I have found I much prefer the random ramblings, so we’ll see where the blog takes me… I really want to help others learn how to do what I have been taught… seriously being able to shop the way I do now has changed the way we live!!

What is your favorite part about blogging? 100% it is the new friendships I have made!! I think it is like internet dating, because of the computer and the mutual interests I am now talking to others that I have the same things in common with… AWESOME!!!

Which stores do you do your own coupon match-ups for?  I do CVS, Rite-aid, and Tops – I keep trying Walgreen’s but <BLECH> and I often mention many
other stores leading deals but just not all the matchups… I have learned that by getting all of my health and beauty at the drug stores – essentially for FREE – I am freeing up time and money to use at the grocery store, and our only grocery in this area is Tops, so I try to maximize the deals there.

Approximately how many times do you post a week? I am kind of a weekend blogger… I start the deals on Thursday and usually post some various “lead-ins” on Thoughtful Thursday, then all the deals are posted throughout Friday and Saturday. Sunday is generally an overview – Sunday Funday – and I try to post the matchups from my actual shopping trips on Monday or Tuesday…all while attempting to be entertaining because I want you to like me… and YES, I am aware of the issue I have!! So let’s go with 4 or 5
times per week…

Do you have any special features on your blog? I want to have special features… but I am just flying by the seat of my pants right now…. Playing around and seeing what works…

What do you think is your “specialty” when it comes to your blog content? My most
commented posts are generally my random ramblings but the most viewed are usually when I highlight how I get FREE gas from Tops… and last cycle I filled my YUKON twice for FREE, that was over $200 worth of gas FREE!!

I am curious to hear about your spending and saving habits!

Do you use coupons on every shopping trip? I used to shop at Walmart 1x per month for health and beauty and spend about $200, then I would hit the grocery every week and spend $100 there at a pop. I did not even know where to get a coupon… Now I can’t even go to the mall now without printing some coupons before I go… Even my kid’s know to ask, “Do you have a coupon for this” not “Can I have this”… Even in utter desperation I cannot bring myself to by something that is not on sale AND I have a coupon for it…. It is
totally a way of life and I am in it 110%!!

What is your favorite item to find a coupon for? I am a big fan of the rare produce or
veggie coupons but of course love the high value freebies like we just experienced from Cover Girl and Olay. I love that ‘mistake’ $2 Crest Coupon – and I love my paper delivery friend that had 20 extra inserts that week! I also like to see the $1 Dawn coupons because I know they will be FREE at CVS at some point!! I am just happy when we see single item purchase coupons rather than always getting the $1 off 2 purchase coupons!!

What is your best deal that you ever got? My best single deal so far; I hit CVS when they were rotating vitamins… they had an abundance of the large fishoil bottles – you know, the $29.99 ones… They were sent to the 75% rack but marked at 90% off… and the expiration was still a year out… I had a $5/$25 coupon and save $3 on $20 vitamin coupon… They ended up being .25 each – but wait… I had $1 off Nature’s Bounty Coupons… I bought 8
bottles valued at 29.99 each and actually made .75 on each one!! BONUS – That is $240 worth of vitamins that CVS paid me $6.00 to take away!!

Do you have a set grocery budget each month? I originally set out to cut our spending… As I mentioned, I was “blowing” about $600 per month and things had to change! But – seriously, we LIKE to eat at our house and really do not like to skimp on anything! Little by little I figured this whole couponing thing out and I am proud to say that we now have more than ever and spend less than half! So personally, I shoot for less than $300 per month total…all of our food, all of our homegoods, all of our health and beauty – EVERYTHING for
less than $300 per month!!

On average how much do you save on your grocery bill? My goal is always 50% at the
grocery store and that is only for food, never any health, home or beauty, those are ALWAYS drug store buys!!

What is your favorite store to shop at for deals? I have a complete Love Affair going with CVS, but I know it is mostly because of the people there… my CVS has the best cashiers and management team of any store ever!! Going there is like Norm walking into Cheers!! I am on a constant quest to LOVE Tops too though… I am all about earning the FREE gas and slashing my grocery bill and find that more of a challenge!! At CVS it’s all about how much
I can get for FREE and at Tops it is all about how much I can SAVE…

If you could pass on one tip to people trying to save money, what would it be? First and
foremost, you are going to need coupons! Even one Sunday paper a week will get you started… But you have to start somewhere and no matter where, this is the first step!! ALSO – Do NOT watch Extreme Couponing!!

Do you have a favorite frugal recipe? Everything I make is now frugal since I am such an awesome shopper!! Seriously, shopping the deals and building a stockpile allows us so much more freedom….

What is the most frugal thing that you do? LOL – I pour all the left over hair conditioner into one large bottle – we generally use three shampoo to one conditioner and then some – and I use that for shaving cream… Lord knows we would not want to attack the 49 bottles of shaving cream in the basement stockpile!! I also cut the tube of toothpaste open, to get the last of it…. Hahaha… once I cut it open, there is enough toothpaste for at least another
whole day!! Hey – I use paper plates by the gazillions so I have to be frugal where and when I can!!

What are some of your favorite money saving websites aside from your own? I followed
lots of money saving sites until I found the famous Ann of Coupons, Deals and More…. She SERIOUSLY changed my whole outlook – now I am 100% an “Ann Stalker”!! And now a whole new world has been opened up with your (Amanda’s) generosity of introducing all the WNY deal blogs!! I love it!! What a fantastic way to “meet” each other… it certainly is an honor!!

GIVEAWAY:
1. Subscribe to Our REAL Deal via email (on the left side of her blog about mid way down)
2. Leave a comment on one of her blog posts saying something similar to “Mom’s Coupon Affair sent me”
3. Leave a comment on THIS post letting me know that you did everything required in step 1 & 2 to enter.

The Giveaway will last until Sunday, December 18th @ 11:59 PM EST.  The winner of this coupon giveaway will receive an envelope of coupons.  The amount of coupons that will be won depends on the amount of people that enter the giveaway.  I will start each envelope off with 15 coupons and one coupon will be added for every person that enters!

**Keep an eye out next Monday for our next local blogger, Frugal Makes Cents!**

Previous local blogger interviews: WNY Deals And To-Do’s, Crazy About Savin, Reality Couponing In Rochester, Deals Is The Deal, Mindfully Frugal Mom