Happy 1st year, Aloha Deals!

The first Aloha Deals post was November 12, 2009.  If you would have told me then that I could get shampoo/conditioner, soap, toothbrushes, deodorant, cereal, granola bars and even cleaning supplies for FREE- I would have never believed that it could happen in Hawaii. 

When we first got married we started a bad habit that became our weekly ritual- go to Costco cause we thought "buying in bulk is cheapest" then to Wal-mart and their rolled-back prices and we would still spend around $100 at each stop.  We were getting things to build our pantry but then we just had to stop spending so much.  Babies came and life got busy so we tried to just do the once a month trips, we spent a little less this way but still got milk and eggs at the store across the street. 

I started following other nationally known coupon blogs and trying to figure out what the secret was to just cut our budget in half because it was so ridiculously high and we needed to tighten the reins on our spending.

I gave every subscription type of coupon website a try, but none of them catered to Hawaii and the prices we have at our stores.  I started getting familiar with good sale prices for items and working my coupons into those deals.  This is when Aloha Deals came into the picture!

Our first logo made by our sister

Jenny had just moved here from Pennsylvania and was in shock of what the Hawaii prices were, so we started our mission together- our first focus was e-coupons- no clipping, just click and put it on the cards.  This worked fine, but we learned quickly to not just buy an item cause they are on our cards.  Instead, we just kept an eye on what was on sale and kept the e-coupons updated so they would deduct automatically.  This got about 50% savings on our receipts.

Then it was time for the next step-printing the paper coupons to match the sale items and even the ones I had e-coupons for (those were the days!).  I started buying the Sunday paper to get inserts and see how those would work out too- my first week was a P&G insert week, boy were we spoiled!  Having the paper coupons got me over the 60% mark on the next shopping trip. 

Next transition- inspiration for our current look

Now we were ready for something new and different- so time to give Walgreen's and Register Rewards a try.  The first couple trips were pretty pathetic, but it taught us a lot about what NOT to do and work out a way to shop better.  It's been good to share what we've learned, even the hard way- but hopefully it helped someone else as well.


One thing we have always loved- getting a good deal.  It's always a rewarding feeling when you know you got an awesome deal on something.  Can't wait to see what the next year brings, hopefully lots of great deals!