Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Coupons

Last weekend Smug-Hub and I came across the show Extreme Couponing and became entranced!! Smug-Hub got very excited and told me that I needed to start doing what these people were doing to get free groceries and household items.

Most of the people on the show buy huge quantities of items and spend 30-60 hours each week working on their shopping list and compiling their coupons. Well, I don't have that kind of time nor the inclination to fill up the garage with 400 bottles of Tide!!

Not to mention, that most of the items that I see coupons for (and see these people buying) are for junk food items! I don't want to eat a ton of prepackaged crap just because it was $0.12!! (although, it does make me a bit bitter when I spend $6.00 on some green peppers for God's sake!!!)

However, my grocery store sends me coupons that are customized to my shopping habits and include produce items and yet I have often let them expire! I should be using them! They are for products that I generally buy anyway, so it is like throwing away money when I don't use the coupons!

Also, If I could use coupons and discounts to create a "stockpile" of things like shampoo, dish washing liquid, laundry soap and the like and not have those high cost items be a drain on our budget, then shouldn't I make the effort to do that too?

So this week, I bought a news paper and I got on Coupon Mom's website to see her free list of deals and made a list of things that I have coupons for and worked to create the weekly menu around those food items. I also printed a list of items that are on sale and I have coupons for at CVS, so I can get started collecting some of those household items that tend to put a strain on the monthly grocery bill when they become a "need" item.

I haven't yet figured out how much I will actually spend, or the dollars saved, but I will do that before I head to the stores tomorrow after work, just to make sure that I'm not overdoing it.

I am excited to be taking a proactive role in saving where I can without compromising my family's goal to eat healthy. Perhaps my couponing will allow us to purchase those more expensive, healthy items without shuddering at the price, because we are saving on other items.

Wish me luck and if you have any thoughts, tips, ideas, etc. PLEASE pass it along!!!

1 comment:

  1. One thing I do is buy multiple copies of the Sunday paper when their is a Proctor and Gamble coupon insert (generally the first of the month). We use a lot of their products from TP, to Tide, and Pantene. I end up spending a couple of bucks on a paper, but can save up to $50.00. If you get a good stockpile going you don't need to buy the extra papers each month.

    It is even better if you can get your coupons from friends who get the paper, but don't use those products or buy your paper at the Dollar Store where you save $.75 a piece because they only charge a dollar for the paper.

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