Since I stay home now, I feel part of my job is to run our household more efficiently. This mostly means trying to save money. A friend of mine introduced me to couponing last summer and I have been hooked ever since.
I buy multiple newspapers each Sunday and print coupons online. I have a huge three-ring binder that holds all of my neatly clipped and organized coupons in plastic photo holders (there are even dividers - frozen foods, personal care items, etc.). Sunday night I scour my favorite blogs that match weekly store sales with coupons and then make my grocery list for the week based on that. I hope to get better at tracking just how much I spend and save each month, but I know we're close to $350-400 each month for groceries, which includes diapers.
Today I went three different places for sales - Kroger, Meijer, and CVS. Since we're leaving for Dallas tomorrow we didn't really need anything immediately - so, I just stocked up on the good sale items. I got:
- 6 boxes of Kellogg's cereal for $1 each.
- Four packages of frozen Voila! meals - $2 each.
- Four bottles of Kraft BBQ sauce - free.
- Four boxes of Quaker chewy granola bars - $1.50 each.
- Two bottles of Listerine total care - $1.79 each.
- Four packages of Kleenex - $1 each. (Not a great deal but we needed them)
So, I spent a total of $27.58 for all of this. The regular price for these items is roughly $69, so I saved 41.42, or 60%. I have been amazed at the weeks where I'll get items for free (like the BBQ sauce) or nearly free - I have a bin in the basement full of Lysol cleaning supplies that I paid .25-.50 for.
However, all of this couponing and shopping at multiple stores is quite time consuming. I'd say I spend 5+ hours each week clipping, organizing, researching sales, and shopping. So is it worth it? I'm not sure. And I do feel sort of funny in the grocery store carrying around my binder of coupons. We had a speaker at MOPS who teaches couponing classes and coined the phrase: "if she's shopping with a binder, don't get behind her". Very true. It takes me forever to get through a store.
But for now, I feel like I'm helping our family ... and sometimes getting away with something. Free food. Who would have known?
3 comments:
I coupon and shop sales also and sometimes I feel funny and it takes forever but it is definately worth it.
Coupons.com has Huggies Pure and Natural coupons this week, we have been stocking up for the new baby plus using cloth diapers to save money.
Laura - are you for hire? You could set up your own business!! "The Coupon Lady" I use coupons 50% of the time - and I need to be better about it! Have a great trip to Texas! You'll have to find Warner a "don't mess with Texas" t-shirt!
I need to learn your madness I think it would be wonderful to save the extra money! You must teach me your trick of the trade!!
Elizabeth
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