Crazy Coupon Lady

I admit it! I am addicted to coupons. Oh the shame. The humiliation....The money saving.

Alright. I'm not that crazy about using coupons. So I have a binder with categories and coupons organized in neat little pockets. So I go online and hunt for printable coupons. So I know a completely different language (the coupon language) and get angry when I can't find a deal. So I saved us $46 dollars on our last grocery bill. So what? So that doesn't make me crazy..It makes me...frugal.

Being frugal is the new "it" thing and everyone wants to be "it", right? I know I do. But my reason for using coupons is more than being in style, it's about doing my part to achieve the over arching goals for our family. We are going to live like no one else (great cars with no car payments, vacations paid in cash, savings as big as TP's head?- Yes.please) and to do that we each have to pull our own weight.

TP does this by working a second job and I do this by working, creating meal plans, and hunting for deals. We both do this by making sure we hold each other, even Ms. B, accountable for waste. So you see, we are striving to make a change for our family and we are doing this as a kind of well oiled machine.

I've posted a couple times about how I shop for our family and the meal plans that I create. I still do that weekly and it's actually become really fun for me. It's helped us cut down on food waste and over spending. Meal planning gives us an idea of what our week will look like and gives me the opportunity to prepare for meals a day or sometimes two days before they need to be served. It certainly takes the stress out of my week, makes packing lunches easier, and gives our daughter a nutritious meal she loves to throw on the floor.

Part of planning a weeks worth of meals is to do it in a way that offers variety and a way to save money. If I know that on Friday we're going to have Breakfast for dinner, then looking out for deals on breakfast foods (like cereal, waffles, or perservatives) gives me the greatest opportunity for saving money. That's where coupons come in.

I now buy 2-4 papers every week (depending) and cut coupons from it. I organize those coupons by categories and base my shopping trips around them and the grocery store/drug stores &Target circular. If I have a coupon for $1 off shampoo of some kind, I search and search for store deals (using two grocery stores I frequent now and Target) and drug stores either in person or through their circulars. When said shampoo is on sale at the store and my coupon is still valid, I buy it. This works great with cereal, diapers, dental care, shampoos, and other personal care items because often I can get them for free!

I'm not going to even try to explain the World of Coupons to you. It's just too much. Instead I encourage you to Google it and find more information for yourself if you're interested. It really is a culture all it's own and one that, if you understand, you'll grow to love.

-M