While I am fully awake, the house is quiet (baby boy is down for two hours and big brother is watching his morning cartoons) I want to address couponing... I am in no way shape or form a big couponing blog. If that is what you are looking for (which eventually you should find I have multiple that I check daily) google couponing blogs and you will find hundreds. I am just a busy mother of two (I also have a wonderful fiance') who saves a lot of money and created a hobby out of clipping coupons.
Why did I get started?
I must admit I fell into the "Extreme Couponing" fad. I saw the show and because I was already frustrated with going over my monthly grocery budget and having to spend more than I had allotted monthly I decided to try. I had tried couponing before and had a large supply of coupons BUT I was going about it all wrong. I was clipping coupons, making a list of what I needed at the time and using my coupons on that list. WRONG!! What you are supposed to do is match store sales and promotions to coupons and stockpile on the items until the sale cycles again...
Now extreme couponing is just that EXTREME. There is no reason to have 120 boxes of food you don't eat or 50 boxes of cereal to save money. I am all for donating but I personally give to family and friends just because I can and it feels good. If you buy hundreds of items that are going to turn out free of course your beginning price will be high and your end price will be pennies but is your family really benefiting.. not really. I have a family of 4 and I usually get about 2 newspapers a week and if I need more I order coupons from a clipping service (we will get to that later).
How much do I save?
I have only been couponing for an entire month (it's been a little longer but June was my first full month). On every receipt I record
1. my total price before store sales, promotions and coupons
2. my total price that I paid
3. my savings (difference between the two)
to find your percentage saved you divide your total savings by beginning total
For the month of June I saved a total of 47% on my grocery bill pretty impressive for my first month...
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