COUPONS AND ME

Coupons. That was a dirty word to me for so many years. I tried to use them way back
in the beginning of my marriage. I hit all the pitfalls and ended up spending more money than
I would have spent had I not clipped the dog gone coupons! You know what I mean?

I would clip coupons and go out and buy what I clipped, as well as what I normally bought
so I ended up paying a huge amount when I checked out because I had picked up things
above and beyond what I would normally grab. Well, I thought about that and decided
I would just clip coupons for the things I would actually use. So I would flip through the
coupons and find nothing of interest to me. Fifty cents here and 24 cents there seemed
like piddly gunk compared to the time it was taking me to flip through the dog gone
coupons. Add to that the cost of the newspaper and well...I Gave Up!

Fast forward 18 years. I'm a blogger and an avid blog reader. I find a gal who goes
to CVS, Meijer and other stores and pays under $2.00 for $100 worth of items or pays
ony $35 each week for groceries that will feed her entire family! I'm skeptical. I've
lived, I've learned, I'm a smart chick...okay I'm very smart... :-) I think to myself, "No way!"

I find another gal who is a "real" person. By that I mean, she is real to me. I've met her husband,
so you know, she's real. She has a real family with real bills in a real home. She isn't fiddling
around trying to make a buck when she posts about her savings. She's putting it out there on
the web so others can be helped financially. She's putting it out there out of the goodness of her
heart so, I listened. I said I'm smart.

I studied the CVS thing and did it. It works! I then began trying to figure out how to make couponing work. I found that coupling them with CVS deals is awesome. I found that our local grocery will double coupons up to a dollar. That means if a coupon is for $1 they will give you $2 off. I thought it meant that if the coupon was for .75 cents they would give you $1 off. I was happy to find that it was the former.

Now, that being said, how do I get these boogers to work with my groceries? I've found a couple of tricks.

1. I cut all the coupons out of all the coupon booklets in the Sunday Newspaper. If it is for a Condiment like A-1, peanut butter, salad dressing, salt etc. I put them in an envelope. I take them to my double coupon store and buy condiments for like .25 cents or less. If it is a $1 coupon chances are that I will spend a few cents or get the dog gone thing free because most condiments aren't much over $2!

2. I take the time to sit down and read the Meijer, Kroger and Local Grocery sales papers when they come to my home or when I find them in the Sunday paper. If they have 10 items for $10 sales that means those items are $1. I don't have to buy 10 to get that price. So, if I have a coupon for that item I can get it free or for a few cents!

3. I put all the coupons in envelopes that are labeled. I stick a rubber band around the envelopes and carry them in my purse. As I go around the grocery store I look at the deals they have marked. Many times I'll find cereal for $1.99 a box. If I have a $1.00 coupon it's free!! I cannot believe that I didn't do this all these years!!

Here are my labels for my envelopes. I like envelopes because I can look through a few coupons
while perusing the grocery store instead of trying to filter through the entire catalog of coupons.

Laundry
Kitchen
Meds
Cereal
Make-Up
Shampoo, soaps, hair supplies
Condiments
Frozen
Refrigerated
Diapers, wipes, toilet paper
Canned or Boxed items
Junk-Candy
Deodorant - Teeth -Batteries
Laundry
Beverages
Cleaners
Pets
Meats