Where Have You Been All My Life?!

I have to admit that I have been M.I.A. recently. Besides the obvious; baby, family, house, wedding... I have also begun to do something I never thought I would. I have been COUPONING!

I know, I know, you are probably thinking the same thing I did. "Who has the time?" "They won't help me." "I don't understand how those bitches on those shows get things for free!" Well, I could kick myself for not doing this sooner. Literally, I want to kick myself for the negative thinking I had on this subject. I cannot tell you how many times I watched Extreme Couponing and thought that I would love to do that, but could never get things for free like they do. But I do! I only started a few weeks ago and I have got so many things for free or for only a few cents on the dollar! It is hard work, it is time consuming, but if I can plan a wedding, take care of a baby and a house and everything else, then EVERYONE can coupon. It just takes some planning and some different thinking.

The reason I even started doing this is because nursery school is far more expensive than I could have imagined. I am not always frugal, but now I have to be. The first thing I thought of was to start cutting back on some things. We eat out, a lot. That's the number one thing, so in order to keep my family fed and satisfied, I figured we NEED to start making more meals and lunches to go at home. Sounds easy right:? Well, when you think about how expensive food is today, you wonder if there is a happy medium. And there is! It takes some serious thought and rearranging what you are use to, but it saves so much money and you can access these coupons in the newspaper, but more importantly online!

I know I sound crazy. My fiance thought I was at first too, but when you have a $110.00 bill and only have to pay $20.00 of it, you change your mind real fast! Here's how I have been doing it:

PICK A STORE
Enough of this running around to Target and then to Walmart and then to your regular grocery store. Pick your store. No one has time to run from here to there chasing a deal. It's more convenient to just choose one place. I chose Shoprite because a) it's down the street and b) they ALWAYS double coupons EVERYDAY and c) they have digital coupons as well, which you can combine with your printed coupons.

HAVE A LIST
I have a weekly list of what we need. Usually it's small things like sauce, bread, milk, cheese. Things we use frequently. I keep this list so that I always know what we REALLY need, not just what may sound good at the time I'm in the store. It also helps keep your eye out for coupons when they come out on Sundays and change online. For instance, if I know we need eggs, I will look for an egg coupon for a not-so-expensive brand of eggs.

SHOP THE SALE
I am done trying to chose my meals on a daily basis. I am also done with spending a ton of money on our staple items. I'm also done with always buying one particular brand. I now check the circular. Whatever is on sale is what I look to buy. So if I need chips for my stepson and I get the circular and it shows me that Herr's chips are on sale, I will Google Herr's chip coupons. You will find them either on their website or the other three: Coupons.com, Redplum.com and SmartSource.com. I will print out 4 of these (that's my store's policy) and since they double, I will always save extra. Who cares if they aren't the Lay's you had last week. It's not about that anymore. Now, it's about saving money.

SEARCH THE GROCERY STORE WEBSITE
If I find a coupon for a $1.00 off some brand I don't see in the circular, I check the Shoprite.com website. It has all of the prices. Sometimes I find things that are cheap and aren't in the circular and try to find a coupon to match. I have been so successful with this method, this is how I have been getting things like "SOBE LIFE WATER FRUIT BARS" for FREE. Needed some popsicles, saw they were on sale for .99 cents. Googled a coupon, found one for .50 cents, it doubles to $1.00, ok FREE. I scooped a bunch up. Just good to have in the house in the summer. Shoprite also has digital coupons  that they will load to your Price Plus Card and you can use them in addition to your printed coupons, saving you a ton of money as well because you can use them on the same item you are using the printed coupon on.

MAKE YOUR MEALS AROUND SALES
If there is a sale on chicken, then you know this week at some point you will be having chicken. If there is a sale on pasta, same thing, pasta will be on the menu. Work around what is on sale and stock up on the sale items. Especially sauces or veggies, things you will most likely, always use.


You may not get EVERYTHING for free, but you will get EVERYTHING for CHEAP! Why not give yourself some money in your pocket each week? It's the smartest thing you will ever do.