Extreme Couponing?

Guess how much I paid for all of this...$20.00!

So the start of this new year, I have decided to learn something new. I have always been interested in using coupons and trying to understand how to use them correctly to really save some money. A few months ago, we had a frugal night for Enrichment and a lady came and talked about using coupons and saving a ton of money. Well, saving a TON of money would be very nice now that we will be a family of five in just a few weeks.  She suggested using this website www.grocerysmarts.com to find deals on groceries. This website is so nice because it lists the deals going on that week and also lists the coupons you can use to even score a better deal! I also found a website www.freebies2deals.com which lists daily deals and freebies. It also gives the grocery deals each week. It was from this website that I decided to finally invest into saving money and get a subscription to the Sunday newspaper.

The key to really scoring the deals is to get 1 paper per person in the family and to use your coupons when items are on sale. Because I am new at this, I just got four papers just in case I couldn't do it. Couponing takes a bit of time especially at first when you are trying to figure out how it works and to get organized. Getting four papers really seems like a lot of coupons but I have saved so much money this first month alone.  I was able to bring our monthly grocery bill down to $200 that is including diapers, personal hygiene items, food, clothes, and etc! I was so excited the first time I came home with $100 worth of items and I only had to pay $25.00 for it! That's 75% in savings! I have been able to increase our 1 month food storage to 3 months just this month alone! I love couponing and I can't wait to see what our food storage looks like in 6 months.

I am getting better each time I plan my shopping and it is getting easier to score the deals and freebies. Now, I hate going to stores every single day to get a deal. Who has time for that! So, what I have found that works best for me is to wait until Wednesday when all the stores have their new ads out so I can go through them and find which store has the best price on items. I make a list of the items and where the deal is and then I take it to Wal-mart where I can price match and still use my coupons to score the deal. It saves me time and gas in the long run.

Overall, couponing has been a great experience and I am excited to be able to save our family money and to develop a new talent. If any of you are interested in learning about couponing, check out the freebies2deals website. It has great tips on how to get started.