Not-So-Scary Couponing

I have friends that do the whole couponing thing. I mean, they *really* do the couponing thing. In that they buy several papers, clip and file the coupons, visit at least 3 stores on different days to take advantage of what product is on sale at what store on what day. Then they brag that they get their groceries for practically free.

Yeah, sounds great, but I don't have that much time or interest. It sounds like something that would end up being a second job, or 504th, since I'm a stay-at-homeschooling-mom. (I admit that I totally misspelled "homeschooling" the first time I typed it, but I fixed it so you wouldn't fear for the education of my kids. Really, my misspellings are really the least of my teaching shortcomings :-))

Last week, one new friend mentioned the dreaded coupons, but she made it sound much easier. So much easier and laid-back, that I decided it was time to take the plunge. On Sunday, what should appear but a free newspaper on my driveway complete with a large coupon section. Ok, ok, I can take the hint!

I pulled out an old binder, located some dividers, and filled the binder with plastic pages designed to hold baseball cards. I started going through the coupons in the paper with the intention of *only* clipping the ones for stuff we actually use. Surprisingly, that was a whole lot of them. I organized the coupons into 5 categories - Food Aisles, Refrigerated Foods, Frozen Foods, Snacks, and Non-Foods. Then I sat down a few days later and made out a menu for the week based on what I had coupons for. I made a grocery list and waited a couple of days more before I actually had time to go to the store.

This afternoon we hit the local grocery store. I got food for 6 complete meals, plus lunch stuff, snacks, and a few staples. It surprised me how many of the things I had coupons for were on sale just at the one store. Considering that it took me 3 days to find time to visit one store, there's no way I can take the time to go to 3 or 4. In the end, I paid about $100 and saved $30 on loyalty card savings and $50 on coupons. Not too shabby for the first week of coupons!