Clip Clip Snip Snip
The other day I was waiting in the checkout line at the market and I watched the women ahead of me hand the checker a stack of coupons. A stack! About the size of two decks of cards stacked on top of each other. I looked down at the three coupons I had clutched in my hand and thought to myself, how the heck does she do it?
You’ve probably seen or read about the extreme couponers. My sweet husband watched a television show the other night about a lady who only spends $40 a month to feed her family of four. He called me in to watch it with him and he said to me in a very matter of fact way, “why don’t you do that?”. I do my best, I clip and snip, and I watch for sales, etc I get excited when I get a $5 off on my total. But $40 a month for food, wow!
Let me get back to the lady at the checkout. After all of her coupons were tallied her out of pocket expense was $1.07. I actually applauded her, she probably thought I was a nut, I just said well done, how do you do it? She didn’t want to share, apparently it’s a secret. But she did tell me to buy lots of Sunday papers and get the coupons. One big thing I noticed while I was waiting is that I didn’t see any fresh produce, meat or even breads in her haul. She did have what looked like about a dozen deodorants though.
I would love a class on the couponing thing. I do have friends in Michigan who recently started a website called The Thrifty Coupon Couple. image of their smiling faces from their blog I am learning a few things from them. I also have a section here Coupons and Discounts for helping you get bargains. Do you use coupons? Do you have any couponing secrets to share? What’s the most you’ve ever saved using coupons?
Watch for the new giveaway announcement this Friday!
“May the Lord bless you and keep you; may He let His grace shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-6:26 NIV
that’s so impressive! i used to be more diligent about “couponing” but lately my committment has been slipping….
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cheers!
cailen
http://www.lifestylemaven.org
Wow, that’s thrifty. I guess though it’s pretty time consuming trawling through papers and magazines week in week out, looking for the offers and coupons… I don’t know if I’d want to but only that what I have coupons for! Looking at the money saved though… maybe I would lol 🙂
Just being my husband and I now, along with us doing most of our shopping at Costco, I don’t use many coupons. I would certainly look into this if my children were still home!
Hope your holiday weekend is wonderful!
Blessings,
Cindy
I usually do not use coupons, because I ended-up buying things that I never used, so it was a waste of time and money. I tend to shop sales instead, and I do not buy much food that is processed. I also buy local, which helps, too.
I wish I had the ability to successfully coupon….I’m pretty bad at it.
Although, they hardly ever seem to offer coupons for the things I purchase and I don’t purchase lots of processed foods. Occasionally though, I luck out…..if I can remember to take it with me when I go to the store – lol…along with the shopping list I often leave on my countertop! 🙂
Katherine, I just don’t understand extreme couponing, even on the show, it seems they hoard items like kitty litter, cat food, personal products, maybe cereal and paper goods. I never see the 7 or 8 items that I always have in my house on these shows, or even see a coupon for them, such as Better Than Eggs, my favorite coffee,
cheese, produce, plastic and foil wraps, jelly (not kid stuff), etc. And I can spend almost $100 on maybe 15 items, that is just nuts!!! xo,
I have to admit I have tried couponing before but never could keep up with it. It just seemed like more trouble than it was worth at the time. Of course, I may have to give this a try again though if the price of food continues to rise and being a one income household.
I can’t believe she wouldn’t tell you her secrets! I would love to save more money grocery shopping, but I do my regular shopping in bulk at Sam’s and they don’t take coupons. I do get excited when I save $5 at Target though 🙂
I use coupons as often as possible but I purchase a lot of produce and artisan breads and as you know, they rarely ever offer a coupon. I think the way those people do it is they purchase tons of sunday papers, surf the net, whatever. Then they watch for a sale so if Kroger has crest on sale for 1.00 and you have a .50 coupon, which is doubled, you pay nothing for your toothpaste. Rather that make you weekly shopping list around meals and what you are out of, you plan by sales and coupons available. I believe this takes a lot of time and planning, which for myself, having a full time job, a 2 hr per day commute and an entire life, don’t have time for. Now if I ever didn’t have to work, I’d play it like a sport. 😉
Yes I have used coupons in times past…lots of them!! And I smelled good while doing it too…just like the deodorant buying lady in the checkout line!! LOL
you crack me up xo
I use them if I have them and if I need what the coupon is for. I don’t just buy, for the sake of using a coupon.
Oh I don’t think I’d ever use a coupon to buy something I didn’t need. Unless the coupon is for something free, then if I don’t need it I’m sure I could donate it or give it to someone. Hugs
we havent start on coupons thing here yet. Ya I do try to take advantage of whatever the hypermarket coupon they are offering right now
I recently started a notebook with categories in it. I put the coupons from each category into a plastic sleeve for that section. So a little at a time for me 😉