Well, I am finally getting to post about my new coupon obsession and money-saving lifestyle!! Thanks to my friend, Jennifer, for introducing me to
couponing. (And don't get
couponing confused with
using coupons--there's a HUGE difference!!) Every week when I get the Sunday paper (which is now my favorite time of the week), I browse the ads and the coupons to see what kind of "steals" I'm going to get! Right now, my main focus is saving money on the "not-groceries". You know what type of stuff I'm talking about, right? The type of stuff that comes out of the grocery budget, but you can't eat any of it! Toilet paper, detergent, hair products, toothpaste, and the biggies: DIAPERS AND WIPES. Since I'm still new to couponing, I am taking it one step at a time. I'm afraid too much, too fast, will wear me out and be discouraging. So right now, I'm just loving freebies and almost-freebie non-groceries. Trust me, I'm loving it so much, the cheap groceries, meal-planning, stocking my pantry, and "eating from the pantry" challenges will come soon enough! If all the lingo is a tad confusing, hop on over
here or
here and check out these fabulous websites that explain everything I'm talking about.
That paragraph is a big ol' jumbled mess---I got so excited I just start rambling and carrying on, so let me try this from the beginning....
Each week when I get my Sunday paper, I browse through the Walgreens, Kmart, Walmart, Target, and CVS ads and see what deals they have going on that week, along with clipping the Sunday coupons. I have been doing this about 2 months now, and have accumulated a LOT of coupons! After you have browsed what the HOT deals of the week are, you start combining the sale prices with your coupons, your
Register Rewards (from Walgreens), and your
Extra Care Bucks (from CVS). (If you are interested, click on the RR link and the ECB link to get the full explanation of those if you are unsure.) Then you go shopping and walk away with a lot for very little!
Example: This week Colgate Total is on sale at Walgreens for $3.99. With each purchase of the toothpaste, you get $3.99 back in Register Rewards after your purchase. Combine this with the $1 coupon that was in the paper a couple of weeks ago, and you basically pay -$1.00 for the toothpaste.
Another example: At CVS this week, Aussie Hair products are on sale for $2.99. With each purchase, you get $2 ECB. Combine that with the $1 coupon in the paper this week, and you get Aussie shampoo, conditioner, or styler for free! :)
I started accumulating so much stuff, I had find a place for my overstock, so the guest bathroom closet became the home for all my free and cheap stuff! Do you see all that detergent on the bottom shelf?! What used to be my most expensive non-food item, is now the least of my worries! One shelf is devoted entirely to shampoo, conditioner, body wash, deodorant, and toothpaste. I can count 9 bottles of deodorant just in this picture! See those Kotex? They were $0.66 a box after coupons and rewards! The big drawer that's sitting on top is full of Excedrin, Tylenol, Visine, Neosporin, Band-Aids, NyQuil, Halls cough drops, and much more! (And that's another thing--why buy generic when the name brand is WAY cheaper with coupons and rewards!)
And the other big thing: DIAPERS & WIPES! Guess how much I paid for Jumbo packs of Huggies diapers a couple of weeks ago! $2.99 apiece! Crazy I know...
I've had so much fun sharing about my new love of saving money, and if you are at all interested in getting the basics of all this, go
here. This is Meagan's page and she will walk you through everything starting with the basics in much more detail than I have. She's awesome, and she does a great job every week of finding and sharing the best deals out there! Let me know if you are going to try and start catching the "steals" each week!
Oh, and I almost forgot--I have to brag on my sister a little. She jumped on this money-saving train too, and her grocery bill total at Target this week was $146.64, and after coupons, her total was $76.67---that's a savings of $69.97, almost 50%!! Yay Crystal!
Happy spending (or not-spending)!
