Well, after months of lurking around couponing blogs and hearing various friends talking about saving money, I have decided to jump on the bandwagon. I have become a couponer. I kind of feel like I just admitted that I have an entire room of unicorn statues, but I'm not exactly sure why. And just for the record, I don't have any unicorn statues. That you know of.
Anyhow, the past few weeks, I have really started to figure out how to use coupons, where to use them, and the best time to use them. I really never knew before that couponing was any more than cutting out a piece of paper to save 30 cents on laundry detergent. And really, in the long run, was the 30 cents worth it? Not in my book! But, I am learning that by frequenting stores that double coupons, using store and manufacturer coupons together, and by using them on things that are already on sale, you really can save a ton of money! Without even trying all that hard, I have been saving up to 50 percent at the grocery store, and I know I can do even better than that! I'm not gonna lie. It's kind of addicting.
The only reason I have had any success at all is my favorite site,
Southern Savers. Seriously, it's so easy! They tell you what's on sale, where, whether it's a good price, and what coupons are available for what you want to buy. Now, just for the record, I have no intention of traipsing all over town going to 5 different stores just to get the best price. For one thing, my town doesn't have 5 stores. For another, I don't want to get that into it. Southern Savers recommends choosing one grocery and one drug store to focus on, and that's what I'm doing.
So, here I go. I am determined to keep up with all these coupons and save our family money this year! My goal isn't to go crazy with it, but I really want to change our grocery budget. I want to be somewhere between never using coupons and that lady who gets blacklisted because she wants to use 100 coupons in one store visit. Although I do have a coupon binder. Don't judge. It's pretty.