After watching "Extreme Couponing" on TLC this past week (see the video on my right hand sidebar) I got motivated once again to start saving. Today was my first shopping trip out, and with coupons in hand, I paid just over $82 out of my own pocket, while my savings were $103.37 (I used a $5 rebate check for formula to pay part of my total). A little over 55% was saved today - and I did buy some "big" items (such as a $29.99 pack of diapers, an $8.99 pack of diapers, an $8.99 pack of pull ups, and an $18.99 can of formula). Those 4 items alone come close to $70... making the other 7 bags of goodies ALMOST FREE.
For those of you who don't know me - I'm a 36 year old mom to 5 kids and a business-owner. About 18 months ago, I realized that while we worked very very hard for our money, we didn't work very hard at saving as much as we COULD be saving. So I decided to try using coupons (a friend of mine had just started too) - and it was amazing what was saved!!!
What I learned is this:
* It's simple to save at least 50% off your grocery/household bill.
* It does take some time (between 1-2 hours per shopping trip to start)
* You will save enough to make those 1-2 hours well worth it.
* You need to have a plan... I prefer MY plan - which takes up very little time.
* AND - I learned a lot more - and you will too.
I'm working on a COUPONING 101 post that I'll have up very soon - it contains LOTS of information that I use each time I go shopping.
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