Recently, I made the decision to become more budget cautious which meant that I needed to find ways to save money. I realized that food makes up the majority of my monthly variable expenses. I’ve spent well more than $300 monthly on groceries or eating out. Yes, I know that’s quite drastic. Therefore, I knew it was time for a change. My co-worker was talking about couponing last week. I went with her to learn the concept. I purchased two Tide detergents and one Downy softener for less than $15 with my $5 off of three clipping. I think that was pretty good for a first time. Thanks Shannon!
I tried to coupon a few years ago, but I failed at the mission. The concept itself can be quite difficult and takes a lot of work to figure it out. Couponing is a numbers game. I don’t mind numbers, but we don’t always get along. The process was easy at first—cut the interesting coupons, sort by categories, and store in the notebook then look at the sales papers to determine which stores to use the coupon at that will give me the best bang for my buck. However, as the weeks rolled by, couponing became more time consuming.
My big cousins are couponing pros. They are not quite the extreme couponers, but they know how to get good deals using them. So I joined the mission again. This time I’m taking more initiative to actually learn the strategies and methods to save during my bi-weekly shopping trips. I found some great sites that provide information about couponing. My favorite is Southern Savers so far. They provide a synopsis of the clippings coming out in the upcoming Sunday’s newspaper. Thus I pulled out my coupon accordion book, purchased two newspapers and went to clipping and sorting. Happy couponing!
Have you taken any steps to save? Do you coupon? Tell me about your experience.
<3 Starkey
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