I loves my coupons...

I spend a lot of time talking about coupons. I'm sure my husband is tired of it. Thankfully, I've found an online set of people that LOVE talking about coupons and could care less if I happily post all I want about my ups and downs using them. I'm seeing the serious benefit behind my facebook account for the first time! There's only one other person I personally know who loves using coupons and that's my older sister. She's got two kiddos and a husband to take care of though, so we don't talk as much as I wish we could.

If I was richer I'd buy myself a smartphone or ipad that I could pull up googledocs on though because that's where I keep my spreadsheet so I don't even have to print out my list. And then when I've got things I always forget to put on the sheet (like... bread and milk and cucumbers because I /always/ buy them) I can quickly add them on and see if there is something I need to drop. Or if I come across a swwwweeet coupon (like I did on Hefty bags - $1.19 a bag, use 4 $.15 that moves up to a $1 + $1 Target Q) I could rearrange the formulas to see how much I'd be saving. (For your info, w/ the 4MFQ and 1TQ I ended up /earning/ $.24 which I used on other things.)

I just... love my Coupons. I was saving between 20-30% buying just off sales, now that I use coupons and have built up my stockpile a bit (not nearly enough though!!) I have been saving between 50-70%. That's double/triple what I was saving before! That means rather than spending $70, I'm spending $50 on for $100 in stuff. And I'm not a silly coupon user, I only buy what I can actually USE and fit into my apartment.

The downside of coupons is that my husband ends up having to do without on somethings. He lllooovvveeesss Ritz crackers, but I won't buy them till I have them a) on sale, and b) w/ a coupon. I never want to spend more than 1.50 for ritz again. Same thing with chips. No qpon, no buy.

Upside is that I'm trying a few new things I never thought of using in the way of shampoo, soap, body stuffs all around, as well as toiletries and even food.

I've been wanting a hobby for a long time, and this is it. Unlike knitting, or painting, or shooting things, I can see the benefit of it on a weekly basis. It's something I can do from anywhere, and if I only have 5 minutes, then I can spend five minutes on it.

Yay for coupons!

Oh, and don't believe that stupid show called Extreme Couponing - They're cheaters. 1) most of them print more than they're suppose to, 2) ALL stores have limits on the # of coupons of any one type they'll accept in a single transaction. Therefore, buying 100 boxes of medicine for zip isn't realistic. Buying 3-4 boxes of medicine for zip is realistic. If you're couponing correctly, you'll build up your stockpile, and do it ethically.

(Today's trip- I spent $33 for over $70 worth of stuff.)