Couponing. This word simply makes me shudder. I want to be a good steward, and quite frankly, I always like to have extra money. Last weekend I attended a Women's Conference and learned about this magical thing called couponing, now to be honest I did not realize that couponing is actually an intense part time job. I assumed couponing meant you clipped a few coupons in the local Sunday paper and you actually remembered to use them while grocery shopping. Apparently I was wrong.
Couponing is intense, and you have to be strategic, and not an impulse shopper. Hummm...already seeing some red flags. Well, this week I spent an hour and half, on two different day's, checking out couponing websites and whatnot. Guess how many online coupons I printed? Yep, you guessed it- NONE! I'm a bit of a researcher and a bit of a skeptic. Can I really save money, neurotically couponing or will I end up purchasing a bunch of processed junk I wouldn't normally buy? Humm... Can I really save money if my husband likes to eat fairly gourmet food and I like to buy lots of fresh fruits and vegetables?
I wrestled with this idea all week. The lady that led the class has a family of eight and spends around $200.00 a month on groceries! Insane! We spend....well, significantly more. I did a little research, and if I couponed and spent $200.00 a month on groceries, and saved the rest of the money I usually spend on groceries for a year, my family of five could go on a trip to Maui for 14 days, including hotel, airfare, car rental and $1500.00 spending cash. Humm...couponing is sounding slightly better, slightly.
So, here's what I'm going to do. I going to "attempt" to start couponing, but I am not going to change the way we eat. If I save any money, I will put the extra cash I save in our saving account. Hopefully this time next year we'll be taking a sweet vacation or at the very least I'll have a sweet new wardrobe. I'll let you know what happens.
In the mean time I'm going to be dreaming of:
and
Here are a few sites you might want to checkout if you plan to start couponing:
Blessings to you and yours!
2 comments:
I was thinking the same thing about the fresh fruits and veggies. I am skeptical of couponing-you will have to keep me updated on how it is going!
I'm right along with you in regards to couponing. Some people are quite successful so I hear, but for me it has only been time consuming and fruitless. I have tried, but it seemed like the things that our family likes to eat (not processed and somewhat healthy) food rarely had coupons and I never saw coupons for fresh fruits and vegetables. I did try and change to shopping on Thursdays because that is typically the day grocery stores have sales, but I can't seem to stick to that either. I try to buy meat when it is on sale and freeze it, and also to buy whatever fruit and vegetables are in season, but that hasn't significantly trimmed down our food bill. I look forward to hearing how your couponing journey goes. Pass on any tidbits you find along the way.
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