Couponing and new friends...

I love couponing and coming up with new ways to save money for my family. I've probably saved several hundreds of dollars this year alone by being thrifty at grocery shopping. But, it can get overwhelming sometimes. I've spent literally hours before getting coupons together, finding deals, matching up sales with coupons, cutting or printing the coupons, searching for the best price on something we need....and that doesn't include getting the kids ready to go to the store or getting me ready etc. It can be a daunting task and give me a spirit of frustration if I let it.

When this happens, I have to remember my purpose behind all of this "work". The reason I strive so hard to save money is to be a blessing to my family and work on being a Proverbs 31 woman--providing food for her family. If I get stressed or frustrated or crabby while working to be a blessing to my family, then am I really being a blessing?

So, just like everything else in life, you have to figure out how to accomplish things in a way that works for you. I think the most important thing for me to be successful at couponing is to be organized. Now that sounds like an easy step, but have you seen how many coupon inserts you can accumulate over say...3 months? 48! (That number comes from a double edition of the DMN every week for 12 weeks.)

I used to cut out only the coupons I needed and throw the rest away. Horror, I know! Well, now I know. LOL. Now, I keep all coupon inserts until they expire--I have yet to find a store that takes expireds but I hear they are out there. There are SO many websites out there that have great coupon matchups with store sales. They tell you exactly what insert each coupon is in and how to match it up with a store sale to get the most out of your savings. What would we do without the internet?

Speaking of the internet, I've been going to a site created by The Thrifty Mama herself for almost a year now and I LOVE her deals. She has so many great deals and ideas that have taught me a lot about being thrifty as well as a new feature on her blog...a chat room for couponers like ME! I have really enjoyed getting to know the regulars on there and hearing about all the deals they've found or ideas they have on being thrifty. It's been so much fun, so thank you, THRIFTYMAMA, for giving us an outlet for coupon talk. :)

More later...

Ciao,
J