Tuesday, October 06, 2009

~Couponing update~

I thought I'd do a little update on my continuing experience with coupons. In this post, I shared how I organized my coupons. So far it is still working very well, and even though I have read about different methods of coupon organization, I plan on keeping this method for now.

Besides getting coupons from the weekly Sunday paper, I also print coupons when I see a coupon I know I'll use. I try not to print coupons that I won't use, because it is a waste of paper and ink!

Since we don't eat a lot of prepared foods, my greatest savings is still on sales. I do try to combine coupons and sales whenever I can, and I take my coupon box into the store with me so that I can use coupons on unadvertised sales. I am still dedicated to not bringing home junk food. Free or cheap junk food is still junk food! :-) I love to find coupons for wholesome foods. They aren't as sparse as it seems when first starting out!

Overall, I am spending less on groceries than I was in my pre-coupon days. I am still shopping at only one store. Every once in a while I will hit Target or Walgreens if there are some great sales. If I need a lot of staples, I'll visit Aldi as well. But most weeks I just go to Meijer. Meijer's prices vary store by store, and ours seems to be on the lower side.

Another thing I have done is to slowly stock up on items as they go on sale. I have a lot of whole grain pasta in my cupboard, as well as spaghetti sauce, peanut butter, and mayonnaise. I don't have a lot of room, so I have to be careful not to overdo it.

I am pleased with my couponing efforts. It has been a blessing to our family for me to be able to save money each week at the grocery store!

2 comments:

Annecourager said...

UGH!!!!!!! Papers! Little BITS OF PAPER!!!

Kudos on your couponing. Penny uses it to great purpose. I believe sometimes they pay her just to leave the store, she's that good!

This is an area that someday...someday.....I may get to. But I'm working on other things first. Like living on a grocery budget in the first place. :p

Tammy said...

A grocery budget is a good place to start. ;-)

My little bits of paper are all contained, otherwise they would drive me bananas!