here is best advice that i can give in regard to couponing:1. you rule it, do not let it rule you! i keep the coupons that i need to clip and file with me all the time. in the car, at dance, on the ball field, waiting in the pickup line at school. i even file while the hubby is driving and we are talking. it is a pretty no brain kind of job and you can still focus on other things while doing it. where ever i am going to be and have even a minute i clip and file. then when i am at home i can do the things that i enjoy or need to do. file in front of your favorite tv show.
2. only buy the items that you family will use. that does not mean not to try a different brand if you have a coupon and it is on sale. ex: i just bought hunts ketchup last week, quite a bit. is hunts my preference? no but it is ketchup...we use it...and it was on sale.
3. think about using ebay to purchase coupons for specific brands that you like and you know are going to be on sale in the upcoming week. i just did this with the chocolate chips that are on sale next week at kroger. it will save me close to $20 off of the regular price and $2o bucks is $20 bucks.
4. do not buy more junk food because it is cheap. all i can say is it is easy to buy it because it is cheap but you could be taking years off of your life. we have not changed our healthy eating habits, we just have cheaper grocery bills. i rarely go to the store where i leave only paying $5 or $10 and that is ok with me. i am not going to compromise health for cheap! but i am going to be a good steward of the money that God has entrusted us with and enjoy as much savings as i can. i usually save around 50-60% each week and we eat alot of organic and natural foods.
5. pick 2 or 3 stores at the most to go to for the deals. really i think 1 or 2 is best if you can handle letting the other deals go. i always go to kroger every week and i try to make it to either cvs or walgreens depending on which one has better deals that my family needs for the week. i have found that the majority of stores have the same items on sale within a few weeks of one another so me running around like a crazy woman is really not worth it, especially when i can get it at the stores that i shop at in the next couple of weeks. that really is the beauty of stockpiling. i feel no urgency on most of the items that we use in our home. we rarely run out of anything.
what about you? what have you learned? i would love to learn from and hear your advice.
picture credit: joeseme
~type to you soon~
