Ok, so I've been at this for about a month now, and I have to honestly say I am very suprized at the speedy results I've seen. Overall I give my coupon experience a 10/10!
Now, a few disclaimers... I am not even close to an "extreme" couponer at this point. LOL I have been shopping 2 places recently, Price Chopper and Walmart, with a third, Grand Union, thrown in when they have extra good deals on items. I read a TON about these amazing couponers that manage to stockpile things for free or just cents and I just wish I had the room to store a stockpile, and more time to be able to really shop the deals. The women and men that do the Wallgreens / CVS / Rite Aid circuit have all my respect. It takes a ton of work, but ahhhh.... the rewards make it worth it! I'm just really glad I found the site (click the green button over there ----> for the site I'm talking about, WeUseCoupons rocks!) to get me started on saving.
Ok, back to my month long journey to learning this "extreme" couponing thingamajig... So I head out for my first grocery trip with coupons, only a few that first trip, and saved $10. Hmmm, I really wasn't that impressed but Hubby reminded me when I got home that 10 bucks was 10 bucks! True. I started scrounging up more coupons, buying a Sunday paper, printing them off the internet, and scoring extra inserts where I could. I clipped everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, even the stuff I couldn't, or wouldn't, use. I sorted everything out into catagory envelopes, then pulled out all the coupons I knew I wouldn't be using. I had joined WeUseCoupons website by this point and was devouring the forums, articles and information there like they were a big fat, juicy steak and I was a starving lion (can you tell DD is watching Lion King in the background? hehe). The more I read, the more I learned, and the more I discovered how kind, helpful and generous the folks at WUC are. I decided to post an RAOK (Random Act Of Kindness) list of all the coupons I wouldn't use, and offer them to people that might be able use them. I sent out quite a few envelopes, and got quite a few envelopes back! It was so nice to have people to trade with and get those coupons to the people that would use them, rather than having them go to waste.
So at this point, my coupon stock is building and I am able to use more coupons when I shop. I went from saving $10 on my first trip to $16 on my second, to $30 on my third, all the way up to now, I saved $90 on last week's trip and $66 on this week's trip! Now THAT's savings! I'm so glad I didn't get discouraged at the beginning and stuck with it. I also decided after a few weeks that I needed to switch to a different grocers to get the best deals. I had been a faithful Grand Union shopper for years, and in their defense they were a GREAT store, employees are friendly and helpful, they doubled coupons up to $1, over all a nice place to shop. Then I decided to give Price Chopper a trial run. Once I looked into it, between the better prices, larger selection, nicer produce, AdvantEdge savings and benefits, money off gas for Hubby's car, UPromise college savings for DD... I was sold. So 2 trips later and a total of just over $150.00 in savings... I am now a Price Chopper Shopper!
I also made the jump to a coupon binder this weekend and WOW is it nicer! I'm now able to look through coupons so much easier and not have to shuffle through the whole pile to find one! I also transfered my price list into the 3 ring binder too, much easier to have everything all in one place. (Note to anyone reading this that is saying "WTH is a pricelist?!?" I have a list of all my purchased items and the price at the 3 different stores I go to regularly so I know when something is a really good deal, either on sale or at a different store) I feel so "professional" now with my fancy-shmancy binder! LOL
So, one month in, am I glad I've decided to do this? You betcha! I just got back from picking up the Sunday paper and I'm gonna clip some more coupons while I sip my coffee. :) Happy clipping to all, and to all a good day!
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