Well, I wouldn’t really call myself an extreme coupon person, just maybe an extreme coupon user! lol Even Sara has learned that some trips to the store, there are no “getting candy” unless I have a coupon! The girls say they feel like we have more things in the house to eat now then we did before!
So, let’s start from the beginning.
Back in April Kory and I were watching TLC’s Extreme Couponing. Kory was hooked! He was like why can’t you do that? I have to say I had never really used coupons. We talked about it and I started looking into what I needed to do. So, I started collecting coupons back in April and started reading lot of blogs about other men/women saving lot of money on groceries.
NOW NO, I HAVEN”T BEEN ABLE TO DROP OUR GROCERY BILL DOWN TO 50 OR 100 DOLLARS A MONTH! We are a family of 5.
We use Quicken to take care of our budget and spending. So, I created a report looking at what we spend on groceries per month from January to April. Well, let’s just say all those “pick just a few things up” start to add up! I have been budgeting or saying we were spending “X” dollars every two weeks. When the report printed I was SHOCKED! It was A LOT more!! A LOT!! Like over double what I really thought we were spending! So, I really wanted to do this after seeing that.
I started slow. I was allowed to now shop at Publix or other stores that doubled coupons. In April I dropped our grocery bill down by maybe 10-20%. Just really by watching what I spent and a few coupon deals I found.
There are a ton of blogs that post “ad match ups”. They do all the work for you. It tells you what’s on sale that week, and what coupons are out there to use to get the best deal. You really have to learn not to be “brand” specific. (except Kory will not eat anything other then Sweet baby ray’s bar b que sauce, and if you know Kory he eats it on EVERYTHING. But I have learned I can get it for a good price and when I do, I stock up!)
(Got these for .76 cent each)
Anyway, in May I had another mouth to feed (exchange student) so that makes 6 of us, and I dropped our bill by 30 to 40%. Plus I added the “Drug store game”. And I showed my sister’s what I had saved and then started couponing. So, now we share stories and coupons and help each other with deals each week!
In June I stayed about 45% off our bill.
And so far in July, I have saved about 80%. Well, let me say this, we were all not home for 10 days and the girls were not h9me for 19 days this month. So, I’m sure that’s it, not that I have become that good at couponing and planning meals around what’s on sale.
WITH ALL THAT SAID, IF I CAN DO IT, SO CAN YOU!!
These are just some of the deals I’ve gotten since April:
This was one of my first trips. I didn’t write down the prices for this stuff.
This was a few weeks ago. OOP (out of pocket) was 22.53 a 63% savings. Got the ALL for 1.99 each, chef boyardee .41 cents each, bran flakes were the penny item that day.
This was just this past Wednesday, OOP 11.11 a 73%savings. I got those two things of kitty litter for 2.00 each!
This is things I’ve gotten at CVS. CVS has extra care bucks, they are just like money. You buy something and get so many ECB back. What I do is just use those bucks to buy the next weeks deals. So, my money is just rolling over each week.
Got these for .26 cents each!
SO LIKE I SAID, IF I CAN DO IT, SO CAN YOU!
