Over the summer it final sunk in that we needed to work a little harder at getting on our feet financially. Together, we set up categories for our budget and filled in dollar amounts for each of them. Marc decided $100 per week was enough for our food budget for a family of 4. For the past 8 years our budget has been $150 per week and we NEVER stuck to it. I shopped at Wegmans, never looked for sales, and never cut a coupon. So $100 was going to be a challenge.
I began searching the internet for ways to cut my food budget. Originally I was looking for dinner recipes that didn't cost a lot per person. Along the way I found various blogs on people grocery shopping for free and MAKING MONEY to shop at different drug stores. Needless to say, I was intrigued and ready to learn more.
The first few weeks I cut coupons I tried matching up my coupons to the sales going on at Rite Aid, Walgreens, CVS, Tops and Wegmans. Oh my! The first couple Sundays I spent HOURS doing this and didn't get much accomplished. I thought this is crazy, takes too much time, and too much energy. And to be honest, I didn't have 4 or 5 hours to plan for minor savings.
And then I stumbled upon a blog called couponsdealsandmore and it is run by this amazing couponer Ann. She has been amazing. So full of knowledge and more than will to answer all my amateur questions! You should definately check her out. I still use Ann for all my matchups but I have also learned how to work the systems on my own and can write my own deals and shop all by myself now. I am such a big girl! (O:
Anyway, this turned into a slight addiction for me. I have always loved shopping...but instead of spending $300 in gymboree, I am now walking out of a drug store with $112 worth of product and getting PAID $40 to do it! (That was about a month ago.) Still amazed with that one.
I have had several people interested in learning how to coupon and I would love to share what I have learned. I am no master couponer, but some of the purchases I have made blow me away, and will blow you away too.
Looking forward to sharing! By the Way...my food budget of $100 has been pretty easy most weeks and I have quite the stock pile in my pantry as well. We have even begun to order pizza/subs once a week and Marc and I went to dinner one night (cheap dinner, $25 with tip) because I was below budget.
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