Coupon Crazy - Report

I tried the whole bargain grocery shopping, clip and sort coupon thing a while back. Even signed up for the service via The Grocery Game website. They delivered me pretty little lists to customize with a click-click-click and away we went. The reality was, it was to tedious. After a while, I quit. The system work. It really did. It cost me $1.25 a week for the info and I saved WAY more than that in a single trip by planning my trips to stock up on things and maximize my dollar. Problem was, I didn't do it. I printed list after list after list. Then I recycled expired list after expired list after expired list. It was totally frustrating. Mostly it was that I couldn't drag myself to the grocery store with three kids in tow. That alone was (is) overwhelming to me right now. In retrospect, it was a dumb time to start a new fancy system. I've had some time off and learned some things. I'm ready to go at it again. Things I know now that will help:

• All those darn lists are online on blogs like The Grocery Girls website and others and they are FREE! **$1.25 each week saved and lots more store lists available than two**
• I clipped and sorted coupons, making me guess what coupons I might, possibly, maybe at sometime in my future life want to use. Then sort them into categories so I can find them. Then clean out the coupon sorting box and carry it with me everywhere I go so I won't forget it when I need it. Now I will file them by month and only cut things I want to go use that day. **Think of the time and mess I'll save!! Also, more room in the diaper bag without the coupon box**
• Get multiple copies of coupons to really get a MEGA bang for your buck. I don't get the paper, but I do live in a townhouse with neighbors super close and we all put our recycling out every Tuesday morning. The recycling truck comes in the afternoon, so I can get unlimited numbers of coupons from the Sunday paper (though only 4 sets are sitting at my front door). **If I love Oscar Mayer hot dogs and they go on sale, why just have one coupon at the ready? Think of it this way: Sale Price + Coupon x Lots of Hot Dogs = Happy Angie with loads of cheap hot dogs in the freezer**

So....my first coupon shopping trip was tonight to Target. Here are the stats: Spent $29.57 Saved $20.46 Should have taken one of those fancy pics lining everything up in big fancy piles, but heck, I'm tired and it's bedtime. Maybe next time. Brian was teasing me, saying "Great! Now you spent $29.57 on stuff we don't need, would never have purchased and don't want. But, hey, you saved $20!" Hahaha. We did get cookies I might not have paid for if it wasn't so cheap but I do buy them on occasion and the only thing I would NEVER have bought was the juice from the fridge section. I'm a frozen concentrate sort of gal. Turns out my Target is just too small, plus my prices were almost always $0.05 more than the deal websites, but that's not bad. I do live in the metro DC area and everything is super expensive here. About half the things I tried to buy were out of stock or they didn't carry. Stay tuned to see if I stick with it or cave again. Life is about to change. Ben starts school in 1 1/2 weeks and Maddie starts preschool the week after that. Craziness!!!