Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Coupons and Frugality

As some of you might know, I'm a huge supporter of coupons and just getting a good deal period.   I'm the person you see who has a coupon binder out in the store.  I'm the one you stand behind at checkout that hands the cashier a handful of coupons for their purchase.  You might think it's not worth it or a pain in the butt to be that organized, but it can really ad up.

About 1.5 years ago I got fed up with being made fun of for using coupons. I won't lie, the people who did it the most were my husband his parents.  I kept telling them that I saved a lot of money but I don't think they believed me.  I was getting rather annoyed by this because Husband the FIL believe in saving and not spending money, yet, they made fun of me for shopping for deals and using coupons..which saves money.  It just didn't make sense to me.    I decided to show them up and last year I kept track of how much was saved via coupons.  

Are you ready?  I ended up saving $2,274.17!  That amazed me!  I let them know how much I saved and while the teasing has gone down some, it hasn't gone down completely.  Again..I just don't get it.

This year I've only saved $1,438.75 so far.  I don't think I'll end up doing as well as last year but I'm ok with that.  Why?  I've changed my eating habits.  I eat healthier now, I try to eat more from scratch, and I don't buy as much processed foods.  In doing this, I have found that the coupons for food items I'll now buy are far and few between (except for cereal and granola bars that is).

One of the things I also started doing towards the end of last year was to keep track of how much I spent on groceries and healthy/beauty and household items (cleaners, detergent, etc).  I've done that for all of this year so far.  While I am not using as many coupons, my monthly spending has gone down a lot since last year.  Eating healthier really does have it's benefits!

Since I do keep track of this info, one of the things I'll share at the end of each month is how I did with savings and how I did trying to keep on track with my budget for the month (which is $330 or less on the categories listed above). 

4 comments:

  1. I try to use coupons as much as possible, as well as take advantage of the store sales. My husband always likes to point out after they scan our card how much money we've saved. I think I should keep track, too, as we're trying to see where we can cut back and save more.

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  2. Diaryofaneccentric - I love being able to match coupons with store sales! I have enough of a stockpile on most items that I only buy health/beauty items when it's on sale and I have a coupon.

    Keeping track of what I spent at the grocery story and stores like Target and Walgreens was an eye opener for me. I had no idea I was spending close to or over $400/monthly for a family of 2!

    I'll be doing another post regarding that too. lol

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  3. Oh, I'm with you - I love coupons too, but no one makes fun of me for it. My husband loves that I try to save money! You sound like a great shopper!

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  4. Bermudaonion - I envy you that you don't get made fun of! lol! Glad to see another coupon use as well. Getting deals is so much fun. :)

    Husband might be a converter..he went to the store on his lunch break yesterday and got some vitamins, then I guess he was looking at the companies website and realized there was a $2 off coupon. He emailed me and told me what happened and said he was sorry for not telling me he was getting the product first because I would have probably found the coupon before going to the store. It was sweet..but sad that he felt I might be upset he didn't save the $2. As it is...I had to go out last night for my cake decorating class and drove by the store, so I took the item and coupon inside and they applied it to the sale. It all worked out in the end. haha

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