Every month when my husband and I sit down to see where all our money has gone. I find that several hundred dollars ($400 this month) has gone to Target. And about the same amount has gone to groceries and eating out.
Because I am not willing to stop shopping- and I want my children to have nice things- I decided I needed to come up with a way to save money. I have used coupons in the past, however after watching "Extreme Couponing" I realized there is no reason I too can not save alot of money using coupons.
My first goal is to find the coupons and deals for the things we already buy. Then I would love to be able to get in on some of the "Free Buys" and use those for donations as well as starting my own stockpile.
So, the question is where to begin. As I watched these shows I saw most people are getting there coupons from several sources. 1st News Papers (Which can be costly- as many of these ladies buy 30 papers a week!) 2nd Printable Coupons off the internet (So, I have to think about the cost of paper and ink here.) 3rd Grocery Cards with ecoupons. (I found Kroger as this great program! Not that Kroger has the lowest prices all the time.) 4th shop weekly specials on the circulars for groceries and walgreens. And finally, 5% off every purchase at Target! This is an offer that when you use the Target RedCard. Now, I am not a credit card user for many reasons. The most important being we never get the card paid off monthly and intrest accrues. But, did you know- you can get a Target RedCard DEBIT CARD?!? It is attached to your own checking account. And every time you use it the money comes directly from your account (same as it would if I were using my bank debit card) and you save 5%! I love it!
I plan on blogging my journey with couponing- in hopes it will help you with yours!
As an aside- I am currently on Weight Watchers and so, I do not regularly buy high carb foods. I try to keep those tempting treats out of my home. So, it may be a struggle to see if I can find coupons for healthy foods. I have yet to see a coupon for eggs or milk- this is my next quest!
