Coupons, the new addiction

Tuesdays are quickly becoming one of my favorite days. You know why? Tuesdays are the days when the circulars come in the mail box! Woohoo! It's the one day we get to open up the box and get free money! YAY! Last night I laid out my circulars, evaluated my sales, cut my coupons, and analyzed what I am going to get this weekend with my grocery trip. 

The kids and Chief are nervous that I'm going to become one of those couponing addicts. I seriously don't think I will. I'm not interested in buying things I don't need. I think that's kind of selfish. But I am interested in saving money for my family on the items we use! 

I have discovered that making a list of prices is incredibly important when trying to save money at the grocery store. It is important to have sale price, and coupons listed together. I also separate out all of the coupons I will be using on that particular trip and put them in a green paperclip (green for "go" and red for "stop"). It's how I know which one's I'm using. I fold the tip down on that coupon when I've put it in my cart (so I know I have it) and cross it off my list. It also helps me to keep track.

Have you started using coupons? Even a little bit?

Groceries, what!?

Shopping for a large family can be expensive. Living on a military income, I have had to deeply penny pinch every aspect of our lifestyle. Regardless of what some politicians seem to think (politicians who have never lived on a military income, I might add), we make very little money. I'm not complaining, a paycheck is a paycheck and I am quite grateful for the one we get, but it makes for some tight living.

Every month we make our family budget. This is done for a couple of reasons:
1) We have to stretch that meager Sergeant's salary VERY far
2) We do not use any credit cards whatsoever. We live only on a cash budget, so if we don't have the cash, we don't buy it.
3) We like to know what we're spending on, preparing for, and whether or not we need to re evaluate our purchases.

My budget this month had a massive wrench thrown into it, when the husband announced he needed new tires. Yesterday. It might not sound like a big deal for you, but when you randomly have to alter your budget by hundreds dollars, things have to go. I started to slightly hyperventilate. I was panicking. Where was I going to come up with this much money!?

I started evaluating my food purchases. I started investigating using coupons and where/how I could save cash. It took a lot of planning. I had to really think about what stores were selling, which coupons I had, and the best days to purchase.

Albertsons store offers a 10% military discount off your total purchase on the first Saturday of each month. YAY! They also happened to be having a big sale this weekend on many thanksgiving food items. SUPER yay! After looking through my stash, carefully analyzing things, and making up a VERY specific list, I was able to get our month's groceries (minus our weekly produce needs) for WAY under my projected budget. Today I saved $119.69 at Albertsons, using coupons. It was a truly beautiful experience. I stood there at the register and nearly had a heart attack when he said my savings.

I am really starting to rethink shopping at the Commissary. I would have spent twice the amount I spent at Albertsons on the same items.