coupon queen

For the guys that read my blog - this one is about coupons - so you may not be interested!! LOL

ok - so my friend Beckie from church has been talking to me for months about the coupon game that she does and how successful she is at saving money with it. Example: When Kroger has these huge sales - like mix and match 10 items for $10 and then along with all the sales items - if you have coupons within a certain amount - then you can triple, double your coupons - you can purchase a TON of groceries for less money. Beckie has gone to the store before and bought like $400 dollars worth of groceries for $100 or less...................I'm like - say what??

We went to a picnic a couple of months ago and she started talking about this with me and my husband was talking to some other people - however, when he heard the words "saving money" he almost got whip lash from turning his head to try to hear the conversation!!! I thought - uh oh - I'm doomed!!! Needless to say - when Beckie was finished describing what it was all about - Mark was all over that like crazy!!! I was thinking - I don't think so - I mean - who the heck wants to sit down and pour over coupons for hours trying to save .50c? However, I didn't understand that there were websites that did all the work for you - from telling you which paper the coupon came out of to what is free, where to purchase, etc............so, ok - if someone else will do the leg work - I'm all about it! LOL

Beckie came to my house one evening and gave me the low down - like the websites to visit that show you what the sales are, which coupon book the coupons are in, etc......and so, I've started the process. Now, this is not an easy process and I haven't accomplished it like Beckie has - but, I am learning.............I had no idea at the beginning that Kroger always doubles and triples coupons all the time - nor did I know they did 10 for $10.....you see - I never really paid attention to sales or coupons - I just bought what I needed and left...........I did plan my meals out for the month - that saved some money because I wasn't running to the store once a week - but when I would get bored with that - then I would start going once a week and spending twice the amount needed..............so, here I am - about to become "coupon queen".

I don't work - no reason I can't take the time to sit down and pay attention to what is on sale - right? I've got a stack of coupons - they look nice.............now I have to figure out what to do with them!! Beckie brought over her little "filing system" and showed me how she does it and what she does with each set of coupons out of the newspaper - she basically has a hanging folder with the date of the newspaper on top - the coupons are just dropped down in there and when she logs on to the websites (listed below) and searches out the coupons - the website will tell her which paper the coupon was in and she goes right to it..............confused yet? I was SPEECHLESS......I'm thinking - people actually do this????? wow!

So, she talked me into taking the coupons that I had - checking out the website and going to Krogers (it just so happened that they were having a huge sale that weekend) to purchase the items that I would need. Now, 10 items for $10 seems like a lot - I mean - who the heck needs 10 cool whips and 10 bags of pretzels and 10 2 liter diet cokes............well, obviously - I did!!!!! I use cool whip like it's going out of style - so I bought 10 and froze them. We drink diet coke like mad - so I bought them - I bake spicy pretzels during the holidays like crazy - so I bought the pretzels!!!!! I was pumped at this point. I used my coupons for the other items - and I purchased like 80 items and only spent like $40................WOO HOO - I was hooked!!!!! So, last night - I pulled out the Kroger sales paper (ok - I have never looked at a sales paper in my LIFE) and wrote down what I needed for the next two weeks - for Christmas and New Years and I went to the grocery store..........I bought all my groceries for Christmas dinner and the makings for 9 other meals and only spent $150..............that may seem high to some - but you have to realize - I normally spend about $300!!! I cut my moola in half!!! I'm starting to get excited about this.......now it's going to become a challenge for me..........some of my friends want to do it too - so after the first of the year - I'm going to get Beckie to help us and I will blog about it too.........

Some of the websites - if you are interested in checking them out to just see what is out there are as follows (also, if you play the coupon game and have any suggestions or new websites - please leave a comment or email me at karkaypat@yahoo.com and I will add your thoughts/suggestions/comments to the blog!).

cell fire www.cellfire.com
Short cuts www.shortcuts.com
P&G savers www.pgeverydaysolutions.com
Vocalpoint www.vocalpoint.com
Hot coupon world www.hotcouponworld.com
Coupon Mom www.couponmom.com
Coupon Tom www.coupontom.com

Hot coupon world and coupon Mom are my favorite!!

It will seem VERY overwhelming at the beginning - in fact - it is still overwhelming to me because I'm not good at it yet - but I am determined!!! I'm thinking the more I save on groceries, the more I can spend elsewhere - like on ME...ok maybe on Jake and Mark too!!! LOL...I know, I know - I'm trying to save money - not keep spending it!! LOL

Every penny saved is a good thing - especially these days. So, saddle up and join the rest of us FREAKS that stand in the grocery line and hold up traffic because we have an envelope full of coupons that we are DETERMINED to use!

Love to all
karen