I Think I've Went Over the Edge

It's official.

I'm becoming one of THEM...You know the ones.

Those crazy ladies in the grocery store with a shoe box full of coupons?  The kind who write down the price of items at Walmart, to see if they can get them cheaper at Homeland if the coupon is doubled...

I'm one of them.

*SIGH*

It's really no surprise.  I've always been disgustingly frugal.  Take my couches.  I've decided not to get new ones.  I want new floors and a bigger fence in the back yard more. It's really okay, though.  When I bought my couches I very carefully considered whether they were "traditional" and if they would match a variety of settings.  Considering I've had them in 3 different houses and an apartment, and I've had different colored walls every single place, I think I did fairly well.

But, this is actually a post about my couponing endeavors...

Studmuffin took the girls to softball practice Thursday night.  (I loathe softball, and the whole family knows it.  I consider practice their special time with Daddy...)  I decided to go hit the stores and do some couponing.  I am still trying to stick to only shopping every 2 weeks, so I really have to think about what I'm going to buy.  It takes a lot of work and preparation, I'm not gonna lie.

I decided to pop into Walgreens.  I was totally unprepared.  I had not even glanced at their sale bill.  However, I was able to get all of this for $4.43.  That was a total savings of $13.93.

I know I could have gotten tons of stuff more, if I had actually looked through the sale bill and my coupons, but I was just giving this a trial run to see if I have time or energy to add another store to my shopping.

Next I ran into Walmart to buy the things I needed that I did not have coupons for.  I ended up finding manufacturer tear off coupons in their aisles.  They were for $1.00 off.  That doubles at Homeland!  However, if Walmart was enough cheaper, I would not be saving at Homeland.  Homeland is notoriously overpriced.  That is why I only buy things with coupons that are on sale there...Needless to say I was in Walmart a looong time, deciding if items would be cheaper that I needed if I had  coupon that doubled at Homeland.

At last I went to Homeland, and I felt like I scored pretty big!  I got all of this for $39.98.  That was a savings of $54.69 off the retail price!  A sixty percent savings!

The only kicker is that I bought a bunch of junk I would normally NEVER buy because it is just junk, and it is a waste of money.  However, since it was practically free, I couldn't resist!  You will laugh, but I actually had a talk with my girls this morning on what they are allowed to eat, and how many a day.  One yogurt or pudding cup a day.  One snack bar a day.  One bowl of cereal per day.  You see, the first time I went couponing, the little twerps snarfed down all the junk food in the first three days because they were so pumped to actually have junk food!

And, for those of you who know what a label reader I am, those dad gum frozen dinners sucked me in at sixty cents a piece.  I know my husband will use them for work some day when we don't have leftovers and he's sick of sandwiches...

And those snack bars?  You bet your boots they have high fructose corn syrup in them...How the mighty have fallen in the face of super cheap snacks.

So, we will see how this whole couponing thing continues to work.  I bought all of the groceries I will need for the rest of the month, through the first week of April yesterday, aside from probably 2 more loaves of bread, 4 gallons of milk, and I will have to replenish fresh produce as we do eat apples, bananas, grapes, and such daily. 

Oh, and just in case you were wondering about my month overall, I have saved every receipt and my grand total spent on groceries for this month was $282.57 (remember this gets me through the first week of April.)  That is every single household item we have bought from cleaners to fish food to people food.  My normal budget for groceries is $500 per month.  That may seem like a lot to some of you, but we only eat out once per week, and we take our meals to work, and I'm kind of freaky about labels.  I have learned that junk food is a lot cheaper than wholesome food like yogurt, cheese, fruit and peanut butter...

This month I went a little crazy and tried to buy very little without a coupon or sale items.  I forced myself to make a meal when typically I would have said "I have no food, I need to go to the store."  That means that next month I will have depleted much of the stuff I normally have extra of, so I may not do as well.

We shall see.  We shall see.

P.S.  After I typed this Coupon Closet posted her Homeland shopping trip...Which totally depressed me as I didn't do nearly as well.  But, if you need inspiration to at least give coupons a try, go over and visit her to learn how she bought $255 worth of groceries for $27.32!!!!   That is amazing.