Anyone that knows me knows that I love to get a good deal. Most times this comes in the form of using coupons. I know a lot of people snub their nose at coupons, but it really isn’t a bad gig. I actually do this more for the thrill of it, than the actual money saving part, that’s just an added bonus. I love coming home from the store with a ton of stuff and little money spent. I had couponed for a couple years a couple years ago but then my husband and I got engaged so I was planning a wedding, I was in school and working so life got hectic and I decided to drop the couponing. I was always going to pick it back up but then never did for this reason or that, but now I’m back on track. Literally, probably about 6 months ago we just used up the last of the shampoo I got over 4 years ago! And the best part of that was, it was all free! I’m pretty sure I will die before I use up my stash of conditioner though, which I got for free at the same time (4 years ago) and probably still have 15-20 bottles left.
A lot of people think that people who use coupons buy stuff they wouldn’t normally buy and therefore waste money and aren’t saving anything, I partially agree with this and will explain why. I agree with this because ok I might not normally buy the name brand expensive shampoo on a regular basis, but when I can get it cheaper or free compared to the store brand that I would buy in its replace, then yes I guess I’m getting something with my coupons I wouldn’t normally get. Or buying automatic air fresheners instead of plug ins for example, if I can get the automatic ones cheaper than the plug ins then yes I am getting something I wouldn’t normally pay full price for. So while this sentence might have a tiny bit of truth to it, I wouldn’t agree with it completely.
Now, on to the good stuff. This past weekend I went on the prowl for some good deals. Since I’m just getting back into the swing of this, I don’t yet have a good amount of coupons yet so there were deals I had to pass on. Thursday I went to the grocery to pick up a few need items. They were having a big sale so when I planned my list of things to get, I planned an alternate one also knowing they would likely be out of some things. When I got there sure enough they were already picked over quite a bit so my savings could have been higher, but considering there was a bunch of things we needed, it wasn’t too bad. I ended up getting $55 in groceries for $42. Not too bad considering there were things we had to have that weren’t on sale and I had to change my list halfway through since they were out of things. Then on Friday I did a bunch of shopping. I went to Kohl’s and got a $40 picture frame for $8. I went to Bed Bath & Beyond and got a Misto for $8, regular price $10. My aunt and I have decided to try and sell different things that we’re making so I went to Jo-Ann’s and got about 150 sheets of paper, 8 glitter glue’s, and a shadowbox frame for $37 which was a savings of $103.86. Then I went to Walgreens and got 2 body washes, 2 of the big bags of M&M’s (Matt’s favorite) and an automatic air freshener all for $4.98 a savings of $28. Then I went to a different Walgreens and got 1 more automatic air freshener and 6 rolls of paper towels for $4, a savings of $11.
So while these aren’t huge savings (and they will get bigger as I accumulate more coupons) those savings really add up on things I was planning on buying anyways. So my saving savvy friends, what do you do to save money?
