Adventures in Couponing July 11, 2009

“Guess how much I paid for the milk?” I dared my husband as I lugged the two gallon jugs from the evil SUV into the house.

Failing to match my enthusiasm, he replied, “I dunno. How much?”

Undeterred by his lack of understanding of the pivotal nature of the situation, I proudly said, “8 cents.”

The “Online Coupon Sites” post at The Happy Housewife got me thinking that I should list the steps I took to get from Frustrated Occasional Coupon User to Excited Coupon User (who just paid 8 cents for two gallons of milk!) before I get so far into this that I forget how I got here.

I love saving money & getting awesome deals, so why did it take me so long to get serious about couponing?

Yes, I am a complete coupon novice. This is my 3rd week using coupons & other deals to save some serious money at the grocery store. Over the past several months I have been inspired by bloggers like Toni (The Happy Housewife) and all of the ladies who link up to Meal Plan Monday at I’m an Organizing Junkie.

Still, there was the obstacle in between being inspired and actually saving money. I needed coupons. I had given up on the useless (to me) coupons in the newspaper & the tiring chore of thumbing thru circulars. It had never gotten me anywhere in the past, except frustrated.

So, here’s what happened:

1) A friend told me about Southern Savers.
2) Got a coupon education at Southern Savers. Learned about CVSing. Signed up with Coupons.com, Smartsource.com, CoolSavings.com & a few hundred other sites (I might be exaggerating but it doesn’t feel like it).
3) Interrogated children ages 10, 9, 6 & 5 about their favorite foods & meals.
4) Made my 1st ever weekly menu plan for our family of 6.
5) Made a list of all the manufacturers I could think of, visited their websites*, signed up and/or printed coupons (some are being mailed to me).
6) Used the online circular at Publix to make a list from the BOGO’s & sale items.
7) Combined store deals & coupons to save almost $60 my first week, over $70 my 2nd week, & $52 today (my 3rd week) & reduce my overall grocery bill.

My list is by no means exhaustive, but this is how I got my jump start into couponing. I’m still learning (and there’s a lot to learn), but I now look forward to making my menu plan, making my grocery list, & handing over my coupons to the cashier. When I get a little frustrated or worried that my plan isn’t coming together, I’m learning to take it all in stride, knowing that some weeks will be better than others. In time I know that it will require less effort for me to reap the same rewards. And it sure beats going to the store 5,6,7 times each week.

Oh, the 8 cents for two gallons of milk…I used my CVS Extra Care Bucks ($5.50) that printed July 1st, which I earned by filling mine & my son’s allergy prescriptions in the 2nd quarter.

*Here are some of the manufacturers & other coupon sites I registered with and/or printed coupons from:
Arnold Bread
Conagra
Kashi
Start Making Choices
Betty Crocker
Everyday Eating
Kraft
Nestle
Proctor & Gamble (Note: P&G have another site that links up with certain store cards & stores your P&G coupons on those cards. Doesn’t work in my area & coupons are not printable from their site.)
Scott
Blue Bunny
Box Tops 4 Education (Note: I homeschool, but I was able to link up to support the school of my choice…in my case I choice a local Christian school.)
Dunkin’ Donuts
Eat Better America
Pillsbury

Meal Plan Monday – 7.6.09 July 5, 2009

Can you hear that? It’s the Bangles singing, “It’s just another manic Monday….” . Actually, that would be my Friday (7.3.09). I know! I know! Who has “manic” Fridays? Oh, oh, pick me, pick me!

I better get to my menu for this week, my 2nd meal plan in my entire life, before my brain goes on strike. And this is my modified menu from what I originally had planned because when I said we were having pizza on Friday, my husband took that to mean we were ordering out…you know, I’ll just paste an email conversation at the bottom on this for anyone interested in seeing how crazy my Friday was. You need a good laugh, right? You won’t see why or how my menu changed, but trust me, it all started on Friday.

Breakfasts: Pancakes, toast, or Special K; chocolate milk, hot cocoa, coffee.

Lunches: Mac n Cheese, Chicken, Mozzarella sticks, Rice and leftovers.

Dinners:

• Monday – Tortellini & homemade breadsticks
• Tuesday – Chicken, Fries, & Mozzarella Sticks (kids) Bertolli’s OvenBake Ravioli Dinner (dh & me) (Cub Scouts bottle rocket night)
• Wednesday – Fettuccine Alfredo & homemade breadsticks
• Thursday – Rotini with broccoli & sun-dried tomatoes & homemade breadsticks
• Friday – FROZEN pizza
• Saturday – Spaghetti noodles with Parma Rosa sauce & homemade breadsticks
• Sunday – Leftovers

On some levels, I see that as a really pitiful menu, so much pasta, but such is life. I’ll cook up some vegies & chicken breasts to go along.

Don’t forget to check out the hundreds of other menu planners linked up at I’m An Organizing Junkie.

Dialog about my “manic” Friday

Friend: “I am not sure what you meant about “After the day I’ve had ( see below )” follows up with? “

Me:“LOL I was so tired that I didn’t get into the explanation of just what a day I had had. I had gotten very little sleep because I stayed up late trying to get my coupons printed & organized, and my meal plan in order & my grocery list completed. I wanted to go shopping 1st thing Friday morning. But I finally gave up on that desire & finally went to bed. I woke up at 7am because I couldn’t sleep knowing I still had all this work to do to get ready to go shopping. I worked on it for 3 hrs and finally headed out to do my Dollar Store & CVS run. Then I came back home (I got free milk at CVS) to drop off that stuff. Then [Q] decided she wanted to go with me to Publix. I knew better, but I let her go. I figure she has to learn to endure even when you’d rather be home already. The Publix trip took longer with her in tow…and her constant “Are we done yet?” At least she didn’t throw a fit. Anyways, I was trying to keep all my stuff in order, not lose or forget any coupons I worked so hard to put together….etc, etc, etc. So, we get to the car and I’m loading everything and [dh] calls to tell me that [friends invited over] finally called back and they are coming over at 6:30 (It was 15 to 3pm) and “Did you pick up the stuff for the smores?” I hadn’t because I figured the kids could get by with the Oreos I got with my CVS deal (to get the free milk). “Well, you need to get the stuff for smores because I promised [them] we would have smores when they come over.” I told him that it was too late at the moment, but “I guess I’ll just come back later for that stuff.” Then he said, “Oh, I’ll go then.” The thought of him going to Publix after I worked so hard at saving $70 was too much and I said “Ok, fine. I love you, bye.” I hung up. THANK GOD!!!! That he walked outside to help me unload the car and realized that the lawn needed to be mowed. I didn’t bother with any discussion of getting the smores stuff. I waited for a good moment & left with [Q] again to get the smores stuff (and more fireworks since I knew what I had bought on my first trip was really lame).

Oh, also, I was having a hard time understanding whether they were eating dinner with us or what. [Dh] took my questions to mean I didn’t want them to and he had already invited them. “Well, yeah, we’re having pizza for dinner, right? That’s on the menu, right?” So, they’re eating with us? I finally get an affirmative answer. Apparently, not for lack of having been told this already earlier in the week, he assumed pizza meant order Dominos. Uh, no…pizza meant I bought frozen pizza and we’re going to limit our ordering pizza.

Anyway, Dominos had an awesome deal. Medium pizzas were $5 (must order at least 3) and $1 for 20oz sodas (must order at least 3). So, for $34 I got 6 pizzas & 4 cokes for 10 people.

So that was the day, I had had up to the point when our friends finally arrived.”

Friend: I love you!!!! Now I totally understand why you were so fried that you even forgot to tell me that!

BTW…I really did have an awesome time with our friends that came over that night. We hadn’t seen them since Spring 2002. Their twins are the same age as our oldest son. They all played together so nice. There weren’t any arguments…not even amongst my own kids…the entire night of pizza, rice crispy treats, smores, & fire”forks” (that word is courtesy of my 5yo dd). My day ended on a very positive note.