Anyway, I have had this secret desire to be an extreme couponer ever since I saw the show on TLC. Now, there are things that I think are a little weird about it...like when they buy 170 bottles of mustard or a whole cart of Nestle Crunch bars (Dave gets really worked up about how useless that is. For some reason, it's kind of cute)....but on the whole, it is really cool that these people can feed their families of 6 for like $25 a week. I have been subscribing to the Krazy Koupon Lady's daily emails and she has some good stuff. Granted, some of it you need a Sunday paper coupon insert for, which we don't get. On the way home last night I saw a newspaper recycling dumpster and seriously considered digging through it, but it was raining. And, tetanus and hepatitis scare me and I feel like dumpster diving might be a good way to get those diseases.
The only place that I have really figured out how to coupon thus far is Walgreen's. Who would have thought that a drugstore would be the best place to score deals on food and stuff? They have some really great bargains, though. They do this thing where if you buy certain products in certain amounts or combinations, you get "Register Rewards" which are printed out after your purchase and then they are good for a certain amount off your next purchase. They also let you stack coupons, as long as you do not have more coupons than you have items in your transaction. It all takes a little though before you go shopping (and I had to be annoying and ask the girl to let me buy my stuff in two transactions, but I am sure they are used to it there.). Actually, it takes a lot of thought....I spent like an hour searching for the coupons to buy my seven items last night. Some extreme people spend 30 hours a week planning their trips. Yikes.
Anyway, I didn't get anything for free like a really savvy couponer would have, but I did get my favorite cereal for a fraction of the cost! Buying name-brand cereal is one thing that I admittedly (Oh my gosh Dave has rubbed off on me....I say admittedly so much now!) miss a little about having a single-girl budget....not that "Honey Oat Clusters" aren't delicious too. But last night Walgreens was having a sale on Special K and Raisin Bran Crunch--my favorites!--so I figured out a way to save on them. They are usually like $3.50, but were on sale for $2.50, then I found a $1.00 manufacturer's coupon, used a $3.00 Register Rewards I got on lunch meat last week, and then bought some toothpaste on sale (you can never have too much, right?) which got me another $1.00 register rewards and so I ended up saving like $7.00 on four boxes. I am sure that savings like this will someday make us disgustingly wealthy and Dave will have his thrifty wife to thank for it :) Not really, but I did feel good about getting what I really wanted for cheaper than the generic brand, and now I have four boxes of my favorite cereal sitting in our laundry closet (see....I am turning into a hoarder who hides things in weird places). And, this is my lunch today:
Does anyone have any couponing tips that they want to share with me? I am new at this....
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