Coupons

My mom has long been a savvy coupon shopper. I grew up listening to her tell tales of getting this or that for only a penny. I thought it was neat, but didn't quite understand her excitement. I get it now! This is like a fun game to see how low I can get the prices!

Last weekend I was visiting my cousin, Michelle, who should probably be my mother's daughter. They both love this whole coupon business. Listening to Michelle was reminding me of my mom go on about her great deals.

Needless to say, Michelle is quite passionate about her coupon shopping and even has two cute little coupon file folders. I started thinking that this was something I could probably do and should probably do.

Yesterday we went to OfficeMax, and I bought a very cute little coupon holder. Unfortunately they only had one. Must be a run on people getting into this coupon habit. I want two file holders: one for food and one for non-food ('cause this is how Michelle does it!).


I love my little coupon organizer.


I am proud to show off my first coupon shopping receipt! It's a little hard to read, but I saved $48.94 by using my Vons club card, and I saved $27.71 with coupons! Wow! I took almost $28 off my bill by using coupons! That is just mind boggling to me! (Sorry about all the exclamation points, but I am really excited!)


There is something so great about having a pantry filled with food. It gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling knowing I can pull items out of the pantry, frig, and freezer and create meals for my family. I also had to purge the pantry of expired stuff to make room for my purchases.

The one thing that is a little different for me is buying several items at a time to get the low prices. That is okay though. For example, I bought four boxes of Cheerios, but I got them each for $1.25. I also bought six boxes of fruit snacks for less than $1 a box. Wow! Those suckers are expensive. I never think twice when I buy one box for $2.50, but I'd never buy six at a time at that price. Now we'll have enough fruit snacks to last for a while.

Thank you to Michelle who gave me many tips to get started. And thank you to Mom who was the original coupon queen! You have taught me to be thrifty from the start.