Coupons!

Ever since we made the decision for me to stay home (aka I made the decision and Josh was loving enough to support me and allow me this blessing), I've realized that it's Josh's job to bring in the money and my job to save our money.  That being said, we've always lived quite frugally.  I was raised in a household where we used coupons, we shopped at Old Navy, we weren't allowed to order drinks when we went out to eat, we rarely went out to eat, etc.  I've merely followed that in my adult life.  When we got married, I quickly nixed Josh's eating out for lunch routine and made him lunches instead.  We almost always split a meal when we go out to eat, and that's only on weekends.  We wait to see movies at the dollar theater (well, we did before S came along).  We drive old cars.  I still shop at places like Old Navy.  And just like my mom, I use coupons.

This fall I have started doing MOPS (another post on that later).  At Monday's meeting, our guest speaker was a woman who, along with being a full-time mom to two, devotes her life to the wonderful world of couponing.  Needless to say, I was SOO excited when I found out that's what we would be talking about Monday.  I clip coupons in my Red Plum circular, I go to Coupons.com, I use the yellow coupons we all know and love at HEB, etc.  I have always done my couponing before I meal plan for the week to try to include meals I can save money on.  This is how I've managed to keep us on a weekly grocery budget of $40-$50.  (Since Samantha, it's become more like $50-$60 due to diapers.  I also use way more toilet paper now that I stay home.  I pee a lot... but clearly that's not the point of this post!)

So here I was walking into our meeting on Monday thinking I was already the coupon queen and I was just going to confirm that I was doing a good job.  If anything, I might learn one new pointer and just appreciate hearing from someone who loves couponing as much as I do.  BOY WAS I WRONG!  This woman Shellie (savingwithshellie.com) is a coupon genius!  She walked us through so many things I didn't know.  For example, there are so many mobile apps I didn't know about.  Also, Red Plum and Smart Source have online versions with completely different coupons than the circulars.  The biggest thing I learned was how to save at Randall's.  I have a Randall's within walking distance of my home, but I never use it because I've found their prices to be so much higher than HEB.  But I learned that they will double or triple coupons (the only place around that does), and they have special coupons you can get on their app!

On Shellie's website she has a coupon database where you can look up every coupon currently available. She blogs about all the best diaper deals in the area for the week, the best deals at each major grocery store, great toy and clothing deals in the area, etc.  She also has things for online shopping, restaurants, and more.  You all must visit this site!  Seriously!  Stop reading this and go there now!  It's very similar to Money Saving Mom, if you've seen her stuff, but it covers local things here in the Austin area.

After perusing her website for entirely too long, I went out today to save some money! (Which unfortunately still means spending money).  My first deal was a Christmas present for Samantha.

This Fisher Price toy was originally $22.99 at Target, but on sale this week for $14.99.  I was able to use a $5 coupon from the manufacturer, a $5 coupon from Target (they let you stack coupons... something else I learned), and then 10% off using the Cartwheel app to get this toy for $3.67!!! I also bought her some socks for 15% off using that app.  If you are ever going to shop at Target, there's really no need to ever spend full price again with this app!

Next, we headed over to Randall's to do our weekly grocery shopping.  As I mentioned before, I don't ever shop at Randall's unless I'm just sending Josh to go get me something I realize I need right then.  But I figured I'd try it out.  That being said, I still wouldn't shop here without planning my trip first.  I was able to look up Just4U coupons (these apply directly to your card, but you have to load them on there first), the regular card prices, etc.  If I just walked in and shopped like I normally do at HEB, I would have spent more money easily.  I still don't think I would ever buy my produce and meat here regularly.  I'll have to keep playing with it.  But today I got a gallon of milk for $1.89, saved $7 on Pampers, saved $2.45 on two boxes of cake mix, spent 50 cents on a $4.00 box of granola bars, etc.  However, I spent more on my meat and produce than I normally would.  And some of the coupons only made things the price of what they would normally be at HEB.  I still saved money in the long run, but in the future, for optimum savings, I would probably have to make two grocery runs per week. That's just something I'll have to decide if I want to do or not.

I realize that this is a long blog post, and on couponing of all things, but I am excited about additional savings in the Ponder household!  This is the only way we get to take vacations and retire before we're 80 ; )  You should all look into this website NOW!  Then you can go on vacation with us!!