Couponing

I know, I said I would post everything that I bought and how much I paid for them, but I just don't have the time. I put all of that up on my facebook page already...sorry ladies. Just know that I saved over $900.00 and I've only spent about $275.00. Keep in mind that I only purchase things that I use. Also note that my stockpile has been a work in progress over several years. I did not just accumulate all of our products in 1 months time. We have a garden and because of that, I have been canning everything in it for over 3 years now. Happy couponing!

My newest addiction

What a title right? I guess I could be addicted to worse things that couponing...drugs, alcohol, facebook(oh wait, I'm addicted to that too)...I guess I should tell the story of how I became a Krazy Coupon Lady. So, about a month ago I saw a show on TLC about extreme couponing. Last year I had already bought a binder and the stuff to put in the binder, but then with no direction, I just didn't move forward. But that Tv show changed everything. Ever dream of having a wall full of FREE toilet paper? I do, but not because I think that's awesome. I have 3 kids and right now, two of them use sooooo much tp that it's unreal. I would just like to never run out. The other day, Jonathan had to buy toilet paper with his own money because once again, he had used tp to clean the bathroom. I have patiently tried to explain that tp doesn't just grow on trees...he told me, no, it comes from our storage room. So, long story short, to show him just where it comes from and how much it costs for tp, he had to bring his piggy bank to the store and buy tp with his own money. I'm pretty sure he's learned his lesson on how expensive things are and that they don't just magically "appear" downstairs in our store room. Any how, free toilet paper. A myth right? Nope. It is attainable. I have yet to get it for free. My least expensive tp trip was $1.99 for 6 rolls. I was stoked. That is freaking cheap and it wasn't for the "cheap" brand either. (Hey, some of us have values) How about free cat food? I just bought 6 boxes of Purina Beyond One cat food and I paid only taxes on it. This week at Smiths, I'm going to get free pasta. How is all this possible? Coupons. I kid you not, billions of dollars are out there floating around in the form of coupons. Once I was like many Americans. I carelessly threw them away, thinking they weren't worth my time or effort. Now, I'm discovering that they are worth just that and sometimes they are worth up to $10.oo off a product. A couple of my friends along with thousands of strangers think that coupons are only for junk food. I will tell you what I told a friend of mine last night when he said just that. I got a coupon the other day for $2 or $3.00 off pork. That stuff is good for you. Today I just bought a bag of salad and it had a $1.00 off coupon taped to it. I combined that with the sale at the store and paid .89 for the bag of salad. But I'm getting ahead of myself. First I need to explain why I have decided to coupon. There are many reasons. The funnest reason is I like to see just how high my order gets before I give the checkout lady my coupons. But the biggest reason of all is, I want to save money. This year our family has gone through quite a change. We now have 75% custody of the kids and because of that, they live with us through the year. Now, we have always had enough money to feed the children, however, we now have to come up with an extra $600.00 so that we can drive them halfway cross country so they can visit their mother. With gas the price that it is (and it keeps getting worse), we need to save every penny we can. This is why I coupon. Why pay $2.99 for toothpaste when you can get it for free? Sounds illegal doesn't it? Well, it's not. Again, manufactures print out coupons for their products. As long as they are valid coupons from them, you can use them on the products they specify. If you happen to use those coupons with a sale that some store is having, you could wind up getting those items for free or close to it. So, apart from saving money, I said it was fun. It really is too. Sure, sometimes I get tired of clipping coupons, sometimes it would just be easier if I could just go to the store and not worry about those little pieces of paper. But then I look out the window and see the new car I am driving and realize that because I have made it a priority to clip coupons and save my family some money, I can now drive a new car, it makes it all worth it. Now, some are skeptic about the amount of money you can save by clipping coupons. Let me let you in on a secret that not many people know. You can save over $10,000 a year just by clipping coupons. How do I know this? Well, I read it in a book....here we go right? We shouldn't believe everything we read in a book or see on tv right? Wrong. With the amount of money I have saved over the last 4 weeks using coupons (for things I only use and need), if I keep going like this, in one year I will have saved my family of 5 $10,800! That's just on food and household supplies. Crazy right? I give all the credit of learning this secret to The Krazy Coupon Lady. (Jonie Demer and Heather Wheeler) Those two ladies are amazing. Jonie was on that TLC show and that's what really got me started. A few days later, one of my friends had a picture of some items bought at a store. I read the totals and tried to figure out how she only paid pennies for a million items. I had to ask. She sent me to The Krazy Coupon Lady site (KCL for short). The site is amazing and makes couponing so easy. my first day, I saved a ton of money. As I have progressed, I have saved hundreds of dollars on items that my family uses. Some may think that I am crazy...I tell them to make sure they spell it with a K. I am Krazy. I love to save money. Let me give you some examples of how I have saved money over the last month on things I regularly use. Today Albertsons is having a sale on Kraft bbq sauce. 10 for 10(that doesn't mean you have to purchase 10 of them though, just 10 participating items. However, when you find out how much I paid for them, you would buy that many as well.) When you buy 10 participaing items, you automatically save $5.00. Win right there. But when you add them with, say a .75 off one kraft bbq sauce, it's a win win situation. If you buy 10 bbq sauce it lowered the price from $1.49 to .99 each. I had 10 coupons for .75 off. That means I paid .24 for each bottle. If I had more coupons, I'd go back and get some more! The other day I had 6 coupons for $3.00 off Purina Beyond One Cat food. At Albies, the cat food was only $2.68. That' means I got them completely FREE! Who doesn't love free?! Anyway, the savings are huge, but you still have to invest time into clipping coupons. I do this Sunday evening while we are watching a movie or while the kids are taking a nap. You have to be willing to drive to several different stores on a weekly basis (maybe even a daily basis). Some are willing to to that. I am. If you are serious about saving money, this is the thing for you. I suggest to go to the KCL site and read what they have to say. IF you are interested in saving money by using coupons, I also suggest that you download their coupon binder and then USE it. It's free. If you are interested in reading the book, you can buy it or borrow it from me (I want the book back though). If you need help after you have made the decision to save your family literally THOUSANDS of dollars, call me and I will help you out. We can teach each other and become KRAZY together. Happy shopping!

P.S. I'm going to post picture of my shopping, the retail cost of everything and then how much I paid for it. I will also post a picture of my stockpile.

My sweet little "smooch"

So I was sitting on my couch the other day eating a golden chocolate oreo (food of the Gods) and Aleyah was sitting next to me. She kept looking at the cookie I was eating. Poor thing wanted one so bad. So, I thought why not? She is 8 months old and that should be fine. No choking hazard here (mom!). I gave her one. Here are the pictures from that cookie. I should have sat her in the highchair, she was making such a big mess. I had to take the cookie away from her once because she got one of her hairs on it. you'd have thought I was taking away her life. She heaved such a pitiful sigh and got huge tears in her eyes. Too cute. Half way through eating the cookie, she fell asleep. Too bad she didn't get to stay that way. She was way to messy and had to be changed. Later that night when I gave her a bath, she had cookie between her toes! How on earth did she manage to do that I wonder? Anyway, here are the pictures I took of her while she was munching on that cookie. I tried to take a video, but my camera wouldn't let me.