I know most people love to save money, hey who doesn't. I finally said enough! Spending close to $600 a month was ridiculous to feed and clean my small family. I decided that I would start to coupon. Most people think, "Well I have a certain type of ice cream I eat and I don't get anything other than that."
If that is your thought then don't worry about couponing or frugal shopping, you can't be brand loyal. I started out just checking out deals for Safeway and Target around here and then started checking out the extreme coupon websites for tips. My first few trips were a little disappointing, I didn't save much and it seemed like a waste of time. Well I didn't give up and I got a few more papers and clipped more than one of the same coupon that we would use. I then went to Safeway and had a few coupons paired with their deals and I got 4 name brand deodorants, 2 house cleaners (they were actually free!) and 4 3 bar sets of name brand soap for .....$6! I stocked up and it was awesome. There is actually a excitement that you get from couponing and getting great deals. I saved my family $34 on that transaction alone. With couponing you can't pay for everything you need for food, veggies etc on just coupons. But I have allowed us to save anywhere from 50-65% on our grocery orders!!!! I am so happy, we were doing fine financially but I just wanted to see if I could do it too!! I have and it is actually fun and doesn't take that much time out of my day!!!
Also I am going to discuss........ wait for it...... Dollar Tree!!!! Most people say "Ewww why do you want to buy anything at a dollar store, are you that broke?" No we are not but they have really fantastic deals and some great off brand items that have been around for years but nobody wants to try them because they aren't "NAME BRAND" I will tell you they have 4 pack rolls of toilet paper for, you can probably guess, $1!!!! So you spend $5 and you get 20 rolls of TP! I have tried it, it's no Charmin but it does it's job and I don't think you need expensive toilet paper to... well we all know what! I also got some great razors, that are actually pretty good for being disposable and I haven't had a problem and there are 10 in a pack! They sell Zest, Dial, Jergens, Angel Soft, Hefty zip lock bags etc. I just want people to know, that yes I coupon and shop at the dollar store but you know what? I have more money for the other important things in my life and have a little stock pile so that we won't have to buy certain things for months or if there is a really good sale :)
If you want to save money, take it into your hands and try it. Don't look down on people because they don't have name brand everything, in this economy every one's got to do what they got to do! Now at this time I have saved $250 this month from couponing and dollar store shopping, so now we get to go out to eat and buy some clothes and still save our regular money we save every month!
Thanks for reading and have a great day!!
