 Overwhelmed with information
I have been reading everything I can get my hands on for the last week or so and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with this whole coupon thing. I tend to get a big obsessive with new things...lol
I signed up for a free trial of a paid site to help me try to make sense of things. DH and I are making a price book for the grocery stores in our area. A friend gave me all the inserts from her paper from like the last 4 months. I clipped out anything I thought I'd use and put them in a binder. I tossed anything I won't use because I'm overwhelmed by the thought of trading coupons at this point and I want to avoid buying things "because I have a coupon".
Before now I have always made a meal plan of whatever I feel like 1 week at a time and then bought ingredients accordingly. This month I made a meal plan for 4 weeks completely from things already in the house. We will need to buy milk and fresh fruit/veggies. I cook from scratch almost exclusively. The rest of the grocery budget can be used for good sales and/or stockpiling.
I think I can handle basic grocery coupons and such, but I just don't get the drug store thing. I have never really shopped at drug stores and all of the rules for rebates and specials seem so confusing. It seems that many of you get great deals on things there, but half the time I find myself wondering "wow, these people really like blood sugar monitors and hair color". These aren't things I'd buy. Do you buy them to get the special deal? Doesn't spending extra money for things you don't need defeat the purpose of saving money?
I think I'm going to stick to the grocery coupons I can get in my paper and online for now. I have enough to worry about with all the rules that go with that. "Does this store double? How much? How often?" It's all a bit confusing still. I don't even know what coupons are good for me that are worth trading for. |