Here I Go

I just started out couponing in the last few weeks. It started when two things happened at almost the same time. The first was that I received an electricity bill for $306.00 for ONE MONTH (up 112.00 from the previous month), and the other is that I just happened to be surfing the internet and saw a coupon for something...it made me start thinking about my mother, who was a major user of coupons when I was a teenager. She could buy $100 worth of food for less than $20 most of the time.

Hey, if she could do it in the days before internet access and personal computers and blinkies, etc...I should be able to do at least that well, and possibly better!

I have been clipping coupons like crazy, and scouring the internet for deals and freebies and samples and coupons. I have written to so many companies asking to be put on their mailing list for coupons and promotions that I can't think of too many products I haven't covered!

I went one day to CVS and did some good deals with BOGO and coupons, and then got some ECB's, so on my next visit, I used more coupons and got more BOGO's and used the ECB's and left after paying $1.67 for like $30 worth of stuff. That was the most AWESOME moment, really! The same day, I went to Winn Dixie and saved $44 (spent around $50), so that was almost half off, but the kicker was that I came home with a lot more food than I normally would have bought.

I am so into this now that my husband and kids are calling me the Coupon Queen. They laugh and roll their eyes when they see how excited I get when I spot a coupon or snag a great deal. I have already been receiving mailings from some of the companies to which I wrote compliments, so every trip to the mail box is now an adventure.

My husband went to CVS the other day and bought 3 packs of those sticky worm things (didn't want to use the brand name here), and they were .99 each package. He spent .52 for all three packs. Apparently, he had some extra bucks or something that he was able to get those at that price. He said he was going to stop teasing me about coupons from then on. I think it really impressed him that it could be so easy.

I have my own CVS card under only my name, so I am not letting him spend my ECB's or whatever!

We went to dinner that same night, and he actually asked me if I had any restaurant coupons, so I gave him the choice of Olive Garden or O'Charley's. We went to O'Charley's, where I had a coupon for a free appetizer. Tip: Don't order the twisted potatoes. Tastes exactly like overcooked potato chips with the slightest drizzle of cheese and some chopped up tomatoes, onions, and I think cilantro.

I am going to get a good stockpile of things, and then after that, I am going to save the money I normally would spend on those quick trips to the store that I WAS making a couple of times a week. Once my stockpile is basically at it's peak, then everytime I get a BOGO or a free item, I will set aside the money saved and add it to a savings account. I have a nice goal of what I want to do with the money once I accumulate the amount I need, so it's really exciting to think about that goal.

It's really funny that I am doing this coupon thing. No one in my family believed me when I told them. Not YOU, they said! I am the last person anyone would think to do this, since they all know that I have always HATED going shopping, even for clothes. I told my sister tonight that it's actually made shopping fun for me now, since I have this mission to save as much money as possible and to find the best deals, and look for blinkies and tearpads, etc. Much better than just going in and paying what they expect everyone is going to pay and then walking out with 1 or 2 bags and $50 or more less money in your wallet or bank account.

Going on vacation towards the end of the week, and yes, I am taking my coupons with me!