grocery shopping gives me a sense of accomplishment...

Due to our current economic situation, I have been trying different ways to cut costs. One of the easiest is to clip coupons and use them wisely. I follow a couple blogs that help me find some deals, but the rest is from reading through the ads and planning out my shopping excursion. It takes some time (clipping the coupons, sorting them, going through the different ads etc.) but it is definitely worth it. Shopping itself is more involved. That is why I can't do my coupon-crazy shopping excursions with the kids. That is one benefit of an unemployed husband. If he is unavailable, I have a couple of hours on Tuesday mornings when both kids are in school. In a perfect world, this time would be for massages or pedicures. Now it is shopping or getting in a run.

I have had some success lately. Last week I saved over $100 by shopping club specials and coupons. Yesterday, I saved $80 and still have over $9 of coupons that I earned on that trip to use next time.

Here is an example of a great deal I got yesterday at Albertsons:

Five boxes of Kellogg's Cereal
$2.38+$2.38 +$2.38+$2.50 +2.39=
$12.03

Two manufacturer's coupons for $1.00 and
$.70

$12.03-$1.70=$10.33 (Albertsons doesn't double
coupons)

They gave me two coupons for free gallons of milk (up to
$4.69 value)

$10.33-$9.38= $.95

I just bought five boxes of cereal that we use every day and two gallons of milk for less than a dollar!!!! How cool is that?????

For some great money saving tips, try these blogs (there are a ton more, but it gets overwhelming, so I am sticking with a couple for now):

http://happilyaverage.blogspot.com/

http://www.couponcravings.com/

http://www.moneywisemoms.com/