Couponing

I grew up with helping my mom cut out coupons. She, at times, would take the amount of money she saved and put it physically in a jar for us to see. She saved money for sure. I have been a coupon diva off & on for several years. I was the queen of couponing clothes. I even got a snowsuit for K for 1 cent! Amazed my husband. Then, I discovered consignment shopping & yard sales. There were many yard sales where I could stuff bags of clothing for $3! Okay, I was sold on the art of yard sales because even if I could get a snowsuit for 1 cent, it was after I spent $20! I am also very fortunate that people consider 4 children in my family and have helped us out through the years with handing down clothes to us. I am not a huge clothing person to begin with--and neither are my children--so we often get by on what we are given. I probably spend $200-500/year on shoes & clothes for the children. Recently, I have decided to try couponing a little more voraciously from the Sunday paper. I am posting the amounts I saved and my friends on facebook and laughing about it. Here's posts:

• On March 14: original grocery bill $313 after coupons $260...not bad for going to a regular grocery store.

• March 26th: Grocery bill before coupons: $324.39 Grocery bill after coupons/bonus saving: $181.45...calm, patient cashier: priceless!

• On April 9th: Today's grocery excursion was not as good as the last few...total price before savings: about $326 after savings: $202. I also earned .60/off gas so depending on how low the tank is we will be saving more in gas as well. I tried for the first time printing coupons from my computer....worked well.

I am not an extreme couponer. I am not converting storage under my bed, shelves in my basement or garage or anything else to a full size grocery storage unit. I just simply want to get my bi-monthly grocery bill down to $200/month (I like fresh, organic produce & organic milk, cheese).

I currently stock up on all things that are incredible deals. The item has to be on major sale & have must have a coupon for it. Once the garden is done, we should save on the veggies too. I should be able to have to buy less produce and eat the fruit of our labor.