Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Stretching a Buck

I'm going to diverge from my usual path of posting about culinary school to talk about something that has been very near to my heart lately.  I'm sure that everyone out there has been affected in some way by the poor economy.  I, myself, am on food stamps right now.  So, I have decided that while I am not working, (and hopefully even after I am) to make my grocery budget stretch as far as possible.  This would not be possible without the wonderful information provided by fellow bloggers that I follow.  Someone out there does all the work of scouring store circulars and matcing sale prices with coupons.  And they are so gracious to provide all of that information to all of us.


I recently posted this picture on Facebook of my first attempt at "Extreme Couponing."  As I am fairly new to this whole world, I was a little apprehensive as I approached the check-out line with my folder full of coupons.  I was so nervous that some of the coupons wouldn't go through, or that I had gotten the wrong product.  Low and behold, they all went through.  The hour or so that I spent clipping coupons and making sure everything was in order really paid off.  I ended up getting over $100 worth of groceries for $16.  Ka-ching! 

Some people might think that this is cheating the system, or that they are too good for couponing.  I have always bought generic items, so I didn't think that I could possibly save money buying name-brand products with coupons.  For those nay-sayers, I ask who is too good to save money?  And why would companies spend millions of dollars on coupons if they didn't want people to use them?  As far as coupons over generic, you really do have to compare.  I have been converted, though.  Sure, I still buy generic items that I do not have coupons for, or if the generic price is still cheaper.  But I have to ask, what is better than free?  Because I have been getting an awful lot of free groceries lately.  And you can, too.  I've added links to some of my favorite blogs.  These are based out of New Jersey and Indiana, so there are stores and deals for everyone.  I hope that this helps you as much as it has helped me.

Money Saving Mom

Living Rich with Coupons

Free Sample Freak