"Couponing" What does it really mean??

8 months ago I would have told you couponing was silly. I mean how is it worth it to buy a Sunday paper for 1.75, Take all the time to clip them, then use a couple of coupons to take my $115. weekly Walmart bill down a whole $2.25 cents to 112.75 I couldn't figure out how that was worth it at all!! 8 months ago I bought almost all my groceries at Aldis, but this was my "coupon" thinking and Aldis didn't take coupons even if I wanted to use them. If this is what you think couponing is then keep reading....THIS IS NOT COUPONING!!!

Here is my story in a nut shell and then hopefully soon in part 2 I will tell you how to get started saving up to half of your grocery bill!!


It all started when Shannon (my Sis in Law) told me about Money Saving Mom. This is how my whole couponing mind set changed completely. I started slowly and began to look at CVS. I thought "what you want me to buy stuff at CVS"?? That's the kind of store I only stepped into when it was an emergency or to get a script filled. But I began to understand the ECB (extracare bucks). I tried a couple transactions and it worked unbelieveably well. Within a few weeks I had free or really cheap toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, shampoo, conditioner and tons of other stuff. I was officially hooked!!

I kept reading online and researching and began to get 4 Sunday papers and clipping all the coupons. I started shopping at Kroger, Meijer, and Walgreens along with CVS of course. I still had to continue shopping Aldis for a few months to get things that weren't on sale that I needed. This continued for several months and I began to need less and less at Aldis because I was getting a stockpile.

I set myself a weekly budget and would try to use most of the budget to buy items that were on sale and I had a coupon for. It worked awesome. I was getting twice as many groceries for about half the money.

I also began to see my cupboards fill up. I never had much stock of anything before and my freezer was maybe a fourth full. Before I couldn't stay in budget only buying the things we needed for the week let alone stocking up on something else.

So What does couponing look like today 8 months later??? How much do I spend????How much do I have stocked up in my pantry today???How do you begin doing this????
Stay tuned to part 2...hopefully soon!!