First Coupon Experience

So, Starr has been doing a bit of coupon shopping for the past few months. She's pretty good at it too. I'm impressed. At first, I didn't really care but thought it was cool that she was going to be saving us some money on groceries. Since we get most of our household goods from our Amway business, we try to get good deals on as many food items as we can. So, a couple days ago we decided to get a little more serious because Starr has seen some episodes of Extreme Couponers who get something like $230 worth of groceries for $10. We don't spend hours upon hours researching these things and go to ten different stores, but if we can save some money buying things we need anyway, why not spend a couple hours doing it? We bought a Sunday paper and I helped her cut out coupons that we could use. We organized them and found out what we need or will need in the next month or so. Then, we looked up what Publix will be having on sale.

I know what some of you are thinking, but Publix has really good stuff at good prices, and we don't have to feel like we're going to get a disease walking around the store. The workers there are cordial and will help find something in a nice way. Plus, Publix lets you stack a manufacturer coupon with their own to get more of a savings. They also double coupons that are 50 cents and under. So, the price ends up being less than shopping at many other lower quality stores.

Anyway, I went today to do our shopping; it was my first experience doing the coupon thing alone in the store. I felt quite weird walking around the store, checking my list of what we need, checking the coupon to make sure that I'm getting the right item, and trying to make sure that I'm not in everyone's way. Luckily, I went when it was relatively calm in the store and wasn't really in anybody's way. It was still weird, though. Starr tells me that she feels that way when she goes too; so, I don't feel too bad.

Now, I know that some of you might be thinking that I'm a weird guy to be doing the couponing thing. But, if you're friends with my wife on Facebook, then you'll know that she appreciates me helping her out while I'm waiting to start working again. I know a lot of guys that could learn from reading this. However, those guys probably wouldn't take the time to read something this long that isn't about sports.

Maybe you're wondering what I got and how much I spent. I ended up spending $43 and saving $34 by using my coupons. It's a pretty sweet thing to be cutting the grocery bill almost in half. I'm sure I'll get better with a little time. I'm also including a photo of the products that I got.

Today had some other fun in it too, but I'll save that for another day. Have a great day, and remember, "To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift." --Steve Prefontaine

Here's what I got: