Frugal Friday!

So what's this couponing craze all about these days? For years, couponing was for old ladies with a million mouths to feed, now its all the rage. You turn on the tv and see extreme couponers buying thousands of dollars worth of food and products for pennies, and you are one click away from thousands of sites dedicated to couponing and bargain hunting. If I can be honest, I can't stand extreme couponing, and the people on that show and the hundreds who do it on a weekly basis are more like hoarders than savvy savers in my opinion. If you are having to add square footage to your home to store your free junk then you may need to see a therapist. On the contrary, kudos to the extreme couponers who choose to give their free groceries to charity. You people are awesome!

I have been laughing at couponing until about five days ago. Who wants to sit around clipping coupons, comparing flyers, planning multiple trips to several stores for the best deals, and stocking up your panty like it's World War II when it's already hard enough to think of a few creative recipes for dinner every week. I did laugh at the girls I know who do this, but I am slowly realizing the jokes on me. They are saving hundreds of dollars while I am stuck having panic attacks in the grocery store every time I check out!

Here are my 3 reasons for swearing off couponing:

1. Most coupons require you to purchase more than 1 item to get a deal, and I don't have enough space to store all the extra food

2. It's all junk food and kid food, and couponing doesn't fit our lifestyle

3. I don't have the time to spend clipping coupons and studying sales

But on Monday, my frugal life started to change! My girlfriend at work gave me a little tutorial. I realized that time is certainly money, and I have to spend a little more of my precious time looking for the best deals and planning my menus around whats on sale. But it doesn't have to be as hard as it seems if I don't let it.

And then it hit me as we were going through the fliers and coupons, and I started seeing more food on sale that I actually eat......I could seriously get addicted to this! Oh Lordy, I'm in trouble!!!

I made the decision on Monday to give this a try, but I set some boundaries.

1. Find one site that sorts the store fliers and offers a coupon database. I don't have time to visit every product's web site for coupons and each store's web site and scroll through the sales fliers. I chose Southern Savers to do the work for me. It is amazingly helpful and makes the process very easy.

2. Limit my shopping to 2 stores a week . This week, I chose Winn Dixie and Publix. Both offer great Buy 1 Get 1 Free deals, and you can save lots of $$$ just by having a Winn Dixie card.

3. Only clip coupons for food and products I will eat and use. This keeps me in line with living a minimalist life style and keeps me sane!

4. Find a great recipe site that offers simple, budget friendly recipes. 5-ingredients-or-less recipes are perfect for planning menus around whats on sale. I like My Recipes.

My plan: I clicked on the itemized sale items for Publix and Winn Dixie provided by Southern Savers (this site does everything) and printed my shopping list directly from the site based on the foods I know we would eat. Then I printed any coupons that were available through the Southern Savers database, and I finally logged on to recipe sites to find my menu for the week using the sale items. I spent 1-2 hours on my menu planning for the week. I usually spend 1 hour a week anyway, and that doesn't include any savings!

I made my first trip to Winn Dixie to get 3/4 of my list this afternoon. All my meat came from this trip, and I got such good deals that I will not have to buy any meat for next week, which will make my planning easier and cheaper. YAY!

I only spent 30 minutes or so, and I only had two coupons, but I got all of this for $76.90. I had a total savings of $46.26. And yes...I only clipped two coupons. This week was all about matching the great sales with my menu. Next week, I hope to incorporate more coupons.




For $76.90, I bought:
2 Athenos Greek yogurt
1 pack Kraft provolone cheese slices
1 pack Kraft pepper jack cheese slices
1 block Kraft mozzarella
1 block Kraft sharp cheddar
2 Red Baron pizzas
1 carrot cake mix
1 dark chocolate cake mix
2 bags of Kettle Cooked chips
6 Scotch kitchen sponges
1 pack of high fiber oatmeal
1 pack of individual packaged grits
1 bag of arugula lettuce
1 bag of romaine lettuce
1 bunch of bananas
2 liters of filtered water

My best score was all the meat!


I bought 2 bone-in ribeyes
8 chicken breasts (Buy 1 Get 1)
8 grouper filets (Buy 1 Get 1)

Last week, we spent $80 at Wal-Mart and did not leave the store with one package of meat. We can't live without cheese, so I was really happy to get cheese for so cheap. Not all of my buys were health foods, but I bought healthier items than I thought I ever could. I did buy 2 of most items because they were Buy 1, Get 1, but I only bought 2 of each of the items I know we eat.

Tomorrow, I'll be heading to Publix to round out my list, and I wil tell you how my recipes turned out as well. I could really get used to this! Happy Frugal Friday everyone!