Don't be a hater. . .

of coupons!

My friend had an entire post dedicated to her hatred of coupons (and the "fake" food you use the coupons to buy). She had bought a product with a coupon which was also on sale and was disappointed with the product. Her end conclusion was that she hates coupons because they are only for products like this "crap." I am writing this to whole-heartily disagree.

I too make my foods from scratch. I don't like pre-made, overly salty packaged crap. The fact these products exist don't mean coupons are the enemy. Here is what I do on a weekly/ daily basis to show my love (and necessity)for coupons. I buy 5 papers a week. I match up the coupons, cut them out and organize them into my baseball sleeves inside a 3-ringed zipper binder. This binder is attached to me at all times. There are services available to save time on matching coupons with the sales. My favorite is www.thegrocerygame.com. You can also use www.thecouponmom.com , which is free. I have 4 kids and I have other obligations as well. I don't have all day to look over the ads for the 5 different grocery stores in my area and match them to the coupons. Nor, do I visit all 5 stores to get the best deals. But, I do go to two of them a week.

Besides produce, everything I buy is with a coupon. How is this possible, you ask? Because I have built up a food storage. I have the things I use the most often in my pantry and hidden in various places throughout my house. I cook from what I have already, I don't shop from a menu. When meat in on sale, I buy a lot of it and freeze it. Since I have 5 of each coupon, when something goes on sale I have a coupon for, I can stock up. The sales usually rotate every 12 weeks, so by the time I run out of something, it is usually going on sale again.

I don't believe it when people say they don't have coupons for the products they buy. REALLY? You don't use toilet paper, paper towels, laundry detergent, feminine products, toothpaste, toothbrushes, condiments, produce, meat, cereal items, snack foods, etc? For around $8per week and about 1-2 hours of time, I save my family HUNDREDS of dollars a month. If you make your own laundry detergent, GREAT, there are coupons for the ingredients.

I am sure if you have the desire to save your family money, to build up your food storage, and have a little patience to do both, coupons are the most economic way of achieving that goal. It can be done. You don' have to buy the "crap" just because there is a coupon for it. This week, there was $303 worth of coupons in the paper. I bought 8, so in order to prepare for the super doubles which are scheduled to start this Wednesday at Harris Teeter, I am off to do some cutting and organizing. Just a side note, cut and organize while you are watching your favorite TV show. Time passes so quickly. If you can find the time to watch TV, you have time to organize. This would be a great week to get started. Now, go buy yourself some papers and start saving money!