Saving $$$

Five weeks ago, with the encouragement of my good friend Dani, my husband and I began couponing...

I had been chatting with Dani for weeks about couponing, but never mentioned my desire to start to my husband, until one day he came home from work, mentioned a t.v. program he watched on TLC (Extreme Couponing) the night before while standing duty. I had heard about the program through Dani, but never actually watched it. As soon as he said, that was the opening I needed to convice him we needed to try again.

The next Sunday, I was at the market making a newspaper purchase, but not just any purchase, I bought four newpapers to the tune of $6.50. That evening, I told him, that purchase would be money well worth spending if our savings exceeded what I spent on the papers.

The following day was a holiday and we had respite lined up; we set-off on our first shopping trip to Giant Eagle with Dani. WOW! What an experience. Dani taught us the basics of shopping with coupons, in-store deals, etc. That first trip saved us $30.

We have turned couponing into a family activity. I purchase the newspapers, the kids clip coupons, I make the menu, hubby puts together the shopping list and then I search the ads and coupons for all the deals and finally we pick a day to shop.

Since our first couponing shopping trip, to-date we have saved $260. Each week, I add up all the savings and transfer the money to our savings account. After doing the math, within one year, we should be able to save $3,100. Hubby says that should be enough to do the required maintenance on our vehicles. WHAT? Who said we were saving money for the vehicles? I was thinking along the lines of a vacation or a long overdue honeymoon. We shall see...