Pointless Post #3--Coupons

On Mondays while my oldest daughter is at school, my younger daughter and I clip coupons. I clip coupons for things that we need, and she clips out pictures of things that she likes---today she clipped out checks with various Disney characters on them, a picture of a "mommy" for me, and pudding for daddy. It's a lot of fun to see what catches her eye, but it's also a great way for her to practice her skills with the scissors.

When I became a stay at home mom, I started clipping coupons. Now, don't get me wrong---I am nothing like the crazy couponers on the TLC show "Extreme Couponing". I don't spend 70 hours a week finding deals, I don't have a room with a "stock pile", and most importantly, I don't have a cool and creative couponing name. I guess if I had to give myself one, it would be Cautiously Couponing Colleen. This means, I don't clip coupons for things we don't regularly need or use. I think my coupon book is probably set up a little different from the average coupon book too. My first opening is for things we always buy on a regular basis. This is the main area that I get all of my coupons from. My second opening is for grocery items that I may need sometimes, but don't buy regularly. My third opening is for household products that we may need sometimes, but don't buy regularly. And my fourth opening is for medicines---which we never know if we will need them or not, so they are just good to have on hand. I also have two openings towards the end of my book---one is for store discounts (20% off at Children's Place, $10 off at Bath and Body), and the other is for restaurant coupons. I organize my coupons by expiration date in each of the openings---it makes it easy to cycle through them and get rid of them once they have expired. Now, I know this method probably doesn't work best for everyone, but it really helps me stay on track and not buy things just because they are a good deal.

So, although I don't get 6 carts of food for $10, I feel that I help my family save a little bit of money at a time by buying what we need and use. After all, saving $5 on a shopping trip is better than saving $0 :) Every little bit helps!