6 Weeks

My first coupon purchase from Klip2save

I'm at the 6 week mark now in my couponing.  I have a little bit of a pattern to my days, but it is still a bit of an unweildy process.  I know that I'm spending too much time on cutting, sorting and shopping, but it's still so much fun that I am enjoying it all.  I love free shopping trips and saving 80%+ off my bills.  I hardly ever save less than that on each bill, except when I really need something, and then I try for at least 50%.

It's interesting to see other people's shopping trips and even some of the Extreme Couponing ones and compare my experiences.  A lot of time I do better than them which is weird.  I think part of it is, I just want every trip to be a free trip and try my best to do that.

This week has been a little weird, though.  I bought 8 copies of the paper, so I had a lot of coupons.  Working on cutting & sorting off and on, it took me a good part of an afternoon and my coupon holder is packed.  Yesterday I went out to get a few deals from Target, Wags and Coborns and ended up in the next town over and was gone for 3 hours!  All of this was a little bit more than I wanted to do, so I am re-thinking my strategy again.

But something is working right, because my pantry is getting quite full and is expanding each week.  We are totally stocked up for the next few months (or even year) on:

• Toothpaste
• Toothbrushes
• Dental Floss
• Mouth Wash
• Body Wash
• Shampoo
• Hair spray
• Soap
• Lotion
• Bandages
• Neosporin
• Nasal Strips
• Deodorant
• Zyrtec
• Ben Gay
• Razors
• Tissue
• Dish Soap
• Bounce
• All-purpose spray cleaners
• Copy paper (for coupon printing, of course)

But we can't eat those things, so we also have:

• Cereal
• Fiber One Bars
• Hot Dogs
• Peanut Butter
• M&M's
• Coffee including k-cups
• Tea
• 2-litre sodas

The grocery side is harder to find for free or nearly free, so I'm probably going to have to pay something for them if I want to stock up.  My weekly grocery budget is down to $50 a week, but I am getting at least $200 worth of stuff each week.  After looking at this list, I may have to focus on food and not toiletries.  

What I'd like to stock up on in the next month:

• Iams dog food
• Ketchup
• Mustard
• BBQ sauce
• Crackers (they never stay on the shelf long!)
• More toothbrushes for hubby 
• Frozen veggies (pre-bagged or from fresh)
• Laundry soap

Looks like it's time to make friends with the grocery stores again.  I've been avoiding them because I find much better deals at drug stores and the like.  But it may be time to see what deals I can find there again.