3 Weeks

Just 3 weeks ago I started upping my coupon game.  I'd always been happy saving about 25% off my groceries, sometimes as high as 50%.  But after seeing how extreme couponing works I was intrigued to try.

I'm not an extreme couponer yet, though I've had some EC moments . Like the time I paid for $1.68 for $12.68 in stuff and the cashier said my total with a question mark.  Or the time I had to wait fifteen minutes in Walmart for a manager because they owed me $7.70 after buying toiletries, yogurt and fresh fruit.

I've had some flops, too.  It took a few tries to get the hang of Walgreens Balance Rewards and Register Rewards programs.  I'm still on that learning curve.  But just today, I popped in, bought 3 Hallmark greeting cards, used a coupon and paid $1.17 and received 1,000 points (worth at least $1).

My flops are when my discount is less than 60% when I was counting on at least 75%.  Or when I didn't understand the coupon policies and had to take some things off my order.  Or when I got home and realized my coupons didn't ring right and I paid too much.  When I mess up or get frustrated because I didn't reach my 75% or free goal, I try to remember that it's only been 3 weeks.  This is all part of the game.

I've been on coupon adrenaline the last few weeks and have even dreamed of couponing in my sleep.  It's time to scale back and allow couponing to become part of my life, not BE my life.  I'm going to slowly lessen the number of couponers that I follow on facebook and scale back on my online printing.  And oh yeah, not run to the store every day to get the "hot deals."

This week I wore my $ .50 flip flops and my new Champion $3 T-shirt and $ .50 earrings.  I then cooked dinner with a $ .29 spice packet and followed up dinner with ice cream that was less than half price.

This week I saw that we were running low on toilet paper and had no need to rush to the store and pay full price for the next package.  There are 3 more packages in my pantry that I got on sale or for free.

This week, my stockpile of shampoo and lotions got to be so big that I had to transfer them to stronger shelving downstairs.  We now have enough for the next 6 months to a year.  They were all mostly under $1 or free.

And best of all, my new coupon holder came today.  It's a Vera Bradley.  I can now coupon in style.

Off to make my list so I can hit Target in the morning and stockpile more Zyrtec and toothpaste, all for free.