Confessions of a Couponaholic

I've been cutting (and using) coupons a lot more recently in an effort to save more money for our move in the next few months and this could get addicting! I would always look for sales for things we buy, but wouldn't use a whole lot of coupons. Well, after talking to an amazingly organized and resourceful friend, I have reorganized my shopping strategy. Clipping coupons for items that I know will go on BOGO soon at Publix, going to brand name websites to search for coupons there, and scouring my parent's Sunday paper for additional coupons (we don't buy the paper, thankfully they do). Sometimes my efforts only unearth one or two coupons, sometimes I find 25 coupons that don't expire for another month. I'm having a lot of fun with this!

My most favorite find this weekend was at Kohl's. We have a lot of little kitchen and household items that we need, so we've made a list, allotted some money to use each month, and are searching for sales. Kohl's had their entire section of kitchenware on sale this weekend. I had $10 Kohl's cash from a previous purchase (Pyrex kitchenware that was 60% off with coupons, sales, and mail-in-rebates), and received another $5 in e-mail. I was able to get a very nice bamboo wooden spoon and a very sturdy (and very cool looking) measuring cup set for FREE!! I actually still have $1.98, but it expires today and I don't forsee using it. My adrenaline is pumping.

I'm trying to instill in the girls the importance of finding the best deal (but not spending hours upon hours of looking). Right now they're learning about comparing "price per ounce" on grocery items and comparing prices for namebrand and generic items (we buy about 90% generic items at our house - the 10% namebrand are either onsale or I had coupons for). It's made a little adventure when we head down certain aisles like the cereal aisle. They have a game where they find the cheapest price per ounce cereal. Sometimes they are surprised at which ones are cheapeast!

If anyone has any coupon clipping ideas they'd like to share, feel free to do so - I could use any and all suggestions!