Savings are wonderful!

So a while back (quite a while back), I posted about saving money through better utilization of coupons and sales.  My success with said savings have waxed and wained this year, but this month - I think I've done pretty well.

So far, just this month (all three weeks of it), I've saved just over $30 in coupons alone.  That's more than half a tank of gas!  In my last Publix shopping trip (my second most frequented grocer), I spent $24 and saved $35 with combined BOGOs, coupons, and sale items.  I stocked up on cereal (a very popular and expensive item in our household - one box for $5?? I don't think so...), muffin mixes, and a few other BOGOs or sale items with double coupons (yeah, baby).

The thing I like about couponing is that it doesn't matter if you save 55 cents in a shopping trip or $15, the bottom line is that you saved and it all adds up.  Think about it, if you save 55 cents per shopping trip and shop twice a week, that's a $13 savings for one year.  No, that doesn't seem like a lot, but it's equivalent to 6 bottles of shampoo (I use Suave, which always has coupons making them about $2 a bottle) or two boxes of K-cups (I'm a Keurig lover now) or eight boxes of cereal (on sale and with coupons).  Generally, people save $1 or $2 each shopping trip, which makes the savings $24 or $48 a year, and that's just with coupons - let alone the savings acquired buy purchasing items on sale.

There are also TONS of tools available online to help you maximize your savings. My favorite sites are: southersavers.com, frugalcouponliving.com, couponmom.com, and coupons.com.  You can also find websites for your favorite products and most of the time the parent companies have 'membership deals' with free coupons every month (General Mills and Kelloggs have TONS of online coupons).

Also, you don't have to spend hours each day or even each week with matching sale items or coupons.  I spend at most one hour a week looking at sales ads, the websites above, and matching (or finding) coupons.  That's broken up over Sunday mornings (finding coupons) and Wednesday lunch breaks (matching sales and coupons). 

It's worked for me and encourages me in becoming a Proverbs 31 wife (Prov. 31:15, 16, 18, and 21). If you're interested, take a prayful step forward - it can be as easy or as complicated as you want.