For those who don’t know me, I’m not Micki. I’m her friend, Heather, aka the web designer in these parts. Thanks to the constant encouragement from Micki, I’ve decided to giving couponing a shot. Again. I never used them on a regular enough basis to feel confident and haven’t used them at all in over six months…

So, yesterday was the big day. I spent two hours Friday night getting ready to tackle one store on Saturday. I can’t say my anxiety eased at all while I was getting ready to leave. In fact, in hindsight, I wish I had done everything on Friday night because when you’re trying to cut coupons and sort them with two bored kids running around, there may or may not be a 100% chance that you’re going to leave a Halls coupon uncut on the dining room table. And you may or may not realize it until you’re into the fourth transaction and you’re getting your coupons ready to hand over to the cashier… oh well, lesson learned.

I felt even more pressure because I had been rambling incessantly to my roommate about how amazing this shopping trip was going to be. He offered to go with to help me keep an eye on the kids while seeing what I was doing and how. We are very much a family in this house and there is no “his food” or “our food,” it’s all “the family’s food” and that includes him. It’s nice having someone who’s interested in learning how to use coupons, even if it is from me with my limited knowledge, so I was glad to have the company.

When we got home, my husband made a comment about how the stores put the amount you saved on your receipt to make you feel better for their high prices. Well, not in those words, but this is a family friendly blog, so I’ll let your imagination fill in the blanks. Our roommate corrected him and told him that while that may be the case sometimes, we were NOT on the losing end of this transaction.

Three things this trip taught me

1. Things are going to not go according to plan. Our store didn’t carry the Sara Lee lunch meats I was going to get and they were out of the Totinos pizzas. This meant I had to reconfigure transactions on the fly.
2. Don’t shop with the kids. Yes, I know this won’t always be possible, but as often as possible, I think I’ll be leaving them home. I wound up getting distracted too much and they kept asking for things.
3. Keep your eyes peeled for coupons in the store. We wound up getting an amazing price on our Silk Coconut Milk because there was a blinkie on the shelf. With the 3 coupons we couldn’t use because of out of stock products, we were able to get those coupons doubled and paid under $2 per half gallon.

I’m not sure what next week will hold for me, but we’re going to make it a habit to hit the stores for every sale day so we can make this a lifestyle change, not just something we do when we remember.

I am not a Couponer!
(From Heather, Midwest Coupon Clippers Web Designer)

I have a confession to make. I’m not a couponer. Yes, I’ve dabbled in it a bit, but if we’re being completely honest here, I’m about as much of a couponer as sitting down to waterpaint with my kids makes me an artist. But, if I’m going to make this stay at home mom thing work, I know I need to get our grocery budget cut in a big way.

Thanks to working with a variety of coupon blogs, I have picked up a general understanding of HOW to coupon, now it’s just a matter of putting that knowledge into motion to actually do it.

When I picked up the sales flyers last night, I didn’t get the giddy adrenaline rush that I hear other couponers getting when they know there’s a great sale going on. I started to feel the anxiety building in my system. I felt like I was back in high school algebra class sitting there trying to figure out how much I had to buy to get to the $25 required in order to double my coupons. Then, I had to figure out what the best coupons were so I could keep my out of pocket down.

When it was all said and done, I spent 2 hours at the computer last night planning my shopping trips for today. I felt like a failure. Why should I spend that much time planning out my grocery shopping? Well, because without counting sale prices, I’m going to be saving $50 with coupons and card discounts. If that’s the currency for being a stay at home mom, that’s $25 per hour and that’s a pretty good wage!

I think that thanks to certain TV shows, people who haven’t used coupons think it should be easy. The truth is, it’s not, even for those who have been on the show (AND have couponed properly). I’ve talked to a few people who were on early episodes and they said they’d spend HOURS inside the stores during the weeks leading up to taping so they would know where everything was and what the normal prices were. We’re talking like fulltime job hours.

Couponing isn’t easy, but I’m determined to make it work for our family. As our roommate pointed out last night, right now, I have more time than money, so it only makes sense that I would do this!

What was your biggest hurdle to overcome when you started couponing?