Clipping Coupons Sucks

My family is supper tight on money...not a new concept to anyone I'm sure. My church had a one time event about extreme couponing, so I attended because I didn't have anything else to do (and it's a great way to meet more people at church). I was open to the idea but leery. After hearing the lady talk and share her awesome experiences for an hour, I was pretty darn excited to clip coupons. It would save my family a ton of money and it didn't even sound like it would be difficult. So I stopped at Walgreen's on my way home, bought a paper, went home and started clipping (and printing on-line coupons)! After doing this for a substantial portion of the afternoon and running my ink cartridge dry, I went to the grocery store excited to see what I could save.

Filled my cart with what I needed and made my way to the register...guess how many coupons I used? No, really, guess? Don't forget I spent all afternoon clipping and printing coupons. I had a baggie full of coupons and $120 worth of groceries in my cart, and I used...drum roll please...2. Yeah, you read that right...2 (two) coupons.

It was my first try and I was trying not to get discouraged, but after really thinking about it and going through the sale paper again today, I've come to realize that clipping coupons totally sucks! It does for my family anyway. The majority of what we buy is meat and produce (which are the 2 things that they DON'T make coupons for). We don't buy much junk food and we definitely don't buy very much of the processed/boxed foods (exactly what they DO make coupons for). It takes my family a month to go through a bottle of body wash and I don't really wear makeup (both those have a ridiculous amount of coupons available).

So I decided to go in the other direction...I'm going to save money by being more natural, be more conservative, and make more things from scratch. These habits will save money, although not quite as much as if I changed my habits to fit couponing. There are other ways that I can make more money since I won’t be saving as much. It’s going to be more work, but my family’s health is worth it.

Hi Again, It's Been So Long!

I haven't been on here in a really long time because I felt like I didn't have anything important enough to share with everyone. Well, life is flying by as usual, but for the past year, I feel like I've learned more than ever before...and I wasn't even trying to learn! From being newly married, raising a teenager, and having a baby to making friends (or lack there of) and changing jobs...it’s been quite a year. I think that all the experiences, good and bad, that I’ve had are nothing new and there are tons of people out there dealing with the same stuff. So why not share my thoughts?

So this is the beginning, I'm really going to keep up with writing this time. I hope that my posts are meaningful to someone...or at least entertaining.