So this week began my use of coupons and my week of cleaning out the pantry/fridge. It was a cleansing week. You know those things you have in the fridge that you just put off eating..maybe they’re too much work, too healthy (you know we’ve all passed up that fish for some good ol’ hamburger:) )? Well, this week we ate it all. And it actually was fun because it pushed me to do some new recipes and break open that Rachel Ray cookbook:) Although if it weren’t for the dinner at friends house last night and borrowing eggs from mom, it could have gotten pretty ugly:)
ok…onto the five. my couponing experience the first week in.
1. This site has saved me. Seeing the ads in a list form make me happy and more organized. I’m now slightly addicted to this site, I’m not going to lie:) The only bummer, Food City isn’t on there (not that I’m a Food City shopper but I’m not sure if I’m passing up any bargains there because I’m not really going out of my way to go through their ad). Southern Savers has taught me more in a week on coupons than I could have imagined!
2. Apparently CVS is the bomb. I had no idea. I went through the list, got my ECB card, gathered my coupons and went timidly there for the first time today. So the first time you go there is when you’ll spend some money, after that you could (if you play it right) never have to pay out of pocket again. Or at least, pay very little. So today was my day to spend but if you look at it, I definitely made out like a bandit, even with paying $14. So I got a free Accucheck thing (have no need for it but, hey, it was free with the coupon so I’m going to give it to the local shelter because I’m sure it could be of use for a diabetic there), 2 Olay Regenerist cleansers (normally $12 each). I paid $14 and got $12 on my card to use next time. So basically I paid $1 each for the cleansers. and my face is happy right now:)
3. I had thought about listing out a couple of my receipts and also taking a picture of my fridge but hey, its Friday night, Ive been up since 5am (thanks to a certain 2 year old who will remain unnamed:) ), and I’m just being lazy at this point. Off the top of my head though I saved about $50 this week. Not too shabby for my first week. And I’m pretty sure I completely messed up on some things so hopefully I’ll keep seeing the rewards of all this.
4. Tonight we had a little family outing to Kroger. oh yeah! It was the week to get dog food and all that too. I usually keep our bill around $60 (well, this was before I was couponing so hopefully it will go down from that) and when I need dog food and all the big items it can get up to $100. Tonight we got a TON of stuff. Like my buggy is never that full. It came to $65! Saved $29 on the receipt with all the in store sales and coupons. And the best thing is, I’m getting to buy things that we would never think of buying usually because its name brand, too expensive, etc. Fun!
5. On a slightly random note, but I figured it went along with the consumerism post I have going on. My Cuisanart food processor died a few weeks ago, a mere 3 days after the warranty went out on it (gotta love it.) I called Cuisanart and they rudely laughed at me. I succumbed to missing my food processor and never buying Cuisanart again. Then, Becky and I were chatting over bagels and she mentionned that Williams Sonoma (where I bought it) is known for great customer service. So I called them up and yep, after a quick visit to the store, now sitting in my kitchen is a new food processor!!! It’s beautiful. They have made me a customer for life with that goodness! Love it! (I will not be purchasing any more Cuisanart however, but will be loving me some other stuff at Williams Sonoma!)
some random musings on my couponing journey:
-couponing is definitely time consuming. I have spent no less than 3 hours planning it all out and have made 3 trips to different stores. we’ll see if that all keeps up after my first weeks of newbie excitement.
-I could see where people could get out of hand with this and buy things that you really don’t need just because its a deal. Must keep this in check.
-Also, I’m working on finding the balance of healthy eating and couponing. It seems like all the junk has the best coupons. I did say no to free fruit rollups this week because of this reason.
-I’m not sure couponing is a word, but it sounds so fun! so I’m using it:)
On Friday I was photographing the Freedom Festival all day and well, was honestly going to just skip this week’s five on friday since I had some sneak peeks to do too. Had some time this morning though and lots to say, so here we are, six on Sunday:) 
