It's Great To Be A Cheapskate!

Ever seen the TLC series "Extreme Couponing"? Those people are INSANE. They have found ways to save up to 99% on their grocery bills---that are usually over $500. I don't remember if it was just after, or just before, seeing this show for the first time that I decided I wanted to try and find ways to save on my groceries. I grocery shop once a week, and over the past 6 months I was seeing a steady $10-$20 increase on my grocery bill---and I pretty much buy the exact same things every week. It really was getting ridiculous. So I decided to give couponing a try...and let me tell you I think I have found an addiction---only this one is beneficial and SAVES money.

Here are a few of our latest steals:

20 tubes Crest toothpaste (reg size) Retail : $40 / We paid : $ 8
30 boxes of Ronzoni Pasta Retail : $60 / We paid : Not a penny, FREE!
10 boxes of General Mills Cereal Retail : $30 (roughly) / We paid : $7.50
10 boxes of Betty Crocker Cake mix Retail : $ 20 / We paid : $10
5 boxes of Cascase Dish Detergent Retail : $20 / We paid $12.50
10- 18oz bottles of Dial Body Wash Retail : $30 / We paid $10
4 bottles Purex laundry soap Retail : $16 / We paid : $4
2 Lysol Toilet bowl cleaners Retail: $6 / We paid : $1.50
2 Lysol Kitchen Disinfecting Sprays Retail: $6 / We paid $1.50
2 Lysol Bathroom Cleaners Retail : $6 / We Paid $1.50

Total Retail Costs: $234
We Paid : $56.50

Call me an old lady, but I get so excited to run home from work every Tuesday and start searching through the grocery ads! I have had people ask me what we are going to do with all of that stuff, and my answer is always "food/hygiene storage". These are essentials that we use on a daily basis, (okay--except for maybe the cake mixes--but then again....) and it's nice to know that if money ever got super tight we would still be able to go about our daily lives as far as (some) food and hygiene is concerned. (Looking to build up the food end of our stock).

Another thing that people bring up is the fact that I "end up spending more money than if I were to just buy one item". And yes, initially I do pay "more" because I buy more than one item---but when I can buy 3 for what I would normally pay for the price of 1, why not buy multiples?! In the long run this saves us a lot of money because it's stuff we use on a daily basis---in a couple weeks or so I'd be guaranteed to be buying the product again. I could spend $3.00 upfront every two or three weeks, or $10 upfront and not have to buy that item for 7-8 months.

So, needless to say, I can't wait to add to our stock pile!