Budgeting: It's a lifestyle
Moving to Huntsville provided a major change in my life. I went from working full time to not working at all. Another change was that I was now doing the lion’s share of the grocery shopping. It was a rude awakening for me each week to see how much food costs nowadays. This revelation has made me interested in the art of couponing. For years, I have known that using coupons was a good idea, but up until this summer, I had never had a newspaper subscription and thus easy access to coupons. This changed when I subscribed to receive the Huntsville Times. Now, I am the first to admit that even with the ready availability of the coupons, I have not been super disciplined to clip them out, and more importantly, remember to take them to the store when I go. This has slightly improved since Dave and I sat down to look at our grocery budget. I want to cut back on how much we spend and am trying to figure out how some people will go to the grocery store and get $100.00 worth of groceries for only $20.00 by using coupons. I have even went online to see what strategies they suggest. One thing kept coming up, and that was to view grocery store circulars for the week so that you could combine your coupons with the specials for the week. Today is the first time that I have done this with any noticeable success. The Publix add came out in the Wednesday paper. They had Grand Biscuits on sale for 10 for $10.00 or 1.00 each. Normally they are $1.59 each. And, most importantly, it is something that Dave and I eat. So, I go to the store first thing this morning, remembering my $.40 cent coupons for Grand Biscuits. Then it gets better, attached to the top of the can of biscuits is a $.30 coupon off when you buy 3 cans. So, not only did I use my two $.40 coupons, I was able to use three $.30 coupons. I was so proud of myself! It would have only been better if Alabama didn’t make you pay 8% sales tax on food. Then, after work (part-time) I stopped by the Kroger’s which had liquid soft soap on sale for $.88. Dave and I had already purchased four to stock up, then on Monday, when I got around to looking through the Sunday coupon, there was a coupon for $.50 off Soft soap. What a score! It was a good day for savings!
