Coupon 101

Sometime earlier this year, Amanda, a good friend of James and Steph's, introduced me to the world of coupons. I am not sure why I never used them earlier, I guess I just thought that it was always cheaper to buy the store brand. While that may sometimes be true, it is usually not the case. When you can combine a sale with a coupon, you are in luck! For example, last week, Ken's Salad Dressing was on sale at our local Shop 'n Save for $0.88. I had a coupon for $1 off Ken's Salad Dressing, so that made it free. And thankfully I had two coupons, so I got two bottles for free! Learning about couponing has taken me a while. I read this book, and it was very helpful. I have read lots of blogs, and I have started getting the Sunday paper. We have probably cut our toiletries, household goods, and grocery bills in half. Which is pretty good I would say. However, this couponing does come at a little bit of a price to me. More specifically, my desk. I try to stay on top of keeping my coupons organized, but some weeks are better than others. Take this week for example:

Coupons all strewn about my desk and the guest bed (good thing Winsor and Weston aren't coming for another week)!

I have handy organizers, but they seem to make themselves into Tripp's toys quite often.

That may have something to do with why I have a hard time keeping my coupons organized. So today, I had to keep the little guy upstairs (under his father's supervision of course) while I got things straightened out. Everything is in the right spot, but Tripp was apparently not so happy that I was gone and that he now has two less toys in the basement to play with.

If you are not a couponer, I would definitely suggest it. The least you can do is try it at Walgreens, CVS, or Target, if you are not feeling the grocery store. Trust me, you will be happy you did.