Coupons Galore!!

Here's my new "thing" of the year....couponing! Yes, I have become a cheesy coupon mom. I know many, many women who have mastered this art and I'm doing my best to learn, but I'm not quite there yet. Basically, coupons, by themselves, don't really save much. But, when you start saving and organizing coupons, then combine them with store specials, then you can save some serious money!! Our grocery budget used to be about $110 for enough food to feed our family for an entire week. My goal is to cut that in half--$55 per week. I could probably go even lower than that, but we'd have to start eating a lot of canned and boxed food, which is full of junk. Last week, I spent roughly $70, which is a step in the right direction. Anyway, if you have always been interested in saving money with coupons, but don't know where to start, here is a list of suggestions:


1. Get your Sunday newspaper. Open it up and look for coupons books labeled "RedPlum," "SmartSource," and "PC&G (I think??)." Cut out any coupons that you are even remotely interested in.
2. Buy a plastic bin large enough to store a year's worth of coupons. In mine, I have index cards that divide my coupons alphabetically, a pair of scissors, a small notepad for lists, and a pen. You don't have to worry about doing anything with these coupons yet, just start organizing a good supply.
3. Get "savings" cards from every store in your area. I have cards for Kroger, Food City, CVS, Food Lion, and Ingles. This, alone, can save you big money.
4. Spend an hour or so per week planning out a menu for that week. Make a list of what you will need and do not stray from it at the store.
5. Read this blog EVERY day: www.moneysavingmom.com . It will help you begin to match up the store specials with your coupons. Crystal, the author, also has several sources to help you get started
6. Eventually, your goals will be to pay close attention to store specials, match up coupons to every possible deal, plan your menu based on the deals, and be able plan ahead enough to buy things in bulk when they are on sale to save additional money. I'm not to this level yet, but I'm working on it. Also, you can also get more than one Sunday newspaper to clip additional coupons. My dad, who is a circulation manager for Arkansas' Newspaper, the Democrat Gazette, is (or should be) saving all the extra papers he gets on Sundays so that he can donate the inserts to me. Thanks, Dad!!

So, there you go! This has become really fun--sort of like a game for me. I'll let you all know how I'm doing with it. Those of you out there who are already coupon kings and queens, can you share your wisdom? Please.....enlighten us!

Also, thanks for the nice responses to my "Low Blogging Self-Esteem" post! I want to make perfectly clear that I don't keep tabs on every person who comments and I don't expect every reader to comment on every post--though that would be nice :). I just hate seeing 0 comments. But, I am curious....some of you out there get 20 and 30 comments on every post....HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE??? Is there some sort of "secret blogging society" that you sign up to be apart of to get all those responses? I don't even think I know 20 people who LIKE me, much less who want to comment on my blog!

55: The Magic Number

Is your gas money dwindling? Are you as shocked as we are about the high gas prices? Here's something we've been doing lately that has saved us big money!!! Aaron has a 2004 Nissan Sentra, which is a small car that gets pretty good gas mileage. When he first got the car in January, he tracked that gas mileage very well for several months--he drove 65 mph on the highway with a little stop and go traffic here and there on his 30 minute commute to and from work every day. Doing this, he got between 28-30 miles per gallon. For the past 2 weeks, he has slowed that speed down to 55 mph, which has resulted in less stop and go on the freeway and much higher gas mileage!! He has tracked it well for 2 weeks and has seen that he gets over 40 miles per gallon just slowing down to 55!!!! Isn't that crazy!! Anyway, he notices that in going 55, everyone else on the road FLIES past him, so he does feel like an old man. It's funny that so many people find it so easy to complain about the gas prices, but aren't willing to do anything to help make things better. Next time I hear someone complain, I will ask them, "How fast do you drive?"

A word of caution here: Going below 50-55 mph will not help gas mileage. Ideally, go to 55 and set your cruise control, if you have it. Also, when you have to stop, gradually slow down and when you have to start up again, gradually increase your speed--don't slam on your brakes and don't slam down on the gas pedal.

Has anyone else out there heard of a good trick in saving money on gas? Share it with us.