So I May Have Gone Off the Deep End.....

Okay those of you brave enough to be my Facebook friends have probably figured out by now that I've gotten into a couponing. And when I say couponing, I don't mean take four or five coupons in when I'm going to the store.... It's more like 40 or so. I usually average about saving 50% off the total bill. How do you figure out what's one sale and where to get the best deals? First, get your non food items at a DRUGSTORE! Doesn't make sense, does it? But CVS and Walgreens give rebates on items. Most weeks they have one or two items that you can even MAKE MONEY on if you use a coupon and get the rebate back. All you do is look at what is on sale on their flyers and then see if you have a coupon to match what's on sale. I also follow a couple of bloggers that looks out for those steals. FrugalLivingandHavingFun, DealSeekingMom, TheKrazyCouponLady, and Smart Coupon Deals are my favorites. How do I get coupons? I simply buy more than one copy of my Sunday paper. The rule of thumb is one copy for each member in your household but I would go by twos. I found the local flea market sells them for $1 each, saving me 50 cents a copy. We buy three extra (I get one subscription to my house). I tried getting extra copies delivered, but they weren't really any savings.I also try to wait until the store is having a BOGO (buy one get one free) sale and then add a coupon to it. My favorite strategy is to use that sale with two small value coupons (like 50 cents) at a store that doubles coupons. We have Publix, Bi-Lo, and Kroger here in Augusta that doubles coupons up to a particular value (50-60 cents). So say cereal is normally 3.79 each. It is BOGO which makes each box 1.90. If I use that 50 cent coupon then I can get each box for 0.90. That means I can get two boxes on sale for less than 1/2 of the regular price of one! Can you see how this can help stretch your food budget? Yes, it takes some time........ but it's been helping us out SO much! So I'm a Krazy Coupon Lady....... LOL. I say that with pride..... :)