A few weeks go, Chris and I had a talk about our grocery and household items budget. We are really trying to cut back and save more each month. He would be content eating hot dogs and pb&j sandwhiches every night for dinner, while I would love a 4-course meal every night. We compromise and I usually cook one or two things that are more substantial and then we fill in with veggie quesadillas or sandwhiches. After our talk and our new resolve to save money, I took some advice from a few friends (I posted a question on FB and got lots of feedback!) and started checking out coupon blogs/sites. HOLY COW, what a can of worms that is!! I got really excited, learning I could get laundry detergent for dirt (ha ha) cheap, toothpaste for pennies, and any other toiletry product for almost free if I paid attention.
I hit the ground running, clipped my coupons from the Sunday paper, found ones from online sites, scowerd the adds both in print and on line, read every blog about couponing to make sure I found everything, got in the car with the boys, and lasted about 10 minutes in CVS. I hit a wall. Everything I was going to get for 'free' was out of stock, Kade was screaming, Zander pooped his pants and was yelling at me because he had to sit in the back of the basket, and because I forgot to bring fruit snacks, and it was just too much. This is the second week something VERY similar happened when I went 'shopping' last week. I just don't think this is going to work until my kids are a little older, like, in school. I ended up getting so frustrated at them and the annoying checker, that I ended up being in a bad mood the rest of the day, especially to my precious boys. That is just not worth it to me! They are the priority, not great deals!
I was talking to my friend, Angie, about it, and she felt the same way. She has 4 kids, only 1 is in elementary school, and although her second is in pre-school, it just adds to the errands she already has to run. Did I mention her husband just got called to be Bishop at Church?!?! So, yeah, she is busy.
I am going to give this one more week. Maybe I can escape one evening while Chris is home and go out looking for deals. Alone. Maybe if I can focus, think, and plan better it will go smoother. Any thoughts?
5 weeks ago
3 comments:
Good luck! I only use coupons in stores I'm already going to and only worry about them if I happen to find the item I'm looking for with ease. Although it's a little easier sin`1ce my baby is two, I still have to plan shopping and errands inbetween meals and naps and that's a lot of headache for something where I end up losing my mind half the time! I use a site that lets me see which store I shop at has the best deals that week and go there. At this point of life, that's pretty good!
I HATE coupons, especially with two babies and a ten minute time limit in the store before they lose it.
I am the type of person that will spend money to save time while Scott is the type that will spend time to save money. Our compromises? If he wants a full-out shopping done with coupons, he gets to do it. I'm staying home. Otherwise, I'll pick one aise in the store to concentrate on that week (ie: cereals) and totally load up on that.
Sanity comes with a price. I chose to spend the money instead of using coupons because it's either that or my sanity. Maybe when the babies are older?
I'm not sure coupons really save you money. A lot of store brands are just as good as the name brand and that alone will save money. And a lot of time I find I want to buy something I don't normaly buy just because I have a coupon! So I defently say it's a bigger pain than it is worth!
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