All My Loot

Well as you may know I have a small addiction to couponing, but I have to say if you're gonna be addicted to something is being addicted to couponing really that bad.  It's like being addicted to saving which I think we all of need to be a little with the way the economy is.

Here is my mini bathroom stockpile, and the amazing part is I aquired all of this in about a month without spending much at all.  I think all of it except the 2 dove deodorants (which I bought for $0.20 each, SCORE!) came from CVS and Walgreens.

Here is what I bought a couple weeks ago.  I had planned on posting it the weekend I bought it but ended up leaving for Ohio at 5am that Saturday morning. 

All this cost a little over $4.  I know it doesn't look like much but when it retails for over $25, that seriously excites me!

Every time I go to Ohio I end up grocery shopping and stocking up on different things.  There are quite a few grocery stores where my parents live which is great because they all compete with one another and have really great deals I don't normally find when I'm at home, and bonus! 3 of those stores double coupons up to 99 cents.  The only store I have that doubles coupons is Kroger which is 30 minutes away.

So here are my cabinets after my almost month long trip to Ohio (the pasta, and poptarts were already there).

This is my favorite cabinet to open because we never have snack stuff, never.  Occasionally I buy chips for Derrick's lunch but snack stuff is usually really expensive and I can't every justify buying it over meat, fruits, and veggies, aka the good stuff.  The most expensive thing in here were the Doritos at $1.77, everything else was $1 or less.

The lazy susan, which was practically empty pre-ohio.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love my deep freezer.  How oh how did I live without it before.

I honestly don't think I have had this much food in my house EVER, haha.  Now I rarely buy things without a coupon except for the basics like meat, fresh fruits and veggies.  Although I did luck out and buy 3 pineapples that were on sale for $1 each and used a coupon for $1.25 off 2, but that hardly ever happens.

My grocery budget for a normal week is about $40.  Most people  I tell that to get all big eyed and say "how do you live on that", but when times are tough you really don't have a choice.  I used to think there was no way I could create any kind of stockpile on $40 a week but it's totally possible.  I did go a little over my budget when I found ground chuck for $1.97/lb which I never ever find at home so I bought 8lbs.  Other wise I stayed within budget with all my purchases which made me feel so good.  Now I should be able to shop for meat and fresh food without having to purchase a bunch of random items that seem to normally break the budget.

My piece of advice to anyone reading this, START COUPONING!  Even if it's just for personal hygiene and toiletries at first.  It's the $4 shampoo, $3 bodywash, and $10 razors that seem to break the budget most of the time.  Especially when your budget is super tight.  When you have $40 and you need shampoo, toilet paper, and a razor all in the same week it can easily take up 1/2 your money.  By using coupons and shopping the sales you can eliminate that problem all together and who doesn't like that?