So now that my writing skills are out in the open you should be prepared to always see some type of grammar mishap in my posts!!
So why start a blog now? I have been couponing for years well before the TLC show extreme couponing came about, call me frugal, cheap or whatever term you like to use but I just can not see paying full price for something that I can get a discount on. I finally decided to take the blog plunge to really let others see that couponing for me is not about sitting at a computer waiting for that next great deal or printing coupons from 10 different coupons, its not about 4 hours a day preparing for trips and seeing how big I can get my stock pile. Its a way that I can help to save my family money (thousands of dollars) and lets just be honest if someone handed you $50 no strings attached would you refuse the money?
So about me, I would not really classify myself as a stay at home mom. I certainly do not go to work everyday but during the school year I love to sub in our school district and I have run my own website www.hannahstutus.com for seven years making tutus and dresses. I tend to stay busy between the kids, working on occasion and my commitments at church and within the community, so I do NOT have time to give hours upon hours to prepare for a trip to the store. Many people ask how much time I spend couponing, honestly there are some weeks I spend no time on couponing, yep you read that right. Generally if I am home I will check the web for a few minutes at some point during the day or the evening for new coupons sometimes I go days without doing this. If I see a coupon I can use I just prompt it to print and it generally sits on my printer until I am going on a shopping trip. When I wake up on Sundays while having breakfast I generally browse my coupon inserts that were delivered, I only have one paper delivered to my home but I do have a paper that goes to my mother in laws so I always have 2 sets of the coupons weekly. After I browse I get ready for church, we know that God must be at the forefront of everything in our life!
On Sunday afternoons we generally relax and hang out watching a movie or many times my husband and boys nap so I sit and relax and cut my coupons and file right away this takes only 15-20 minutes if kept up weekly I like to keep my binder(s) in order each week so I can just grab and go. On the evening I plan to venture out to shop I look at various blogs to see what coupons match up, what deals are out there I will admit I am hooked on CVS for getting most of my toiletry deals. I do visit Kmart occasionally and for groceries I like to do Schnucks and Shop n Save. I try to keep my trips out to the evenings once my children are situated for bed I am a night owl and this works well for me! I go out and generally take my time shopping and getting deals I love to browse each aisle and seeing what we can use or someone else can use that I can get for free or pennies. My once every week or two shopping trips are great I love the time I get out by myself for the most part just relaxing so its almost like some women like to get their weekly pedicure, me I like to get my weekly time out.
Many times I will post on facebook a picture of what I am able to buy with coupon deals but I always feel as though I need to have a HUGE DISCLAIMER attached to any picture. You see, I love to coupon, BUT I want to make sure that anyone that sees what I get knows a few things. As a Christian I know that God must always come first in our lives and he will always provide for us. Its never right to clear a shelf I mean if there is only 2 things left on the shelf when I get there and I have a deal then yes I will take those two items. I am referring to placing like 20-50 of the same item in your cart and leaving nothing for others that want to take advantage of deals. If you ABSOLUTELY need and can use all 20-50 items then by all means ... BUT lets be honest how many items do we really need? I have made it a rule to only have a 6 month supply on hand of any given item that my family can use. I feel as though the 6 month supply ensures that I will have time to replenish items in upcoming sales cycles as used without having to pay full price because cycles are generally around 6 weeks or so it also gives us items to have on hand for 6 months should our financial status ever change and in this economy you never know when that might occur. If my stock pile for an item starts to get too large its time to donate!! This is my favorite thing about couponing. I have been able to give so many people in our community and at church free items to help them.
We can never predict when we might have a need and many people know they can send me a message if they have a need and I will help. In the Bible, it states that we should love our neighbors when we can couponing has allowed me to help many and I do believe that its become a ministry of sorts to be able to bless others with items. I always want others to understand how I see this skill, its not just about saving money for me and my family its about helping others to save and lending a helping hand to those in need or just because.
Last winter, I conducted several coupon classes, many charge for this, I do not! One class I offered at my home had about 48 women in attendance it was amazing seeing so many women around my basement eager to learn how to save money on just those must have items for their family I mean even if you don't want to use coupons for everything just try it on your toiletry's and paper goods that alone is a huge savings. I took the summer off, haven't really posted deals or coupon links on my facebook page, its not that I haven't been couponing or gotten deals but its mainly because there are so many blogs out there that post the coupons and match ups and I would rather give you those blog websites than spend the time away from my kids posting every possible deal that may come up because then couponing starts to over take my life. So I am keeping things in moderation I want to use my time I have for my family, but I am working on a fall class schedule to teach more classes they will continue to be FREE .. this is a MUST for me its FREE because I like to think of it as a ministry to help you and your family save money or to teach you how to get good enough where you too can start to help a charity or others in need with your excess items.
So stay tuned for a fall schedule of basic and advanced classes that I should have posted within the week, these classes will have a limit on the number of seats available I have found from doing groups of 6-10 ppl to groups of 50 ppl that I want you to learn as much as possible during our time together so a smaller group enables this.
As I end this post of many many errors I am sure I want to share a blog I love called Faithful Provisions check it out there are so many great resources on the site.
http://faithfulprovisions.com/
A while back I read this couponing journey post on the devotionals on her site and its such a great reminder of keeping in check and not letting the thrill of a deal take your life over!! Lisa
(Copied from the blog post, complete link below)
My Coupon Journey
“My coupon journey began three years ago. In 2008, my husband took a new job and relocated our family to a new “home” 900 miles away. For the first time in my married life, I was a full-time mom, and we were living completely on one income. Having moved into a more affluent community than our previous one, I began putting extra pressure on myself. Although I didn’t have any control over the money coming in, I could control how the money went out.
A friend forwarded a deal she received from Faithful Provisions. I was amazed at all the great money-saving tips I found on the website. After exploring the site more, I discovered that site owner Kelly Hancock would be hosting a Couponing Workshop at my local church so I signed up.
Instantly, I was hooked. Being a “money-minded” person, the math of couponing and finding deals was easy for me. Before I took Kelly’s class, our family was spending around $850 per month in groceries for our family of five. I took Kelly’s advice and began to slowly build my stockpile. I subscribed to the Sunday paper and clipped and printed off my coupons diligently. After about four months, I was able to lower our monthly budget to $500 per month.
It Wasn’t Enough
But that wasn’t “enough” for me. I had a goal in my mind to get to a budget of $40 per week. After one year of couponing I actually reached that goal.
I would spend hours each day reading Faithful Provisions and other money-saving blogs and looking for the BEST deals each week. I searched for ways to get the most moneymakers in my transactions. I worked and re-worked my grocery list in order to spend the lowest amount out-of-pocket. To my amazement, I was able to build a large stockpile, while still keeping within the boundaries of my $40 per week budget.
People would be in awe behind me in the checkout lane, watching me walk away with over $200 in groceries for $.28! Friends and neighbors would marvel at my stockpile. While I wasn’t doing anything unethical in my couponing, I began to feel “something” inside me saying this wasn’t quite right.
That “something” was the conviction of the Holy Spirit. One summer day, God used a conversation with a dear friend to convict me. He showed me that I had allowed couponing to become my god. I had allowed control, pride, and fear to choke out the voice of the Holy Spirit in my life. I had become so focused on sticking to my $40 budget amount that I couldn’t see anything else.
Trusting in God
I argued with God. God, how can this be bad? I’m being a good steward of the money you’re giving my family. We’re living on less than we make. I’m able to provide meals for my family for a fraction of what most people spend. I’m donating boxes and boxes from my stockpile to food pantries and needy charities.
Then it hit me: Where was my need for God? It was all about me and what I was doing. If I was able to provide everything for myself, then I wasn’t relying on Him to provide for my family. I was trying to control how we spent our money based on fear. And while the action of donating to needy charities was good, my heart motive was full of pride in what I was doing.
Upon that realization, I confessed to God what I was doing. Not because He didn’t already know, but because my heart needed to say it. I allowed myself to be okay to spend more than $40 per week on groceries, because I trusted in my God to provide.”
Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!” (Luke 12:22-24)
Read more at http://faithfulprovisions.com/2011/09/12/dethroning-my-coupon-god-tlc-extreme-couponing-show/#C1F4YX1JDIOHBevi.99
