As part of my Awake 21 commitment to fasting, prayer, and devotion, I am endeavoring to spend some of my quiet moments blogging and journaling instead of parked in front of the TV (or Facebook) for these 21 days. While I am very hopeful to spend some blogging moments here reflecting on the powerful things God is revealing to me and culling out of me during this fast, I also want to journal my weight loss progress, and report on some other victories I'm excited about moving forward.
First and foremost, I am excited to announce that I am now addicted to couponing! Thanks to the great guidance I received from my good friend Sherry Martin about how to make coupon clipping a powerful tool for household budgeting, I am now a believer. I spent just one Sunday (1/9/2011) clipping coupons out of 4 copies of the Sunday paper coupon insert section. I organized them, filed them in a labeled accordian file just the right size for coupons, printed coupons from online sources, and sat down this week to approach my weekly grocery shopping with a new goal in mind - save BIG.
I'll admit that while I left Sherry's coupon class last week with interest and excitement to try it, I was a bit skeptical on just how much time I would have to spend doing it and whether it would be truly worth the effort. I think you'll agree that it was worth the $6 I spent on Sunday papers and the 2 hours I spent clipping, organizing, and planning.
I have a household of 5+1 (2 adults, 2 teenagers, 1 toddler, and 1 large dog). Given our tight economy and my family's even tighter budget, I have spent the last few months tracking every penny we spend and budgeting every expense. I use the Dave Ramsey approach to envelope budgeting and use an online service called Mvelopes (http://mvelopes.com/). I meal plan - usually plan out 2-3 weeks of dinners at a time so that I can shop purposefully and without excess. But I would typically plan my meals and then go buy the stuff I needed to make them. I was on the right track. Every household finance expert will tell you that you should plan meals and shop from a list. But I hadn't taken it to the next level...until now.
This week I approached my meal planning by looking first at what my two primary grocery stores would be offering on sale. I look at Publix and Winn Dixie. I made note of every buy-one/get-one (BOGO) special they would be offering this week. I made note of items on sale. I made note of special deals, especially at Winn Dixie, where a special enticement was being extended to purchase a specific product, so much so that if you bought 1 targeted item, you'd get 4 other items for FREE. I zipped through my carefully clipped store coupons and manufacturer's coupons, gleefully pulling any and all coupons that matched up with items these stores were offering for on sale, in a BOGO, or for FREE. My meals for the coming 2 weeks were shaped not on a whim or a preference for cuisine but on what was being offered up to me at significant savings by my grocers. BOGO chicken breasts? That's right, family. We're eating chicken breasts this week.
After two trips - one to Publix and one to Winn Dixie - here is how it all shook out:
I paid at Publix: $173
I SAVED at Publix: $83
I paid at Winn Dixie: $90
I SAVED at Winn Dixie: $58
TOTAL SAVINGS: $140!!
The picture here is all the stuff I got for FREE. Yes, I said free. And there isn't a single thing in this picture that represented something I normally don't buy, don't eat, or never use. And as I am 2 weeks into Weight Watchers, finding all the WW snacks on BOGO was an unexpected bonus. They weren't advertised in the Publix flyer. Some of these, like the Goldfish (which Aiden eats almost daily) and the Banquet meals yield their savings in bulk. They're not advertised as a BOGO. They are advertised as 10/$10, but a quick calculation of the per-unit price revealed that they were a bulk BOGO - buy 5, get 5 for free. Not so great a concept on an item you rarely use (who needs 10 gallons of bleach?), but on these kinds of items, bulk is KING.
So, $6 on papers and 2 hours of clipping to save $140? I'll do it every week. If I saved $140 every 2 weeks on groceries, I will save $3,640 a year! That's huge. Yeah, I'm excited. And my husband is now a believer, too. :)
So, I'm headed out tomorrow morning for 4 copies of the Florida Times Union...clip, clip, clip.
-Lea
