Confession: Bonus Mom Chef is a crazy couponing mom!

At first it was just a fascination. That is, I was just fascinated with the Extreme Couponing show that took many people by surprise.  Just like so many of us have realized, once that show began to air, stores began to change their coupon policies, and manufacturers began to crack down on coupon policies in order to make it harder for individuals to be able to do that sort of extreme couponing.  That doesn’t, however, mean that you can’t still get some pretty awesome deals... and even steals!  It does mean that you aren’t going to get truckloads of cereal for free.  Frankly, not many of us need truckloads of cereal for free.  This blog post is about how I have learned to reduce the costs of my family’s average grocery and consumable bill.  That is-- reducing how much we spend on eating, cleaning, washing, wiping... the things we do every month.  

So as I said, I first became fascinated with the extreme couponers based on the TV show Extreme Couponing.  When I say “i first became fascinated” I mean-- I loved watching the show, but I always told myself that “I don’t have time to do that” and “I don’t need that much of that stuff” and “I don’t have those same stores around me”.  I found every excuse in the book as to why there was no way I could ever do that.  Oh, don’t forget “I have no where to keep all that crap”.  I just loved seeing other people do it, and dreaming about saving all that money.  So for a couple of years, before I was married, I just watched the show in envy of what others did.  

Then as I began dating the Hubinator and realizing just HOW MUCH money it takes to feed, cover, clean, wash, and wipe a family I started to pay more attention to the show.  I still felt totally overwhelmed with the time it took these people, the methods they used-- climbing into dumpsters, searching on websites for coupons, using large paper cutters, enlisting friends and children to help, calling friends to stand in line with them at the check out, getting moving trucks to get their groceries home, storing dry goods in their children's bedrooms, etc.  There was more of a desire to save the money though as I knew that we really could use the help and needed to be saving money. 
 It was only a matter of time...

Once I was moved in, and married, and a part of the household, grocery lists and grocery shopping was my job.  It happened to work out that I usually did the cooking.  This was fine-- I am good at it, I love doing it, and I was typically home in the afternoon, so it made a lot more sense for me to start dinner.   This also meant that it makes a lot more sense if I am the one who then makes the list(s) since I know what we need.  As such, it then left the “how much we are spending” on my shoulders.  So one day I convinced the Hubinator to sit down and watch one of these “extreme couponing” shows with me.  

Now, something you need to know about the Hubinator is that he’s very critically minded.  He’s logical.  He’s always looking for the science behind the magician’s magic- if you will.  So when these people claimed they were getting things for free-- he had a very hard time believing that.  In addition, he had the same reactions I did-- “How much time are they spending doing it?”, “They are going through dumpsters?!”, “How is this possible?”, “This doesn’t seem logical- at all!”.  

Something else you need to know about the Hubinator is that he doesn’t stop at being skeptical!  He’s always out to find the truth.  So, he began investigating and looking into these things.  Of course, he wanted to remain as open minded as possible, and because he’s a good hubinator and knew I was interested in this, he agreed to watch a few more episodes of the show to try to understand what on earth his wife was up to and had gotten into her brain waves.  

In my defense, I did tell him from the very beginning that I wasn’t interested in doing it to the extent that these individuals did couponing, but I wanted him to see the show so that he understood that we could save more than a couple dollars.  I wanted him to understand that I believed there was an opportunity for real savings here.  

In our investigations we learned that, as I explained a bit earlier, the manufacturers have changed a lot of their policies since Extreme Couponing began originally airing.  Most, if not all,  stores also have changed their coupon policies.  In addition, many coupon clearing houses have also changed their policies and have seriously cracked down on couponers.    

What this meant for me, was that I knew a few people who did coupon in this “crazy” way already.  So I wanted to find out where they had learned about it.  I also wanted to find resources that were out there on how to legitimately do it -- how to do it legally.  I wanted to find out what the new policies were, since the ones in the show weren’t correct.  

In the meantime, after a few more episodes... Hubinator was really warming up to the idea of saving money on the monthly “haul” as we called it :).  These were exciting times!  

So, I did a LOT of research.  

I talked to my friends who were doing the couponing thing.  I talked to them about what websites they followed, what Facebook pages they “liked” and got updates from.  Everyone kept talking about The Krazy Coupon Lady.  In addition to her blog and website which is amazing and very informative.  She has a facebook also which gives you updates to everything that is currently going on sale and also has coupons available to double up with it.  (*note- the idea of pairing coupons with sales is key and one I’ll be discussing in my next blog post “Bonus Mom Chef on Couponing 101”)

After doing my research I decided to give it a go.  I went out bought a sunday paper, clipped coupons, checked all of the ads, used my mperks (The coupon program through Meijer) and in September, we did our first try at it.  And I did a pretty decent job at saving.  I didn’t really save receipts or anything yet at that point.  I remember it was about 30% I saved total.  Not too shabby.  That was from coupons/sales etc. all combined.  

In October I did everything the same as September and had similar success.

November changed it all...

In November we had Thanksgiving that we were buying for and the pressure was on.  I spent extra time scouring the ads, comparison shopping.  I had also learned about online coupons by this point (www.coupons.com is the best site I’ve found so far).  I also had found that certain products will offer coupons on their facebook page, etc.  As a household with a child who eats Gluten-Free this is a big deal as we now get $1 off coupons for many gluten free products each month which adds up.  

In November we saved more than we spent in our monthly haul!  This was HUGE!!!  This is the first month that I began saving all of my receipts.  This is also the first month that I started making notes of how much things went on sale for, as well as their base price so that I could make note of when something was a good sale etc.  

December came around and it was the holiday season and the pressure was even more so on than it had been the month before.  Once again I did all of the same things I had in the month before, including the online coupons.  For a second month in a row, I saved roughly what we spent.  In addition, the Hubinator needed a winter coat and we got a $140 winter coat for less than $30 pairing sales, clearance, mperks, free shipping, etc.  

It is important to note that unlike some of the more experienced couponing individuals, until recently I had only carried the coupons that I would be using with me.  Then, one day the Hubinator and I stopped at the store to pick up two things in a “quick visit” between monthly hauls.  I had the two coupons I would need.  And because I didn’t have my other coupons with me, we missed out on some other great buys.  It was in that visit that the Hubinator said to me “you need to get yourself one of those coupon binders”.  He was referencing the coupon binders that the other couponers carry.  So... before January’s haul, I came home and created something that would organize my coupons.  I did not want to spend the money on a binder just yet.  So I came up with an organizational system that isn’t as great because you can’t see everything which isn’t as easy in the store, but that did work, and it was tested in January, and it will work just fine until the day when I do decide to spend the money on a Binder (maybe it’d be a good mother’s day gift -- hint hint!).  

Most recently, this month I was able to save MORE than we spent.  What this means is that we came home with a total value in product (groceries, toilet paper, pet food, paper towel, soap, etc.) that was more than double what we paid.  This month, the value of what we saved, was more than the value of what we spent.  So we got more in free stuff, than we ended up paying for.  AMAZING!  And-- because I’m careful and planning things out, I’m only buying things that we’d use anyways, so I’m not using coupons “just because I have them”-- which I do believe is a common trap that manufacturers expect consumers to fall into.  

Thanksgiving, Christmas, and just generally the overall quality of meals in our house wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t for these newly gained skills that I am so thankful for.  I love seeing how much I can save.  But I love even more seeing how much I more the hubinator and I can provide for our family by me learning these new skills.  

Teaching "couponing".

I have also had the opportunity to share these skills recently with a couple of friends, two of them who are partnered together, and one friend who has a family of her own and is interested in learning what we are doing so she can start to save money for her husband and sons.  It was through this sharing that I decided that this really needed to be a blog entry.  It’s a big part of my life, and my family.  Beyond that, others could be learning from it.  It’s a skill that you have to learn.  I had to be inspired, and then go out and hunt down the information.  As such, my next blog post will be a “couponing 101” that I’ve written up that I’ve given to the two aforementioned groups of friends who have asked for my “how to” to get them started.  Hopefully this will inspire someone else out there.  

If you’re couponing, big or little, i’d love to hear from you!  If this inspires you, please leave a comment and let me know.  If you would like help getting started, I’d be more than happy to lend a hand!  Just ask :)