Holy savings, Batman!!

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to put meal plans together and focus on making better meals more often for my family. As I was trying to figure out how this all works, I asked a well-known bargain shopper in the area how she meal plans/grocery shops because I heard her say one time that she LOVES to shop for food! Crazy! Grocery shopping was my arch-nemesis. It's no fun at all. But if she loved it, she must know some secrets, right? Lucky for me, she was totally excited and willing to show me exactly what she does. I had no idea what I was getting into...

Lisa showed me some websites, how they work, and where/how she does her grocery shopping - with coupons. It was all very intriguing but a little overwhelming. But what sealed the deal for me was when she took me into her storage room and said, "This is where the real savings come in." Her storage room was ah-ha-aaawesome. She pointed out cases of canned veggies that were 11 cents a piece, containers of laundry detergent that were 50 cents a piece, a big pile of feminine products that apparently she never paid a dime for. What-what? Yep. Cereal, crackers, shampoo, soap, everything. Incredible, I tell you. She finds these awesome deals then stocks up! So, she really never needs anything or even buys anything unless it's a super duper deal. I had storage envy. Bad. And since I found out these crazy deals existed, I couldn't ignore it. I couldn't pretend I didn't know you could save so much frigin' cash. I became a believa'

I now get the Sunday paper, save all my coupons, and stock up on the bargains. It's crazy-exciting. Tyson was so totally up for it (what bread-winner wouldn't be?) He agreed to hold down the fort on Wednesday nights while I plan and execute my scary hunting trip. I mean, grocery shopping trip. I do it with a friend or two, and we stop for milk shakes after wards to congratulate ourselves on a job well- done. It's a party!!

It's been almost 3 weeks. The deals I am most proud of are:

Quaker Chewy Granola Bars
Original price: approx $2.79/box
MY price: $0.20/box
That's right, I bought 20 boxes of of granola bars (200 granola bars) for $4.04.

Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Crackers
Original price: approx $1.99-$2.19/box
MY price: $0.13/box
Yes, I also stocked up on these.

My last shopping trip, I was so excited, I took a picture of my loot:

Lot's of good stuff, right? Lunch meat, tomatoes, crackers, tortillas, tons of cheese (for my new freezer, of course!) sour cream, gummie vitamins, plastic ware, etc etc etc.
Orig Total: $159.73
MY total: $40.29
That's 76% savings. Crazy, eh?

Thanks to my new friend Lisa, I am having so much fun shopping like crazy (but not spending much) and now my arch-nemesis is my favorite past time.Woo hooo!! I am loving these mad coupon skills.

Improvement needed:

I guess you could sum it all up in the word balance.

orderly home
plenty of play
physically fit
financially adept
parental control
socially aware
service oriented
mentally challenged (you know what I mean)
=
a well-balanced mom

Everything has it's place. Children need love and attention, homes need order, bodies need work outs, brains need to be challenged. There are so many things to keep up on. It seems like when I get pretty good at one thing, I am neglecting something else that much more. There are some important things that could use real improvement in my life. I've identified so many, and that's the first step, right!?! Now I am tapping all my resources to help me improve them.