B1G1 Free- I Think

I was first introduced to "couponing" during our second year of marital bliss.  We were having dinner with some friends when the conversation somehow turned to coupons and the massive amounts of money they were saving each month because of them.  The couple, took the conversation one step further and got out the receipt for their recent grocery store purchase... I had never seen a piece of paper so long in my life.  With some careful planning, they were able to purchase a hundred and fifty monies worth of edibles and disposables and everything else your local supermarket has for a mere thirty-three dollars.

I was floored.

The wife explained the basics and said I should give it a try- so I did.  And then, I cried.  It was terrible- I couldn't figure the deals out, the "don't buy it unless it is on sale" rule made for a mostly empty shopping cart, and the detail oriented coupons (you know the ones that say this item is on sale, but oh wait, only if it is in the blue box and has at least 12 oz) were lost on my non detail oriented mind.  After multiple Sunday afternoons spent cutting, sorting, and crying, it was decided maybe couponing was just not going to be in the cards right then.  Life was again good.

Enter Baby Mia, exit two incomes, and once again I found myself at the coupon crossroads I thought I had passed so long ago.  This time around it has been better thanks in large part to this website. And yet, it is still far from perfect.  There was the time I sent John to the store (if you were reading for comprehension on a standardized test right now,  you should have already been able to infer one of the problems- I sent John to the store) with his very detailed list and stack of coupons during super doubles.  I had visions of him coming home with a trunk full of groceries and a super long receipt totaling thirty monies like we saw all those years ago.  I suppose I should have taken the advice about dreaming big and then I would have been more prepared for the $98.00 total instead.  Ahhh me.  After our latest adventure to the store I found myself almost giddy at dinner one night.  I could not wait to try our new $0.27 veggies, after all, I had been talking them up all day.  Mr. Eanes kindly informed me that while the prospect of trying 0.27 cent veggies was very exciting, it was an experience we would not be having... as ours were $3.00.  What?

The details will get you every time.

Still, when I am ready to call it quits, I hear or read a story of someone who manages to do the coupon thing really well and I am motivated to continue in my quest to be wise with the funds God has blessed us with.  Recently, a friend blogged about her coupon experience and naturally I read it hoping to make myself feel better.  As I read Kelly's post, I quickly realized this would not be a site in which my soul found rest.  She spent $26 on $100 worth of groceries during super doubles.  Well, Kelly, I'll see you that 26 and raise you 72, here at the Eanes' house like to do things big.

What I have learned couponing:
 1. I  once payed way to much for cereal.
2. When I need an item now, it will not be on sale and I will not have a coupon.
3. Check your expiration dates on the coupon- it's a detail that is important.
4. Watch out for other couponers- it can get pretty tense pretty quick when there is only one Lysol cleaner left and everybody wants one.
5. Talking on my cell phone and shopping is really no longer an option.

6. Pillsbury is on a mission to fatten up The United States- no one really needs 5 tubs of cookie dough regardless of how great the deal is. 


If you have learned anything from your coupon experience, please share...I am certain the other Harris Teeter shoppers would greatly appreciate one less flustered shopper in their midst.