Q:Ok Verna, what the heck made you obsessed with all this crazy coupon stuff??
A: Well, I grew up in a household with a single mom who never let us feel like we didn't have much money. After my Dad died, my Mom was laid off from her job and although I was only 6, I am sure times were pretty tough. Mom always had the best clothes for us, a bunch of food, etc and I don't think she was a coupon queen but her moulding us to appreciate the value of money has been engraved into our heads.
Fast forward 10 yrs from when I was 6 and it brings you to my 2nd job in my life...Dillons Food Market at Kellogg and Rock (which has been gone forever it seems like!). I was SO intrigued by watching the ladies come in with 2 carts of grocerys and a fistfull of coupons and they saved ALOT!!!! I mean tons of money. I was one of those weird cashiers who actually LOVED coupon shoppers and it facinated me. I think that fued my obsession! At that Dillons I met the guy I thought I was gonna spend the rest of my life with (HA! Stupid teenage thinking) and we went on to have a child and got married (and divorced a year and a half later!) but since I had my own family, I became a coupon PRINCESS....now I am the queen LOL!
Q: What the heck are you gonna do with all of this QUANTITY of food and cleaners, health and beauty stuff, etc? Do you really need all of this stuff?
A: Good question! I got a great answer too! I have a few actually... first of all, we're getting ready to move to the country and the town (if you wanna call it that!) that we are moving to has NO grocery stores whatsoever! I figured it be nice to have a little stockpile of ingredients available on hand. I also will have a room in the basement specifically for my stock :)
I also have tons of friends and family...nothing tickles their fancy more than when I share my bounty with them (and Im not talking bounty paper towels LOL!) I always like to share my freebies with them and I think they enjoy it too!!!
And the rest, I always have food and tolietries for food drives and stuff....my kids' school loves the stuff we bring! Hey, if I can get it for free and help a family out in need...more power to the queen right? :)
Q: Where the heck do you get all these coupons at woman???
A: I ALWAYS get at least 2-3 papers every Sunday my self and my friends and familywill give me their inserts as well. Be sure to start getting the Sunday paper. I adore my friends and family who help me out! THEY ARE WONDERFUL!!!! I also check online for printables and am sure to keep an eye out at the stores for tearpad coupons, peelies, etc. I also am a fan of checking out websites of my favorite brands and signing up for their mailing list...they will send you coupons and samples sometimes too!
Q: How do you keep all this stuff organized????
A: Here's my coupon box...yes, Im serious!!!
I ALWAYS get at least 2-3 papers every Sunday my self and my friends will give me their inserts as well. Be sure to start getting the Sunday paper. I organize my coupons in a plastic shoebox with catagory dividers (i.e. Produce, Dairy, Snack Aisle, Meal Aisle, Baking Aisle, Cereal and Dressings Aisle, Frozen, Health and Beauty, Cleaning Aisle, Meat, Deli and Bakery Dept, and Misc coupons). I then file coupons in SUBCATGORIES using envelopes. Like For dairy I may have a file for refridgerated doughs, butter, milk and creamer, cheese, etc. I started a new system of cutting 2-3 of each my inserts and filing the rest in a folder chronologically. I cut all my coupons on Sunday and file them as soon as I cut them. It may be overwhelming at first but you'll get faster with it. I watch the ads on Wednesday for grocery sales and match my coupons up for the best deals to get at the stores. You might want to check out the different stores in your area and get familiar with their coupon policies.
Q:What stores do you shop at?
A: My favorite couponing store is HOMELAND in Haysville, KS. They double their coupons up to a $1.00! Soooo if you have a $1.00 off coupon, they take $2.00 off your order! The only stinky thing is they only let you have 5 like coupons per order...it's hard to explain sorta... For example you get a buttload of groceries, you can have 5 of each item and they will double 5 of those coupons. If you got 6 of the same item and had 6 coupons for each of them, they'd double 5 of them and give you face value of the coupon for the 6th item. Back in the day, Homeland used to double up to $2.00 so that was nice getting up to $4.00 off an item!
I also shop at Dillons (I love them and can get great deals!!!). They will double coupons up to 50 cents but say if it's $0.55, they will give you $0.45 more cents off to make it $1.00 off. I am so glad they do that stilll! I miss their super double coupons where they'd double up to $1.00 like Homeland does everyday!
Checkers and Leekers is another place and I love it when they have Super Double coupons once a month! I will let you know when they do.
Any more questions?? Drop me a comment and I'll answer!!! Stay tuned, I'll be posting my links soon!
Nice lookin' blog! I have my own blog, but it's not related to shopping. I'm going to start loggin my savings. Another option for all that extra food is donating it to a shelter or food bank. You might want to check, but I'm pretty sure it's a tax write off. :)
ReplyDeleteAshlea (ashlea729)
Where are you moving to? Or what direction from town, anyway. ;)