There's a New Game in Town

When my kids were little we played a lot of games and did a lot of puzzles. I absolutely love to play board games and card games. Well, the kids are grown and even though we still play games sometimes, it isn't nearly as often as I would like. So when someone said that couponing was a game and that you could cut your grocery bill down to $50 or less a week for a family of three adults (plus a few from time to time) - well I was in. On top of that, it isn't about buying generic or out-dated food. It is almost all brand names and good quality food. It takes a little time to cut the coupons, plan and to get it going, but so far I have managed to cut our food bill by 1/3 and we have more food and toiletries in our cupboards than ever.

I only shop at three stores (none of them start with W) and they are all within about a mile of each other. I am not buying anything we won't use or won't need. Part of my motivation is to take the money I am saving to buy other things we need or want for the house. In addition, I actually get free stuff and so I am able to give other items away that we might not need or use right away. Hopefully by the end of August, I will actually be at the $50/week for food and all toiletries and household cleaning products. And yes that figure includes meat, produce and make-up.

Southern Savers has great tips and information on coupons and deals. Although it features stores in the southern part of the country and all their sales don't line up with our stores here, there are great tips, suggestions and links. She does give info on Krogers, CVS, Walgreens, Riteaid and some others that are in Ohio. It is also cool that I am able to use my Kroger card to earn money for our church's preschool and earn savings for gasoline at the same time.

So let the games begin . . .