Exhibit A

Couponing.

Many of you, just upon reading the word, immediately begin thinking of that old lady in front of you at grocery store last week, the one who took thirty minutes to check out because she had a mountain of coupons to scan. Yes, I know, the use of coupons is usually seen as old school, a nuisance, a chore, etc. Often, when people find out that I actually coupon, they automatically respond with things like, "Aren't coupons just a scam? Don't they lead you to buy things you don't need?" or "How could it really be worth it?" I understand these thoughts, because they used to be my own. And then....I saw the light.

About a year ago, my church in D.C. held a meal planning/couponing class. I was engaged, and eager to learn any way to save money on our soon-to-be tight newlywed budget. It was SO unexpectedly helpful. I had never really thought about meal planning before, and I definitely wasn't familiar with couponing lingo. After two hours of hearing it all explained, I was sold. It just kinda made sense to me. I want to be a good steward of the money God has given us. Planning out our meals before getting to the store would save me from the inevitable "Oh no, what will we have for dinner on Tuesday?" moment I usually had on aisle 2, and using coupons would save us serious money and even get us some free stuff. Sign me up.

Contrary to popular belief, the goal when using coupons is not to simply buy whatever you have a coupon for. The goal is to use only the coupons that would make something either completely free or just cheaper than you would usually pay for it. You use the store sales and rewards systems in conjunction with the coupons in order to get the lowest price possible. Most Sunday coupon-clippers aren't even aware of the rewards systems that are embedded in almost every store out there. So, it's not just using the paper coupons, it's using the paper coupons WITH the already lowest sale prices. For example, cereal. I now refuse to pay more than a dollar for a box of cereal because, well, I've learned that's how cheap you can get it. A cereal like Raisin Bran is usually around $3.00+, even more if you buy a big box. Say your store puts it on sale for $2.19 or something. Then you print out a $2.00 OFF coupon online. Then you're walking about of the store with a $0.19 box of cereal. Buy several boxes of it when it's that cheap, and you're good to go for a while until the next sale.

For example, this week I did my normal grocery shopping, which typically includes a trip to CVS (which I call Free-VS) and Kroger.

I give you, Exhibit A:



Above are all the things I bought this week. It's all stuff I normally buy anyway, or things that were free so I figured we should give them a whirl.

Total cost of everything above: Over $60
How much I paid: $5.04

FIVE DOLLARS!

Now, I'm not saying I didn't have to put some time into cutting out the coupons and matching them up to the sale ads online. I probably spent about an hour total throughout the week pulling it all together...but I mean, five dollars! One Abe Lincoln. One Starbucks Latte. Half a movie ticket. FIVE DOLLARS.

If you're interested in learning more about it, my favorites sites to use are: southernsavers.com and moneysavingmom.com. There are tutorials on meal planning, couponing, etc. Southern Savers is great because you can pick a store, and then print out a list of everything on sale with the matching coupons, and just take the list with you to the store. I love that.

I know this isn't for everyone. "Time is money," and, for some people, it's worth just going in and out of the store, not having to worry about matching up coupons or comparing prices. But for me, it's the money-saving paired with the fact that I simply love the "thrill of the chase." In other words, I like going into a store armed with coupons, and leaving, legally, with a bunch of stuff I didn't pay for. I like the look of the cashier when they hit the "total" button and say things like, "Um...that will be one penny." (that's actually happened.) I like looking at the bottom of my CVS receipt, and seeing that it says I earned $483 worth of free items in 2009. I just like it.