Learning Curve

I certainly believe that couponing has a learning curve. You've seen the commercials and the shows, you've read the blogs - woman goes in to the store and gets $100 of groceries for $0.50! What? My bill NEVER looks like that. Seriously I try but real life gets in the way and I leave the store with good deals but less money then I had hoped.

Kirk went to the store for me last night and he did okay. I mean he's trying so I am NOT complaining but couponing is just a teeny bit harder then it looks (not much but it does take SOME work - if it didn't everybody would already be doing it and would be good at it).

Here's what he got:



He spent: $84.70
And saved: $77.22

Yes, that will put a small dent in our monthly budget but I will make it up somewhere since $60 and $85 are over even our $125/week budget. Not to mention I had to spend about $20 at Wal-Mart for things like milk that I didn't get at Publix.

So there you have it - our weekly budget is blown. But it happens. And that's okay.

My point is - even if you've tried couponing in the past and you got frustrated or you didn't save what you wanted or you had a bad week just keep doing it. Like dieting, like learning, like life it takes some time to figure out and you have to give yourself a break and try to do better next week.

Eventually I will be that crazy woman on TV who spends $10 and gets $200 worth of stuff but so far that hasn't been me and that's okay :) Besides, I did mention that I have 5 kids right? AND don't have the time to go to 12 different stores every week for their sales?! So, until my children become magic couponing angels I will just deal with what I've got and be thankful for my savings.

And for the Grocery Game which does save me hours and hours of time!!