Extreme couponing or just trying to survive??

It seems at though couponing has been getting a bad rap lately. I believe the tv shows have everybody picturing wild shoppers, clearing shelves and building up stockpiles of years worth of toothbrushes and toothpaste.

But this is not how the average couponer shops.

In today's economy I don't believe we could shop for 7 kids at home and 2 adults without heavy duty couponing. It definitely has been a budget saver for this family.

On a regular weekly shopping trip I generally save an average of 50 percent off the total cost of all our groceries, toiletries and dog care.

I have been managing to take care of the family of nine on about $600.00 a month, plus, I try to purchase a bit of food for the local food pantry weekly.

Most of my coupons are found online and in the Sunday newspaper. I have created a binder with baseball card holders for all my coupons.

Some great online sites for printable coupons and general couponing information are:

The Krazy Coupon Lady

We Use Coupons.Com

My CNY Mommy

Inside my binder.

I probably spend about 3 to 4 hours a week, printing, cutting, organizing coupons, and planning my shopping lists. I visit our 2 local grocery stores and 1 drug store every week.

All in all, 4 hours a week is well worth the $400 to $500 dollar savings I acheive each month.

We couldn't make ends meet without coupons!

We have been bitten by the coupon bug

Year ago, when I only had 4 of 5 kids, I shopped all the area sales and used coupons every once in a while. But as the family grew and we got busier and busier, it became easier to make one big trip to the big "box" store right down the street. (and spended tons of money to feed our large family)

Well, times have changed and I find myself counting every penny to make ends meet (which they don't usually do), so I thought I would give this coupon thing a chance.

I read the blogs and found the websites and then sat down and started making my "binder." (an organized filing system for the many coupons I came across)

Amy made a cute cover for the binder and I started out on the mission of filling it up.

Of course, there are the usual Sunday morning paper coupons, but I was amazed at the amount of coupons that you can find to print out right at home.

My favorite resource for finding internet coupons is The Krazy Coupon Lady website.
There are also coupon forums, coupon blogs, facebook coupons and many other "surprise" coupon finds. In fact, my hubby and grown children have joined the bandwagon and are bringing me home coupons from newspapers at work.

In fact, I have found so many coupons, (for things we use everyday) my original 1 inch binder has been replaced with a 2 inch binder in only 3 weeks of couponing.

I have consistantly been saving between 40 and 60 percent on every grocery and drugstore trip I have made in the last three weeks.

This is a tremendous savings for our family, but it does take some work.

The most important point I have to make is to make sure to match up the store sales with the coupons you have on hand. I am also getting a good idea of where the best prices are for the things we use everyday which rarely go on sale, because,

EVERY PENNY COUNTS!!