Ok so while my 10 month old is taking a nap I'd just like to quickly rant about my love/hate relationship with couponing. While I cannot say anything bad about the show "Extreme couponing " because without it, I would have never become interested in using coupons, but I do have some negative things to say about the people who view the show and took things overboard; this left everyone else who follows the rules and etiqutte to suffer. First off it's a tv show, some people may be able to save quite a bit of money, normal people will not save 99-100% every time, with such large orders. Secondly there are some rules of etiquette that need to be followed. 1. Obtain your cupons legally! Do not steal all the coupon inserts from papers, and take all the store coupons from the shelves please. 2. If you're gonna to buy a large amount of something from a store, please don't clear the shelves that's just rude! Call ahead and reserve a certain amount, also buy different varieties. If you are gonna buy 25 bottles of Bbq sauce, don't take all of the honey kind, take some spicy, or old fashioned etc. 3. Finally don't try and scam the stores, because of this and the theft of the coupons, all the stores have been forced to change their coupon policies, so if I wasn't confused before, I sure am now. So my heart goes out to the people who were couponing long before the television show, because now everything has changed and you all must suffer, and for the people like myself who were couponing the legit way, we are being punished because of the ones who went crazy.
On a lighter note, I have a big trip planned this weekend to Walmart for a handful of awesome deals, just in time for my mother in laws birthday. I plan to make her a spa basket chock fulla goodies since our big gift to her is a well deserved massage. May I mention my wonderful husband is sending me with her so I get a massage also!! My monthly trip to the grocery store is coming up too, I'm going to try and avoid the Thanksgiving crowds and see what deals I can get on the dry food I need now. I do my grocery shopping once a month because I do not drive and it's so much easier to buy in bulk, and just have to pick up odds and ends at the store than get a large haul every week. This also means I plan out all of my dinners that I'm going to make ahead of time, (a whole month's worth) so I'll know what needs to be bought and I also plan it around the sales/coupons for the week that I shop. It's a ton of work and I spend almost a whole 24 hours getting it done but thanks to some wonderful websites, and blogs who map it all out for me most of the work is done. Are you interested in lots of different ways to cook one of the cheapest meats available? Stay tuned I will have some awesome recipe's for ground beef next time. Family favorite, kid approved, budget friendly, and quick and easy!! xoxo TTFN
