I wake up, fix myself a bowl of cereal that I bought for $0.80 cents with a BOGO sale and coupon, sit down at the computer, and begin perusing the list of coupons that have become available in the past 12 hours. After the screeching of my overworked printer wakes my son, he strolls downstairs in his pajamas ready for another day of school. This morning he won’t be heading for the bus stop or be worrying about what will be served for lunch. That’s because he and I will sit down on the sofa together and do our school work at home.
Yes, we’re one of THOSE families–homeschoolers. We’re on our fourth year, and through it all we’ve had to depend solely on my husband’s income. It’s possible to work and homeschool (or so I’ve been told), but I value my sanity and don’t think I have what it takes to do both. So as my husband goes to work each day to pay the bills, I get to work grading our son’s science quiz.
Because I don’t have a weekly paycheck coming in, we’ve never been rolling in money. Then earlier this year, I discovered couponing. I was one of those people who caught an episode of a certain
couponing show and decided to give it a try. The following Sunday I picked up a couple of papers and started clipping. I was very skeptical about the savings people claimed were possible since I’d only ever saved a dollar or two using coupons before. But in no time I did start to see amazing savings.
While I can’t snag 400 sports drinks or 30 cases of Ramen noodles for $1.03, I have gradually and realistically reached the point where I’ve cut our grocery bill in half, and that makes me more than happy. A year ago I was spending over $200 for two weeks worth of groceries. My budget is now $150, but I rarely get near that mark. This morning my total for half a months worth of meats, veggies, snacks, and paper goods was $100.
Although I don’t commute to a regular job each day, I have found a part-time job as a “certified stay-at-home-mom coupon clipper.” It doesn’t pay by the hour, but I can’t beat the benefits:
- I can finally purchase name-brand items. Before I began couponing you’d NEVER find a national brand in my cabinets or fridge. Betty Crocker and Uncle Ben definitely visit more often, and I can treat my family to things that I could never buy before I began saving.
- I can now treat myself to more cosmetics and beauty supplies. I can’t believe the amount of nail polish and lipstick that I have gotten for free in the past few months. A year ago I would have bought my eyeshadow from my local dollar store. Now I happily get lipstick that retails for $8.99 and $5.00 bottles of lotion for free. A buck for cosmetics at the dollar store seems like a fortune.
- I have peace of mind knowing that I won’t have to pay full retail for dishwasher detergent when I run out, and I won’t have to run to the store at 8 pm to pick up a jar of spaghetti sauce after I’ve forgotten to add it to my grocery list (coupons save us gas money too).
- If the apocalypse occurs, my family will be the most well-groomed people on the block. My food stockpile may slowly dwindle, but my toiletries stockpile will last until my grandchildren have grandchildren.
- Seriously though, another great benefit is knowing that I am in a small way contributing financially to our household. Yes, washing dishes, cooking dinner, and doing laundry is most definitely contributing, but I always felt a sense of guilt that I wasn’t bringing home some cash. Although clipping coupons doesn’t earn me a paper check, it has put lots of money back into our pockets each month- $200 to be exact or $2,400 a year.
This has been a guest post by Jennifer from Pelzer, SC
No comments:
Post a Comment