Extreme Couponing...

So I haven't seen the TLC show about the extreme couponing, but I have seen snippets of it on the news and it intrigues me.  ESPECIALLY if saving moo-lah on groceries means more moo-lah for us to TRAVEL!

I've  been cutting coupons now for about three months.  I went from a coupon organizer with really no organization (I could never remember if I filed coupons by brand name (goldfish) or by what it was (crackers), so shopping took WAY to long.  However in the past month I have refined my couponing skils and methods. 

I purchased a package of baseball card organizers a few weeks ago.  I dug out an old binder that was mainly collecting dust and then I created a beautiful coupon binder!  I had also purchased sticky tabs to create categories.  So now my coupons are arranged nicely in the following cateagories:

-Meats
-Veggies
-Fruits
-Snacks
-Pharmacy (this is essentially personal care--deodorant, soap, TP, ect.)
-Cleaning
-Doggie
-Store Specific
-Restaurants

Because they are stored in a see-through page, I don't have to pull out all the coupons in that category out in order to find the one I want! 

Before going grocery shopping I sit down with the ad (usually online because King Soopers & Safeway let you click on the items you want and then you just print the grocery list from your clicking.) I make my list and pull out all the coupons I know I will use and put them in an envelop that I keep in my coupon binder.  Then it's off the store--I take Ryan with me so he can push the cart. :-) I take the coupon binder with me because we never end up sticking just to the list.  I can hardly contain my excitement to get to the register and read at the bottom of the receipt how much money we saved!

To aid in getting the most savings I started following a few blogs, including The Krazy Couponing Lady who posts a million times a day.  I always check her out once I make my list, as she has a list, in ABC order of printable coupons.  I also follow a girl I went to college, Kristen's blog, Joyfully Thriving.  Recently Kristen hosted a giveaway on her blog in which she was giving away coupons for FREE Purex!  Ryan & I love Purex.  It's our laundry detergent of choice.  Recently I had a small panic attack because I thought they had gone out of business and stopped making it.  I think they just were changing up some product design stuff.  Well, to make a long story short, I won the coupon!  I'm super excited!  That will probably be a savings of about $5 to $8 depending on the fine print of the coupon! 

So, that's what's happening here with grocery shopping...aren't you glad you asked. :-P I can't wait to have a larger house some day with a larger pantry & fridge/freezer so that I can truly stock up and save!