A One Year Savings Journal

2 Days BEFORE My Birthday

About Me

Hello, my name is Trina (not my real name, but pretty close- don’t try to figure out who I am) and I am 34 years old. Well, at least until Monday when I will be 35. I am a mother of two small children and I live in a small town in Northern Florida.

About This Project

Yesterday was a rainy day, and so I found myself and my 6 year old daughter flipping through the options available on Netflix, when I came across “Extreme Couponing.” I know this show is like a million years old and I am totally out of the loop, but I didn’t even know the word coupon could be used as a verb, so we plowed through several episodes as we played a series of games on our living room floor.

Now I must start out by saying that I do regularly use coupons. But they have to be pretty amazing to catch my eye. If I see something in the mail that relates to a product I use or a service I need, I will clip the coupon and put it in my wallet. And sometimes I may even use the coupon. But more often than not, it expires or I just forget about it. But I do get a rush when I save money. So even though I am not an avid “couponer,” I can understand the euphoric feelings associated with couponing.

Except at the register.

I’m the kind of person that apologizes to the cashier if I have one or two coupons. That is my level of guilt at inconveniencing someone. And the people on the show were handing over truckloads of coupons in a variety of carefully arranged transactions! I became embarrassed for them just watching the show! So I must warn you: during this experiment, at least at the beginning, my small savings may seem like no big deal, but they represent a dramatic shift from my usual personality tendencies.

If there is anything I learned from watching this show is that couponing transcends race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and gender. In fact, it seems like everyone is couponing when you’ve watched like six episodes in a row.

So when my daughter asked me “Can we do this?” it seemed like the only answer to this question was “Let’s try.” And with my birthday a few days away, it seemed like the perfect time to try.

And I am the type of person who needs a sort of greater purpose when carrying out an idea that I think might help others, so I will keep this blog in the hopes of sharing my strategies and assisting another wannabe-sort-of-coupon-queen. That is one aspect I found to be missing in the show. Everyone is saving a ton but there are really no specifics as to what they are doing in order to save. Sure they tell us about their binders and the time they devote to this hobby, but there just isn’t time in the show to be very specific, so I will try to be specific.

And in the meantime, I get to share with you the thrill of the hunt! Which is (selfishly) the best part for me! I love talking about the latest great deal that I scored! But when I bring it up in conversation with my husband, his eyes kind of glaze over. He just isn’t that thrilled with the process…or the outcome for that matter. So I appreciate the opportunity to share these finds with you.

So, for better or worse, this isn’t going to be the kind of blog where you find printable coupons and store discount codes. I just don’t know enough about the laws governing the copying and distribution of these things. Instead, it will be a place where you can read about my latest shopping expeditions, strategies, and savings so that hopefully you can replicate a similar experience somewhere close to where you are- Kind of like chatting with your best friend over the telephone. So please feel free to comment on your latest great couponing experiences, and please keep the comments friendly and helpful. I will do the same on my end!

About The BIG Question

At the end of the year, I will post these questions (below) and answer them thoughtfully and honestly based on my experiences throughout the course of the year.

The main question is simple: Is it worth the hassle?

If the savings are significant, I stand a lot to gain- financially. At the moment, I am a stay at home mom and my family could use the extra cash- who wouldn’t. But this potential savings lead me to a multitude of sub-questions.

About the Sub-Questions

*In August, my maternity leave will be over and I will return to work. Will the savings be significant enough for me to want to continue in August? I mean, the people in the show have 20-30 hours a week to devote to couponing. They take 4-8 hour shopping trips. I have no interest in this type of devotion, so this blog will be geared towards the half-hearted-part-time-squeezing-it-in couponer.

*How long does the clipping, organizing and shopping take? And how does that differ from the time spent shopping and just paying retail?

*What are some time saving strategies I develop along the way?

*What are and where are the best deals? For example, am I better off buying a generic brand with no coupon, or a brand name with a coupon?

About the Strategy

If all goes well, I will keep this blog for one year. It will be a running list of my savings, my strategies, and my feelings associated with the project.

Which brings us to my ground rules:

1. I will document every transaction in which I use a coupon or save off a retail price in this blog. I will discuss these transactions in detail or include a photo of the receipt.

            *This means that I will log in every purchase I make in which:

                a- I use a coupon

     b- I buy something on sale

                 c- I receive cash back or a store credit

     d- I use a stores reward card

      e- I save off of retail by going to another source such as eBay and Craigslist.

2. I will not document any purchases in which I pay retail only. But I need to tell you that I will still make retail price purchases. I am just not at that point in my new hobby in which I can wait six months for a sale on an item I need now. I will not document those purchases here because you already know what retail is and it doesn’t seem interesting at all to report it. This is strictly a blog of savings.

3. I live in a townhouse and I live in Florida. This rules out basement storage (basements are nonexistent in this part of the state because of the water tables), garage storage (because of the heat), so everything I purchase will have to be stored either in my pantry or in my hall closet. I am not sure how I am going to stockpile (which seems key to this lifestyle according to the show), but I will figure it out as I go and report on it here.

4. I will document the money spent on this hobby. After all, if I spend on something I wouldn’t normally buy, then it affects the value of the hobby. Any organizational tools purchased (such as shelves and coupon organizer) as well as any trips to a place I wouldn’t normally go to in order to save (more gas spent) will have to be subtracted from the bottom line of savings.

About the Steps Taken So Far

1. I went to the Dollar Tree today and bought a “coupon organizer” (see picture).

It's the size of my wallet- I'm likely to carry it if it's small.

 

 

 

 

   

 

I placed scissors in the organizer, for clipping on the go!

 

2. I noticed that some of the categories in the coupon organizer did not suit my lifestyle, so I changed the tabs. I changed “MISCELANEOUS” to “FOR THE HOME AND PETS” and I changed “NEW PRODUCTS” to “RESTARANTS AND ENTERTAINMENT” (See picture).  I use coupons when I go out to eat, when I take my kids to one of those indoor play places, and when I shop for home items and things for our aquarium, so these changes made sense for me and allowed me to sort some coupons I already had.

Personalizing the Tabs



 

 

 

 

 

All Set...I think.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Tomorrow, I will go to our recycling bin (in our townhome community) and look for Sunday Paper Coupon inserts. If this fails, I will buy a newspaper, but since that would mean buying something that I normally would not buy, it would take money away from my ultimate savings.

4. I will keep a “SAVINGS TO DATE” running log. Each post to this blog will end with the savings to date. I hope this will help you in determining if this whole couponing thing (at least the way I do it) if right for you and your family.

*So far, in purchasing the coupon organizer, I have spent $1.07 towards this one year experiment/ new hobby.

 

SAVINGS TO DATE: - $ 1.07 (I’m starting in the negatives, I guess I have to get started somehow)

 

Here we go…..