Budget Mastered (sort-of) *updated*

We have always been able to go grocery shopping and not have to worry about how much it costs.  We see something that looks good- we buy it.  However now that we are trying to save money for an adoption- we've started to pull back, the more we save on food, the more we can put toward the adoption (well actually the truck, since we want that paid off before we adopt). 

A girlfriend of mine got me 'couponing'.  I've only done it a couple of times, but this last time it was awesome-  I saved 49%!!

They were also having a 'manager's special' on strawberries- $1.49/lb.  The berries were H-U-G-E, that's a quarter sitting next to them... surprisingly they were delicious!

I do my coupon shopping at Dillons (our local Kroger) store, and use the 'frequent shopper card' they have. They are more expensive for overall 'grocery' shopping, so I buy my coupon stuff there, and usually go to Wal Mart/Sams Club for everything else. 

Dillons does 'coupon matching', up to $1.00 on paper coupons.  We don't get the paper, so I get my coupons from redplumb.com, coupons.com and smartsource.com  These websites have the printable ones- coupons.com you have to download their 'coupon printer' on whatever computer you are on, but its not that big of a deal. 

Also, there are electronic coupons you can 'store' on your frequent shopper card.  The two sites that I use for these are shortcuts.com and cellfire.com.   Check to see if your store takes the deals from P&G eSaver, ours doesn't but your's might!

The store I use (check your local stores rules) will let me use the loaded and paper coupons on the same item to double up my savings.  Example:  The GreenGiant Steamers frozen vegetables were on sale this week for $1.89.  I had a paper coupon for $.50, which doubled to $1.00, and an electronic coupon for $.50, so my total discount was $1.50, bring my price to $.39.  Often shortcuts and cellfire will have similar coupons, so I was able to buy 2 packages, taking advantage of that electronic coupon for each site. 

Of course everyone wants you to register for their site, and I've now figured out you should come up with a 'coupon' email address.  That way everything goes to that one address, and if you ever sign up for freebies (Kraft, Betty Crocker, etc) you can give them that address too. 

These are some blogs that I enjoy following up with every few days or so. They give some great 'scenarios' to help you save the most money. 

http://happyhomemakercindy.com/

http://thekrazycouponlady.com/

http://www.livingrichwithcoupons.com/

http://www.savingcentswithsense.net/

There are a ton more out there, these are just a few I've found... if you have one you love, please let me know, I'm always looking out for new ones!!!