On Your Mark, Get Set.....COUPON!

It is not a secret that I am an avid couponer. As a stay at home mom I wanted to help my family with more than just cooking, cleaning and child rearing. (Famous quote from my mamaw) So, after seeing TLC “Extreme Couponing” I decided to give it a shot and it actually worked!  I started coming home with free toothpaste and paying a fraction for detergent! What many people do not realize is it takes a lot of time and organization to do it on a widespread scale. For example, surfing the internet for coupons, cutting inserts out, organizing the coupons, reading coupon blogs for the best deals, and scouting stores are all necessities for an avid couponer. I must admit I do not do everything as often as I should, but spending time with my family is much more important than saving a buck. When people see my stockpile (very small compared to the ones on EC) most of their expressions are “OMG!”  I never pay even a penny for soap, body wash, contact solution, razors, shave cream, toothpaste, toothbrushes, cosmetics, hair products, most over the counter medicines, candy, dish soap, and deodorant! It is so nice when the hubby runs out of something, he doesn’t complain about it, he just goes to the cabinet and gets a new one! Aside from saving a lot of money, it is such a rush when you check out and only pay a fraction of the total. I haven’t quite gotten good at getting food for free but I’m taking it one shopping trip at a time! One of the most frustrating things about living in Moline IL is there are NO grocery stores that double coupons, therefore I have to work twice as hard for good deals! I thoroughly enjoy it even when it gets overwhelming!

Here is my "stockpile." I barely paid anything for all of this, but it has taken me months to aquire everything.

One store I get many free items at is from CVS by using their "Extra Care Bucks."  Here is an example of things I got for free and made money on a few items. On Thanksgiving day, all of these items were free after ECB and I used coupons on top of that which made everything free!!! (Aside from tax which no one can get away from! haha)