Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Crazy Coupon Ladies???

So here's the deal.

This new mommy has joined the madness. What madness am I referring to? 

THE COUPON MADNESS.

I'm not aspiring to be a crazy coupon lady. I just want to cut some money off of our weekly grocery bills. I currently shop at Wal-mart. I do clip coupons (only a few however...) and I try and buy the cheapest things (i.e the off brand of soups, cereal, etc.) However, I still find myself spending about $100 a week on food. (Not including formula because we purchase that at Sam's Club...) I buy things for our lunches each week (it seems cheaper than having Ethan eat out) and I buy things for breakfast as well as enough stuff to make for dinner each week. Our breakfast consists of 1 Equate Shake a piece (we are both on diets..) and our dinners are usually something like: stuffed peppers, stuffed shells, stir fry, soup, etc.

I'm not sure if I'm making things that are too extravagant? I don't want to cut our bills by starving us OR by making us eat things we don't want/like. I want to eat what I enjoy and STILL save some cash. Can I get an 'Amen?' :)

So, my question to all of you bloggers out there is this:

HOW MUCH DO YOU SPEND ON GROCERIES EACH WEEK?
WHERE DO YOU SHOP?
WHAT ARE YOU PURCHASING FOR MEALS?
HOW MANY COUPONS DO YOU CLIP/USE?
WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR COUPONS?

Looking forward to hearing your responses!!






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3 comments:

Amanda Caldwell said...

Alyssa,
I spend roughly $100-$150 a week at the grocery store. I shop at Kroger's and I do not buy a lot of off brand food. Not that I dont try to, or that I have anything against it, its just normally the name brand isnt much more and we just go ahead and get it. I have to still buy diapers. Abby and I arent big on breakfast, my husband is. Lunch is usually something simple for us like ramen noodles (her fav), mac n cheese and chicken nuggets, hot dog and french fries, fish sticks. Dinner we eat things like grilled or baked chicken with baked potato or rice and a veg., hot dogs and fries (on that occassional night), spaghetti and meatballs (i make my own homemade meatballs) with garlic bread, impossible cheeseburger pie, chicken fried rice with egg rolls, some times we'll do chicken or hamburger helpers, or chicken nuggets or fish sticks, but our dinners arent fancy. I even try and keep brownie mixes, cake mixes, stuff for apple or cherry crisp occassionally. Snacks and drinks are probably our biggest buy at the store. I usually use anywhere from 10-15 coupons, never much. Sounds like you're doing good to me if you're spending $100 a week and dont eat out (normally) or have to make trips back to the store.

Anonymous said...

Alyssa,
Clint and I spend on average about $150 a week at Whole Foods. Our diet consists of meat, vegetables and fruit. Nothing processed. No dairy. No grains. No legumes. And we buy organic. I make some labor intense meals and some not so difficult ones. I post a lot of them on my blog: cfjunkie.blogspot.com if you'd like to see any of them.

Here's the thing, while I get that you're trying to cut costs buy doing coupons, you can also cut costs buy cutting out a lot of processed foods and replacing it with exponentially healthier, fresh [or even frozen] fruits and vegetables.
I do recognize that organic is more expensive and not everyone can afford to include it in their budget. That being said, still maintaining a diet sans processed foods will 1.help with the weekly grocery bill 2. help with the diet since you said you're both watching weight.

Caroline said...

I was just about to post something about coupons! I've been reading thekrazycouponlady.com and have been learning a TON. I just bought Marc a Gillette ProGlide Power razor for $0.99.. which saved me $12.
I'm not looking to get crazy, I only use coupons and get deals on things I use. I don't want to be wasteful. People are buying more than one razor because they're cheap. To me, that's ignorant and creates TONS of unnecessary waste. That is why there are blade refills.
And like Jessica, I try to eat the majority of my foods in unprocessed, sustainable forms.. as I sit here typing while eating peanut M&Ms.. Organicdeals.com and healthylifedeals.com help me afford to do so ;)
Keep us updated on your couponing!!

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