I Paid Myself $3000 last year …. with Coupons!

People get so bent out of shape over gas prices. It’s incredible that we are paying $4-$5 per gallon for gas, no doubt about it, but there really isn’t much you can do. But why aren’t people doing anything about grocery bills? I guess it has become second nature to most Americans, to simply accept the fact that we must pay for groceries and we must pay a lot. People simply don’t care that they spend hundreds of dollars every week at grocery stores around the country.

According to the Census Bureau, in 2006, families with 2.5 people averaged spending of $6,110 per year on food! The same size family only spent around $2227 for gas. Now we all know gas prices have risen since 2006, so double that number. It still doesn’t even touch that amount we spend on food every year! Around 67% of the money that was spent on food was food that was prepared at home, which means that for a family of 2.5 people, they spent $4093 annually or $79 a week on groceries. Nearly eighty dollar for a household of 2.5 people! Imagine if you had 3 kids!! My husband and I are only two people and I’m not sure $79 a week would cut it before we were using coupons. When I was growing up, we had 4 people in our house, and I remember my mom spending well over $200 on their trips to the grocery store. Bottom line, we spend lots of money on groceries! It’s unavoidable, or is it?

In this economy we need to start evaluating expenses. We all know that food prices have been rising along with everything else. We need to start saving money in places we haven’t before. Coupons are a great way to do this. When you can get something you use on a constant basis for free or extremely cheap why wouldn’t you? The question is simple, is a little time worth the reward? We all have lazy bones in our bodies, but in difficult times, we need to begin to see that coupons are a very viable alternative to high prices. If you spent 4 hours every week researching deals and saved $120 that week, you essentially paid yourself $30 an hour!!

So where should you start? First, buy the Sunday paper (make sure it has coupons) and get organized. Like everything else you must have a system to save. Check out this website!! We have many members that post great and often unadvertised deals. These help you create a list of free items and cheap items.

Don’t be afraid to shop around! You’d be surprised that my husband and I rarely shop at Wal-Mart. It’s not because we think they are evil, it’s because they have HIGH prices. Yes, you read correctly, high prices. Most people are stunned to hear this, a statement that flies in the face of conventional wisdom. Many things will surprise you as you dive deeper into the world of couponing. We encourage you to read about lowering your grocery bill.

We lowered our grocery bill by 60% in 2008. We started the year spending around $100-$120 a week and now we spend around $30-$50 a week. We spent less, bought better brands and we got double the quantity! We went from spending $5200 annually on groceries to spending around $2200 a year. That was $3000 extra dollars we had to put towards debt!

Bottom line, you can’t control the gas price, but you CAN control your grocery bill. Start saving hundreds every month with coupons.

Great article!

Great post, thanks for sharing!

Also like at Krogers if you spend $100 a month on your card you get 10 cents off there gas and it seems around here to be just as cheap as the regular before the discount so I average 8-10 cents per gallon savings....now add that up also!!

WOW, I wish I could save that much.

Maxine - Commited to maximum savings.

I loved how you.Explained the coupons for the new people to couponing .Great Post!!

nor rebates, surveys, or mystery shopping?

I just stared keeping records this year so it will be interesting to see how I do. Rebates, survey GC do add up nicely.

Joshua1:9

It's not hard to save on deals if you get the hang of everything and clipp coupons I have saved this already.It is well worth takin the time and checking the deals out each week and stock up on deals your family and you use. I saved last week 312.00 on one Safeway transacton and paid 100.00 got a 6.00 gas card .I was stocking up on things we us alot of .For the bill to be that hi. Don't give up once you get the hang of it .Hope this help ya.

well I guess I have already paid myself over $5000 this year! where did it all go?

but really it is wonderful saving so much and having so much more than we used to, enough for us, friends, family, and a little selling to help make ends meet!

I am soooo thankful to have started this serious couponing a little over a year ago. It has saved us for sure this year!!!