Mama this is for you-

So today at Bible study they gave out a door prize. And I just love how the lady in charge thinks. She wants everyone to participate so she comes up with a question that just about everyone can stand up for. Like today it was, Stand up if you have been grocery shopping in the last week. So just about everyone got to stand up.
Then the next few questions I had to sit down for:
Remain standing if you never use coupons
Remain standing of you never shop the sale ads
Remain standing if you always say plastic not paper.

I could not believe how many people do not use coupons or check the sale ads. And how shocked I was by this. I had to laugh at myself.

You see I grew up in a house hols where grocery shopping was a game long before that lady came out with the Grocery Game.
My mom had a shoe box full of coupons that she divided by well, I'm still not really sure, but she had a system and it made sense to her! And she used coupons for almost every item that she bought. She would give us a coupon and have us look for the item by matching the pictures. That's the way to teach beginning reading for sure! She convinced my dad of the value of coupons very early on in their marriage. He wasn't so sure that using coupons was worth the time and effort, but she started saving the amount that she saved by using coupons in a special account. Well my dad needed some new steel toe shoes and there was not much money in the budget for them but my mom pulled out her savings and used that to get the shoes. Now my dad always says one of them was tight and that must have been the one that my mom bought with the coupon savings! A real penny pincher :) But he was convinced that day.
My own dear husband was not brought up in a house that used coupons either, but I convinced him of the value of them when I would show him the receipts from my shopping trips. Kroger, gives you an amount and a percentage of how much you saved on the bottom of the receipt. I awed John with saving over 50% of my total grocery bill several times. So for a 100 dollar bill I would only pay $50 dollars or less!
Now I don't judge you for not using coupons. It does take time and effort and planning. I cut coupons every Sunday and make a grocery list based on the sale ads every time before I shop, but to tell the truth- I like it. It's a fun hobby for me to see what I can get for cheap and for nearly free. I know I also grew up with it. It's not weird to me at all to wait for something to go on sale. I'll wait, and pocket the savings. I have a habit of using coupons and looking for sales.
So thanks mom. I don't know how much money I've saved in the last ten years, but thanks for showing me how!
I know some people don't think it's worth the time and effort. But I, personally have saved lot of money each week that more than makes up for my time in using the coupons. And momma always said, "It's better in my pocket rather than theirs!"
Here are a few blogs that I read each week/day ish that help me see I'm not alone and help me think about more saving ideas.

Money saving mom
Baby Cheapskate
Northern Cheapskate
Year of Crockpots
Simple Dollar
Frugal Dad

Just a few. Look for links on the web sites to find even more!

How about you? Do you use coupons? Do you have any good frugal web sites to pass along?


And yes all 3 guesses were right- It's #1 for me pregnant with the twins!