Going down the aisles of the grocery store can be disheartening to say the least. Packaging and sizes of food containers have all decreased. At some point when costs increased, food companies decided to decrease the amount of food in each package rather than increase the cost of the package. I see it everywhere with all foods – organic, fresh dairy, cereals etc.
Does anyone remember the days of 16oz(1lb) Nestle Toll House Morsels? Now you’ll get a package of 10oz-12oz. Oreos used to be a 16oz package and Ritz and Triscuit crackers weren’t 9oz’s either. Those days are gone and will not be returning.
Saving money on your weekly shopping for food and toiletries has never been more important! Not every family can afford to put aside 6-12 months of cash for bills in the event of an emergency as Suzie Orman and Dave Ramsey would have us do, but we can afford to stockpile food and toiletries and cut our expenses in very real ways from week to week. I have a close friend that is a fellow “extreme couponer” (as am I) and she tracked her savings and couponing expenses for the last 6 months of 2010. She saved $7,000.00 in food and toiletries with coupons and sales and spent $275.00 in ink for printing coupons from her printer and $128.00 in the purchase of Sunday newspapers to obtain coupons. She has a stockpile of food and personal care items that would last her family for many months and she only purchases items for her stickpile when they are FREE or at a bottom basement bargain prices. So even with the increased cost of ink and purchasing Sunday newspapers for coupons she saved $money, built up her stockpile, and decreased her weekly food and toiletries bill.
Some of the couponers on this blog are newbies and are wondering about the nitty gritty details of couponing. It does take a little bit of time, but like a new job, once you get the hang of it, in 6 months it will seem easy and you’ll spend less time couponing as you become a pro – you’ll also increase your savings from about 50% up to 75%! Commit to never paying full price for anything, cutting your weekly expenses, and doing the things with your money that you’d like to do for your family. Keep couponing and thanks for reading! We love to hear your stories!
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