Last Updated on August 30, 2013

I have this sweet friend from church who spends $20 a week to feed her family of 6.  I can’t even tell you what I spend because it’s too embarrassing.  My friend uses coupons – lots and lots of coupons.  Last week I went to a couponing class she hosted.  She was inspiring.  I was very excited when I left.  I’m determined to decrease the millions of dollars I spend on groceries!  Unfortunately, when I sat down with all the coupons, store flyers and my notebook, I was instantly lost, but I refuse to give up!

My kids and I watched that show about super couponers.  The lady we watched bought $900 worth of groceries for under $100.  It was amazing, but she bought 50 boxes of candy and a bunch of other stuff I can’t imagine purchasing.  I have to admit even if I could buy 50 boxes of candy for $.33 each, I wouldn’t.  I have 5 children – I’m not crazy – well, not THAT crazy!

I am going to do this!  I am going to get my grocery bill down.  I just don’t know if I can wrap my brain around the whole coupon using shopper thingy.  I want to.  More than that, I want desperately to feed my family well.   Honestly, if I just took more time to plan meals that would be half the battle.

I’m inspired to use coupons which I will say wasn’t high on my list prior to attending the class. Today was my first shopping trip post class.  I went with a list and a gazillion coupons.  Unfortunately, I still spent more than $20.  I’ve got to say – it was so cool hearing that cute little beep each time my coupons went through!  I am hooked!

Tonight at a ridiculously late hour, I’m going to inventory my stuff and plan my menu!  I think if I’m smart I can probably feed my family for two weeks with what I already have.  Just need to have a plan!!  Oh, I wish I was an organized person!  I wish I was better prepared in this area.  Golly, I wish I was better prepared in every area!

I’m so thankful for my dear friend who was willing to do so much to inspire us to save money.  Maybe if I shadowed her for a day or ten, I’d grasp this whole concept.  How cool would it be if I could purchase $900 of groceries for $100?  Honestly, it has been ages since I went to a store and ONLY spent $100. I could go in for milk and spend $200.

So if you see a crazy woman at the store with her list in one hand, coupons in the other, and a slew of kids all around her – that’d be me!  Be sure to say, “Hi!”  I’ll have plenty of coupons to share.

Do you have tips and ideas to share about how you steward your family’s resources? We’d love to hear your ideas!

Sue Birdseye is an author and communicator who shares the adventures she has on her unexpected journey of single parenting. She went from the typical “picket fence” kind of life to being a single mom to five beautiful children. She has learned what it means to be totally dependent upon the Lord and how beautiful that dependence is.

Her change of life circumstances has led to a passionate desire to encourage and bless other moms no matter their life circumstances. She has been active in her community as a foster/adoptive mom and public school teacher. She has also been part of her church’s worship, discipleship, women’s, and children’s ministries. She is an avid book reader, a game night hoster, and an early morning writer. Her book “When Happily Ever After Shatters” is the story of how God stepped into her life and the lives of her children just when everything seemed to be falling apart. She hopes that her writing will encourage, bless, and maybe even make someone smile.

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5 Comments

  1. i’d like to kmnow more about this couponing.I live in cape coral florida,if you know of anyone who does classes here please let me know

    Reply

    1. Hi Celeste! You can actually find out a lot about it from one of the other writers on this site – Crystal Paine. Her website is moneysavingmom.com – It is great!! Full of useful information and inspiration! I hope we both have great success with this couponing thing! Blessings to you!

      Reply

  2. I would love to know more about the classes too! In our area Giant Food has a program where you earn “points” toward taking money off of your gas bill when you purchase gas at Shell. Now there are some criticisms I have about the program (such as Shell is constantly 10-20 cents higher than any other station), but at the begining of every month Giant puts out a coupon where you earn 30 cents off of gas per gallon for every $50 you spend at Giant. We spend close to $150 bi-weekly on food, and that is close to a $1 off per gallon of gas when I collect these coupons. I want to do more for saving money on food and gas, but I need some more insight!

    Reply

  3. I began couponing a little over a year ago and I am hooked. We are a family of 5 and I spend roughly $200 per month on groceries and other necessities. I used to think I had to keep up with the whole couponing game so I could be an extreme couponer but I quickly got tired of always chasing the sales. I also had quite the collection of cheap candies and tons of room fragrance sprays. Then, after a little burn out leave of absence, I decided that I needed to scale back. My stockpile was getting too large for our living space and my husband’s commission-based pay hit a slump. So, we lived two months off of what we had and we still had plenty. There are tons of websites that help those who want to start saving using coupons. You can do a search of couponing blogs in your area, (i.e. couponing blog, Cape Coral, Florida). These are bloggers who will tell you where the best sales are locally and which coupons to use to further your discounts. Thevsaying goes something like, “If you can’t increase your income, you have to decrease your expenses.” Couponing does that for this single-income family of 5! 😉

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