Coupon Crazy.

Back in the days I was a dedicated coupon-er. I used to subscribe to the newspaper and hit up any machine I could find that was filled with Sunday papers. It was like a sport to me and the adrenaline rush I would get after finding deals was so un-natural. LOL. I looked forward to Sundays and that was my thing. I would race out in the a.m, get my paper and get to clipping. I used to spend VERY little money on groceries (like $30-40 a week) but most of the time those meals consisted up lots of processed foods and other than the occasional veggie, very unhealthy. At that time, I only had one child and we were on a serious budget, and that much hasn't changed, We are still on a serious budget....just not quite as small. Things got busy and suddenly I had more important things to do on Sunday(like um church) and just slowly drifted away from it.

I now have 3 children and feeding them healthy foods has been a priority since learning of my oldest son's adhd. I chose not to medicate and began researching natural approaches to taking care of some of the symptoms. I have concluded that with the help of diet and training him, we can manage the things that we once a disruption to him. I also don't see Adhd as a hinderance but rather a gift, but that's another post ;) With all that said, I have gone back to collecting coupons and look forward to getting back to some great deals. For the past month I have collected newspaper coupons, coupons online, basically wherever I can get my hands on them. I have been reading MoneysavingMom and finally understand the whole CVS deals thing. I can't WAIT to start...but I still am in the "collecting" phase. You see you really should have a good stash..that way you can take advantage of the best deals..and less money out of pocket. So not only will I be saving on our food budget, I will be able to save on everything else!

So, if you are looking forward to saving money on anything from organic foods, shampoo, to olive oil..stay on the look out for your coupons and start collecting them! Cut out EVERYTHING. Even things you may think you will never buy...some things come out free and you may be able to bless someone with something you may not use..like denture adhesive for an elderly neighbor or even diapers that a single mom would appreciate!

Since I am just starting back with using coupons you are not far behind me...so join me! I will be posting the deals I find and you can leave me a comment with the ones you have found. Let's try and make January a huge saving month! Keep track of what coupons have saved you and let me know at the end of the month by either leaving me a comment or blogging about it!

Oh and for those of you who want to buy as many things organically as possible, there ARE coupons for organics out there....here are a few sites to start with. Alot of these will send them to you through the mail, but if not check with your local store about using coupons that are printed out. Just start to accumulate these and I'll show you how to use them later ;) Feel free to link me to your finds as well!

Organic Valley

Stonyfield Farms

Earthbound Farm

This link has links to MANY organic coupons. Just try and sign up for whatever ones look familiar and if none of them do, sign up anyways (it helps to have a hotmail or gmail acct seperate from your regular email for these kinds of things, but I use my regular one and havent had any issue with spam yet.)

Horizon Organic

That should get you started. I will be sharing whatever I find and just posting them as I come across them.

Happy Frugal Friday!