Bringing in The New Year

One of our family's big goals this year is to be better stewards of the money that God has entrusted to us. Recently, I have been couponing and I have to say, IT WORKS!!! Now, I am not couponing like I use to in the past, with one or two coupons here and there, but I researched some great sites on the web and couponing has now gone to the next level. It takes a little time to get in the groove to use coupons to one's best advantage, but I think I am getting closer on that end. This is making all shopping so much more fun. I finally feel like I am winning in not only the grocery game, but the clothes shopping, gift shopping, etc. It takes some work, but I feel that is my job as the main shopper of the house--to be on the winning side of this game! Food Lion had a sale on chicken and cereal, so I headed out with coupons in hand to take advantage of a few sales. Also, as part of my 365 project, I added photos of my shopping journey:)

This is not a great picture of my receipt, but I ended up with about 50% savings today. I had a total savings of $42.56. My total out of pocket with tax was $44.99. I had a $1.00 coupon on Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate Mix and Food Lion had it on sale for $1.00 a box!! Also, they had their store brand hot chocolate mix on sale for .89 cents and I had a coupon for $2.00 off of 2 boxes, so I actually had overage on this!! I had to pick up some dog and cat food that I didn't have coupons on, so the freebie and the overages helped on that end.

I really hope to get that percentage of savings up. I am learning to shop with a different mindset, to stockpile and make my menus from my pantry. It is overwhelming at times, but it is also alot of fun to see how much I can save!

Kim