Being Frugal IS oh So Fabulous!

A little while ago I told you all about Being frugal is fabulous (see side bar). This wonderful woman has helped me learn so much. I am loving it!! 

I made my coupon organizer during the week by taking two pieces of cardboard and covering them in some cute fabric I had in my stock, then I labeled Ziploc bags with all of the different kinds of coupons I thought I would want to seperate out. For example.. Dairy, boxed foods, canned goods, beauty, medicine, ect.... I ended up with a ton of different ziploc bags. I stitched them together in groups of three or four and then got out my hot glue gun and put a little book together. Added a piece of ribbon to tie it together and it was complete.

I had scoured the coupons for the week and compared the sales to what I had. I used the list over at frugal is fab to make my Walgreens list, but had to go through the ads in my area to get the best grocery store sales for me. Then I had to put it all together, plan meals with what I had and go shop. 

I had to decide how to go about keeping things in my head organized, in order to save the most money I have to shop at a few different stores, so I got out some envelopes and labeled them with the stores I thought I would be going to that week. Then I put my coupons inside and wrote my list in pencil on the outside. (I told you I was cheap, if I write in pencil I can reuse these next week)

Then I was off to see how good I did...  Here is what happened!

At Smiths I was able to purchase $220.00 worth of stuff for $145.00 I am sure I can do better with more practice. But I was super proud of what I did. I did learn a valuable lesson here though. While I was checking out a few of my coupons two of which the store had sent directly to me to get items for free would not ring up. I was frustrated by this and felt bad for the people behind me so I just said I would get them later and left. But I had worked hard to use these things for my family and by the time I got home was mad at myself for not stepping up and asking the cashier nicely if she needed to ask a manager. Which I had learned is what you should do from frugal is fab. But next time I will be better. I had worked hard to come up with and use these coupons and should stand up for what I have done. 

Then I was off to Walgreens And here is where I won the lottery. Joe came wit me because he did not believe what I said I was going to do. But look what I got for $2.50.... I was able to purchase two packs of three razors each, 4 packs of gum, two almay mascaras, two cans of almonds, What you can't see are the 5 bottles of water I got as well. Now that was fun.