This Crazy Coupon Thing!

So, many of you know that I started doing this "coupon thing" about three months ago. We were looking for ways to cut our monthly expenses and trying to get ahead. After looking at all of our expenditures, I determined the area I had the most control and flexiblity over was our grocery expenses. I would usually shop once per week and spend on average $125-$150. Often times after these shopping trips, Ryan and I would look at each other and go "What did we just buy"? I was referred to the Internet to look into this coupon thing. I read all I could and quickly learned the ropes. After the first month I decided to track my expenditures to see if my efforts were really making a difference. Well, I am proud to report with my new found way of shopping, I was able to reduce our monthly expenses by over 50% and purchase double the items we were purchasing before! I have averaged spending $250 each month for all of our food, cleaning supplies, health and beauty items, dog food and even school supplies. In June I was able to get $703.25 worth of products for $246.39 and in July I was able to get $833.84 worth of products for $245.02. I have built up a nice "stockpile" of items that we will use for months to come. I started this adventure by reading many blogs and printing coupons from the Internet as well as attending a coupon workshop. While I spend about 4 hours each week preparing to shop and shopping, I believe it has been well worth my time! I will be publishing several posts over the next few days to detail how I got started, how I shop and what I think are good deals!