Losing my (coupon) virginity

the cart at checkout

25% off my bill

the rewards

Last night I ventured to my local Walmart. I chose Tuesday because they double coupons up to $1 on that day. I had my stack of coupons, my list, and my hope that I would have a successful trip and save some money off my bill.

My expectations were not too high. I knew that based on ads and prices and coupons, I did not have the "extreme" advantage of getting $500 worth of stuff for $15. That takes practice.

But I bought items that I use. Because I still don't understand people who buy 100 dog collars just because they are "free" and they don't get a dog....

I also don't want a ton of junk food.

I did do a great deal on cereal. Walmart prices are really low on cereal anyway... so having cents off coupons and doubling them made most of my cereal boxes end up a dollar or a dollar and a half.

My cashier was a young man who informed me he was "new". I thought "uh oh... we are in for a good time." I told him it was my first time using coupons. He said he was up to the challenge.

I told him that I was told that walmart doubles the coupons and he wasn't sure about that (being new and all). But it worked out.

He was extremely slow scanning the coupons which made the line behind me get a bit annoyed. I tried to go late at night (well... 9pm is late for me) but there was still a LOT of people in the store.

Next time maybe I go at 6 am.

Anyhow, I ended up saving 25% on my bill. I know this because when I got home, David took my receipt and added everything up on his calculater. Oddly enough, the receipt does NOT give me a total on how much money my coupons saved so we had to do that manually.

I had around $168 worth of items which ended up being about $132 in the end.

For my first time.......... I think that was a success.

Now..........in search of bigger and better!!!

I waste a lot

Money doesn't grow on trees.

I spend more than I should on dumb things.

I started watching Extreme Coupons and thought those people were insane.

Who needs 100 bottles of barbecue sauce? 200 jars of spaghetti sauce? Ten years supply of toothpaste?

Not me.

BUT.... there are things I use that it would be nice to use coupons for.

So, I am starting out small. I bought my binder.... I signed up for a bunch of online coupon sites. I now claim the Sunday newspaper with all the ads and coupons that we get delivered at work. (Nobody ever looks at it. It gets thrown in the garbage every week).

I will NOT do dumpster diving.
I will NOT buy hundreds of anything.
I will NOT come away with a semi truck load from the grocery store.

But.......... we want to build/buy a house. And unless I really cooperate in making this happen and take it seriously........ it never will come to pass.

So............ I am starting now. Let's see what happens.

It's been awhile..........

I actually forgot I have a blog.

Not that anybody reads it anyway. I use it mostly to release frustrations, or celebrate joy. Whenever the mood strikes.

Guess I haven't been too moody lately.

Actually I've had another bout of back trouble and right now I'm on steroids (Methylprednisolone). I read the side effects and nearly chucked the whole box into the trash. But so far, so good. I actually LIKE how it makes me feel. I have tons of energy and my back pain has gone from a 7.9 to a 1. So that is awesome.

Work has been, well, shall we say stressful. More stressful than usual. Had a caller last week who was enraged and claimed that he invested his life savings in our stock and lost everything and he was so mad he threatened to come down here. So we called the cops who told us to take it seriously because these days you never know if someone will come with guns blazing or a bomb. So we all got sent home. Since then we have had an armed security guard on site. Dang.... not good.

I got hooked on the show "Cake Boss". I'm one of those people who do marathons of a show.... and I have watched 10 seasons in 2 weeks. I'm now starting to get a little sick of Buddy. He has turned into an arrogant prick. Fame has gone to his head. He isn't as nice anymore... or maybe 10 seasons of him has just taken its toll on my nerves. Either way.......... I'm done with it for now.

My newest grandbaby is an absolute doll. My golly I love being a grandma. My soon-to-be newest grandbaby is a girl who I love already just looking at her ultrasound picture. But I won't get to know her as well as I want to because her mommy and daddy are moving to San Francisco in a couple weeks. Boo hoo. No, I'm really glad for them to have this journey. I'm just sad for ME and that is selfish.

I'm excited to see my kids as they grow and mature and take on all these jobs and responsibilities and become wonderful productive adults. Soon my nest will be empty and that is going to be very very hard on me. I have never, ever, in my life, been alone. NEVER. I'm not sure I can do it.

Anyhow, summer is upon us. But not for long. We are half way through the year already. Time just flies. Too fast. It's scaring me.

Well, time to get back to work. Just wanted to make sure I don't get deleted from the blog world. LOL