Summer of Savings Series

Guest post by: Lois A. Gay

Living on a fixed income is tough! I am the full time caretaker of my husband who is disabled. I have no income of my own, and our family of three survives on social security disability. There have been so many times in our lives that we have been unable to purchase everything we needed. Due to couponing, I am able to have what my family needs plus an abundance more.

I got started couponing after watching videos on Youtube of other couponers. After trying for twenty years on my own, I was able to realize that I was going about everything all wrong. I thought one coupon could solve all of my problems. Boy was I mistaken!

After hearing how others were saving money on their groceries using coupons, I set out to challenge myself and see how much I could save. This competition against myself continues every time I go to the grocery store.

I clip coupons every week and insert them into photo sleeves in a three ring binder. I have sectioned them off alphabetically by product. For example, I have one section with nothing but Air freshener coupons. Then I go online, check sales papers, and talk with other coupon clippers to find out which stores have the best deals and where the sales are for the week. I keep track of my savings from every shopping trip. I have been able to save up to 86% on my total grocery bill! For $158.58 worth of groceries I only paid $25.05. I only buy things my family uses, all name brand products.

The most important thing I’ve learned so far is that you need to try and get a network of friends all doing the same thing. There are about ten of us involved in this group. Everything we’ve learned is from the blogs we read then trying all your ideas out. We spend a lot of time on the phone and getting as many copies of the newspaper inserts we can get our hands on. My daughter in-law and I started this group. We tell each other what we have learned and where to look for deals. So I wish all of you luck with your couponing may it be as rewarding for you as it has been for us.

Check out my blog at http://oldladywithcoupons.blogspot.com/ for more on how I save tons of money!