I've a New Hobby!

I started couponing about a month ago, and it's been taking up all my free time, so I will share with you some highlights!

• Addison is now 11 weeks old (she will be 3months on 12/6). Breastfeeding is going great. At 8 weeks, she weighed 8lbs and was 21.75 inches long! Her next appointment is in January.
• Brennan is now 22 months old (will be 23 months on 12/19). I can't believe this is going to be his 2nd Christmas!! :)
  
• We got our Christmas photos done & ordered our Christmas card (see card in post below!) I got 62 cards for 20% off for cyber week sale, with free shipping on orders over $25, and then my friend Lisa gave me a code for an extra 20% off. For posting the card below, I got a $25 gift card! So... that's like paying less than $2 for 62 Christmas cards SHIPPED! :) I'm super excited.
  
• I attended the baptism class for Addison & Brennan and we are planning their baptism for Spring.
  
• Matt and I are going to be starting the pre-marriage counseling. We had an appointment with Father Gotwalt, but we had to cancel it when I got sick a couple weeks ago. We are just waiting to reschedule.
  
• Matt has decided he's going back to MSM for his Master's, and we are both very excited for him to finish this degree. He has 2 semesters left of coursework, and then he can take some time to work on his oral and thesis. :)
  
• I am going to be taking some more courses at HACC in the Spring & Summer to finish up some basic math, science, and English requirements. Then I will be speaking with an online school about enrollment to see if I can go for my Bachelor's in Environmental Science. Hopefully, with an online program, I can finish my *bachelors* in the same time it'd take me to finish my *associates* at HACC. :)
  
• I have begun looking for a job & day care provider for my two children. Oh boo. :(
  

That's about everything that is going on here now. Now, onto the coupon talk....

It's pretty basic to start out with, depending on how much time you can devote to price shopping & coupon cutting. When I first started out, I did this:

1. Buy the Sunday paper
2. Look at the circular
3. Save money by buying sale items!
   

Then, I added a fourth step- cut coupons. When I started, I went for an item I needed & used a coupon. This saved a little bit of money, but not too much.

When you really save money is when you combine the store sale AND a coupon. As you start to shop with coupons more you become a LOT more aware of how much different items cost. For example, buying an item NOT on sale at CVS/RiteAid will cost $2-3 *MORE* than buying it at Wal-Mart or Target. However, buying an item on *SALE* at these stores is typically MUCH cheaper than either of those stores.

Also, make sure you price shop your local grocery store. When I compared cleaner prices (Pledge multi-surface) between wal-mart and Giant, I found that Giant had the lower price. When Giant had a sale, I used a coupon, and saved $2 on Pledge! :)

Now, what I am doing is "making money" by shopping at Rite-Aid- and I LOVE it. It is so easy to do.

1- Watch Rite Aid video values every month (watch EVERY video you can- but do not print it until you need item)
2- Watch store sales
3- Combine RA coupons w/ Manufacturers coupons
4- Apply all of these with +UP rewards && MAKE MONEY!

One simple scenario that I did this week was:

Buy:
2 Foamies Crafts at $2.29 each. On sale Buy 1 Get 1 50% off.
2 Clorox Wipes 35-ct. On sale 2 for $4. (Get 1$ +UP reward wyb 2)

Total: $7.43

Use:
1 RA Video Value December coupon - $5 off Foamies
1 RA Video Value November coupon - $0.50 off Clorox
2 Manufacturer coupons - $0.75 off Clorox wipes
Total coupons: $7.00

Paid OOP: $0.43
Get back 1$ +UP Reward from Clorox....so I made $0.57 on this purchase! :)

I will post my RA shopping trip list soon! :)