Who wants to save some money?

As many of you know, I recently had a month hiatus between graduation and obtaining a ‘big girl job.’  For the past 5 weeks, I have lived the life of a housewife.  In order to save money while Phillip and I were temporarily living off of one income, I decided to start clipping coupons.  When I started this process, I never expected it to turn into what it is today!  One big shopping trip and I was hooked!  Below is a picture from my first major shopping excursion (excuse the poor photo quality… this was a cell phone pic the fiance snapped before I put everything away).

The photo above includes the following items:

• 6 boxes of playtex gentle glide or playtex sport tampons (126 tampons in all)
• Herbal Essence shampoo and conditioner
• 1 can Aussie Hairspray
• 2 degree deodorants
• (2) 50 count boxes of multivitamins
• 2 Gillette Pro Glide razors and four cartridges
• 1.5 liters Listerine
• (2) 50 ounce containers of Tide laundry soap
• box of Crest toothpaste
• (4) boxes of allergy medicine
• jumbo pack of Charmin toliet paper
• Skintimate shaving cream

How much do you think that cost?  Well let me tell you…. without coupons it would have been over 110 dollars.  I paid $13.88 for everything above! I was soooo proud of myself for saving such a large amount of money (97 dollars) on items that we would have eventually paid retail price for. 

And as I said, this was my first big shopping trip, and I have learned so much more since this trip.  Turns out, I should have saved another 10 dollars had I used my coupons and register rewards correctly.  I tell you this because I want you to know that couponing takes practice.  I don’t expect to become an expert couponer overnight, but keep checking back and I will share with you information I have picked up along the way.  Hopefully some of my suggestions and tips can be used to give your own wallet a break!