In South and North Carolina there are a ton of different grocery stores, in Texas, not so much. There is only HEB and Randall's unless you want to go to a Whole Foods which if you are trying to save money, that's not the place to go. Ive learned that even Randall's are rare here, its basically JUST HEB. The website that I used to use to tell me what coupons to use with what deals, doesn't have Randall's on there, but it does that HEB. First bummer though is that neither Randall's nor HEB double coupons and I feel like that's where you save the most money.
Anyway, I started getting the Sunday paper and I found that it was taking almost double my time to try to figure out the sales and which coupons to use on my own. Then I wasn't really even saving that much (at least not as much as I was in Charlotte), and I got burned out. To top it off, the Sunday paper stopped coming to me. I'm not sure if I didn't sign up for the reoccurring delivery or not, but it wasn't charging me anymore either, so I just never renewed it.
Then I got pregnant and the shopping for food really changed. In the first trimester, nothing sounded good to eat. Mr. Hunt and I were eating different things all the time, we never really had a meal together. Also, since I was feeling SO tired and sick, the last thing I wanted to do was sort through coupons, and shop at the grocery. Since we still had a stock pile of bathroom stuff and paper products we were still going strong for the time being.
Now that its been 6 months, we are running low on bathroom stuff and all the paper products are gone. I cringe when I have to buy paper towels and toilet paper at full price. Plus having to buy alot of expensive stuff for Jane and trying to save money for her, Mr. Hunt and I's habit of spending is getting out of control.
You see, neither Mr. Hunt nor I ever look at how much anything costs, especially when grocery shopping. If we need it or want it, we buy it. We don't compare prices with other products or wait for anything to go on sale, we just get it. Its a horrible habit that we both admit to. Don't get me wrong. We don't have the money to spend like that. Like I said, we are trying to save money for Jane and we have alot of baby items to buy before she gets here and we are a one income household, so this needs to change.
First we tried to be more cautious and at least look at the prices of things, but after a few weeks of that, nothing was really different. So, looooooong story short, I'm going to try the whole couponing thing again. I signed up for the Sunday paper again and I'm going to put my best effort forward to try to save money. Its the least I can do if Im not working.
I'm going to shop at HEB since I think this is where I can save the most money, and I can use the website to help me out. I will go every Monday and get what we need for the entire week. This will prevent us from eating out on the days that I didn't feel like going to the grocery store. If we have the food at home, I will cook it, and we will eat it. I will buy snacks and the essential items I need for the entire week plus four dinners. We don't cook on Wednesdays since we eat with our small group. Weekends are questionable for us, so I wont buy food for that. The four dinners will depend on what is on sale and what coupons I have.
Yesterday, I went to HEB to shop for the week. I obviously didn't have any coupons since I just resubscribed for the Sunday paper, but I still feel like I did good. I got food for the entire week, four dinners, lunch food for me, and some bathroom stuff. I spent $88 and saved $20 (with NO coupons). If I can save $20 with no coupons, I'm hoping I can save a whole lot more with them.
$88 seemed like a good price for the week for us. When I would go to the grocery store everyday for dinner stuff, I would spend at least $25-30 each time and I would always be tempted to buy things we didn't need. That's $100-120 for four evenings which is already more than the $88 with no coupons. Doesn't seem like that much of a difference, but I'm crossing my fingers the coupons will save more, ill be able to keep up with it, and the small $20 or more savings will start to add up.
We will also try our best to not eat out so much on the weekends and if we do, go somewhere cheap....or at least not so expensive.
Of course we can save money other places too. This is just a start and honestly its where we spend most of our money. Mr. Hunt and I eat out ALOT, like more than any other couples we know. We just love food, and don't always like to cook.
Ill let you know how it goes once I actually use coupons. Im hopng I can keep up with the meal planning. We did try meal planning once before and never liked what we had to eat when the time came to eat it. This time its not an option in my mind. In about three months from now, when Jane gets here, things may change, but we need to save money and this is a start.
Love,
Coupon girl once more
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