Community Corner
Moms Talk: Coupon Clippers
Coupon clipping moms are taking over the world-- and the grocery stores. Extreme couponing is all the rage. In this week's Moms Talk, we ask about the things you do to make yourself a better home economist.
A major part of being a mom and running a household is managing groceries and the monthly food budgets. The kids need to eat, after all.
The lure to save money on the grocery budget is strong. I mean, if you're not coughing up the full price for chicken breasts and organic milk, you could have more shoes! Or fancy coffees! Or books! Whatever blows your skirt up.
Thus, the couponers. These women are serious about savings, and they have a new, high-tech way to get them.
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Gone are the days where clipping coupons meant a lazy hour in front of the TV with the Sunday paper and a pair of scissors in your lap.
Now there are entire websites devoted to couponing, local classes on couponing strategy, printable coupons, smart phone coupons, downloadable coupons and coupon swap meets.
Find out what's happening in Snellvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
I see women in the grocery store with baseball card binders FULL of coupons, and they mean business. They always seem more than eager to rattle off how much they’re saving to complete strangers, and it’s impressive. I ran into a lady in Publix earlier this week who was taking advantage of BOGO and using coupons on the free items. She said she normally buys $200 worth of groceries for about $75.
I’m intrigued. My couponing usually consists of flipping briefly through the store circulars I get in the mail and using the time I spend waiting in my kids’ school carpool lines to snip out the ones I think I’ll use.
I’d like to save more on groceries and household products. That's the line item responsible for the biggest chunk of change in my family's budget. So, as usual, I turned to the internet for help.
A brief perusal of the search results from my “couponing moms” query has me even more interested. The stories they tell on these couponing forums! Fifty cents for a jumbo pack of diapers? What a glorious difference that would have made in our household budget when my munchkins were babies!
I’ve talked to several of my coupon-frenzied friends, and they all recommend the website couponmom.com. The site offers printable coupons plus restaurant, drug store and grocery deal searches by state.
I don’t think I’ll ever become one of those binder-toting coupon women, but I like to save money as much as the next gal. I’m gonna give it a try.
How do you save money? Are you a couponer? Got any tips of the trade to share with the rest of us?
