The Coveted Coupon

Have you ever been gambling?

I have...once. Dave and I were on our honeymoon on a cruise to the Southern Caribbean. We had a full day at sea and we were a little bored. So, we decided to each take $20 and go to the casino on board the ship. Now, mind you, I had never gambled before...ever! I decided to use the slot machines- looked pretty simple! Couple pulls of the lever and all of a sudden, "DING, DING, DING!!!" I looked in astonishment at Dave and said, "What did I do??" He laughed and smiled and said, "You just won!!" Within a matter of moments I had walked in with $20 and walked out with $120!!

Now, this is not my post on my secret to being a millionaire- gambling! In fact, I discourage gambling! It is a waste of money and the odds of you winning are slim...I just happened to get beginner's luck! And I haven't gambled since our honeymoon! But, that feeling of winning money?? I feel that every week!

My version of gambling? COUPONS!

In our house, coupons are cash. If it says, "$1.00 off", we have $1.00 in our hands! At first, Dave wasn't so sure about this whole coupon craze! However, after a couple of trips to the store with me, he was hooked! Just yesterday we were shopping at our favorite grocery store, Aldi! Every month on a random day near the end of that month, they will hand out coupons for $10 off $40 or more worth of groceries. And yesterday happened to be that day! We bought our groceries, were given our coupon, and quietly did a little happy dance as we walked out the door. Then, Dave looks at me and says, "Hey, do we have any money left from the grocery money we spent today?" I said, "Yeah, one dollar and some change, why?" He looks mischievously at the store and says, "I am going back in to buy something to get another one of those coupons!" 10 minutes later he comes out with ONE avocado for $1.19 and another coupon for $10 off!! YAHOOO!! We just WON!!

Let me break this down for you:

Our monthly food budget is $50 every week- or $200 a month. That is less than the government would give our family of 2 if we were living on welfare! That being said, every coupon is worth its weight in gold! When we get a $10 off coupon, we spend our $50 for the week and really get $60 worth of food! Or spend the $40, get $50 worth of food, and save the $10 from our weekly budget for something else! This is simple math, guys, and it works in my favor every time!

One of my favorite trips-see that change of 7 cents?? Yeah, that's from a quarter that I used to buy the pasta and sauce along with a rain check for free Ziploc bags!!

 



So, if you see me doing the happy dance as I walk out of the grocery store, you will know it's 'cause I just heard the "beep, beep, beep" of coupons being swiped and realized that just minutes ago I had walked into the store with $17 and walked out with $77 worth of items!

Yep, I just won!!