Several years ago I started coupon shopping.  It’s such a rush!  I love walking out of the grocery store after paying pennies for the items in my grocery cart.  Coupon shopping became my job!  My husband went to work and I saved his money.

Over the years my use of coupons has changed a lot. I used to have a big binder with every coupon out of every inset clipped and filed according to type. I places for sorting coupons for canned food, meats, cereal, bread, produce, diapers, you name it – I had a coupon for it.  My Sunday evenings were spent sitting on my living room floor watching Desperate Housewives and clipping and filing the inserts from 5-6 copies of the Sunday paper.  It was pretty awesome. I even had a couple of friends that came over and did the same, and occasionally someone would come over to just watch and learn.  After a few years my favorite store closed (actually just changed names & brands) and the one of the newspaper inserts stopped being in the Sunday paper.  For a little while coupon shopping got a little harder and wasn’t quite as much fun.

That was when coupon shopping changed for me.  I shifted a bit more to using printable coupons and soon the stores started adding ecoupons to your shoppers cards.  Coupon shopping is still just as fun to me.

Since my shift with coupon shopping I have saved a lot of time.  I usually only shop at 1 or maybe 2 stores a week.  I use the matchup lists found here on PinchingYourPennies and make my menus and shopping lists for the week.  I still stick to my shopping list, if it’s not on the list I don’t buy it. And I still stock up!

I take my coupon folder (no longer a binder) to the store with me all the time.  I LOVE finding clearance bins and using a coupon to get things from the clearance bin for dirt cheap!

I no longer get a newspaper subscription, I am still able to get 1-2 copies of the Sunday inserts from friends and if I find a coupon that I feel is a must have I go online and trade for more copies,or find other people willing to share.

I am seriously so grateful for coupon shopping.  It’s still my part time job to save my husband’s money.  I just save myself a lot more time!