We’ve been really trying to stick to a budget lately. We’ve put our envelope system in place and are trying to get adjusted to using cash for those
variable expenses to keep them to a minimum. It really is true. Using cash just has a way of making you have a better sense of the
reality of what you are spending!
I used iheartorganizing’s label template to make our envelopes prettier.
{I am currently obsessed with these labels.}
Labels PDF
The cuter something is, is in direct correlation to how much I’ll use it. Sad but true!
Planning a menu and shopping for the week’s meals all at once really does help with the budget too, but so far I have been a big fat fail at staying under budget for the week at the store. What’s sad is that I tried to add things up as I went so there would be no surprises at the register.
Um, yeah.
That didn’t work.
Here comes the confession part…
Though I am a Bargain LOVER… I’ve gone “off coupons.”
The reason I stopped couponing was just because of time. {Although I think saying “I don’t have the time” is a lame excuse for anything. We all have time to do what’s most important to us.}
I had faithfully clipped Q’s from around 2005 up until a few months after I went back to work after Wade {2008}. I got to the place where I realized I couldn’t do
everything, and it was okay. I didn’t have to.
Couponing can be awesome. It can save tons. But it also a HUGE time investment.
I know this might get me permanently kicked out of the coupon club {if I haven’t been already}, but for me I usually ended up buying A LOT of stuff for free, or 5o¢, or a dollar that I never even got around to using because it expired… and using up much energy in the process. I was spending around $40 to $60 a week {not counting Walmart trips for incidental items}, sometimes most of which was stuff I didn’t really need, and definitely not what I needed for that week’s meals.
If I do “coupon” again, I hope I’ll be able to focus more on getting what I
need for cheap and less of getting sucked into the allure of
lots of cheap things. Or at the very least, do better at using the free or cheap items to plan our menu. :)
Right now I am trying to be okay with giving myself a break for not couponing. In a year, maybe it will be something that I will have take more time for.
At the moment, I will be trying to save $$ by sticking to my weekly cash budget for groceries at the dreaded Walmart.
From my comparisons, Walmart is usually cheaper than other stores’ regular prices and believe it or not is often
close to what their sale prices are. That makes it the most convenient, best-bang-for-my-buck kind of place… sans coupons. Annoying though it is.
One bad thing {budget wise} about Walmart is also one of its good things. Since they are a One Stop Shop it can be really easy to get sucked into buying things you hadn’t planned on just cause you happened to see it. And want it.
And by “you,” I mean “me.”
How ‘bout you? Are you a reluctant Walmart shopper too? Do you use the envelope system? Are you better at staying under budget than I am???
MANY kudos to you couponers out there! Especially you amazing coupon mamas with 2 or 3 kids in the buggy!
I feel the same way. There are a lot of people that get great deals with coupons and I feel guilty not doing it myself. Since Judson has been born I feel like I don't have time for much of anything else but taking care of my husband, kids and house. Grocery shopping for me right now is run in, grab what I need and get out! I do most of my shopping at Walmart and Aldi. I have found that if you're not careful then Aldi can be more expensive than Walmart. They can be tricky. :) Ingles has some good meat sales sometimes and I can price match them at Walmart and not have to go to another store! I would like to try that 5 dinners in an hour like you have been doing. Maybe next week… :)
I love coupons but at the end of the day, I, too, had collected a lot of stuff that we don't use, don't like, don't need. I was spending more money "couponing" than not. Now I try to use them for sales on things that I actually need/use but I've stopped overstocking.
I go to Wal-mart and love/hate it for the same reasons as you. :) I also go to Aldi which is cheaper than Wal-mart for many things and some things even taste better than Wal-mart's brand.
Sarah you should definitely try doing the five dinners thing! It has transformed our dinner time!
I definitely need to try out aldi's!
I gave up couponing too, though I was never the couponer that you were or others I know are… For one, they are just not as big of a deal up here as they are down South. No one doubles or triples coupons in this area. I generally scan the coupons for items that we normally buy and if there is one, I'll clip it and put it in a small envelope in my purse. That's about the extent of it, I figure a couple dollars is something… ? ;) As far as the budget, I don't know what it is, but for our lifestyle right now, we can't seem to manage the envelope system and it's a little frustrating. We're still working the kinks out of that one. I hate shopping at Wmart – despise it really – but they are the cheapest place. So, I continue to give them our business… blah. We also still get some items from Sam's, but not nearly as much as we used to. I wouldn't feel bad about the coupons, … somewhere, somehow, somthing does really have to "give."
I like this idea for something else. I have a zipper notebook with baseball card clear sheets in it and then I have put sticky tabs on the clear sheets divided into the sections like breakfast,snacks,beverages,can goods,jar goods,etc. works like charm because one coupon per square no going threw each time
[…] a few years off from couponing, I have dived back into the fray wrought with paper cuts and uptight […]