In other news

Wow, that was a rough week - and one I don't wish to repeat again. ever! My two kiddos had pneumonia, Rebecca had an ear infection in both ears, Julia had an ear infection in the right ear, and Julia and I both had flu symptoms on top of it all. Not very fun.

But, we've moved on already... everybody's healthy and we are back on track. My sweet husby took a few days off at the end of last week to nurse us all back to health. Whata guy!
Thanks for the well wishes - your prayers and happy vibes got us through it! My family and friends are the best.

So, let me tell you that yesterday? I went to this Centsible $avings class that my darling friend from Frugal is Fabulous hosted. She's a pretty smart cookie when it comes to saving money at the grocery store and all that. I've heard of people like her - I have a few blogs on my feed reader from other frugal freaks (a term that I lovingly attach to those who go out of their way to find good deals and use great coupons to get stuff for free or next to nothing).... so I went into the class prepared to be awed.

And, was I ever! I can't believe all the good deals that I'm missing out on each week. There are so many great ways to save money - and I'm not using any of the tools that are at my fingertips.

I've read the blogs and wished I shopped that way. I've heard the success stories, and thought about doing the CVS "extra care bucks" thing a few times. I've even seen a few news stories about couponing and ad shopping lately... probably more recently because of "these economic times." But, until now, I've never really taken the step to actively seek out a good deal.

Honestly, I rarely ever even look at the sale ads that come to my mailbox on Wednesdays before I go shopping for groceries. I'm bad bad bad about that stuff. I don't go crazy at the grocery store - I certainly keep an eye open for good buys. But, I rarely come across any great deals, because my eye has always been on the generic brands... Honestly, I would say that 90% of our total groceries (food, health/beauty, household items) are generic. I call myself frugal because I've always opted for the cheaper version of a product.

But, I had NO IDEA what I've been missing out on. My whole adult life, I've always had this mindset that I can't/shouldn't afford to buy name brand things... things like granola bars, pop tarts, even cereal... I've always thought that I can't afford those things. It's not that I'm penny pinching broke. I'm not on our last dollar when I shop - but I've always figured that the generic brand will save us a few bucks, so why not go with the less popular brands of any given product. I always considered that to be "frugal."

But, Tonya opened my eyes! If I do a little leg work ahead of time, maybe I will buy some of those vegetable steamer bags that everybody is raving about... and probably if I do it right, a bag of those steamed veggies will cost me nickles! And they'll be YUMMY! And my family and my wallet will thank me! Imagine that.

I'm not real confident that I'll learn the ways and means of the coupon/sale world very quickly. I'm not even that confident that I'll be able to take more than a few bucks off my total groceries this week. But, it's so nice to know that I haven't been right all these years... It's so nice to know that I can buy some of the nicer things at the store if I just find a coupon for them and watch for the sale. And that, even with a few name brand items in my cart, I could still be paying LESS at the checkout.

I feel so silly! I feel silly even blogging about my big discovery... that coupons can help me save money! DUH - where have I been? But seriously, if you could just hear Tonya's stories... if you could just see the items that were displayed on a table for us to gawk at... items that, for Tonya, cost no more than a quarter of a dollar!!... if you could just imagine having a pantry full of things that didn't cost any money... things like brownie mixes, name brand cereals, make up, dog treats, condiments, window cleaner.... all sorts of things - all of which she did not pay more than a shiny quarter for.... wow, have I been missing out.

My plan right now is to go to all of the websites that were recommended during yesterdays class, and start getting familiar with how the sites can help me. Then, I'll start looking ahead at my menu plans and working some coupons and/or sales into my future shopping trips. Even if I save $5 at the checkout, I'll feel like a winner!

I'll try and keep you posted on my progress... because in my little Maggie-world, you really care about this and want to know how it goes.

What about you? Do you use coupons? Do you shop around for grocery items? Do you feel like you are spending an appropriate amount of your money on groceries every month?