The Hansen Family

What is an Easter candy co-op you ask? This brilliant idea was constructed by one of my co-workers. She thought it would be great for our kids to get a variety of candy, while we all saved some money. For Easter baskets we all usually purchase gobs and gobs of candy, but your left with tons of left overs. To alleviate the cost and over abundance of candy, my office co-workers decided we would each contribute 12 pieces of candy per child. I have three kids so I contributed 36 pieces of candy. Sounds like a lot, but it only cost me $3.00 because I used a coupon, duh. Just look at the variety of candy that my kids will get. Candy from the Easter candy co-op. This is for ONE child! If you have time, do a Easter candy co-op! You can do this with co-workers, neighbors, book clubs, etc. Since, this saved me a lot of money I'm going shopping to fill their baskets with more goodies and I won't forget the underwear.  What, did you say underwear? Yes, I know it's silly, bu...

So I tried couponing again. I think I've come to the conclusion that 32% is the best you can do in Iowa. I even used a $5 gift card that I got from another coupon experience. I expected better. I started saving the Sunday paper coupons and put them in a binder. Then I went to www.couponmom.com and looked up their database for things I needed. This database shows you what is on sale and what has a coupon. I clipped my coupons and went shopping. Here I was in Target with two kids in the candy isle, with my phone out using the calculator. (Seriously I was using the calculator) While the kids are saying, "buy this, I want that, can we get a toy?" This is so NOT me. I can't believe I've gone this far for a "deal". I've figured that this is the best it gets. I still haven't given up. I want to get something for FREE. I'll keep you updated.

Here is my Couponing follow up: Dear Extreme Couponers, UGH! And I say ugh with MAJOR Capitalization! Couponing sucks, or maybe just getting started with couponing sucks.  I have spent numerous hours searching, printing and organizing coupons.  I've looked online at coupon databases. I've made lists and stuck only to my list when shopping and I only saved 32% off my total bill. WHAT?!?  Is this even worth my time? Am I doing this right? Here's the thing that gets me: The extreme couponers say that they SAVED XX amount of money, but what they don't tell you is what they ACTUALLY paid at the register.  Yes, they may have received some cash back rewards or gift cards for their purchases, but those cards shouldn't be added to their savings on that particular trip. They can use those cards for their next trip to the store, yes.  I guess what I am saying is I don't like their math, it's not realistic. Also, on a coupon website the database stated that one o...

Reality TV has really inspired people to extreme coupon. While I have tried to "coupon" I can't say it's extreme by any means.  I print online coupons and just the coupons that I will NEED. However, so many people have started blogging about coupons, couponing and saving money. This has really intrigued me because our most recent trip to the grocery store was overwhelmingly over priced. I think we spent $90 for maybe three bags of food.  So ridiculous, right?  Well, we didn't use a single coupon either, so that is our fault. I get short of breath thinking of clipping all of these coupons, saving them for the right time, organizing them and then shopping. So I'm going to try this my way. I'll keep you all informed on how much I saved, spent and the time it took me. So far just finding the coupons and printing them has taken over an hour. I feel like my time is more important than researching the coupons and clipping them.  Hopefully this will get quic...