Coupon Fun

Well, the coupon fairy has smiled upon me :) I went to the mail box and Kroger had sent me 3 substantial coupons for Cottonelle toilet paper! There are a few things I just prefer be name brand, and toilet paper is among those.

I also occasionally print coupons from the internet. There are a lot of websites that gather coupons in one place. I have found that they usually all have the same coupons though, so I don't visit multiple sites. I also get a newsletter from Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, etc. , and they sometimes provide coupons as well. Its nice to occasionally be able to purchase something name brand because the coupon makes it the same price as the store or generic brand.

Also, I recently heard an ad on the radio for a Nelson survey of grocery shopping habits. I called the 800 number and signed up. It was $7.95 to join (lets you waive the $99 sign up fee) and they sent me info this week. There is a website that lists all the coupons offered in my area. I select the coupons I want, and pay 10% of the worth of the coupon. So, a .40 off coupon costs .04. The good part is I only pay for coupons I will actually use. I can do this until I have used $2000 worth of coupons! I think that's a pretty good rate of return, and I don't have to purchase multiple copies of the Sunday paper, or spend a lot of time cutting out coupons. With this plan I have to think far in advance to ensure I have the right coupons for when the items are needed. It will either help or complicate, or both, the menu planning process.

Speaking of menus, it has come home to me that I need to plan for a bit of junk food in this menu. Lets face it, sometimes potato chips or chocolate are just an absolute necessity to sanity. Not all the time, but sometimes. So I am reviewing the menu and the budget to see where we need to adjust. The goal here is to spend money wisely, provide nutritional meals, and not bore us to tears if possible. It may take a while to get all the wrinkles ironed out.