We come from a long line of frugal family members. One might call us cheep, well, they would
definitely call my dad cheap. One quick example: My dad still wears daily the
sandals he bought in Key West in 1980. They are now entirely made of duct tape, but he still wears them (and they work, he would say).
My sister, who lives in Atlanta, is always letting me know what great deals she gets at the grocery store: "Look, they paid me money to buy this box of granola bars"! She has a shelving unit in the guest bedroom that has products she has purchased on sale and with a coupon, doubled of course, with
their purchase date written on the products with a sharpie so she know when she should use them. Brilliant! Although recently she has stopped shopping at both grocery stores because she's working full time in a part time job and runs the house. I digress....
As for me the non-
long-range-planner-free-spirit of the family is not quite up to duct tape
sandal standards. I do clip coupons and shop thrifty but not to the extent of my sister. But there are
limitations to saving money that I have no control over, I LIVE IN THE NORTH! Everything is
cheaper in the South.
Laundry, groceries, housing.... they all cost less money there! Everyone has double coupons. We have double coupons one day a week and there is a limit of 5! You can get a shirt laundered and pressed for 1.09. Me, I have to pay $2.59 (with coupon I might add). Yes I am bitter! Also prohibitive to saving money is time. With me being busier then ever, like the rest of the world, I haven't spent the time go through each ad in the Sunday paper and write down the deals and clip coupons
until......
Today!
I purchased all of these items for
$37.21 (+tax). That might seem like a lot but I got some big ticket items here. I've "painstakingly" broke down the
actually retail cost of each item below.
2 maxi pads .49
1 oatmeal 1.29
2
children's Tylenol7.48 (
reimbursable by the
FSA account)
1 laundry soap 5.99
1 shampoo -.01
1 hand soap .64
3 peanut butters 5.00
2 soup 2.00
1 wipes 2.79 ('cause I'm to lazy, oh I mean, to busy to clean)
1 dish soap .54
1 hairdryer 11.00 (I've been walking around wet for about a month now)
So there you have it! As the cash register lady was
ringing all my coupons she said "This lady came in bought 60 bucks worth of stuff and paid $1." Yes that would be my sister....I'll never be as good at saving money as the rest of the family but I think I did pretty well today.
UPDATE:
Here is my sister's shopping trip...
18 oz Quaker Oats (4): buy one get one free – gross price $5.58 – subtract manf. coupons of $2.20 – net price $3.38 (.85 per can) – 3 of these went to the church food pantry
6oz Colgate Toothpaste (4): buy one get one free – gross price $6.00 – subtract manf coupons of $6.00 – net price FREE – 3 of these went to the church food pantry
Celestial Seasons Tea (2): buy one get one free – gross price $3.49 – subtract manf coupons of $1.55 – net price $1.94 (.97 per box)
Subtotal $5.32 plus tax of .60 is a grand total of $5.92!!!!
See...
