LET'S MAKE A DEAL

Ahhhh….free money! When I was a little girl, that is what I considered coupons. Although my mom was not a big coupon cutter, feeling the small reward was often not worth the hassle, she indulged my fondness for them. Every week for many years I dug through the Sunday paper to find them. There was no logic to my cutting. I cut out anything and everything, regardless of whether we used or ate a particular item. Every coupon symbolized more money and, In my mind, we were building a fortune, twenty-five cents at a time.

That little girl has grown up now, but some things haven't changed. After years of hanging up my scissors, I am back in the game thanks to a friend's urging. These days who couldn't use a few extra dollars in their pocket each week. I don't have dollar signs in my eyes anymore, but I do get a kick out of the challenge of hunting down a deal at the grocery store. It's as barbaric as this vegetarian gets.

Here is how I make my "kill."

Once a week the local grocery store fliers arrive in the mail along with a small section of Red Plum manufacturer coupons. I stash these in a cabinet, until grocery day later in the week. Then the fun starts. I begin by looking through each flier and circling sale items we need or usually buy. I then make a meal list for the week based on what is on sale. If up-front money and storage space were no problem, I'd probably buy multiple items whenever something we use was on sale. These are both limited though so, with a few exceptions, I usually only buy what we need for the next week or two. This keeps it simple.

The meal list is also very simple. I plan seven categories of meals and then choose a variation of each meal. The categories are as follows: turkey burgers, pasta, chicken or pork, breakfast for dinner, pizza, salad and miscellaneous. For example, on turkey burger night the toppings and side dish change based on what is on sale or what we already have in the house. One night might be barbecue burgers and butternut squash fries, and the next week might be Thanksgiving burgers complete with stuffing and cranberry sauce. This cuts down on the stress of deciding from a list of endless possibilities . It also allows me to use sales to stockpile a few staples that we use each week, such as pasta and chicken.

After the list is written, I jump to my coupon envelopes. This is my answer to a coupon organizer, minus the cute little case. I simply spread my envelopes out on a table, make sure stored coupons haven't expired and then match coupons with things on my grocery list. Several years ago we started using the backs of old junk mail envelops to write notes and grocery lists. Coupons fit nicely into this small space and it is less of a bother to carry than my entire coupon collection. I write the name of each item, the quantity I'll buy, the size of the container that matches the sale and add a bold "C" next to each item that I have a coupon for.

All of this allows me to have a pretty good guess about how much I'm going to spend and save each week. It helps me stay organized and illuminates the need to wander up and down each isle. Who needs to do that? I stick to the list and all is well.

As of today, we've saved just over $427 this year. It may not be millions, but I'll settle for a few cents and my sanity any day!