Extreme Coupon - How to make it work for me.

I love watching the show and I do still wonder, "am I going to get to ever do this"?  I see the potential in myself and I feel like its almost there but I still hold myself back because there are rules that can make this restrictive and if you have no budget to begin with then it just seems....... HARD!

On extreme couponing you can see where the people either owe nothing or maybe a penny! Don't be discouraged if you live in an area like I do. Stores don't allow overages and if they do they don't double the coupon so you need a high value coupon to accomplish anything in these stores. Also we do have a store that doubles but only up to .60 cents and the computer is set to not double coupons that say do not double! I do travel some to Harris Teeter during super doubles or triples, but I wonder if it is worth it when the trip is 50 miles round trip and I'm only allows 20 coupons per day with only 3 like coupons in that transaction.

Maybe this is why I stress coupon policies and knowing how to accomplish your coupon strategy. Living in a household with only one income, a baby on the way, and no real budget for groceries, I have to know what my best options are and how to make them work for our household.

I think starting your stockpile is the hardest part of the coupon process. First, getting all the coupons you need can be a bit challenging if you have other couponers in the area. You might want to realize that your stockpile could go quickly if your family isn't used to that much food in the house at one time! Plus it can be hard at first to do a meal plan when the only things that week on sale are condiments and non food items.

This leads me into the restrictive section of the process. If you want the savings you see on blogs and tv then you need to make sure you only shop for the items that are on sale and have an accompanying coupon that can make it extremely cheap.

Couponing can save you at least 50% if used correctly and even up to 100% on certain items in your cart. Even though coupons are a bit of a challenge I don't see myself going back because I can't afford to go back to my old way of shopping! I've only been doing this for a little while and I've made some friends, saved some money, and I've actually been able to stock things in my frig that had been a luxury before.  This week I saved 72% at Harris Teeter despite a set back with DND coupons and I even saved 59% at Bi-Lo cause I had fresh meat.  Overall I was able to stock up on some meat items which is the main source of food for this family and I was able to stock up on items like oil, soy sauce, and more that will at least give me some creativity in the kitchen.