I love sweets. I love baking sweet treats. I love eating them even more. But that's becoming a big, and I mean BIG problem.
I've always thought what a sad and pathetic thing childhood obesity has become. I talk about how I would never let my kids be like that. Yet, I still haven't lost all of my pregnancy weight. If I want to have healthy kids, I need to live a healthy lifestyle. Dax is a healthy eater! He loves fruit and veggies. He drinks a lot of milk, never pop or juice. As his parent, I should be the one setting the example, but I'm not. Well that's all about to change!!!
So lately, I've been addicted to the TLC show "Extreme Couponing". The people featured on this show make couponing seem so easy and CHEAP. Thus, I've started researching this amazing new world of coupons.
My first testdrive into coupons was a total failure. I signed up for some coupons sites online - all of which were hoaxes. I received spam emails, spam text messages, spam phone calls and NO COUPONS! Obviously, this was a lot harder than I first thought.
Fortunately, around this same time I met Emiley. She lived in the apartment upstairs from us in Pocatello. She has been couponing for awhile now. She taught me some important lessons and showed me the right way to go about things.
The first thing I needed to do was subscribe to the local newspaper. I heard newspapers were a dying breed. I don't really know anybody who subscribes to the paper. My parents even canceled their subscription last year. But, Emiley told me that this was the best, easiest, and most fundamental way to getting decent coupons.
Sunday. Apparently, it's the most important day of the week if you coupon. It's when you get the Sunday newspaper. That's where the ads and coupons for the upcoming week are located.
And this was my second mistake. Apparently, when you get your coupon booklets you save them until there's a sale. I just thought "Sweet! Coupons! I'm going shopping!" Even though some might consider this a novice's mistake, I was excited because I still ended up saving about 30% on my groceries.
The next thing a extreme couponer will tell you is that you do some research online. Now, I've figured out that there are legit online coupons, you just have to know where to look. Blogsites like http://www.pinchingyourpennies.com/ and http://fabulesslyfrugal.com/ are great places to begin your search into what the best buys are in the world of coupons. My friend Emiley told me that the latter website, Fabulessly Frugal, is based out of Boise, so it's especially useful for people who live close to there.
Those are some of the basics of what I've learned about couponing, with help from my friend Emiley.
Also, these videos on YouTube are extremely interesting and helpful for anybody else who might be interested in learning the ropes of the extreme coupon world.
