Coupons...bleh :P

So we have been managing to make ends meet, but barely. The ideas I posted in a previous blog for helping to save money did help but there is always more ways to save. Been doing the printable coupon thing (not saving a whole lot with that) for a while but not the actual newspaper clipping coupon thing. We don't get any coupons in our small local paper but that's not a good enough excuse. I have started reading The Krazy Coupon Lady website. It's pretty cool, a little over my head because I am a beginner but hopefully I will catch on soon. If you look under her coupon beginner's section there is a "10 Day To Become A Krazy Coupon Lady" post. So I'm going through the 10 day program with as much enthusiasm as having a colonoscopy done. Here's why (warning: LOTS of complaining):

1.  I hate going to the grocery store! The grocery stores in our small town suck and are always overcrowded and not as nice as the ones in the bigger cities. I'm sure coupons will require me to visit the grocery store quite often. :(
2. It's like a high school reunion and I always get stuck in the grocery story listening to small town gossip, so I try to get in and out as quickly as possible and I know that coupons are going to take longer.
3. I don't like arguing with checkout people about taking coupons. I'm already frustrated from being in the freakin' grocery store and listening to the latest gossip for the last hour and now I'm arguing with the young Walmart checkout girl who has major attitude about taking my coupons. 

Now here's why I'm going to use coupons:

1. $$$$$$$

Nuff said. So I spent 45 minutes on the phone with one newspaper being trasnferred around because I was calling to find out what coupon inserts they carry (part of Day 2 to becoming a Krazy Coupon Lady). Finally she gave me an answer but I'm pretty sure she just made it up and didn't know. So I found websites to locate which newspapers nearest you that you can find each of the coupon inserts in. I thought I would list them here for you guys in case you are interested. Here they are: Red Plum  Proctor & Gamble. I can't find one for Smartsource, which apparently is a major coupon insert but will edit this post if I can find one.

Krazy Coupon Lady says you need 4-6 of each newspaper and to see if you can get a Sunday or weekend only subscription and discount on multiple copies of the paper. Other ideas if you don't want to spend the money would be:

• Go to recycling areas and try to get the coupon inserts from the newspapers that are going to be recycled.
• Asking friends, family members, co-workers, etc.
• Going to the grocery stores that sell them and ask them about getting the coupon inserts from the papers when they are going to send them back to the newspaper company for a credit because I've been told that they don't need the coupon inserts to get their credit. (I love this idea and will let you know what I find out!)

Let me know if anyone else has any tips for this new coupon clipping lady! I could really use them.:)

Been a while...

Yeah, it's been a while. Had a lot going on in my life and stopped blogging and just concentrated on things that needed to be taken care of. Not much has changed. Still unemployed but I have made decisions about what I'm going to be doing and the unemployed thing is actually going to be good for me. 

I've decided to go back to school and will start in January. I put it off for so long because I had a good job where I made most of the income for our family, so we were dependent upon that. Also, I had no idea what I wanted to do and now I think I know. I'm going back to school to be a Sonographer. So I have a year of prerequisites that I am taking at a local university and then I will be going to the Diagnostic Medical Ultrasound program for 16 months. Then I will finally have a CAREER not a job. After passing the registry exam, I am going to apply for jobs all over the Pacific Northwest so I can move back home. I won't have to worry about depending on anyone for money. I miss being more independent. So anyhow that's where I'm at right now in life.