on the bandwagon

i’ve always been a coupon clipper/keeper/user whenever i would get random ones in the mail, but never like THOSE ladies at the store with their binders and their envelopes, skulking the aisles late at night. 
at least….not until lately. 
a friend in my ward is a self-described coupon queen.  i was always amazed when she told me how much she saved, but who has time for that?  philip and i have our grocery budget – we rarely go over it – and we always have plenty to eat and enough to go out to eat too.
so when i heard that some of my friends had started spending time with the coupon queen, and i heard what kinds of deals they were getting – my interest was piqued.
the first time i went (armed with the right coupons and knowledge) i got $36 worth of product for $9.  the second time it was $54 for $8.  it was too easy and it felt amazing.  so I’ve decided to give it a try for real.  “couponing” isn’t something you can just sort of  do.  you have to be committed and stay on top of things.  it helps to be organized (check), a little OCD (check), and it kind of becomes a game for you if you like getting good deals on things (check check check!)
here is a picture of what i purchased tonight. 

i got in my car afterwards kind of feeling like i failed somehow (maybe because i spent double digits??), but then when i really looked at what i purchased and how much i actually paid for it, it felt pretty good.  NOW, i have yet to have one of those shopping trips where I buy $300+ for like $0.92 but hopefully one of these days I will get there.
the above items with sale prices totaled $60.14.  for all of them i paid $12.81.  that would have been the total of two of the Biore products alone.
i posted this at the request of a friend – she says it keeps her motivated!  i think it probably keeps me motivated too.  i’m still new at this but getting stuff for free or practically free is a really great feeling!