Couponing Questions Answered

For those of you still on the fence about couponing (or scared to get near that fence, like I was) I'd like to answer a couple big questions I had before starting...

Q: Is the newspaper subscription even worth it?  
I mean c'mon, you are paying for coupons!

A: The short and sweet: YES!!!

I pay $14.62 a month for three newspapers. When I first started couponing, I wondered if I would be able to save enough money to make it worth the price. Let me give you an example of how easy it is to save that much, and more:

Yesterday I cut my coupons, checked out Krazy Coupon Lady's blog to see if there were any great deals I should hit up, made a quick list, and got my coupons ready. This morning Landon and I went out and got $35 worth of items for less than $2.00. (The cost of tax.) And it's only the beginning of the month. And as you can see, we didn't even get a ton of stuff. We went to Target and Walgreens, at 8:00am (right when they open). That's pretty vital. If you want the really good deals you have to be the first one there. Now I realize not everyone has an alarm clock that wakes them up at 5 in the morning, thanks Landon, but for us, it works. We also live in Mormonville so all the crazy couponing moms don't go shopping till Monday. In other states, by Monday, all the deals would probably be gone.

We were also extra lucky this morning. The lady behind us at Target happened to be buying a ton of these cars from the movie Cars 2. Landon saw them and flipped out, of course. You know the toddler philosophy, what's mine is mine, and what's yours is mine. So, as I'm trying to drag a screaming, flailing Landon away from the check stand, the lady gave Landon a car and told the cashier to ring up an extra. She insisted of course, and Landon left the store a very happy boy.

Q: I want to get started, but not commit to a newspaper subscription. Is that possible?

A: YES!!! The Glade spray and Tums were bought entirely with coupons printed from sites online. I looked at Money Saving Mom's blog this morning and found the links to the coupons needed, making those items free. I probably use half printed, half newspaper coupons when shopping. And remember, when printing coupons, you can print two of each per computer.

Hope that helps some of you!