Are You Too Busy To Coupon?

Are you fascinated by news stories featuring Extreme Couponing? Do you read newspaper articles with headlines like "Suburban Mom Saves $500 On Groceries Each Month Using Coupons!" and think things like 'I wish *I* could do that too, but I don't have the time! That must be ALL she does is clip coupons and shop!' Maybe you've even spent some time trying to get on board with the Extreme Couponing trend, gotten frustrated by the insider lingo and complicated deals and time-consuming learning process, and given up.

Image From: http://oslersrazor.blogspot.com/

"I have a full time job outside the home; I don't have time to coupon."

"I'd rather spend time with my family than spend hours trying to figure out how to save a few bucks."

"I don't think it's worth it to spend extra hours and extra gas driving to a bunch of stores to cut a couple dollars off my grocery bill."

"It can't really be possible to save THAT MUCH money using coupons!"

"I'll just shop at Aldi or Wal-Mart; their prices are better anyway."

If you're here, chances are you've said or thought these things. I'll let you in on a little secret: WE USED TO FEEL THE EXACT SAME WAY. So what changed for us?

At the end of 2009, Leslie was stricken with a mysterious, debilitating and as-yet STILL undiagnosed illness. She has been unable to work since then and her family of three has been struggling to get by on one modest income, all while dealing with repeated hospital trips and mounting medical bills.

In September of 2009, Kristi's job was eliminated. Finding another job that would do more than just cover the costs of daycare for her two children in these economic times seemed an impossible task, and staying home to care for her family has always been a dream of hers. Unfortunately that dream is often hard to manage on one modest income these days, and with two kids, five pets, and the usual credit card bills and car/house payments, her family struggles to get by as well.

Leslie is unable to go back to work, and Kristi desperately wants to be able to stay home and take care of her family while pursuing her dreams of become a published author (and of maybe having another baby one day!). They would also like to get out of debt and occasionally be able to do fun things with their families. Both were fascinated by the above-mentioned news stories that pop up every now and again, and in the summer of 2010 were finally ready to try and tackle the world of Extreme Couponing. It took several months (and MANY hours of reading, researching, practicing, clipping, and even taking classes) of dipping in and out of the pool, trying to learn the rules and tricks, before they finally felt like they had a good handle on the world of couponing. Along the way they ran into MANY people who were fascinated by their journey but didn't feel they could do the 'couponing thing' themselves.

There are a lot of great coupon blogs out there, but not many of them truly cater to beginning couponers, or to busy folks who would like to save a few bucks but truly don't have a lot of time. Our goal is to be THE blog for the busy mom (or dad!) who would love to score some great cheap and free deals but simply can't devote the time to figuring out the deals or learning the lingo and tricks. We will do our best to make every post as easy as possible, with full instructions, giving you step-by-step instructions and even shopping lists so that you can just print and go!

We only need three things from you, and they're easy, trust me:

1) Follow our blog and read our posts! You won't get the deals if you don't read us!

2) Subscribe to the TWO COPIES of your local big-city Sunday paper and begin saving the coupon circulars from them. You can subscribe to more if you'd like, and/or you can beg your family and friends for THEIR copies of the coupon inserts. The more you have, the more deals you'll be able to take advantage of! If you want to make it as easy as possible though, we strongly recommend getting two copies delivered to your house. Get a box or filing cabinet and just start saving the coupon circulars in date order. Don't clip anything out, just save them. We'll tell you what to do with them later. You can't save money if you don't have the coupons!!

3) Please provide us feedback as we build up this blog! Tell us what works for you and what doesn't. Tell us if our instructions aren't clear enough. Tell us what other features you'd like to see from us. We have a lot of ideas already and we will slowly be building it, but getting feedback from you is invaluable to us.

That's it! Three simple things, and only one of them costs you a TEENSY bit of money. Follow us, start collecting weekly coupon inserts, and give us feedback. In return, we'll teach you everything you need to know to score some great deals with very little time investment.

You may never have the time to be the "Mom Who Saved $500 A Month Couponing!", but I promise you that you will easily see things like:

*free toothpaste
*free deodorant
*$0.04 a box Stove Top stuffing
*free beauty products
*free hot chocolate
*free candy
and so much more!

Our goals are to make your life a little easier and your wallet a little heavier. Thank you for joining us. May we all have a prosperous 2011 (and beyond)!

Kristi is a 30-something mother of two children, ages 6 and 4. She and her husband live in the south Chicago suburbs along with the children, two dogs, and three cats. Her family loves to travel and believes in living a life rich with experiences. As a result, they have way too much credit card debt. Her goals in being a "super shopper" are to pay off all their debt and begin living a financially prosperous life that still allows them to do many of the things they enjoy. She writes about her life at the blog Million Dream Mom.

Leslie is a 30-something mother of one child, age 4. She and her husband and daughter live in the south Chicago suburbs. Aside from wishing her doctors would figure out just what the heck is wrong with her so they could start fixing her problem instead of treating her symptoms, her goals include saving enough money to not only pay the bills but also to take her family on a very special trip to Disney World (because if you keep putting things off for "some day", "some day" may never come). She writes about her life and her savings adventures at the blog One Year To Disney.

OJ and Rob are the hard-working husbands to Kristi and Leslie, respectively. They both work full-time jobs to help their families as well as running a business providing tech support services on the side. If you are in the Chicago area and in need of technical help in ANY area, please visit Tech Husband for assistance.