couponing

Coupons were always dangerous for me.

My idea of "couponing" was to search the ads
and magazines for wonderful coupons
for accessories and tasty food that I did NOT need,
but could justify buying... if I had a coupon :)
So I stopped clipping coupons because it was not
saving money on groceries or home supplies.

But recently I stumbled across several blogs
that teach the art of sales and coupons...
#1 fav is {money saving mom}

So... I have devised a plan to help me
save money while buying only necessary items.
I make my grocery shopping list and then,
only then, do I look at coupons, cutting out only
the ones that match what is already on my list.
Now occasionally I will cross off an item on my list
and add a new item if the sale is extremely good
but for the most part- I'm pretty proud of myself.

I have yet to learn the art of CVS shopping with
these things called Easy Care Bucks...
but I did get some good deals at Walgreens
using their Register Rewards Program:I bought 2 True North Snack Bags= $3 each
but got $3 back for each bag in Register Rewards
(this means $6 off my next purchase)
I wouldn't recommend doing this unless you
were already going to need to spend $6 at Walgreens.
I needed to buy shampoo/conditioner and pickup photos
So I went back through the line with an even greater deal!!Garnier Fructis Hair products were 3/$10 on sale
which is a great deal by itself, but I usually never buy
hair product that is more than $1.50
so then I found a Register Rewards deal that said
if you spend $20 on Garnier products then you get
$10 back in Register Rewards!!! So really it's 6/$10!
Cheaper and way nicer than what I am used to washing my hair with :)
I got 4 shampoos and 2 conditioners- each one had a little
bottle of sleek hair serum attached for a special promo!

For $10 I purchased:
4 shampoos, 2 conditioners, 6 hair serums, 2 bags of yummy snacks
(and I have a $10 credit for next visit!)

I say all that to encourage you to look into couponing
or to ask you for some hints on how you find sales
and work with coupons or store rewards...
Do you have some favorite "saving" websites?