Nix9to5

It’s slippery out there.

// March 5th, 2010 // Budget, Couponing, Money Matters

A few days ago, I realized we were out of a few groceries–fruit and yogurt mainly–and that I’d have to run to the store before the weekend.  Because I have yet to get my coupons organized (it has only been two months, after all), I didn’t have any of them with me.  Even though I KNEW I had yogurt coupons at home, I decided to just drop by the store after work before picking up Bear.  I figured I’d run into the grocery store and just buy the store brand of yogurt (.38 each) and bananas (.49/lb instead of .39/lb at Aldi) and oranges (I don’t know exactly the difference).  Also, I needed saline solution for our contacts, and even though I had coupons at home and $4 Extra Care Bucks at CVS, I decided to just get everything at Walmart Neighborhood Market and save myself a trip.

Well, I guess that store stopped stocking its store brand of yogurt, so I had to pay .50 each for another brand ON SALE.  The very next day, I found out that they were on sale for less across the street, and I had a coupon, which means I could have bought them for .23 each had I waited a day and been prepared.

I left paying nearly $15 for two small bags of groceries, which just irritated me to no end.  I mean, I can get a whole trunkful of groceries for $45, so two bags?  Ridiculous.

The experience left me realizing what a slippery slope this couponing business can be.   You do have to keep up with it and keep organized to always get the best deal.  It doesn’t take much to fall back into the “easy” way of doing things.  I also, realized, though, that I have become quite stingy with my money and don’t like to throw it away.  It really burns me up to pay more than I have to now.

Tonight’s mission:  begin organizing these coupons.  I need to find some way to keep them with me so I’m never stuck “running in and grabbing something.”

Budget-wise, March is not starting out as fantabulous as January and February is.  HH and I will be taking an overnight trip in a week, and we’ll have visitors over Spring Break–both of which will also impact this month’s spending.  I’ll need to keep a closer eye on things so that March can end as well as the first two months of the year.

In other news, I’ve applied for yet another writing job.  I’ll keep you posted on how that goes.

For now, it’s off to clip and file–coupons, not my nails–though I could totally go for a mani-pedi.  Don’t be jealous of my Friday night plans–it’s not very becoming of you.

Tomorrow, it’s off to a children’s consignment sale and to hit the last of the coupon-sale matchups before going through the new week’s deals on Sunday.