Sunday Confessional

I confess. I am a coupon freak! My kids tease me, my hubby shakes his head, my parents laugh and some of my coworkers are in awe of the coupon deals I come home with. I can't help it, I'm hooked.

I have dabbled with it a time or two in the past but last August I got looking around the Internet and found some websites that not only told me where to find the good deals, but linked me to the coupons to get them! No work for me to do, no thinking, everything was there for me.

I decided to start my stockpile then and there. My hubby works on commission at his job and due to the number of resorts on his route, and the bareness of those resorts in the cold Minnesota winters his paychecks are a LOT smaller in the 9 months of cooler weather. It seems like we use his bigger summer checks to save just to get us through the winter and we never seem to get ahead. I figured if I could take a month or two and start building a stockpile of items bought for a little bit of nothing it would carry us through the smaller winter paychecks.

Even though I got a late start, my stockpile in just 2 months was pretty impressive. I had purchased for pennies (or got FREE) enough laundry detergent, air fresheners, deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, razors, candles, dental floss, mouthwash, toothpaste, deodorant, body wash, pain reliever, and cold medicine to last us until June.

On the food side I had enough cereal, pasta, rice, tomato sauce, cream soups, mini raviolios, spaghetti sauce, instant oatmeal & tomato paste to get me at least until March if not later.

The couponing is helping a lot and I like having a full pantry. Some weeks if hubby's check is smaller then we thought it would be we can plan enough meals using pantry items that all we have to buy is fresh meats, fruits and veggies. It's a good feeling to know I'm taking care of the family and I plan on being even more prepared for next winter.