Crazy Coupon Lady

My mother is the frugal queen. Growing up, I'm pretty sure I never once ate an item that was bought at full price unless I was visiting a friend for dinner. To this day, I have never had to buy a toiletry item (with the exception of toilet paper...there are some things I splurge on) and every time I visit Target, I walk the perimeter of the store first because that's where you find the clearance items.

Every Sunday in my childhood, one "lucky" child got to go shopping with Mom after church. The three children in the house took turns being the gopher for their mother in the grocery store and being bored out of their minds while walking every. single. aisle. Somehow I ended up going with my mother the majority of weeks. So much for rotating. When I complained, I was often met with, "It's Mother-daughter bonding time." from my mother and, "Well, you're the girl." from my father. Rough life. There is nothing quite like being a ten year old who has to go through the cashier line by yourself to by feminine pads, toothpaste, and hair dye, because their mother has already gone through and can only use so many coupons in one transaction. I can't decide if those events made me more or less self-conscious.

I have seen "Extreme Couponers," and I can fortunately say that I have never had to dig through my neighbor's trash to find coupons (though I'm sure the thought has passed her mind) and I never had to push more than one cart through a store. thank goodness.

What I'm about to admit makes my mother very happy. She has been able to bond with my sister-in-law over marriage and babies and now she has finally found something to bond with me over.

I am an extreme couponer.

I am fairly new to admitting it, but it does feel like I conquered the world when I walk out of the store with a free product!

Check out my freebies so far:

There are certain ground rules I have set for myself when I set out on these shopping adventures:

1. I will not buy anything I will not use or cannot give away/donate. I will not be buying an hair dye in the near future. (Yes mom, even if it's free)

2. I will not extreme coupon if time and gas cost more than the items I purchase. Nowadays, the internet has made it super easy to coupon, they do the math for you! (my favorite site right now is moneysavingmom.com) I refuse to walk up and down EVERY aisle.

3. I will only extreme coupon for fun. I will always coupon, but I will only hunt down the crazy deals if I enjoy it. If it every becomes more of a hassle than an adventure, I'm out.

When I told my mother my new found game, she responded, "It's about time." That's my mother. I wouldn't have expected anything less.

Well, Mom, thanks for the lessons taught in the 15 grocery store trips every Sunday years ago. I would have never thought that those days of penance would turn into days of fun.

I guess it's only appropriate that this post is written on my parent's anniversary. Maybe extreme couponing is the secret to their marriage! ;) Happy 29 years, Mom and Dad.