My Love/Hate Relationship with Coupons

Let me take you back when I was little going down the cereal aisle at the grocery store with my mom. The question was usually "Mom can we get Fruity Pebbles?" which was my all time favorite cereal. The answer was always the same "No I don't have a coupon for that." I vowed to never torture my children like that! That was until the budget got a little tight and that oh so popular show Extreme Couponing came on and it was like a light bulb went on inside my head. Why am I not using coupons? So about 6 months ago I started torturing my husband to get up at the crack of dawn for that all important Sunday paper. He quickly learned that this was no easy task and that the coupon crazies would steal all the coupon inserts from every paper out of a machine. But bless him...he stuck with it and realized Walgreen's who sells their papers inside the store opens at 9:00 a.m. so this is where you can find this wonderful man every Sunday morning.

Now to the present I am one of those crazy coupon ladies carrying a large black notebook filled with coupons telling my boys "No I don't have a coupon for that." I still have a love/hate relationship with the darn things...I love cutting my grocery bill in half every month but I hate the cutting, organizing, and giving myself a headache searching all the sale ads to get the best deal possible. But I will admit the pain is totally worth it to be able to stay at home a little longer with my precious little ones!