WELCOME

I am a stay at home mom who is fed up with spending a large portion of income on grocery bills. It is my job, according to God, to be a good help mate for my husband. I am trying to live up to my job description. I am starting a journey into the grocery coupon world and invite you to come with me. I have never used coupons for grocery shopping and as of January 1st 2008 I am diving in. I will be using http://www.thegrocerygame/ , http://www.moneysavingmom.com and the http://www.couponmom.com/ website to guide me on how to save money. I am going to treat this adventure as a part time job and put in the hours necessary to make it work. I am excited and nervous to get started.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

I Had to Ask

About 3 years ago we went to the ocean for a weeks long vacation. My oldest child was small and it was the first trip that the 3 of us would take together. I had high hopes that she would love the beach and have a great time in the sand and that my husband and I would lounge and watch her play all day.
We woke in the a.m. and packed up our things and headed for the beach. Our things included a snow sled that was piled high with umbrellas, coolers, chairs, towels and beach toys.
We got all set up on the beach and wipes the sweat off our brow from the haul and set of our camp. We applied the sunblock and now it was time for the fun to begin. My husband took our child to the edge of the water and started playing. About 5 minutes into it a wave hits them and knocks down our child, the fun is over. She gets out of the water and heads to me. She is rubbing her eyes and gets sunblock in them. As I am cleaning out this screaming childs eyes I look at my husband and he is searching the area and looking at me in disbelief. I get the child calm and ask what my husband is doing. He says, "My ring came off I can't find it." I can't believe this and am thinking he is kidding me. My hubby reaches into his pocket to make sure he hasnt put it in there. As he pulls out his hand he has what looks like wet paper in his hand. I ask,"What is that?" Has he unfolds it it becomes clear, he had our travelers checks in his pocket. Needless to say we left the beach. Back at the room we take showers to remove any sunblock residue, lay out the travelers checks and try to salvage them and grumble and complain about the wedding ring.

The point of this story? We went this past weekend and got my hubby a new wedding ring. He has really been disappointed and upset not having one. After a few stores he found one that he really liked and it was priced at $650.00. This price is o.k. I had alotted $800 for a replacement so $650 was well within our range. But I had to ask the salesman, "Is this the best you can do? We are paying cash." The salesman does his best "I'm concerned I will not make any money" act and punches a few buttons on his calculator and comes back with a price of $570.00. We take it.

You have got to ask for a discount the only thing they can say is no.

After the wedding ring purchase we go to Olive Garden for dinner. I know that I have a $4 off 2 entree coupon. As I look for it to pay the bill I realized I have left it at home. When the waitress came back I tell her about the coupon and ask if she can work us a deal without it. She says, "No we are charged out of pocket for any money missing without the coupon." I shrug my shoulders and think, "At least I tried."

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