I’m your age on disability and had gone by the wayside with coupons and such for years as I just didn’t have the stamina and didn’t think I could afford the paper, etc. Well seeing Jeff’s adventure and the ways coupons have changed since my kids were young and I couponed and rebated all the time has inspired me.

This week I was able to get 2 Sunday newspapers for $1 plus a $2 CVS extra bucks and then went through the inserts and ads with a fine tooth comb. I decided to try one cleaning product (toilet bowl cleaner) that I didn’t usually use as it was on sale and I had $1 off coupons and then got a $1 Catalina besides. I needed toilet bowl cleaner and this looked like it would do. Anyhow I find that I am more willing to try a few new things when I can get them so much cheaper than my regular no-name stuff.

For those who really hate Walmart, I’ve found since I started clipping and checking for sales at the other stores, I haven’t even been to Walmart! I can’t believe how many groceries I’ve been buying at the drugstore. I came home with $11 in CVS extra bucks today, $9 of which I was expecting and the other $2 was a surprise, this is the second time in a week I’ve gotten a surprise $2! My time out getting groceries equaled the time I usually have spent and that included lunch out. The only extra time was going through the coupons last night spending no more time than it would take to watch a sit-com (we don’t have TV).

Although I have no intention of eating on a dollar a day, your experiment has proven that good food doesn’t have to be expensive! I’m currently unemployed and am in school full time, so grocery shopping is not fun these days; especially with the rising cost of food (bah!).

I starting “couponing” today and saved over 25 bucks on 75 dollars worth of items (not bad for a first try). I also spotted some items that were not scanned properly, so I expect to get a few more dollars back. And, even though I bought a few items I don’t need, I do have a donation pile at the front of our house always ready for the VA that stops by once a month (so I sure they’ll appreciate all the money makers). In addition, I’m keeping track of time spent couponing and millage on my car after shopping trips; happy to say my savings are nicely in the black!

I have to tell you about SuperCook.com – you type in the ingredients you have on hand it spits out recipes for you; maybe that will help with your adventures in the kitchen! If you can manage to wrangle a few spices (check the ethic food section, they have cheaper spices in baggies), you can spice up your meals easily. Paprika, onion, cumin, oregano, red pepper flakes (free at most pizza places) are staples in our kitchen. Lastly, premixed items go a long way: dressings like Italian can be used on salads and in dishes (like pasta salad), same goes for ranch (stay away from any dairy based dressing that is not in the produce section, they’re high in preservatives). My favorite is a Asian dressing found in the organic section, it can be used as a dressing or marinade.

Lastly, check out Chow.com. Their videos are amazing (if you have the time).

Thanks for all your hard work documenting this escapade! It has been a wonderful vicarious experience!

P.S. Hope your feeling better these days!

I’ve done both, but most times I go through the line again (I just don’t like having to make people wait behind me). If I get to the store when it is not crowded, then I will take everything up and have it separated into different transactions (the most I have ever done at one time is 4 and I think that would be my limit because I started to get confused with which coupons I needed when I did that many). I’m not the most organized person and I think someone better organized could pull off the separate transactions all at once better than I could.

I am curious though, and I think someone might have asked earlier, but do you go through the checkout a bunch of times or just ask the cashier to ring things up separately? That part all sounds a bit nerve racking.

It’s kind of funny. The only reason that I even started couponing is because of another project where I am trying to turn a penny I found on the ground into $1 million worth of food for food banks — http://www.pennyexperiment.com — and it was because all of the food I was getting for that project that this one came to be.

I am not trying to make a statement of any type that everyone should try and eat on $1 a day (in fact, I would not recommend this at all) — this is simply an extreme example of what can be done. I hope will inspire others to realize that even with a bit of time and effort, they can reduce the amount that they spend shopping.

Because I take a different approach to achieve this (I don’t buy what I want, but buy things that allow me to buy what I want), there is a lot of excess stuff that I buy that I end up donating. I hope that those that are inspired to save money this way will also begin to donate their excess to local food banks and charities.

This would be a win – win situation for all involved and if it does inspire others, it would make this challenge much more gratifying than even proving my sister wrong

I do have one question, what in your mind is this project about? Is it to prove anyone in general could/should coupon regularly to save money, I know many people have criticized the time spent or is it (in my mind) more directed towards people who suffered for lack of the means to buy food because it can be expensive.