I have to admit that the most I've saved from coupons alone was like $40 at one time, but I also save a lot by shopping the sales ads. This weekend I bought meat for MORE than the month of A. (8 boneless/skinless chicken breasts, 5 lbs of lean ground beef, 1 lb of shrimp, 12 petite sirloins, 1 lb wild salmon fillets, 2 lbs catfish fillets, 2 packs of sausage-one for red beans/rice, one for stuffed peppers,some pepperoni for a pizza night, sliced ham from the deli for sandwiches, and I have some chicken thighs and tilapia already in the freezer), PLUS all the other groceries for the whole week and spent $230. That was buying meats on sale, 1 coupon for one of the meats, and coupons for much of the "regular" groceries. I won't buy meat again until May though, and the rest of the month my weekly bills will average to about $60/week. What I do is use the sales papers that come in the mail, PLUS my coupons, PLUS the "inventory" I already have to come up with a menu. My menu needs to cover 26 meals and 14 snacks because I babysit and have different lunches for the kids than what I send to work with my husband. Some of what I do is casseroles or enchiladas or similar things, because 2 good sized chicken breasts make one large King Ranch Casserole which we can eat, have leftovers, and freeze the other half for another week. Or instead of frying some shrimp and having to use it all for one meal, I could take that same pound, make an awesome baked risotto with seasonal vegetables and again, that's about 5-6 servings, and healthier too. (depending on my son's fluctuating appetite). Things like that. I use a little accordian file that is about the size of a wallet (cost less than $3) and labeled my files according to the categories that work for me: "food, bath, cleaning, baby, misc, and going out". I pull the coupon sections out of the Sunday papers and go through them quickly and cut out the things I would use (or may use) by the expiration date. Throw the coupons into stacks consistent with my categories, sort by expiration date, and put them in the file. I do this on the couch while my husband and I watch a show we watch on Sundays after our son is asleep, and I'm done from start to finish before the show is half done. It will take a little longer to get started at first, until you're organized and find a little groove that works for you, but I consider it a game, and I like it. I like the fact that my husband thinks I'm cool---we don't live on a large budget, we have no debt at all except our used cars and the house, we save well, but we eat well, never do without, always have food/toiletries in case of company that stays over with little notice, and even have some extras in our lifestyle. It's teamwork--we both do what we can to bring income to the household, and as lame as it may sound, a penny saved IS a penny earned.
