The grocery shopping challenge

Every week I clipped coupons. I worried a lot. I knew when my dad was paid, and I knew I could help my parents save money. I was 15 and felt ingenious for thinking of clipping the coupons. My mom and I would go shopping. I knew all of the coupons that actually saved money and the ones that weren't really worth it. I was never hungry or without what I wanted or needed, but I was a quirky kid. My mom put up with the quirkiness, and let me control the coupons as we shopped.

A few weeks ago Matt decided that he wanted to save money. This is Matt's life mission, so the idea wasn't terribly groundbreaking. His new money-saving scheme was coupon clipping and ad searching for groceries. I was a much bigger fan of going to the ghetto grocery store where we had to bag our own groceries.

Saturday was week one of the ordeal. Matt had clipped coupons, studied the store ads, and planned out our course of action. We had 2 options for stores. The ghetto store wasn't in the running. Bacon and hotdogs were on sale at Stop and Shop. Shaws was cheaper for most everything else.

Shaws was our first stop. Halfway through Matt realized he couldn't hold coupons and drive the cart. He handed them to me, and deja vu where have you been for the last 7 years. I organized which coupons were worth it. I asked him what exactly he was going to use, and narrowed down the pile. Shopping sales and the few coupons Matt decided to use saved Matt $16. I saved $13 (Matt hogged most of the coupons, since he clipped them.)

That sounds like a pretty good savings. 15-year-old Emily would have been proud. Of course this wasn't my mom's typical shopping trip. Matt and I don't have 3 kids, and thousands of other things to do on a Saturday. Off we went to store number 2. Hi-ho-hi-ho it's off to Stop and Shop we go! (Dear Taylor Swift, I can write my own songs too. Does that mean I can win 4 Grammys?)

Stop and Shop was a much quicker ordeal. Matt had an actual list, something Mom never made unless she was sending Dad out, so we had 4 specific things that needed to be had from the good folks at Stop and Shop. I added string cheese to the list. I love string cheese. Checked out of Stop and Shop with a final count of Matt saving $13 (not sure how this number happened, because I think he only spent $11) and Emily saving $3.

We saved $42 combined. I was impressed, and exhausted. Shopping and shopping and shopping really isn't my idea of a good time. Saving enough money for a whole other shopping trip was definitely worth it. All I know is that yesterday, when I was scouring newspapers for errors for a class assignment, I took out all of the ads and started clipping coupons. There are a lot of uncertainties in the world we live in, but it's nice to know that every Sunday the coupons are in the paper and the world keeps spinning round.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily