Life as a Not-So-Extreme Couponer

So Season 2 of Extreme Couponing is on again.  People buying hundreds if not thousands of dollars of merchandise for less than 10% of the retail value.

Hundreds of packages of soda, Ramen Noodles, etc. etc. etc.

So despite the over the top production, it has had an impact on our family.  In what started out as a way for the kids to make a few bucks a week has turned into a hobby/quest for us.

We've gone from clipping a few Sunday paper coupons and hitting up Walmart the same day, to buying coupons from clipping services, using CVS and Kroger cards to the max, to making multiple purchases during the same visit at the store. 

The impact for the Saathoff family has been about 35-45% savings at the checkout, if not more.  We now no longer shop at Walmart, instead choosing to shop at a collection of Meiers, Kroger, CVS (yes CVS), Walgreens, and occasionally Jewel. 

Many on the show have a "stockpile" of items, some in the hundred thousand dollar range.  We too have a stockpile, in the $100 range, but its there. 

When we have had great deals, we've shared the bounty with a local food pantry called the Clare House here in Bloomington, taking multiple bags of food and health and beauty products for delivery.

Probably the biggest change as mentioned before was the use of drugstores such as CVS.  CVS is heads and shoulders above Walgreens with its reward system, keeping track of your purchases, and overall customer friendliness. 

Our favorite websites are http://www.couponmom.com/ where you can see next weeks sales at stores and sort by the % of savings on an item.  We usually start with the FREE items to see if its something we need or can give to charity.

  I also use http://www.thecouponclippers.com/ to buy clipped coupons for pennies on the dollar.  It allows you to focus on items you want, and buy bulk coupons.  It's key to watch for coupons with long expiration dates.

The other change for us is holding coupons to match with the best sale.  We've developed a pretty good level of patience on waiting to maximize the value of the coupon, looking to double coupons where we can or match with the best sale.

We've also got a keen idea on grocery prices.  We would have never blinked before to pay $3 or $4 for name brand cereal.  Now I get tremors when I spend $1.99 a box, its too much.

If you want to know more, feel free to drop me a line or make a comment on the blog.  We have a few people at work that share ideas and coupons, and if you want to make a dent on the bottom line, its a good way to start.

So get clipping!!

Sweetness now just Bittersweet - When Idols Get Tarnished

#34

Sweetness

The Greatest Bear There Ever Was

I am a Walter Payton fan.   He is my favorite pro athlete of all time.

The stairways to my basement and the basement itself are a mini-shrine to Walter.

What appealed to me about Walter was the effort, the work, and the humanity he showed towards others.  How many countless thousands of people he helped in the Chicago area.  The prankster and the consumate teammate.

I idolize Walter Payton, or is that now idolized? 

This week a new biography came out about Walter from respected writer Jeff Pearlman.  Pearlman interviewed 678 different people, trying to put together the ultimate biography of one of the greatest athletes Chicago has ever known and maybe the rest of the United States.  And boy did Pearlman ever deliver...

Painkillers, Adultrey, Children out of Wedlock, Suicidal thoughts have splashed all of the Chicago papers and Sports Illustrated this week.  There is some debate by boneheads as to the motive of this book (which is to make money) and the timing (Walter has been dead for almost 12 years) but that doesn't bother me.  The book is a historic image of #34.  Just like if someone wrote about Thomas Jefferson getting a case of jungle fever, that's what was true.

No what disappoints me or is hard to reconcile is that this great person in my mind, did things so opposite of that it makes me wonder who he is.  I realize that professional athletes cheat on their wives, or at least a number of them do.  That's disappointing but not shocking. 

What's shocking to me is this man who did so much for kids, would father a kid from an affair and never have the balls to go meet the child or have any relationship with the child prior to his death in 1999.  The Walter Payton that I idolize, would not do that, but alas it appears that public image outweighed common decency.

Takes a little shine off the statue for this writer

Top 10 Things That I want to pass to My Kids

Ten Things I Want to Pass Down To My Kids


Not sure why I'm writing this, but a couple of these are things that I think my kids would be better off knowing in life. Some are important, some are not, curious what your lists look like. Not ranked in any order, these could change daily, weekly, yearly

1. Always be nice to the TSA Agents and Airline personnel working the counters. They can only make your life hell.

2. If you're doing something, give it your best effort. Half assed is no way to go through life.

3. Be Honest to a Fault. "Nuff said

4. Pick your team, root for them, don't be a windsock.

5. You will face many times in your life when someone needs to speak up against a serious or petty injustice. I hope the one who speaks up is you.

6. Be charitable - You never know when the shoe is going to be on the other foot.

7. A good job doesn't love you back. If you enjoy what you do, stick with it.

8. There is nothing wrong with embarrasing your kids by being goofy. Always be a kid in some form.

9. Happiness is a warm boxer dog, or two warm boxer dogs.

10. It is best to have tried and failed, than to never tried at all.

Choose to influence a student. Not tomorrow, now

So in the past two postings I've talked about the challenges our next generation faces from skyrocketing college costs and the lack of basic learning supplies in elementary schools.

Its something our generation has foisted upon the up and coming generation.

We can wait till the populus wakes up and realizes the downward spiral that awaits us 10 or 20 years down the road.

We can wait till our politicians wake up and realize that we need to spend our dollars more wisely or ask for tax increases to fund education.

I would rather not wait, and hope you don't want to either.

There is a way you can influence a student now, maybe for life.

There is an organization that can help

Donors Choose (http://www.donorschoose.org/)

Donors Choose was formed by a teacher, to help other teachers fund projects for their classrooms.  From basic supplies to science and math kits, to anything a teacher can come up with.

Basically the teachers write up a description of the project, they need to be creative.  As a user, you can search on a project by location, poverty level of the area, subject you're interested in helping, age of kids, special needs, etc.

You then can donate as much or as little as you want.  You don't have to fund the whole project, maybe just a part of it. 

Its a great feeling to get feedback from the teachers and students whom YOU impact. 

DOES IT WORK?

To date, donors like you have given $88 million and impacted over 5 million students
have been helped to date.

All I ask is that you go out and look around, make a difference, tell your friends and family. 

You can make a difference, maybe influence the direction of someone's life.