Taking up the Gauntlet

Ok, so I have received 4 challenges from two readers, and am going to TRY and do as many of these as possible, but I'm picking two to start plus two of my own and we'll see what progress can be made in the way of tackling these this week!

Here are the two reader challenges:

• I'm sure you could find a coupon for this - go to a museum or some other cultural activity!
  
  
• Dinner for four: a three course meal- appetizer, entree (with at least some type of meat, not necessarily as the main dish), and dessert (not ice cream cake).

And the two challenges from myself are:

• Throw a smallish party.
  
  
• Get a pedicure...from a salon!
  

I'll be tackling these concurrently, but they'll be well defined so you will know what you're reading about. I also plan to have a little contest in the next couple of days. Charge up those digital camera batteries and be prepared to share...

Free, but at what cost?

I was definitely intrigued by McDonald's recent announcement that every Monday through August 3, they would be offering free sample sizes of their McCafe Mochas. It seemed like the perfect little treat for me to grab one morning while out running errands or what have you, and - even though I got a late start on the day today - I stopped by after the lunch rush to cash in on my free sample.

Can I just tell you that no matter how horrible the food is, I freaking love the smell of a McDonald's? There is just something about it that takes me back to being a kid and the specialness of getting a cheeseburger and fries, and the smell is still EXACTLY the same as it was back then, and I always get a little bit high when I walk in there. And I'm sure that is exactly what they are going for. But McDonald's is really bringing it when it comes to appealing to my visual senses lately and it was sort of all I could do to resist the urge to get myself some sort of bacon and cheese smothered piece of beef with fries for Lunch: The Sequel. Their new menu boards are very chic and make everything seem VERY nice, even though I know it's the same old tiny burger patty in the same old white bread bun. Whoever redesigned those things deserves a prize, because if I weren't so savvy, I would be toast. Or a McGriddle.

Anyway, I know as well as most smart shoppers that getting you in the McDonald's with it's crack smell and pretty pictures to get your "free sample" of the McCafe is a gamble the company is taking to try and upsell you on ANYTHING else. And I'm sure it will end up working out very well for Ronald & Co. But not on me, and I could tell that the McEmployee was kind of irritated when I confirmed that I only wanted my sample McMocha.

And though I had tried a McLatte before and have not been super impressed, I was willing to give McMocha a chance, especially since - as I found on my way over to McD's - my Dunkin Donuts has closed after less than 2 years in operation. (Hmph. There goes my Sunday morning bagel with blueberry cream cheese! AND I HAD COUPONS!) So I watch as the McEmployee #2 makes my McMocha with care (seriously! I was shocked), and as he hands it to me, I realize that I am looking forward to getting maybe five good, long sips out of this thing. It was so small, y'all. How small? Well take a gander:
Look at that quarter next to the McMocha! Look at the wee-ness of the cup! Look how big my regular straw is in there! (Oh, how I wish there had been mini-straws! Maybe I should have drunk it from a coffee stirer straw!) And if you know me in real life, you know I love abnormally sized things so that even though this sample size at first seemed a negative, it's mini-ness quickly won me over.

Until I tasted it.

How was it, you wonder? In a word: Artificial. Can we really not spring for real chocolate in our mochas, McD's? I mean, it was so NOT good that I didn't even drink all 4-5 ounces of liquid in that cup. And I gave it a proper opportunity to get better through 3-4 small sips. Sadly, McMocha did not prevail.

So, I am left now in a world of coffee-less Sunday mornings. McCafe's are too gross to pay for and Dunkin Donuts has apparently shut down overnight, leaving behind no evidence of ever existing in the location. My local coffee shop (which I am missing SO bad during this experiment, btw!) isn't open Sundays and I am scared to death they may suffer the same fate as Dunkin if I can't figure out how to convince people to go out of their way for local, natural, freshly baked goods and coffees. I'm pretty much willing to stand with my cute baby on the highway with a sandwich board if necessary!!!

Verdict? The time I had to take getting there, getting the baby out of the car, getting in, placing my order and then going back home to drink my nasty little "treat" was just not worth the price I didn't pay.

Of course, I'm aware that my opinion is just that, so what's your take on the McCafe? Thumbs up? Thumbs down? Have another place I can get my Sunday Morning Treats? Want to send me a coupon?

The floor is yours...

The Fine Print

I am super proud of my husband, who - after some initial resistance about his having to participate in my crazy scheme - has really jumped into the game of living off coupons feet first. He actually is responsible for locating the newest resource: CouponClipper.com

This website is fantastic. You type in what you're looking for (i.e. "restaurants," "gifts," "services") and your zip code, and it pops up a list of available coupons near you. The hubby says it's related to the "Coupon Clipper" magazines which I had not heard of, but which some of you may receive by mail. You do have to join the website to have access to the coupons, but it only asks for an email address and your name and zip code, plus you can uncheck the box to recieve updates and promotions so you are less likely to end up with a cluttered email inbox!

Using this website, my husband found and printed us several coupons so that we could eat out this weekend. Thank goodness; I was sick to death of eating random, weird, mostly vegetable free stuff that was in my kitchen! The first coupon we found was for a hot dog place we had been wanting to try out for at least a year now, but it is pretty far from our house and it's not somewhere we would drive by or be reminded of often. But with the coupon as incentive, we packed up the baby and headed over. It was so much fun! I couldn't believe we were able to try a new restaurant AND have it cost less than if we had just gone on our own.

There is a little bit of an honor system, though, as you are supposed to only print and use each coupon one time. I like to play by the rules, because I don't want to be the yo-yo who messes up the game for everyone when places start refusing coupons because someone else is committing fraud. But sometimes, even when you play by the rules, there can be a little bit of a snag...

See, last night, I didn't have anything defrosted from the freezer to cook for dinner, and I was not in the mood to eat another carbo-laden meal. We had a coupon for a local upscale steak house that we had printed from the Coupon Clipper website, and I was excited to go because they have really great salads. I also knew I could get a veggie side, thus fulfilling my need for greens! We headed on over for a semi-early dinner and we enjoyed it immensely. The steaks we got were perfectly cooked, the salad was it's usual awesome self, and my grilled asparagus really hit the spot. As it came time to pay our bill, however, I noticed that we had made a huge, huge mistake: We did not read the fine print on the coupon. You see, there are two locations of this eating establishment in town, and we had printed out a coupon for the other location further away from us.

I was crushed. I just knew that meant I was about to totally fail my experiment on only Day 5! When our server came by to ask if we would like our check, my husband explained our gaffe to her. She was so kind; She said that location also participated and would ask her manager if they could accept our coupon anyway. Luckily for us, he agreed and we were able to use our coupon and save my nerves! I think it didn't hurt us that we had a really cute baby with us, so the server was more inclined to help us. :-) So note to selves: If you decide to play fast and loose and not read the fine print, do make sure to always have a cute baby on hand if you need to beg for mercy!

I was really glad that everything worked out and the experiment stayed intact, but I will definitely be more careful the next time I get ready to head out and use a coupon!

Today is going to be a two-post day; stay tuned later tonight as I accept two of your challenges and introduce two of my own. If you can't think of a fun challenge, ask your friends and family if they have any ideas! I can be YOUR free entertainment!

Day 5: Impulse Control

One lesson that I've already learned in the short few days of the experiment is that I have a tendency to impulse buy WAY more than I ever noticed. The first time I had to check myself was when shopping last week. I was very, very, thirsty while we were out and I thought to myself, "I'll just grab a drink at the checkout!" And I never really thought about how much I may have been doing that over the years - grabbing a drink at the check out because I would be out longer and was thirsty; but I bet if I could add it up, I'd be surprised at how often those little refrigerated cases have lured me into their refreshing depths for a severely overpriced quenching for my thirst.

At least I'm not alone. Point of Purchase merchandising has been around for over a hundred years - maybe longer. And there is a complete and total industry devoted to it. The funny thing to me is that it started out being the small things like gum and candy and remains those items - along with magazines - even today. I tend to think that I am fairly immune to these check-out lane buys (aside from the drinks, of course). I used to be really bad about buying magazines in the check out lane, though; I'd get started reading some article or find a recipe while waiting for the person in front of me who was buying a month's worth of groceries for a family of 28 and then I would have to take the magazine with me or die of sheer curiosity about the article's resolution or the tastiness of that recipe (BTW: I never did end up cooking any damn thing I found in a magazine!) However, after turning 16 or so, I was pretty immune to all the candy bars, batteries, tiny boxes of tissue, and cheapie toys that now clutter up my check out lanes.

For me, the urge to impulse buy comes from deep within the store aisles. I'm not sure if that makes me odd or not, but it certainly makes me profitable from the store's standpoint. It never fails that if I take the time to make a beautiful list for any store I'm going in, that I fail to remember one or more items that I had intended to put on the list, which then generates a panic within me that forces me to make rash decisions about anything else I might want or need in the coming days that for some reason, can't wait until I'm sure the purchase needs to be made or not. This "perceived convenience" happened when I knew I'd be driving by a Target on the way home from the little one's six month check-up the other day. I thought, "Oh, I'll just pop in and get her a new bottle of infant acetometaphin so I can keep running errands and she can have some relief from her shots, even though there is already a nearly full bottle at our house!" But of course, I realized that I a)did not have a coupon for that item, so I really couldn't stop in there and b)really shouldn't be stopping to pay more money for what I already have, and that was a pretty interesting lesson that I'd never given much thought to. You know, I'd like to attribute this flaw to my having a child under one and the trouble it is to get out of the house with her, but I've been this way for my whole adult life, and so I just can't lay the blame on her for my problems.

Another thing that always gets me is a new or novel products. When I was in BiLo stealing their Blue Bell ice cream for $2.50 a 1/2 gallon, I happend to see that they had these teeeeeeeeny tiiiiiiiiiiny cartons of Starbucks brand ice cream on sale. And even though they cost nearly what my 1/2 gallons of Blue Bell were going to cost me, I had this overwhelming desire to get one and "try it." I had all but opened the freezer case when I realized that I could NOT have that precious little carton of ice cream, and man - the heartbreak was real. I was sincerely disappointed that, despite having a FULL GALLON of delicious ice cream in my cart, I could not spend way too much for this little carton containing at most 5 bites of ice cream. This must be why women who resist impulse buys can lose nearly 5 pounds in a year compared with those who don't stick strictly to their shopping lists. No tiny ice-creams for them!

I know it's been said before that the best thing is to make a list and stick to it. But it's more than that. There is a thoughtfulness that needs to be applied to your shopping, because it's far too easy to justify a dollar spent here and there. And I now hope that I can learn from having to be accountable to the project a new way of thinking about shopping so that I can resist these impulses in the future.

Hm. That's a mighty big lesson for Day Five. I just hope I didn't peak early and end up with nothing else interesting to report for the rest of the project!

Did somebody say free?

What's a girl on a strict coupon diet to do when she has a hankering for a fast food chicken sandwich?

Well, dress herself and her baby like a cow and get it for free, that's what!

Sadly, by the time we got our photo taken with the Chick-Fil-A cow, all my spots and my ears had fallen off, but you can see my tail tucked next to my keys. And the baby's bib comes courtesy of Misters Ben & Jerry of Vermont. :-) Of course, the old saying that nothing's really ever free is true - not only did I have to wear a ridiculous paper cow nose to get my free #2 combo meal, but I had to navigate a swarm of daycare children who were all dressed top to bottom in black and white spots. The baby did great - she was fascinated by the whole event, as one who is small should be. Sadly, the one thing she seemed to really want was a waffle fry, and that was just not up for grabs.

A big thanks to the folks at Chick-Fil-A for running the promotion like a military manuever and having all kinds of fun stuff for the kiddos - prize wheels, cups, plushy cows and these photos, taken by a Chick-Fil-A employee, printed out for you via their teensie printer on the spot, and placed in a commemorative photo holder for you to enjoy for years to come!

$8.00 Bananas and Other Tales from Shopping Day One

Last night I scoured my circulars and matched up my soon to expire coupons with some of the sales I found in them as well as lined up some coupons for things we needed. The baby and I headed out first thing this morning to hit the first of three stores: Publix.

Normally, Publix is my BEST store. I regularly average about $25.00 of spending on any one trip there when I match my coupons with the sales. I knew that this was going to be a bigger spending trip than normal because I had my $50.00 BP gas gift card to buy, and even with my $10 off coupon that meant spending $40.00 right off the bat. But I tried to put that out of mind and just focus on the task at hand: Getting the items on my list.

I generally like to meander around the store, which is the direct opposite of the first rule of saving money during a shopping trip. But I was doing research and needed to make a mental note of the the prices of things, so I just kept going on my merry meandering way. I saw the turnstyle of gift cards right off the bat and made sure I grabbed my BP card so I wouldn't forget it, but after that, I just sort of shopped by the coupons in hand. So here is what I got today:


All the stuff you see here cost me the whopping total of $95.33, but $40.00 of that is gift card, so I spent $55.33 on the grocery items pictured. And yes, for what's pictured, that does seem a bit high for someone who didn't buy a single thing without a coupon!

These are the items that ran my total up. The Nilla Wafers, the bananas and the ground beef all were $1.00 off IF I purchased the corresponding items of the Starbucks coffee, the Cheerios and the Hamburger Helper. Now, I did not have to buy two boxes of Cheerios or three boxes of Hamburger Helper to activate the other coupons, but since I had to have a coupon to purchase the other items as well, then I had to play by the rules of those coupons. So, I stacked the coupons like this:

• $1.00 off Starbucks Coffee + $1.00 off any Nabisco cookie or cracker with purchase of Starbucks or Seattle's Best Coffees.
• $1.00 off 2 boxes of any Cheerios + $1.00 off bananas with purchase of one box of Cheerios.
• $0.80 off 3 boxes of Helper + $1.00 off ground beef with purchase of Hamburger Helper

Now, if the Coffee, Cherrios, or Helper had been on sale, then I likely could have saved five more dollars on this deal, making it less of a total waste of money. And since I did not truly need the Cheerios or the Helpers, I feel like I ended up spending $7.98 to get some bananas and $8.40 to get slightly over a pound of ground beef. And it wasn't even ground sirloin! Oh, the things I do in order to have some fruit and beef.

It wasn't all bad, though. I got the Betty Crocker frosting for $0.50; it was on sale 2 for $3.00 and I had a $0.50 coupon that doubled to $1.00.

I got the Blue Diamond Almonds and Planter's Peanuts for $0.60 each; they were both on sale "Buy One, Get One Free" (BOGO) and I had $1.00 off coupons.

But I'd have to call this trip a bust, mostly for the extraneous spending I had to do to get what I wanted.

Next we went to Target.
I spent $45.53 on the items pictured here. The main purpose of this trip was to get my vitamins and the OFF! Clip-on mosquito deterrants. I've been trying to buy these things for a month, but they are always out of them when I go to the store! They were one of the "best buys" of the trip, because I had two BOGO coupons, making these only $4.47 each. The best deal was the razors. They were $2.59 and I had a $2.00 coupon, so they were only $0.59. I love these things to take on trips, because I hate to take my "real" razor anywhere! I usually end up forgetting it and then I have to spend big bucks to get a new one. These you can use and toss! And for $0.06 each, I don't mind that so much!

The worst buy: Can we just talk about Kleenex for a second? I have used some horrible generic tissues before, but Target brand tissues never bothered me. They are acceptably soft and meet my needs. So a coupon for Kleenex is really a waste of paper. The coupon I had was for $0.50 off THREE boxes. Well, thank you so much, Mr. Kleenex, for offering me not quite $0.17 off each box. I can go buy than mansion with all my savings. The point is, Kleenex was on sale for $1.29 and I had a coupon and it STILL was more expensive than the Up & Up brand!

Also, did you know you could be charged sales tax on the PRE-coupon amount? I did not until I checked out my receipt from Target tonight! Is that legal? I didn't buy any non-food items at the other stores, so I don't know if that's the case all over, or just at Target!

Finally I hit up BiLo.
I was a shopping rockstar at BiLo. I didn't buy much, but for what you see here I only paid $13.51. That's right: I essentially paid for all these items what you would normally pay for the two ice creams. Here's what happened: I had another Buy One to Get One situation, but it worked in my favor. I needed to buy 10 packs of Kool-Aid in order to get $2.00 off any granulated sugar. Then I had a coupon for $1.00 off 10 packs of Kool-Aid. So I picked out a sugar that was on sale for $1.99, which means I got 10 packs of Kool-Aid and a bag of sugar for $1.50!

So my first day spending total is $154.37, with a total savings of $81.85, but some waste, too.

And now I just need to find someone to come over and drink some Kool-Aid with me. Any takers? :-)

Patience is not a virtue I possess...

So I'm sitting in the floor, flipping through my circulars and WHAT should I find but a coupon for $10 off $50 BP or Shell giftcard purchased from Publix!

So, as it seems, if I had remained true to my initial experiment, I would have been rewarded with this prize!

As it is, I'm buying them anyway! Who doesn't want to save $10.00 on gas???

So, I'll be following the original rules, but without my integrity intact. LOL Oh well.

Oddly, I feel a little like I've been taught some sort of Sunday School lesson.

Day 1: The Journey Commences -

and local business pays the price.

The experiment started today with a bang. As you all know (as I have repeated it ad nauseam), this experiment is really a study in couponing and the culture that goes along with it. For the next 30 days (well, 29.5), I cannot buy anything without a coupon for said item. And never more have I wished to have a coupon than today when I took the baby to the new storytime at our local coffee shop. This coffee shop is great - they make everything in house and it's all natural. They serve a lot of gluten-free and sugar-free items, and they make some of the tastiest cakes you've ever had. And don't get me started on the Chocolatte...so yum! So it was shear torture to go to the coffee shop today, enjoy the storytime (which comes with A FREE COOKIE IN THE SHAPE OF A CHARACTER!), and not be able to have a yummy coffee drink or grab breakfast there in the form of one of their awesome muffins.

If this were just Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks, I wouldn't have felt so bad for not being able to participate. Those places have plenty of business without me, and while I'm happy to see them both when I need a cup of coffee, I am invested in the success of this coffee shop because it is in MY neighborhood and is locally owned and operated! Besides, those other places DO have coupons. As a matter of fact, I have enough DD coupons (thanks in part to my good friend who sent me some!) to get me through any latte cravings I might have for the whole experimental period. But that just doubles the guilt!

I think I should have enlisted some sponsors for my favorite local businesses so that I would know someone would be going and buying products from my favorite places while I couldn't! Wouldn't that be something? "Take my place as a customer and try this shop/product/etc. while I can't and we hope you'll enjoy it so much you'll keep coming back!" Oh man - corporate sponsorship. That's what I'm missing! :-)

In other news - I got my circulars for the week late last night, so I have got to spend some time tonight going through them with my coupons to match up what we need, what I have, and what deals are on. I'm looking forward to a month of interesting discoveries: New products, tests of brand loyalty, learning about making less waste, cooking more at home and finding out if the name brand really IS better than the generic. Thanks for joining me!

2 hours to go and a rule change...

I am seriously so nervous about this project that I can't believe it! I had Ben buy me dinner out tonight because I wanted one last awesome meal. LOL They got the order wrong, though, so it was just an ok meal. *sigh*

I've been doing a lot of thinking, and I'm hoping this won't change many things about the project, but I have decided that I am not putting the gasoline restriction on myself. For one thing, 30 days on one tank of gas is a long time, even for someone who doesn't have a regular commute. If I'm going to be able to effectively utilize all my coupons, I have to be able to get to all the stores in my area. And selfishly, I want to be able to go visit my mama when my husband goes out of town for a full week. She misses this baby, and can't get off work anytime soon. So.

I'm still struggling over this decision, as if it totally negates my goal, but it really doesn't. And I'm still going to keep track of these things so I can discuss these things with you. And I'm still waiting to hear from you on some challenges that I can work towards! Hit me with your best shot! I'll try my best to achieve it, coupons at the ready :-D

Wish me luck...I think I'll need it!

The Countdown Begins

Since Project Coupon will be commencing in T-36 or so hours, you would think that I would have celebrated Independence Day as one of my few remaining days independent from coupon only shopping, making crazy purchases with wild abandon and nary a coupon in sight. But like the athlete who must train in order to do well in competition, I was practicing a lot of couponing over the 4th of July weekend so that I could make sure that when Wednesday morning rolls around, I am fully and completely up for the challenge.

I will admit that I took a couple of days off from training. On Friday the 3rd, we invited friends over to enjoy some delicious burgers from our grill and those burgers were made with meat and cheese from local farms. I've gotten quite accustomed to purchasing our fresh meats, cheeses and veg from our local farmers (our favorite farmer is literally 10 minutes from our house and their products are pesticide, antibiotic and hormone free to boot!) and this is going to be one of the MAJOR things I miss during the next 30 days. The "Locavore" movement is something I support and embrace, so not being able to participate in that for the next month is hurting my feelings!

Saturday the fourth we perused the weekly sales at Target (husband was in the market for some pants we had seen on sale the Sunday prior) and ended up buying our fireworks on the way home. What a tragedy for me if I had already been in full coupon mode, to have to have my infant daughter's first Fourth of July celebration sans sparklers!!! As it was, she fell asleep long before it was dark enough to partake of the sparkly goodness, and shockingly slept through our neighbor's bottle rocket wars that occurred right outside her window. She gets that from her dad. But we did get to use a coupon on Saturday, and a big one at that! In an attempt to clean out my email inbox (I think I had 580 unread messages at this point!), I found that Ruby Tuesday was offering a buy one entree, get one free coupon for that one day only! Providence! I had no dinner plans since I was being a lazy holiday reveler, so off we went to get our free entree! I love the salad bar at Ruby Tuesday, so the payoff was double for me: Since I always buy an entree that offers the salad bar as a side, I eat a big, giant salad with my dinner in the restaurant and then no more than half my "real" dinner. I get to pack up the dinner leftovers to take home and voila! I had a nice dinner on Sunday night, too! I think the best thing about this is knowing that we will probably be able to score at least one dinner out during the course of the experiment, which I will be looking forward to with great pleasure! Nobody likes to feel deprived!

Sunday the fifth found me back in full couponing mode, as I awaited my Sunday paper so I could spend my afternoon clipping and sorting. Sadly, the holidays always seem to bring a low number of coupons in the paper, and this holiday was no exception, having only one Proctor and Gamble circular. Don't get me wrong; if I need shampoo, conditioner, shaving cream, razors, detergent, stain stick, etc. in the next 30 days, I am SO covered. But I was disappointed not to have a banner week of coupon gathering before the big game started on Wednesday. But that's ok...I'll get the chance to scour the internet and make sure I am not missing out on anything good before I go through my new circulars that start on Wednesday.

My last couponless oats are being sown as I type; I am on a mini-vacay with my husband and daughter to see my best friend who has come within three hours of our house for a family reunion. The opportunity to see here doesn't come around that often, and I take it whenever I can. This trip was the real reason the experiment starts Wednesday; I wanted to challenge myself with the experiment but I did not want to punish myself. And I have to admit: I'm starting to get nervous. I want to do well. I feel like I'm taking a final exam or an interim class where you have to do all the work in 1/3 the time. I want to stick to the rules. I am afraid I will just flat out forget one day that I am doing this and buy something that I don't have a coupon for. Or that I'll just get hungry for a meal that doesn't come out of my kitchen or that isn't pasta or some other meatless item and so I'll just say "Damn it all!" and go out for pizza. The other thing I am worried about is feeling like I'm missing out; My family visits our local downtown farmer's market every Saturday. It's a ritual. We get up early, go have breakfast, buy our local products and then I coupon our side dishes and make our meal plans for the week. I always get an iced coffee from the local roaster and we stroll along our merry way. I missed out on the market a lot last year because our childbirth classes were held on Saturday mornings to accommodate my husband's work schedule, and while I actually enjoyed those classes, I truly missed our Saturday ritual of going to the market. I know it's just four Saturdays, but it's FOUR Saturdays. You know?

I think I'll take advantage of "being on vacation" and turn in early tonight. I can hear the baby in the alcove restless and I want to make sure that I have enough energy to get through tomorrow with activities and travel back home.