Coupon Stories – The Thrifty Running Dad

Pulling The Plug

I know a lot of families that are always trying to find new ways to save money. Since I started couponing to save my family money, it has become more of an obsession than anything. Now all I am constantly doing is looking for great deals on anything that may benefit my family.

I have read a few blogs about becoming a frugal family. I found an entry about a year ago that was written by a mom who only has a budget of $50 a month. That includes gas, food, and clothes. Now I don’t want to be on “Extreme Cheapskates” anytime soon but I really have an issue paying full price for things. I am not so frugal that I will start washing my clothes in my dirty bath water. That is just disgusting.

One of the other blog entries I read about was from a dad who unplugged his families cable and now they are a strict Netflix family. This got me thinking. Should I cut the cord on my cable to save some money. At the moment my satellite bill is at $108 and I feel that it is a little too much to pay for entertainment.

It seems that the streaming option is becoming most popular in my generation. Everyone is has Netflix and Hulu Plus. I do in addition to my satellite service. I love using Hulu Plus when I am running on the treadmill to catch up on those shows I missed and I love Netflix for their original programing like House of Cards. Now I found out that HBO is launching their own streaming service and I am very tempted to get it. I love Game of Thrones just like the other millions of people around the world. Streaming just seems the way the world is going now.

So my question to all those frugal parents out there is what do you think I should do? Should I lower my package to the basic channel selections or should I just cut it all off and live by the “streaming method”? Any thoughts and concerns are welcomed at this point.

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This Weeks Coupon Trips 1/26 To 1/30

So after I order my four sets of inserts last week, I knew that this week the grocery stores were going to have a lot of good sales and I wanted to make sure that I got absolutely everything I needed. This week there was a P&G, two Red Plum inserts, and a Smart Source insert. These were load with great coupons for stuff I really needed to stock up on at my house. After a long day of cutting, sorting and stacking I was ready to hit the stores!

The first stop was Bi-Lo. I love this store cause not only do they double coupons but they take competitor coupons to. I did not really have a lot to get here. They had a great deal on Sweet Bay Ray’s BBQ sauce so I stocked up. I found a great recipe for some crockpot BBQ chicken that I want to make next week. More on the soon. They also had a great sale on ketchup so I grabbed a bottle.

Bi-Lo Trip
Store Savings- $11.71
Coupon Savings- $4.00
Total Saving- $15.71
Total Purchase- $9.37

After leaving there I headed over to Walmart to stock up on some toothpaste and mouthwash along with some dish soap.

Walmart Trip
Coupon Savings- $11.50
Original Total- $37.79
New Total- $26.29

I have never been really good at couponing at Walmart. Maybe it’s the fact that I hate that store so much. Its more than likely the most hated store by my family and I. I feel like it’s a trap. You walk in and get you stuff and walk to the front and there is 30 registers and only 2 are opened. WTH? Really? Anyways, back to the task at hand.

The next store I went into was Food Lion. They had a killer sale on ground turkey for $2.99 a pack and that’s all my family eats. Last time they had this sale I bought $20 worth of meat and we still have a few packs I. The freezer now. This was a stock up trip with no coupons required.

Food Lion Trip
Total- $16.28
Store Savings- $4.00
New Total- $12.20

After that trip I was on fire with only one store left to go. My favorite store which is Harris Teeter. They double coupons and almost always have the best deals on meat and other essentials. I went in with Miley coupons ready to get some hot dogs, Pringles and some frozen pretzel dogs. They even had a killer deal on Digiorno Frozen pizza that with a coupon was $2.97 each with a limit of 2. That’s a steal.

Harris Teeter Trip
Store Savings- $27.88
Coupon Savings- 34.18
Total- $27.35

I thought I was done until I got a email for some additional sales at Harris Teeter. So I got ready this morning and head to the store. It was my favorite kind of trip cause the sale was so good I did not need any coupons. Harris Teeter also had a sale on their HT Trader Valentine’s Day candy box. Regular retail price was $11.99 and it was on sale for $0.99 with no limit.

2nd Harris Teeter Trip
Total Savings- $117.56
Total- $38.04

With all the couponing I did this week my wife and I had a long discussion about how much stuff we had. We had so much body wash, toothpaste and mouthwash it was insane. I had to store them in the laundry room closet. So now my wife and I decided to take a little bit of break from stocking up so much and use a little bit of what we have. I will still coupon but not as much as have (Unless the sale is too good to pass up).

This Weeks Totals
Money Spent- $113.25
Money Saved- $171.24