Six Bucks

Am I the only person on the planet that watches Extreme Couponing on TLC? I think I've asked almost every single person I know, and each time they look at me like, "Say-wha?" Well, if you've never heard of it, you should at least check out the website. These people are freaking amazing. They will go into a store, buy 1000 dollars worth of groceries, and only pay like 15 bucks. Yes, you read that right. $1000 = $15. Now, if your mind hasn't sufficiently been blown, please discontinue reading. Also, I don't think we can be friends any more.

Let's just say it. I'm obsessed.

I want to be a couponer! Well, the thing is, I've wanted to be a couponer for a while...I've been watching the show for weeks now, but I keep forgetting. See, the best coupons come in the Sunday paper.

I don't get the Sunday paper. You see my problem.

So last Sunday night was a lazy kind of Sunday night. I was partaking in some light channel surfing when I stumbled upon a rerun of Extreme Couponing. I watched for a while, marveling at the genius of the show, when suddenly, that eye-blinding 'idea' light bulb just popped right over my head.

Today is Sunday. Sunday papers. Sunday papers have coupons.

It may have been almost 10:00 at night, but it still was Sunday, and the second gas station we tried had a few StarTribunes left. It was a glorious feeling holding those fresh coupons in my hands. "I can be just like the people on the show! I can save thousands! I can have my very own stockpile! I will never have to pay retail for a household or grocery item again!" I cut, I calculated, I scoured weekly ads. And this is what I saved on my weekly grocery trip yesterday...

Six bucks.

Go ahead. Laugh. It is pretty amazing how incompetent with numbers I am. I really should participate in some sort of research study or something.

Well, at least my savings made up for the $2 the Sunday paper cost. And six bucks is six bucks. So, I'm not giving up. I'm going to keep trying, because the thought of saving all that money is just too enticing. And I am not a quitter! Okay, I am a huge quitter, but I'm really going to try and stick this one out, and now my promise is all over the internet, so there's no going back now. (But just in case, I will delete this post and it will be forever erased from all of your memories. That's how the internet works, right?)

So, maybe someday I'll never pay retail again.

But not today, because I'm heading to Target and I could really go for some of those frosted animal crackers. And I don't have a coupon for that.