So, I usually get pretty good deals combining coupons with sales at the grocery store, and it helps our grocery budget stay reasonable. But, I recently switched my salary from a 10 month pay schedule to a 12 month schedule, which means that I will now get paid all year long (and not have to rely so heavily on summer school), but my monthly take home pay is about $400 less. Which... is a lot. Especially considering that we were barely making it before. It means that one of my bi-weekly pay checks does not even cover our rent. And we have to rely more on Tom's part time job, my part time jobs (I have three extra jobs this year!), and budget cuts. So, I have been doing more research on couponing, instead of just relying on the grocery game, and man, there are a lot of blogs out there! They are really helpful at finding the best deals at CVS, Walgreens and Target, as well as finding the best printable coupons. And just by following them for the past 2-3 months, my savings have dramatically increased. And my stockpile is huge (I don't have to buy cereal, coffee or deodorant for a loooong time).

I saw the results of this today when I bought everything I needed at Vons, and my total came to $12.80. Even with coupons, it is tough to keep my weekly Vons bill lower than $50. Usually, it is more like $70-80. So $12.80 is unreal. My favorite part about it is that I got everything that we needed for the week(except for milk, which I bought at CVS), in addition to a few really good deals (like a free glade candle and refill pack). I will probably stop by another store this week to get produce, but other than that, we are set.

Here are the results of today's shopping trip at Vons:

• 2 lbs Brown Sugar
• 2 bags of tortilla chips (for taco salads)
  
• 1 box Cheez-it whole grain crackers
• 1 box saltine crackers (for my mom's famous parmesan chicken)
• 1 box whole grain spaghetti
• 1 bag frozen vegetables
• 12 cups yoplait light yogurt
• 1 32 oz bottle Coffeemate creamer
• 1 loaf sara lee soft and smooth whole wheat bread
• 1 Glade candle tin
• 1 Glade candle refill

Club card savings: $18.96
Coupons: $16.81
Total: $12:80

It takes a lot of work, and I know that not everyone actually has fun putting this much work into couponing and saving money... but since I actually do enjoy it, seeing it pay off like this is a lot of fun. And a nice break from grading papers :)