If you’d like to share your story, I’d love to hear from you. Please email me at centsable.katherine[at]gmail.com. More details are at the end of this post.
Take One
Since the beginning of our marriage, money had always been tight for my husband and me. I worked full time and put him through college, and later we both worked to put him through flight school. I was careful with our money, and I always tried to get the best deals possible on everything from groceries to clothing. I shopped sales, and I loved buying my clothes at outlet malls and saving 75% off of retail.
I remember once seeing a lady on the news who used coupons to save around 90% on her groceries. I was quick to think, “I can do that!” So I got a newspaper subscription and started trying. Within a couple of months I realized that I had no idea what I was doing and that without having someone to teach me how to properly “coupon” it wasn’t worth my time.
Take Two
About a year later I attended a class at my church where some ladies taught the group how to coupon effectively by getting multiple copies of the Sunday paper, combining them with sales, using a few websites to match up coupons and sales and stocking up on items that I would need in the future. I worked hard at it, and pretty soon I was compiling a good supply of food storage without spending very much money.
A few weeks after I had my second child, my husband and I packed our belongings and moved from highly affordable Utah to extremely expensive Alaska. There were no websites with Alaska food prices and deals listed, and food cost almost double what it did in Utah. I clearly remember my first grocery trip after we moved and how overwhelmed I felt as I walked through the store with my coupon caddy. I was lost, I was intimidated by the food prices and I felt alone because there was no one doing the price sale/coupon match-ups for me. I quickly gave up couponing altogether and just tried to buy items on sale as much as I could.
Take Three: Success!
Then, about eight months ago, I walked into Carrs Safeway and noticed that they had a promotion running where if you spend $30 on certain items you get $15 back on your next purchase. This was the first time I had noticed any type of deal like that in Alaska, and I decided to take advantage. I went home to print off all of the applicable coupons I could hunt down, and I returned to the store to do several transactions and ended up getting a lot of food and diapers for very little cost. Then that sweet rush returned: the thrill of the hunt, the excitement at saving a large amount of money. Oh, how I had missed that feeling! I decided then and there to do my best to save all I could every time I shopped.
I read blogs and sites from the lower 48 to get what little direction and inspiration I could, but I usually just ended up feeling frustrated because our prices are so much higher, our stores run different promotions and nowhere in Alaska doubles coupons. Ever. However, I continued to work at it and match the sales and coupons up myself and as my friends and family saw some of the deals I was able to dig up I would get requests to show them how I did it. From those requests grew AlaskaCouponDiva.com. I have a friend who was always trying to find the best deals on everything, and I knew she would be a great partner to have if we wanted to make the blog truly helpful for our readers.
There are many things I love about saving money and being able to store up a lot of food inexpensively. First of all, with a small grocery budget to begin with this allows us to eat better and healthier food while spending less money than before. I also believe that the concept of food storage is an incredibly important one. By stocking up on items while they are on sale, I am able to save by not spending full price when I need that item. Couponing and stocking up on food can allow people to be more self sufficient financially and reduce the need for them to use family, church and the governments to help make ends meet. I know that receiving help is sometimes necessary but I also believe it can be incredibly empowering to learn that you can do it on your own, once you learn how. We have several months of food stored up in our garage, and it is so comforting to know that if some sort of disaster were to hit (another volcano or earthquake?) and we could no longer receive shipments of food to Alaska or if my husband were to lose his job, we would still have food to eat without spending money.
Each week I feature a different shopper’s story. Centsable Savings Stories are the stories of people just like you who are working toward reducing their budgets, bargain hunting, living a more frugal lifestyle and constantly learning along the way. If you are interested in sharing your family’s successes and struggles, please contact me at centsable.katherine[at]gmail [dot]com. Bloggers and non-bloggers are both welcome to participate. Click here to read the stories of shoppers featured in the past.
