MORE ADVENTURES IN COUPONING! SMALLER STORES VERSUS BIG BOX RETAILERS

Have had a busy couple of weeks.  We've been short handed at work, so I've been picking up extra hours there.  Also sold off a few shares of non performing stocks and put the money to better use paying off some high interest debt.  I'm on schedule to have all my debt paid off by the end of next year, at the latest.  So I'm pretty happy about that.  As it is my free cash flow has increased dramatically from the debt payoffs. 

I've also been busy with my couponing.  In the 2 1/2 months I've been matching coupons with store sales I've managed to build a sizable stockpile of household and personal care products.  I now have enough surplus to help supply 3 additional households.  It really feels good to be able to assist others, something I could not afford much of before using coupons.

On my most recent trips to the grocery store I saved 40 and 42% off my grocery bill.  On my latest Sunday shopping trip to Walgreens I was able to purchase $115 worth of merchandise for $49 with the use manufacturers coupons.  Where shopping used to be a chore for me, I find now that I'm excited to go to the store.  Can't wait to see what kind of deals I'll find next!

One thing that has really surprised me is that I'm doing a lot less shopping at the big box retailers.  I always assumed they had the lowest prices overall.  While this is true of some of the items they carry, I've found that I'm getting much better deals at the grocery stores and Walgreens than I was getting by shopping Kmart, Walmart or Target.  I'm sure it depends on what you buy most, but in my case, I'm doing less and less shopping at the big discount stores and more of my shopping at the smaller establishments.  In my area, the customer service at the smaller stores blows the big boys out of the water.  I'm not sure why this is, but I find my shopping trips much more enjoyable in the smaller stores.