The Great 2011 Coupon Challenge

(AKA: TG2011CC)
I have a confession to make: I use coupons for everything! Groceries, clothing, restaurants, housewares, health and beauty supplies, haircuts, oil changes for the car, etc. – you name it, if there’s a coupon for it, I’ll find it!

All of this couponing has me wondering: How much do we save in an average year by using coupons as often as possible? So … I’ve decided that, for the year 2011, I’m going to setup a spreadsheet and begin tracking every single coupon we use – for anything – and record just how much we save by being coupon users.

I will have three separate spreadsheets: one for groceries, one for clothing, and one for everything else. The spreadsheets will be fairly detailed. (Why yes, I am a bit obsessive – why do you ask?)

Groceries – Because I also use a loyalty card at my favorite grocery store, as well as coupons, I’m going to track the savings of both. I’m going to indicate the amount of each individual coupon, the amount doubled, total coupon savings, total loyalty card savings and finally, the total of what we actually spent.

Clothing - A couple of things about clothing: First of all, I will admit it – I am an absolute clothes horse. I love them, and buy a lot of them. A lot. The other half of that equation is that I will never buy clothing unless it is on sale. I don’t buy it because it’s on sale, but I will never pay full price for any piece of clothing I buy. So for the clothing spreadsheet, I’m going to indicate original price of the item, the clearance price, total coupon savings, total overall savings, and then the total of what we actually paid.

Everything Else – For all other purchases (restaurant, housewares, oil changes, haircuts, etc.), I will indicate what the original price was, total coupon savings, and then the total of what we actually spent.

I think that will pretty much cover just about everything. I’m very excited about this! In fact, I’m so excited that I don’t think I can wait until January to begin. Therefore, so that I can get myself in the mindset, I’m going to begin right now. I figure that it will be a good motivator – not to mention it will give me practice before I actually begin TG2011CC. I can hardly wait to see the savings add up! So that I can visually track it, I’m going to add a ticker. You’ll see it just off to the right hand side. Anyone want to join me?