DH moved back here in 2007, it took him a while to find a job. I came here in Sept 2008 after waiting 18 months for my visa. The first trip to the grocery store, I spent nearly $300 getting groceries and supplies! I realized that with me not working and relying on DH's salary, we would be on tight budget!
We don't have coupons or much marketing promotions like this sort in Malaysia. My first introduction to coupons was during my first trip to Walgreen! DH got a bottle of Fructis shampoo on sale for $2.99(he thought that's a good price!), the old lady cashier who checked us out said I have a $1 coupon for you, so we paid $1.99 + tax for a bottle of shampoo, what a good deal! Only if I knew!!
I thought it's not a bad idea to save some money by cutting the coupons that came free with newspapers. So I got the newspaper inserts from in laws and started cutting out coupons for items that we do buy and threw away what we don't use.
A month later, I read an article in our local daily featured a story about 2 coupon shoppers who got EVERYTHING for free (Kay a.k.a. Avidreader is on CW). I followed the links provided at the end of the article to HCW and AFC. Later I Googled for Jewel Osco deals and found CW. The rest is history...
I have worked my entire adult life and take pride in being the hard working "Hakka". Not able to find a job here in US and staying home is not my choice. All the planning and hard work I do before shopping keep me busy and sane.
I like the fact that coupon shopping help us to be more generous than we could afford without all this crazy deals. We supply groceries and toiletries to DH's parents who helped us out a lot when DH first moved back here looking for a job.
We don't have coupons or much marketing promotions like this sort in Malaysia. My first introduction to coupons was during my first trip to Walgreen! DH got a bottle of Fructis shampoo on sale for $2.99(he thought that's a good price!), the old lady cashier who checked us out said I have a $1 coupon for you, so we paid $1.99 + tax for a bottle of shampoo, what a good deal! Only if I knew!!
I thought it's not a bad idea to save some money by cutting the coupons that came free with newspapers. So I got the newspaper inserts from in laws and started cutting out coupons for items that we do buy and threw away what we don't use.
A month later, I read an article in our local daily featured a story about 2 coupon shoppers who got EVERYTHING for free (Kay a.k.a. Avidreader is on CW). I followed the links provided at the end of the article to HCW and AFC. Later I Googled for Jewel Osco deals and found CW. The rest is history...
I have worked my entire adult life and take pride in being the hard working "Hakka". Not able to find a job here in US and staying home is not my choice. All the planning and hard work I do before shopping keep me busy and sane.
I like the fact that coupon shopping help us to be more generous than we could afford without all this crazy deals. We supply groceries and toiletries to DH's parents who helped us out a lot when DH first moved back here looking for a job.