Fads never last

I paid $10 to attend a coupon workshop. I left feeling inspired that I would feed my family for $2.50/week and never pay for toothpaste again.

I have been faithful to buy my newspaper every week, I have been faithful to watch the workshop lady's website (which is very helpful) and jump on the deals, I have been faithful to stick to my budget. Yet weekly expenses have yet to dip below my self-imposed weekly limit. In fact, I have exceeded my limit- more than once, with all the things I've felt compelled to buy because it was on sale and I had a coupon.

And then came Christmas and New Years and I was too slap worn out to worry with coupons so I took a week off. Guess what, that week I was $40 under budget. Then the next week I was $20 under budget. Besides actually accomplishing my goal of reducing my weekly shopping expenses, I found that I shopped faster because I wasn't having to be so precise with my selections ( "this coupon is only good for the 6 oz bottle, but not the 4 oz, 8 oz, or 10 oz and it has to be the yellow bottle not the pink or green") and my helpers and I were all a lot happier when we left the store.

For those of you who can shop and buy $50 worth of stuff for 14 cents, I admire and applaud you. But I am quickly coming to the realization that I can't be you.

For me and where I am in life, the cost of organizing, sorting, clipping, shopping, storing, stressing, straining, far outweighs the savings.