Do you coupon?

I just wanted to share what I've been up to around my house the past little bit. I think the subject of finances is or can be a sensitive subject to talk about. The truth is I think a lot of people are in hard times financially. I know for our own family we've been dealing with financial struggles for the past four years. We've gone through 3 job losses in two and half years and what savings we did have was quickly used up. We've added children along the way which as you know adds to the list of expenses you need to plan for. With our situation is isn't possible and doesn't make sense for me to work outside of our home. I've been on the look out for a stay at home job that I could do on the computer, while still being able to care for our children, but lets be honest those jobs are hard to come by. We've long ago cut out all those little extra things like cable, eating out whenever we want, picking up that cute shirt because it's on sale and all the many other various activities that sometimes you just don't think about...you go do it because you want to. We've really had to buckle down and say, "Is this something that we want or need? Can we really afford it?" Now I don't want this to be a downer post. I have so much that I'm grateful for and know that I've learned a lot through these trials. I also know that my family has been blessed with help along the way to get us where we are today and to help us make it each day, week and month with the things that we need. Now you know I'm a thrifty girl especially when it comes to furniture, decorating or any kind of craft project. I love make things myself and saving money in the process and I'm always looking for new ways to save our family money. I've never been big into couponing as far as groceries or personal needs items or everyday household items go. I had no idea what you can really do to save yourself a big chunk of money. I've clipped coupons that have come in the mail and I check my weekly adds and do price matching at my local Wal-mart, but there is so much more that I could have been doing! And I've only just begun and need a lot of tips and tricks! I recently came across the site Freebies 2 Deals and started reading up on the different deals that were posted and what you have to do to get those deals or free items. Um...it's AMAZING what you can get!

Check out my shopping trip to Smith's today.

Total cost after tax $12.14. This was in 2 separate transactions using my fresh values card and then my husbands fresh values card using store sale price, ecoupons and a P&G promotional event. Now do you want to know how much I saved? Of course you do! The total would have been $44.30 before tax! Seriously did you know you could do this? It's amazing!

Another great deal I found a couple months ago was on Crest toothpaste 6.4 oz tubes on sale for $.99. Great deal so when I was at Wal-mart...I'm swear I'm there at least once a week I decided to price match it and found these:

Bonus packages each with a free travel size toothpaste. I was feeling really about this deal and grabbed a bunch to stock up. Then when I got home and opened the box I found a $.75 off coupon. Now you're guessing what comes next...use the $.75 off coupon on top of the sale price of $.99 and you get a total of $.24 for a Crest 6.4 oz tube and a travel size tube of toothpaste. Now that's a steal!!!! Can you tell I was really proud of myself? I think this little experience has been my driving factor to learn to coupon!

So my questions for you: Do you coupon? What have you found the best deals on and how? Any helpful tricks or tips that you've learned? I'd love to hear anything you got to get me on my way! 

By the way if you don't coupon and want to learn more, Melea at Freebies 2 Deals has started a fresh start series to introduce what she does and how to do. I'm not in any way getting compensated for promoting Freebies 2 Deals, but really you need to check it out! Enjoy!