Mom Feeds Family of Six on About $4 a Week

[Mahogany Momma]

Last night I was channel surfing and came across this story on ABC News Now: Mom Feeds Family of Six on About $4 a Week.

I had a looooooooooong discussion about this with my hubby who thought I was exaggerating. He couldn't believe, until I pulled up the video and showed him the story. You can watch the video too [click here] and read the whole story on ABC News Now.

She had some interesting coupon saving tips. Definitely something worth looking at if you are a mom or dad looking to tighten your budget and make the most of the money you currently have.

[C_Beyondlimits]

I've considered doing that.. but it takes discipline to build up a stock-pile of foods in order to be able to "save" like that. They never tell how much money she had to spend to get her momentum going.. or inventory built up. They give exaggerated figures by leaving out information. These CouponMoms are usually buying multiple copies of newspapers for duplicate coupons. Some of those coupon sites where you get the big discounts charge a monthly fee (sometimes per grocery store.. 1 fee for Walmart, 1 fee for Kroger, etc.). It gets even deeper. These coupon sites/companies make deals with the grocery stores that will have crazy rules... for instance, saying that customers can have X-item for . 49 each if 15 items are purchased. Overall.. it was really too complicated and time consuming for me.

There are vids on youtube of moms who do this regularly. If it's something you feel you can do, there are some great tips/links there. Just search for Couponing or Coupon Moms.

[Mahogany Momma]

Thanks for the breakdown... that takes care of some of the question my hubby had. I was curious to see the youtube vidoes so I just did a search. If you are curious, you all can find this videos here click [coupon moms].

LaShanda Henry | http://mom.msoyonline.com

[Courtney Artis]

I'm a mom of six and coupon clipper myself. I can spend about $75 and get food to feed us all 8 of us for 2 weeks. I only purchase 2 papers a week and I use tons of FREE websites to print coupons. I also go to a FREE mom coupon exchange once a month. We swap coupons with one another. It does take an extra hour a week including clipping and smart shopping. I have not encountered any crazy rules or fees. If your household budget needs tightening and there is an extra hour in your week, its worth the time. Look for a coupon class in the area.

[C_Beyondlimits]

I don't doubt that there are lots of FREE options for CouponMoms... but the whole "$4 a week" thing includes those "crazy rules" that I mentioned before. $75 for 8 is good... but a far cry from $4.

I'm not trying to say that it doesn't help... but if you do it expecting to spend that magical $4... you will be disappointed.

[Ether64]

I tried this too. Yes, you can save a lot of money, but the question is, how much do you value your health? Note that everything she was purchasing was all processed foods; things that have chemicals and fillers and preservatives so that they can be stored for great lengths of time. Those sorts of food are unnatural, and is the leading cause of obesity and disease in this country. They fill your body with toxins and debilitate your immune system which is the body's defense against invaders.

So while this is a very practical, money saving approach, I don't go for it because it is just not a healthy route. Additionally, it is not a couple of hours involved. It is multiple hours involved in searching for and clipping coupons; organizing and storing them; and if she is utilizing a coupon saver website, she also has to download the coupons, as well as pay a fee for the shopping lists for whatever stores she is shopping at. The site I used charged $5 per list for an 8 week list. Again, cost wise, this is an efficient system, but time wise and health wise, it is not. Peace and blessings.

Sandy
www.4life.com