With baby numero cinco on the way, I decided to do something potentially useful. Today marked my first foray into the world of couponing. Scaaarrrryyy shit.

I am not a couponing expert. In fact, I have no flippin’ idea what I’m doing, to the point that I selected “clip all” from Coupons.com and watched in horror as it nom’d 80 sheets of paper. Whoops.

Well, today I needed laundry detergent. I decided now or never and checked the coupons I have. $5 off your first web pick-up order at Walgreens. Sounds good! But none of the coupons I had matched the detergent on sale at Walgreens. Booo.

Next stop, the circular. Arm & Hammer detergent is 50% off, and I managed to find a coupon for $1 off 3 bottles. I made up the difference on what I needed to get the $5 off by putting some Huggies diapers in the basket. Those were $2.50 off per pack, and I had a $3 off 2 coupon.

Total without sales/coupons: $44.95
Total after sales: $29.45
Total after coupons: $20.45
Total savings: $24.50

While I don’t expect to be on an episode of Extreme Couponing anytime soon, my initial adventure was a decent success, with a 55% savings. I’ll be trying to keep a more organized system and an eye on the fliers, as my next goal is to tackle Target’s gift card offer: purchase 2 large packages of diapers and receive a $10 gift card. Without any adjustments, that’s $60 out of pocket, so I’d like so see how low I can get it.