Is it worth it?

Lately I have joined the throngs of thousands of housewives throughout Utah in clipping coupons and rushing grocery stores for amazing deals. I have never done this but my mom started doing it a little while ago and I was amazed at the deals she was getting. I had also read several articles in the paper about how much money people are saving and what a blessing it is for them because they are able to build their food storage at a fraction of the cost. I started out with my pinkie toe in the water- a few Costco coupons. It felt good to get $8 off a box of diapers. Then I started to pull the Sunday coupons and snip out a few here and there. Well- here it is a few months later and now I am a maniac. I anxiously await the Sunday paper wondering what kind of surprise I will find, I love Tuesdays when the grocery stores send out their new ads for the week, and I LOVE to brag to Jake when I get a box of cereal for .30. I have heard stories of women being banned from stores, women actually making money doing this, and women who feed their family on close to $50 for a month. This all sounded crazy but I found myself aspiring to be like them. All that changed Saturday. I was thrilled to walk into Smiths that day because I had my list, my coupons, and a bright hope that they were going to somehow pay me to take the groceries out of the store that day. I had carefully calculated and knew the exact brand, ounce, and quantity of each item on that list. As I made my way to the check stand I started to scan the lines trying to find one on the end that was not too long. I usually go for the end hoping that not too many people will line up behind me. I always feel bad when I hold people up while they are scanning my coupons in but it normally only takes about a minute. I looked and looked and there was no short line to be found. That is what I get for going to the store on the Saturday before memorial day. Everyone's cart was loaded with beer and hot dogs and here I was with baby food and ranch dressing. When I finally got to the lady, there were 4 people waiting behind me. As the checker finished scanning my items, I handed her my stack of coupons and I got a look that I thought only the devil could throw out. Along with look of death I received behind the stand, I also received three very loud sighs behind me in line. I had officially become that women. The one that people avoid at all costs. The one that people will opt to put their food back instead of having to wait in line behind. I was immediately embarrassed and just hoped she would hurry and scan my coupons and I could be on my way. Things never work out as we hope, do they? I don't know if she was an inept checker or it was her first day on the job but she could not get the stupid coupons to scan in. She kept trying and she finally gave up and started to manually type in each coupon. Imagine my horror- manually typing each one! I could see the people behind my start to shift with impatience and with every shift came a new sigh of impatience. I kept praying that her fingers would sprout wings and start to fly about the keyboard but the more I hoped the more it seemed her fingers were weighed down with bricks. I was just waiting for the annoucement to come over he intercom- "Attention shoppers, for your time and conveinence, please steer your carts away from lane 10 while we sort out a coupon fiasco with one of our more difficult shoppers. We appreciate your business and thank you for shopping at Smiths". I wanted to make all the pain stop and tell her not to worry about it but I did not want to let all those coupons go. There was about $25 in savings total. So, I settled in and let her type. I just kept telling myself that this comes witht the territory and I should have expected this eventually. She finally finished, totaled my groceries, and let me leave without any further incident. I grumbled my way out of the store and swore to myself that I would never use coupons again- then I looked at my receipt and smiled. Oh, I will use coupons again. I certainly will continue to "clip and save", I get too much of a thrill from it. I will just not clip and save on a Saturday afternoon before a holiday.

The fruits of my labor. Total??? $4.63!!!!

Memorial Day weekend

Congratulations to Chad. He graduated from University of Utah med school. He is officially a doctor!

It was fun to see aunt brittany!

Mason loves aunt kelsey!

Visiting grandma Larue's grave. This is a tradition that I look forward to every year!

Grandma's favorite past time.

Kari- you still have the touch

It was so fun to see Ethan and Garrison

And of course, Brady.