Couponing!

Up until recently, the extent of my couponing efforts were Groupon and LivingSocial. I felt like clipping coupons was more effort than it was worth because so many coupons are for non-vegan food. I don't buy frozen meals, yogurt, pre-packaged foods like mac & cheese or hamburger helper, candy, potato chips. I also don't buy non-vegan body products like Garnier or Suave or their competitors.

And then summertime came, and although I saved some money prior to summer vacation and am babysitting part-time, my cash flow is quickly dwindling. This has caused me to re-evaluate my spending habits, which weren't out of control to begin with, but there's always room for improvement, right? So I decided to revisit the idea of couponing. I figure, $.50 here and $1 there will add up, especially if you can take advantage of coupon doubling and catch things on sale. And any money I manage to save is better in my pocket than anyone else's pocket.

So now, I hunt for coupons online while I watch TV. I know I'll never reach Extreme Couponing status, but it's a start. I check out coupon databases such as coupons.com, redplum.com, mambosprouts.com, and smartsource.com. I also Google search stores I shop at and brands I buy. Sometimes, manufacturers like Silk offer coupons if you sign up for their newsletter. And if you're lucky and have a really cool mom, she'll sign up, too, and pass her coupons along to you.

Here are some coupons I've recently come across. Happy couponing!

Lightlife - $1 off
Earth Balance - $1 off
Nylabone - $2 off

I used the Nylabone coupon today at PetsMart, who is having a huge sale for PetPerks members! Between the sale and the coupon, I got over $4 off a bag of dental chews for Dakota. I also picked up an insanely cute new toy and bath sponge (yes, I've essentially bought a loofah for my dog), both of which were more than half off in the clearance bin.