One of my memories as a child, is watching my father clip coupons from the Sunday paper. I still remember the red handled metal scissors that he used to cut them. My Mom and Dad also had some sort of accordion coupon filing envelope that was organized by type of food / coupon. It took had a red string around it. For the longest time, I didn’t worry about coupons. On top of that I shopped at Publix for years.

Then I met my wife Pam and she showed me the ways of saving money by shopping at Walmart. I understand that there are those out there that hate Walmart. I’m sure I don’t agree with all of their business practices, but then again I don’t agree with all of Publix’s either. As the consumer, in tough economic times and as a person just trying to get the best value I can at all times, I feel free to shop at either place. All of this frugality makes me smile, especially when I compare prices for certain items between the stores like candy or bread. And no, Walmart isn’t always the cheapest for an individual item, but for a total bill it’s ALWAYS the winner.

Now thanks to Coupons.com life has come full circle. My scissors have a blue handle, not red like Mom & Dad’s, but they accomplish the same thing. $1.00 off of Nestle Water, $2.00 two Right Guard deodorants, you get the picture. The list goes on and on. For 10 minutes of my week, Pam and I will probably save $300 this year without any effort. I’m not a “coupon gamer” by any means. I don’t want to invest a lot of time in finding $1 off certain items, or trying to time my purchases to magically make a $200 bill be $30. But, I am thankful that thanks to Pam we’re saving more money every week, and thanks to saving more money I remembered something nifty about those old green couches, the sunshine through the big windows and my parents sifting through a Sunday paper to save us some money.

Thanks to all three of you! You make my life special, wonderful and frugal.