Confession time:
My stockpile runneth empty. I have not gone to CVS in weeks, and my coupons are collecting dust.
Pregnancy has brought my bargain shopping ways to a screeching halt. Believe me, I miss it!
My ginormous belly and aching hernia keep me off my feet most of the time. I will confess that I have made a few trips to the store with the help of the handy electric wheelchairs (don’t laugh, that’s what they are there for).
But lately, even the walk from the car to the store is more than I can handle. So today, I got desperate. I printed my trusty Grocery Game list, clipped the matching coupons, and took a deep breath.
“Honey, can you go to the store for me?”
This request is not uncommon. My helpful husband goes on oodles of errands for me in this condition, but not usually armed with a list and coupon matches. The best deals I saw this week are at my local Tom Thumb. But I wanted to go easy on him.
So I gave him the smaller Kroger list and 6 coupons. “That’s it?” he said. “Yeah, I don’t want to overwhelm you.”
Off he went to Kroger, list in hand.
I waited, wondering. Would he stick to the list? Would he pick out the correct items? Would the coupons match? It’s not often I see men using coupons at the grocery store.
He came home grinning, holding 2 bags.
“How did it go?”
“Fine. They were out of one thing, but I got the rest.”
I unloaded the bags while inspecting the receipt. He did it! Okay, so there was one item not on the list- some expensive deli meat. But all in all, a great success.
Here’s how it broke down:
Total= $7.85, not including the turkey
10 items
Kroger Savings= $6.38
Coupon Savings= $6.87
Total Savings= $13.25!
Not bad at all! Next time, a longer list. He’ll be a pro in no time. Clearly I underestimate my savvy husband.
Does the man in your life shop with coupons?
Absolutely! My DH has become a CVS pro. He knows all about fillers and rolling ECB’s. He even has his own card!
Wow, Debbielynne, I am so impressed! Did you teach him the ropes? I am not sure if my man is ready for that, but maybe soon, I hope!
Love it! My hubs has been very helpful in running to the store for me while he’s off work, but he HATES when I give him coupons. He does love our new SmartShopper list maker though, so that’s a start.
Very good man you’ve got there. Mine can do it–he understands the ins and outs of CVS. However, he’s very slow. So we just need to allow a lot of extra time. But he gets great deals–maybe because he reads everything and calculates the best deals. Good experiment–and a good report. It shows that we can all delegate some of the things we thought only we could do!
Way to go KFM Hubs! What a guy! The ONLY time I would let my guys play “the game” is if I were in your same hyper preggo condition!
Erin
My husband is my coupon king! He started going to the store with me a few months ago and revels in the savings. He also walks through the store reminding me to “trust the list.” I, too, have sent him off to the store with a few coupons and the list. He has come back with “just the list.”
My dh is pretty good at shopping with coupons. He does tend to stray from the list though. He is much better than when we first met!
Toni
Your hubby did an excellent job! Mine would not be opposed to using some coupons as long it wasn’t too complicated.
I’m pregnant too and am more than likely going to have to be on bed rest at some point, so my DH and I have been doing “training” with the grocery game list and coupons. Plus he’s been learning my rules for how much we spend on things like milk, eggs, butter, and bread that are always on the grocery list. We’ve done several trips to the store together and he’s done a couple of small trips himself. I hoping that he’ll be an expert in no time!
I think your husband deserves the expensive deli meat. Tell him I said so.
Nice! I send my husband with a spreadsheet & coupons paper-clipped to the list! lol. =) Way to go hubbies! God bless!
My husband no longer minds if I send him with coupons and a list….although I don’t know how he would do if I sent him to work a Catalina deal (especially if it involved splitting transactions to roll the Catalinas).
That’s fabulous! My husband has always helped out when I was pregnant, but I didn’t coupon shop back then. I can absolutely relate to not wanting to overwhelm. The fact that your husband came home grinning is a good sign. 🙂
My husband doesn’t like to shop, period. He will go get a short list of things with coupons if I spell it all out… but I don’t think I’d ever give him more than 5 or 6 coupons…MAX. He loves that I do it and enjoy it, but not for him… but then I couldn’t stand to try and keep up with all of his sports stats, so we have different hobbies!
BUT, my Dad is the one who coupons at my parents’ house… I would send Mom coupons for the stuff that they use and would find the envelopes…with the coupons still in them unspent! UGH!
Hubs doesn’t mind using coupons at the grocery store, but I don’t think he would ever brave CVS even though he understands how it works and could probably even explain it to someone else.
He always comes back with extra items not on the list though. 🙂
Good for your husband!! I’ve sent my husband to the store to pick up something I needed in an emergency. I have to tell him the exact oz., exact brand, exact type of product and what aisle it’s on – and then he’ll still call me and say, “Is it the one for $X.XX?” LOL! Needless to say, I do ALL the grocery and other shopping in my house. My husband does all the electronics and hardware shopping. That’s the kind of shopping he can handle. 😉
I’m new to your blog and love it!
My DH is great with shopping. He does extremely well with coupons and matching up with sales. I have trained him well.
My husband HATES to shop. I think he could handle a list with coupons, but he would not have fun. We don’t have kids yet, so maybe I’ll find out how he does when I’m pregnant 🙂
Due to a back problem my husband now does most of the grocery shopping. Over the past few months I have eased him into using coupons. The last time he went it was with a large list and about 35 coupons. He also was buying things that we had preloaded coupons for. Once he saw the final price he was happy. It was a great ego boost when the cashier complimented him and the ladies behind him said “I got’s to get me some coupons!” My husband usually hates to shop but he is coming around to good deals.
My husband often gets the job of stopping somewhere on his way home from work. I write very specific directions for him (and include pictures if necessary). He still gets nervous that he’s not going to get it quite right, but he’s gotten so so so much better. He won’t admit this, but I think he kind of enjoys it now.
Way to go hubby. I am still working on mine. LOL. http://couponmommyof2.blogspot.com/