Tightening the Financial Belt During a Furlough

First let me start of by saying that there is wide variety and degree of couponers. It is a bell curve that consists with people clipping 1-2 coupons on one side of the bell curve spectrum to people who hoard hundred of items and clear grocery shelves. I am somewhere in the middle-probably slightly right on the bell curve.

Couponing Shame:  My family has always shamed me in to thinking couponing and stockpiling is a bad thing. My Mom would constantly say, "You waste your money on things you don't need!" "Why are buying multiple of items when you can only use one at time? I tried to tell her that those items were free, I only paid tax. I tried to tell her that my family loves product X so if I can get it at a rock bottom price then I stock up. I tried explaining till I was blue in the face that everyone uses TP, why pay full price...stock up now. No matter how many times I tried to explain, my mother has viewed my couponing as worthless and money down the drain. She convinced other family members of the same mentality so I have been a closeted couponer for years until I came out to a co-worker. She was an avid couponer too. Not the stockpiling type of couponer but one who just likes to save money on her weekly grocery bill. Every week we would exchange coupons. Then another co-worker wanted to trade their small stash of couponers. I could talk about general couponing with my co-workers but they too thought I was insane for getting 4 newspaper subscriptions and buying multiples. Once again I felt dirty about couponing and stockpiling so I never discussed it.

About 5 years our family was forced to make better financial decisions. My mother-in-law could no longer take care of herself and we had to place her in assisted living at the age of 87. My mother-in-law had enough money for 2 years of assisted living. She ended up living 7 years in assisted living. The financial strain of those additional 5 years caused our family to tighten our financial belts. Couponing became a way of life. Thanks to the internet I was able to really understand the ins and out of couponing and why a stockpile is so important.

 Today, I have been furloughed for 4 days due to a government shutdown. My paycheck has ceased. Paying bills will be tight with only one income at the moment. However, the one thing I don't have to worry about for the moment are groceries. hygiene items, cleaning supplies, paper products, etc ... thanks to my couponing and stockpile. I have not spent a dime on groceries this week. The only thing I will need to buy is milk and I plan on purchasing that at Target on my Target gift card.  There is no shame in couponing.  It has taught me during this furlough how to tighten the financial belt further.

Here are some pictures of my stockpile.  As you can see I don't hoard 200 bottles of mustard but I do have a nice little variety of items.   All meals this week have come from my stockpile.  Grocery Bill this week = zero