It doesn't take a rocket scientist to start couponing, but it doesn't hurt

Actually I'm convinced there must be some kind of couponing gene that a few lucky people inherit. This adventure in couponing all started during my annual tightwad phase where I pick a few areas to cut back expenses, some low hanging fruit if you will. One of those items this year was the grocery bill. Turns out that couponing isn't quite as low hanging as I imagined. Before you laugh and think to yourself, I knew it! I want to say that I have managed over the course of just a few weeks, to actually cut our grocery bill down in half, which apparently is pretty good compared to other newbies.  I have asked myself over the past few weeks though, why am I bothering to do this. We don't "need" at this point to be tight wads. But, like anything else, the less you spend in one area, the more you have for other areas. I'm just saying its not as easy as I thought it would be, and there is a learning curse, um, I mean curve. There are only two of us now, and I've budgeted $120 a week for groceries, what I think should be a generous amount. Over the past year, the amount that actually gets spent has crept up more towards the $200 a week mark. It's no secret, we like food, a lot, and we both enjoy putzing around in the kitchen. The fact that I've been hearing rumors that the cost of food is about to skyrocket after the first of the year, spurred me on as well. When we first got married in 1978, and very low on cash, I tried couponing. I heard about this lady called the coupon mom, who sometimes only spent a couple of dollars at the grocery store for a weeks worth of groceries. I did it for a while back then, but in the end, it just didn't seem worth the trouble. Guess what? That coupon mom is still around, and she has spawned hundreds of other entrepreneurial budget minded women into coupon goddesses. I haven't seen any coupon dads or men yet - I suppose most men have more sense than this - However, I HAVE seen coupon "couples". I am definitely not part of a coupon couple. In fact, I think one of the best pieces of advice from the coupon mom, is to go grocery shopping alone. Armed with the Internet, the coupon moms' methods have been streamlined. Yes! I think, using the Internet, right up my alley, this should be a breeze. Using modern technology, the coupon mom has what she calls a no clip system. In my mind, no clip means, no cutting out of coupons, no printing of coupons, just downloading to an electronic card, and away you go. It doesn't exactly mean that. What the coupon mom means, is that when she gets the Sunday paper, she puts the P&G, smart source, and Red Plum coupons in a box, and dates them, and then only clips the coupons as she needs them, instead of clipping and filing them all from the beginning. Ok, I say to myself, I can deal with that. So, the adventure begins.