I’m so happy to be joining Blissfully Domestic as one of the newest writers!  My name is Mindi and I am the owner of Moms Need To Know, a blog dedicated to helping moms save money on their grocery shopping.  Through careful use of coupons and pairing them up with really good sales, I have cut my grocery bill down to just under $50 per week to feed a family of 5 nutritious and healthy meals.  This one accomplishment inspired me to apply frugalness to most other areas of my life and because of that, we have managed to pay off almost all of our credit cards, establish a healthy savings account and will soon start working on paying off our mortage early.  And all this was done with only my husband’s income as a retail manager and me still getting the occasional pedicure (we must remember our priorities)!

The first thing that you are going to need to do if you want to be a Coupon Queen to get rid of any issues that you have with using coupons.  Stop thinking of coupons as something your grandmother used and start thinking of them as tiny little Gift Certificates from the manufacturer!  Suddenly they seem much more appealing, don’t they?

Now that you have your tiny little Gift Certificates, you have to get over your fear of actually using them.  I’m not going to lie to you.  There are people out there, both fellow customers and cashiers alike, who are going to give you a hard time when you use your coupons.  Many feel as if coupons are a waste of time, both your and theirs.  You may get the customer behind you with the loud sigh or the cashier who rolls her eyes at you when you hand her your stack of coupons.  Don’t let them bother you.  My motto is:  the day they start paying for my groceries is the day that they can dictate how I pay for them!

The next thing to keep in mind is that for most items, brand loyalty needs to go out the window.  There are very few things to which I am still brand-loyal.  That doesn’t mean that you can never use your favorite brands again.  It does mean that you should be willing to try different brands of the same item if it means that you can get them much cheaper.  Some you won’t like, but some you may find you like just as much (and I’ve found that free whole-wheat pasta generally tastes better than $3/box whole-wheat pasta!)

The last thing I want to touch on is the notion that coupons only exist for "junk food".  Yes, there are plenty of coupons for over-processed, high fat, high sodium and high sugar foods.  But there are just as many coupons for your cleaning products, personal care items and more.  There are even many coupons to be found for organic foods.

Over the next few weeks we will talk about how to organize your coupons, where to find the coupons, how to deal with cashiers and managers who give you a hard time when you try to use them and most importantly, how to use them to maximize your savings.

Saving money on groceries is easy.  You just need to learn how to do it.

I hope that I can help you do just that!

When Mindi is not clipping coupons and annoying cashiers, she is the stay-at-home mom to her 3 children ages 7, 5 and 2.  You can find her telling others (especially Philadelphia-area moms) how to pay almost nothing for groceries at Moms Need To Know