I love coupons! I am such a nerd. I had the best trip to Target yesterday. I got $170 worth of merchandise for $91 plus I got $10 in gift cards for use on a future visit!

I used to think it wasn’t worth my time to use coupons. I would only use one if I happened to see one I might use and it happened to get cut out and it happened to be with me when I happened to stop by the store.

Coupons also seemed to do the opposite of saving me money. I would use a coupon for something that I didn’t need, or just wanted to try, in addition to all the things I was going to buy anyway.

Those days are behind me. I am making my husband proud my stretching our resources farther than ever before with coupons, planning and smart shopping.

I start by following an RSS feed of two great money saving sites – www.totallytarget.com and www.pocketyourdollars.com. Then, I visit www.target.com and print out coupons. I pair those coupons with manufacturer coupons I get from the Sunday Star Tribune.

I keep all these money-savers in a cheap coupon sorter. Then, we I do my weekly meal planning on Sundays, I used the local ad to figure out how I can match up the best deals with the coupons I have. I love that I can use both a manufacturer and a Target coupon, even on a sale item.

So am I a nerd? Probably. But I am a nerd with $80 worth of free stuff for my house. Works for me!