Not-so-extreme Couponing

Now that I'm a stay-at-home mom, and I'm talking about taking care of my babies, Pnut Rose and Papaya, I have a lot more time on my hands. I've been spending a good amount of it watching random stuff on Netflix. One of my recent favorites is "Extreme Couponing." I can't decide if these women are slightly crazy hoarders or just geniuses. Their stockpiles of coupon-purchases overflow throughout their homes as a kind of general store with beds squeezed in between the aisles. One kids room had so much toilet paper under the bed that it looks like a strange version of the princess and the pea. However, everything they buy is either severely reduced or free. I saw an episode where a woman purchased over $500 worth of stuff but paid about $5!!! Who cares that there were 80 tubs of yogurt that will go bad in a week? She's my hero! 

I can't get out of a grocery store without spending about $100, and that's when I use coupons. I'm pretty sure that using the coupons makes my trip to the store more expensive because I'm completely drawn in thinking I'm getting a great deal with the $1 off 5 items when I probably would never have purchased those 5 boxes of $4 cereal in the first place. I rarely even eat cereal! 

Except now that I'm pregnant, I'm eating all kinds of random things that I wouldn't always eat. I'm 13.5 weeks pregnant and the all-day sickness just keeps coming. Pregnancy really is such a beautiful time, isn't it? My husband thinks I'm gorgeous when I'm throwing up into a ziplock in the car (this has happened more than I'd like to admit). So, my diet consists mostly of whole wheat frozen waffles, boxed Mac n cheese, and whatever I can throw together for dinner. Man, if I could find a coupon deal for free Mac n cheese, I'd be in heaven. I thought I'd gain weight during pregnancy but instead I'm down to my lowest weight since high school, not that I'm skinny by any means. One night after reading a book about pregnancy where the woman ate a whole pan of Rice Krispies treats, I started craving them and proceeded to do the same thing she had. One pan down in three days  and still no weight gain. I guess I should be pleased about this but I'm constantly worried that without realizing it, I'm going to start putting on the pregnancy weight and then overdo it. But, I guess for now that cereal coupon is coming in handy.