The Story of Loudoun County Limbo

I don't know about you guys but Triple Coupons at Harris Teeter this month about wore me out. I went shopping on 6 of the 7 days last week, and according to my cash register receipts I save a total of  $588.02!

I decided to take a little break from posting match-ups today, and instead tell you the story of Loudoun County Limbo:

I lived in West Africa, in the country of Niger, from 2006 to 2009.  There were two ways to shop in Niger:

1) Go to the local market and spend hours bargaining in French in the 100 degree heat.

2) Go to one of the three western style supermarkets, where everything was very expensive because it was imported from Europe or the United States.


My French was not good, so I normally did the latter. A box a corn flakes cost $5.00 and I dreamed of retuning to the U.S. where I could comparison shop and use coupons.

Imagine my surprise when we moved to Loudoun County, Virginia in 2009 and I found that box of corn flakes here also cost $5.00! I was determined to pay less and set out to teach myself the secrets of couponing and refunding.  

Loudoun County Cost of Living Comparison to the average Cost of Living in the U.S.
Aldie Ashburn Hamilton Leesburg Lovettsville Middleburg Purcellville Round Hill South Riding Waterford	164% 163% 145% 153% 143% 171% 159% 158% 167% 204%

It took a few months to learn the ropes and accumulate a stockpile before I got to the point where I was able to feed my family of five (including three teenagers and two dogs) on a budget of $50.00 per week. That included all of our household and health and beauty products.

 

After about 8 months of doing this, I decided to start a blog and share this information with others. However, I wanted my blog to be different from other coupon blogs in two ways:

1) I wanted it to focus on deals in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area and feature match-ups to the coupons in the Washington Post. I found I wasted a lot of time trying to find regional coupons that didn't exist or were a different denomination from what I had read about on-line, and I wanted to save others the trouble.

2) I wanted it to feature the very best deals out there.  The more I blogged, the more I realized that most blogs are not about saving you money, but are about making money for the blogger.  Many coupon sites feature coupons and ads for things that may or may not be a great deal, but that blogger gets paid every time you click on them.  I wanted to cut out all the ads and trash, and only publish things that were a genuine value.

 

We have lived on this budget now for three years, and I have found that the more I wheel and deal, the better I get. I learn something new every week and I am so thrilled that my hobby keeps me interested, helps others AND saves our family money.  Best of all, I love hearing from Loudoun County Limbo readers.  Write when you get a chance and let me know how low you can go!