Celeste, my lovely wife, has always been a bargain shopper, but lately she’s taken it to another level.  Just today the checkout person at Harris-Teeter had to get the manager to override the register because Celeste had saved too much money on her purchases.  Using a combination of coupons and in-store sales she saved $94 on $224 worth of food, or something like 42%.

I’ll never forget the first time we went grocery shopping after we were married.  To my horror Celeste came armed with a plastic box of alphabetized coupons and a calculator, which she unabashedly wielded as she sent me scampering for one item after another.  Hell, she even had the aisles memorized so she’d bark out an order like "Bar-B-Q Sauce, Sam’s Special, Aisle 5, Right Side…the label is blue."  I took that last item to mean that in the time it took us to drive to the store I’d somehow forgotten to read.

After what seemed like hours of shopping, which I’m sure had nothing to do with my desultory attitude, we finally made it to the cashier and promptly saved something like $25 on a $120 purchase.  That’s a lot of money, especially when you’re young and broke.

Although I’m still the designated idiot shopper (I’m entrusted with bread, milk and eggs) I no longer balk at Celeste’s couponing.  In fact I’ve found that I can even contribute to the cause since I get to help with the math (no more calculator), can actually read labels to discern those items that cost less from others and, when needed, promote the benefits of generic-brand cereal to our discerning children. 

By the way, don’t try to fool a 10-year old into thinking that Tasteeos are in fact Cheerios by transfering a bag of Tasteeos to an old Cheerios box.  They catch it every time.

As you can tell Celeste has had a positive influence on me, and I think I’m beginning to actually have one on her too.  Just last night she told one of the kids to throw away a plastic dish from a frozen meal.  I believe this is a first in our marriage and it gives me hope that we may no longer have to store enough plastic dishes to feed all of Fort Bragg.