You may have noticed that I haven’t posted any shopping trip recaps lately. The reason for this is that there simply haven’t been any! After having knee problems for an extended period of time, I finally got a diagnosis of dislocated patella. Turns out I had been walking around with two dislocated kneecaps for over a year – that explains why I’ve been having so much trouble for so long!! Luckily, the treatment for this does not require surgery. I’m following an outpatient program and do 1-2+ hours of physiotherapy every day. The upshot to this is that I have been pretty much housebound. I’ve had several backslides in recovery when my knees started feeling better and I tried to add more activity back into my daily life. In order to make sure that I heal up for good this time, I have to strictly limit all my activity – doctor’s orders. This means I pretty much have to stay put, sitting either here at my desk or on the couch, with my feet propped up and icepacks on my knees.

Because of all this, coupon shopping has been an impossibility. Jai is in charge of the shopping while I recover, so our strategy to minimize costs at the moment is to just buy food with inexpensive shelf prices, and take advantage of online sales whenever possible. We also have to keep it simple with foods that are quick to prepare, because I can’t stay on my feet for long. It’s unbelievably frustrating to be so limited, but the good news is that my efforts are paying off and my knees are getting stronger. My physiotherapist estimated that I’d start seeing real improvement by the end of next month, so my hope is that I will be able to resume some of my normal activities by then.

So readers, I’m curious: Have you ever been in a situation like this before? What did you do to reduce your expenses when you couldn’t clip coupons?

So how many of you took advantage of the “Half-Priced Frappuccino Happy Hour” last week? Jai and I stopped by Starbucks yesterday and used a gift card to pick up two frapps at no cost. It was a fun and frugal outing!

As you read this, I’ll be getting on a flight home to the US! I’m taking the rest of this week off so I can get settled in and recover from jet lag; I have a few fun guest posts scheduled to run in the meantime. See you soon!

I’ve been keeping my eyes peeled for coupons while I’m here in England, and today I got ahold of some. My dad got this flier in the mail with a free sample and two coupons for 50p off Nescafe instant coffee. I have no idea what this product normally retails for, but I’ll keep these in my wallet just in case I spot any deals!

I just wanted to extend my thanks to everyone for your kind condolences. My uncle’s funeral was on Thursday, so it’s been a very eventful week. I’m going to get some rest this weekend and get back into a more normal routine on Monday. Thanks for your understanding – have a good weekend, everyone.