Alright, all you couponing readers out there (and I know there are a lot of you), how in the world do you not hate it? What am I doing wrong? I feel like I spent 2 hours this morning ruffling through store ads and signing up for way too many couponing sites and downloading all sorts of coupon printer programs, only to save a few dollars. I was in such an irritable mood by the end of it, I could barely stand being in the grocery store. It drove me absolutely nuts. The whole process was so time consuming and I just know I am going to be bombarded with more spam in my inbox even though I opted out of everything I could.
Don't get me wrong, I am all about saving money and being frugal. I really enjoyed using My Food Storage Deals in Utah because that is how I like to shop - buy a lot of the things that are on a massive sale. I would just look at the best deals for each store and decide which store had the most things I needed at the best prices. Sometimes I'd go to more than one store, but only if there were a large number of items at more than one store. Otherwise, the gas, time and hassle it took to go to multiple stores wasn't worth it to me. I try to employ this technique here as best I can, scanning all the ads and buying bulk of what's on a really good sale because I have a pretty good idea of what a decent price is for most things I buy. In any case, I decided today to not be lazy about the couponing thing. I've clipped coupons out of the paper in the past, but I often forgot to bring them and often, I could buy the generic brand for less than the name brand with the coupon anyway, so it stopped being worth my time. However, I have heard so many people talk about the amazing deals they get with their coupons, especially online, so I thought I'd try it out. All I did was get frustrated, although I was happy with my $2 off Pull-ups coupon. Most of my savings came in the form of just buying all the things that were on for a really good sale, none of which I saw any coupons for. Maybe it's just a quality of life issue for me. Some people get really excited about massive amounts of savings at the grocery store and the makes their quality of life better. For me, I need convenience (am I a child of the I want it now generation or what?) and not spending hours planning meals and shopping. I can handle some of that, because I think it really can save you money, but I have a threshold that is apparently pretty short. Anyway, do any of you do this speedily, or do you just have more patience than me in planning your shopping so as to maximize your use of coupons. Please do share your secrets.
On a completely unrelated note, we had a really wonderful weekend, which I don't feel like posting about right now because it will be really long. Hopefully, it will rise to the top of my priority list soon.
6 comments:
ugh, hate coupons. Tried it, was a miserable failure, now I just shop at Costco and am thinking about switching to whole foods/organic since Phillip Morris owns Kraft and Nabisco.
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Ha, I'm with you. Even though we are poor right now, it just doesn't seem worth it only saving a few bucks for the time of searching for coupons. I mean, I'm sure those few bucks add up, but I don't have the patience. I only use the Costco coupons because they always have good deals and for stuff I actually buy. I shop at Walmart for food and there you can just tell them the prices of other stores and they will match it, so you don't have to go to a million different stores. Love that.
Couponing, like any sport, takes practice to become skilled. Our monthly expenses have decreased SIGNIFICANTLY (hundreds of dollars) since Karen started couponing last February. Here are a few examples: ~50 boxes of cereal for $10, 80 candy bars ~$3, 5 year supply of toothbrushes, shampoo, razors, and all other toiletries for ~$10. It is AMAZING how much free or nearly free stuff is available if you put in a little time to find the deals. Karen will send you an email with some suggestions.
I don't have much time, either. Instead, I subscribe to blogs like moneysavingmom.com in my Google Reader, then when she posts free (or overage) deals at stores we have (like Walgreens) I just go do them. Let her do all the work, and I get lots of free or cheap stuff. (This week I MADE about $14ish at Walgreens and Rite-Aid.) Saves a lot of time and I get to try a lot of new things for free I never would have before.
My mom never did coupons growing up. I tried it some while were in in college but I think it's more of a pain. I just shop at the cheap stores for groceries and figure if I don't have coupons for other stores it will save me from going there and spending money in the first place!
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