A lot of you have been emailing me, wondering how my coupon quest is going. Actually, no one has emailed me. What, am I not cool any more? You're all into podcasts, or something?
Anyway, my coupon quest is going great. Like, I totally canceled my Grocery Game membership on Monday. It's not that I wasn't saving money. On one occasion, I went to CVS and got $60 worth of free stuff. Free. Totally free. Most of it feminine hygiene products. And I was generally saving $40-50 on each grocery trip to Jewel-Osco, so that's all good and nice.
But there were hidden costs: my sanity! Clipping coupons and preparing a compatible menu took me a few hours each week. And since our fridge likes to declare its complete emptiness on Monday mornings, it was a few hours each Monday morning. In my pajamas.
Shopping with coupons was no cake walk, either. Actually, a cake walk wouldn't be that easy for me because I don't have much of a sweet tooth. But let's assume that the term is "nacho walk," in which case, shopping with coupons was no nacho walk, either. I was going through a couple suckers to keep Miss Dub entertained and still leaving with a migraine. Also, a cart with a sampling of products and brands I would never buy without coupons. (I almost bought LA Looks hair gel. On the bible.)
So on Monday I told myself, "Forget it. This is not worth the stress. Spending too much might have been bad on your budget, but it was good for your mental health." Also, we don't have a budget, but we are thinking about starting one with your donations from my upcoming podcasts.
I cannot describe the weight I felt lifted off my shoulders. I imagine it's like unto someone who has committed a heinous crime and spent years on the lam before finally confessing. Except they would end up in a small prison cell, whereas I had the freedom to head to my nearest Dominick's and put Miss Dub in one of those cute shopping carts that looks like a car. (FYI, after 10 minutes she announced, "I done driving," which brought down the cuteness factor quite a bit.)
When I got to the checkout, my bill was the same as when I was using coupons. It was a scam! I felt elated! I felt vindicated! I felt - cheated, when I looked in my cart and realized that I had half the amount of groceries I would have had using coupons.
So now I don't know. I think I'm going to try my own coupon strategies at Super Target, where the prices are consistently lower. Or I may just hold out for those donations. By the way, what is a podcast?
7.31.2008
Coupons are for wimps
Posted by Mrs. Dub at 6:00 AM
11 comments Leave a witty comment hereLabels: coupons, misadventure, podcast, Target
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11 comments:
i've tried the grocery game, too. just can't do it. my sanity is too precious. twice as many groceries isn't worth the headache obtained while preparing and executing a shopping trip. maybe after i've finished my child bearing years, i'll give it another whirl. :)
i grew up with a mom who was amazingly organized about the coupon clipping. she had a little tupperware box with tabs to separate the coupons by category, etc. i haven't the slightest idea how she made it all work, but she did. i, on the other hand, will find ONE coupon that would be useful for me, and it will sit on the fridge under a cute magnet (thanks whitney) for MONTHS while i forget to grab it each and everytime i run to the store. so, instead of doing the coupon thing, i buckled and started to shop at walmart (GASP!). i get all my non-perishable stuff at walmart (or as much as i can) and then i support my local grocers for the produce. it usually ends up being cheaper to get the produce from local grocers these days anyway. BUT all that said, i did love my starving student card in provo, and you better believe i love a good 25% off coupon for banana republic any day.
bottom line, coupons = time consuming. and i just don't feel like consuming my time with coupons. i'm with you.
p.s. "shopping with coupons was no nacho walk"
haha. classic. or not classic. but should be classic, and very well could be classic someday.
the grocery game has caught my eye but hearing your side makes me think twice! i don't shop with coupons as it is because they are such a pain so maybe it's not worth it-but i would love to save the money so maybe it is.
i'm with you-what is a podcast!? i hope you were serious because i am. i am so slow to catch on to these new hip things! i've just recently realized how great an ipod is. i used to think "why would i want 1000 songs to carry around with me?" but now i get it!
i don't dig 'em either. they are never for stuff I would normally buy, and usually by the time I remember to take it to the store with me, it's expired.
Glad to hear you spend about the same either way.
Unlike Janaya, YOU did not grow up with a mom who was amazingly organized with a little tupperware box with tabs. Sometimes I drank Tab, but that was about as close as it got.
Once ... when I was pregnant ... I tried to really get into it. Nausea overtook me before the coupons did, forcing me to leave the store on my first big trip. We'll never know, I guess, what caused the nausea that day.
But I am ALL about using my JoAnns coupons for magazines. Excuse me while I find a tupperware bowl to put them in.
I'm sorry... I know you don't know me. I just read your post on stephanie's blog. I really felt like I needed to comment on your comment. I hope you don't mind. I too had a baby 6 months ago at 20 weeks who did not survive. I think it is so true that it is hard for people who have't gone through that sort of loss to understand. (I never did until it happened to me.) What amazes me is the compassion I have gained for others because of my experiences. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of my sweet baby andrew, and want to do my very best to live worthy of our Heavenly Father's promise that I will see him again. I miss him every day. Isn't it wonderful, though, to know that they are not lost... That we will see them again and we will have a chance to raise them in a world so perfect and free of pain and sorrow! Thank you for your post!
I am not quite sure about how I found your blog, but I JUST HAD TO LAUGH! Oh goodness, my friends have been all over coupons lately and I just can't "get my groove on" some of them swear by them, but still just not my bag. I guess it's the whole planning thing, most of the time I just fly by the seat of my pants. ;)
"Nacho walk" where do you come up with this stuff? Wherever you get it from it's pure gold. Gold I tell ya!
Mr. Underhill--I thought you knew her dad well enough by now to realize Nacho Walk was not a burst of creative literary skill (okay, it was, but I'm a bit jaded because she does that all the time) but an accurate reflection of dietary preferences (fat and spice over sugar and nice and ethnic over midwest american meat and potatoes [tho she loves them mashers] and diners, drive-ins, and dives (love that Guy) over sit down waiter service and fancy smancy) that are part of her DNA.
Meanwhile, on coupons, I agree they're great if they're for something you want and use or for a store--Target, BestBuy, SportsAuthority, REI--where you can always find something you want irrespective of need, and otherwise (like most trips to Costco) they're more effort than they're worth and likely to result in purchasing large quantities of brands you don't like or won't use.
As I mentioned before, I do Coupon Sense and it does take me a few hours a week to work it all out. I take breaks when I get overwhelmed and don't feel like doing it. And my youngest child is almost four and I get lots of opportunities to shop with no children. But I do get lots of good stuff for free, and so it's kind of become a hobby. But I say to each her own. You can still save lots of money just by shopping sales. (P.S. I have never once coordinated a menu to go along with my shopping. Never.)
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