Coupons!!
Alright, let's talk coupons really quick. How do they make you feel?
The savings that you get, can no doubt bring euphoria. There's a high you get when you see how much you saved, right?
I still get that feeling when I save big bucks, but I'll be honest. I don't view couponing the same way as I did several years ago. I was once what some may call an "expert couponer." I knew the lingo, I could find the deals, and I had the coupons to save me money! ...but was I really saving money?
Couponing, especially the term "extreme couponing" is more like a full-time job. The printer and computers always need to be running in case a high value coupon is released --you'll need to print that baby before it's no longer available, there's the ink you have to buy for said printers (even printing in black and white uses up ink!), and the paper....although there are some awesome deals at Office/max and Staples where you could get whole reams for literally pennies. I'm seriously still using a ream I bought for 1 cent after easy rebate several years ago. I literally think this was the deal!! LOL.
Then there's the endless amount of coupons to keep track of. Even when using a binder and baseball card sheets gets out of control. You have to clip coupons from inserts which usually cost as well, and finding said papers can be hard because sometimes the other couponers have already claimed them all! You'll also have to match ads and deals to get the best bang for your buck. Admittedly, there are some amazeball sites out there that do all that for you. There are even clipping sites out there that make it a little easier, but cost money too. AND you still have to do your part of gathering those coupons, organizing them, and hoping everyone else hasn't grabbed up all the stock before that sale ends. It really is a full-time job.
Do I think couponing is bad? Definitely not when used with care, discretion and not for reselling.
What changed my mind about "extreme" couponing?
Five years ago, I had had an opportunity to join a fun pampering skincare company that cared what they put in their products, and it truly opened my eyes. All of the products I had been getting for free or for minimal cost, had not-so-great ingredients. I mean, was I really putting those other ingredients like petroleum, sulfates, etc on mine and my family's body just because it was free? So after my garage had filled up with enormous amounts of skincare and toiletry products that our family didn't like or use, we happily donated them to a local homeless shelter, battered women's shelter, and relief efforts like the explosion in West, Texas over the years. That part was the best part. We got to be a blessing to others, so maybe all the time I spent printing, cutting, organizing, and shopping wasn't all that bad.
Backtracking to today...do I still use coupons and find great deals? YES, I sure do, and still get free products at times. I just use them more responsibly. Instead of printing all the coupons from websites in case there was a good sale coming up, I only clip what we really need and use, AND I take advantage of mobile couponing which is so much easier because there's no coupons to manually cut out, carry around, or fumble through a binder with. If you truly want to save money, set up a budget, say $100 a week depending on family size and budget. Then, take only that $100 in cash to the grocery store so you can't spend any more.
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