Let's just start this off by saying that I am not a coupon clipper. I used to feel tremendously guilty about this, but then I thought it through in a reasoned way:1. My economic contribution to our household already entails 50+ hours away from home every week.
2. Coupon clipping/organizing/shopping takes time -- time which I could be spending with the kids, in other household tasks, or even sleeping. I rarely have enough time for any of those things now.
3. A lot of the pricier items on our grocery list are not things that typically have big coupon savings, anyway. Things like produce, meat, and usually milk don't come from coupon-issuing retailers. We consciously shop at less-fancy and more reasonably-priced stores and we steer clear of convenience foods and pricey packaged foods (chips, crackers, juice boxes -- all of them RIDICULOUSLY expensive!!)
To make a long story short, there may be a time in my life when I can dedicate myself to couponing, but that time is not now.
However, there is one coupon I save whenever it comes to our house -- a coupon for a discount on Arctic Circle shakes. I went through a phase when I was pregnant with Thor, and even in the year after he was born, where I probably had 2-3 Arctic Circle shakes a week. Nutter Butter was my favorite, and still makes me drool just thinking about it. Jared would run out to procure them without complaint and I think he was on a first-name basis with the Arctic Circle guys. Anyway, I've sort of weaned myself off of them, but like all addicts, I know I have a weakness.
So when a coupon came the other day, I dutifully clipped it and then left it lying haphazardly on the dining room table. During dinner Thor crumpled it up, as he does with all "garbage" and handed it to me to throw away. I realized it was my coupon and un-crumpled it, taking my first close look at it. The coupon was for the purchase of a shake for a mere $1.99. The weird thing, though, is that I'm pretty sure Arctic Circle shakes cost about $2.19.
So here I am, the non-couponer, hanging onto a coupon that I think is worth about $.20, for a product that I haven't "needed" for months and months. Why would I go buy one now? The time, gas, and effort of going to get that shake is probably worth more than the $.20 savings. Ugh, couponing -- I just can't get behind it right now.
3 comments:
I too use to not clip coupons but have found some really good deals by doing so. I don't go all crazy but I have a system I learned from a blog and it seems to work really well. I rarely ever pay more then 6.00 for a package of name brand diapers. This is much cheaper then Costco which is what I use to buy. And I am getting toy story 3 dvd/blu ray combo for a mere 6.99 with rebates. I got a tag reading system for Johnny for $10. I never pay for name brand toothpaste I get it free. There are so many deals out there most of them I find out through blogs and they tell you where the coupon is and link to the printable ones too. It does definately take some time but not as much as I thought it would. I totally understand you don't have the time but I thought I would throw it out there that there are really good deals to be had and that not all of them are like artic circle where you save.20. Because that definately is not worth the time clipping and saving.
ok, well we definitely need to talk about the diaper thing. Some savings there would be nice since we are making zero progess toward potty training (the no-time thing, again!!)
I've become a coupon convert. In the last 2 weeks I purchased: 2 pink Razor scooters for the price of 1, LEGO Creationary for 1/2 price, 2 pink Leapfrog Tag readers for the price of 1 and several Tag books 2 for 1. I've saved significantly on new toys for Christmas, all thanks to coupons. While I personally am not organized enough to cope with grocery coupons, I do take 30 seconds to clip or print the coupons for big purchases like toys.
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