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Sunday, July 11, 2010

Coupon Confessions

It's time I came out of the closet.  The coupon closet.

I know what you're thinking.  She's got four kids!  That's six mouths to feed!  Six hiney's to wipe!  Six times the laundry!  Of course she uses coupons!  She has to!

Let me just get it all out there now:

I HATE COUPONING!!

Wow, that was therapeutic.

Now, before you all start throwing your neatly organized by alpha, type, expiration date and store coupon booklet thingys at me, hear me out.

I grew up with a couponer (is that what it's called?).  Every Sunday afternoon my mom would sit down with the Sunday circular and weed through pages and pages of coupons.  Back then they were worth it.  No "buy 20 and THEN we'll give you $0.50 off".  No reason to scour ebay and purchase multiples off the internet.  No communities of women (and men too I suppose, I'm equal opportunity) connected virtually through message boards for the sole purpose of swapping the best deals and scoring Buy 1 Get 1 Free's.  Just my mom and her Sunday paper.  And she did just fine.

I think couponing for my family back in the olden days 70's & 80's would have been manageable.  In one afternoon and in one place my mom could figure out the best way to get the best deal in the least amount of time.  In no time at all she'd have her list made and her little stack of coupons and be ready to head out to the local grocery store.  No store hopping was necessary (Wally World didn't even exist then, let alone Super Target, Walgreens, CVS, etc, etc, etc.).  Just in and out and under budget.  Simple.

I think that's where I get hung up.  Couponing just isn't simple anymore.  I mean, I guess it could be.  I could subscribe to the Sunday paper, clip the measly 2 coupons that are even in remote possibility of being used, make my list, head out to the store and save a whopping $0.75.  And I'm not knocking saving.  I know every penny counts.  But right now, I think my sanity counts more.

I've already got so many irons in the fire running this Planet Pink, just the sheer mention of couponing is enough to make me break out in hives.  The thought of collecting the coupons (it's not just the paper anymore folks), combing websites for how to get the best deals (and figuring out exactly how the heck to do it), compiling a shopping list that somehow incorporates all those great deals (what if I don't NEED 5 tubes of toothpaste and 2 bags of Werther's Original?) while staying within the budget and buying healthy food (there's the tricky part), then hopping between 2, 3 or even 4 stores to get it all done while most likely towing my crew of princesses around with me?  Sheer horror.

I have nothing against those who coupon.  More power to you.  I have nothing against coupons that happen to appear in my mailbox (hear that Super Target?).  But I do have everything against giving myself an anxiety attack while I try to keep Princess #4 from catapulting herself out of the cart, return the cheap plastic toy that Princess #2 swiped from the checkout lane, say "no" for the 50th time to buying candy, empty the contents of my shopping cart out onto the conveyor belt while simultaneously picking up full bags to put back in the cart AND fish through my purse for two measly coupons to save myself $0.75, only to discover that they are in fact not in my purse and instead sitting neatly on my kitchen counter right where I left them (probably next to my sunglasses).  It just ain't worth it.

My friends, are you a closet coupon-hater?  Or does the thrill of the chase have you feeling the coupon love?



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15 comments:

  1. I have always admired ladies that can find the time to cut out coupons for the specific things that they need and then find the time to hand them all over to the clerk to be scanned with kiddos in tow. My hubby's grandma can save over $100 per shopping trip with her coupons...because she loves it like a hobby which is crazy to me but, props to her for saving moolah I guess. I'm with you though...I loathe the entire experience so I never shop with coupons...ever!

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  2. I'm a huge couponer! I do not buy the paper and cut coupons though. I just order them through either ebay or thecouponmaster.com. I get tons and tons of stuff either free or very cheap. Next time you get target coupons you don't want feel free to send them my way!

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  3. Funny post, but how true. I will use 10% of the target coupons but the rest stresses me out. I also know stores use coupons as a ploy to get me to purchase things I don't need - boo. I save more $$ by buying only what we do need.

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  4. LMBO!!!
    I used to be a couponing diva. I LOVED coupons, the finding them, cutting them, organizing them. Seeing the "you saved$xxx" at the bottom of the receipt was thrilling and a great pat-on-the-back for all the fun, er, I mean work I put into the whole process.
    I even managed to keep it up with the first two boys. But after #3 my interest began to wain (and, honestly, that's about when we moved to TN, so income had improved...maybe laziness and feeling that it wasn't NECESSARY then contributed). Since having #4 and feeling poor again I've wanted to start it back up, but now I feel so overwhelmed by the process. Forget the 70's and 80's, couponing has changed a ton in just the last 5 years. I can't keep up. And even when I put forth a noble effort, and spend the time hunting the deals and making lists and gathering the right coupons to score some great couponing prize, it ends up blowing up in my face - I inevitably have LAST weeks mailer (so deals are expired), or I don't have the right store card with me or someone spills their milk all over my stack of freshly-printed coupons.
    I just don't think some free deodorant and cheap razors are worth the frustration.

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  5. I hate it too!!! I tried it! I even have a pretty coupon notebook that I organized & tried to use for a while, but it was just way too much of a hassle for me! I'm happy to see I'm not alone in that!!

    Now to find another use for my cute coupon notebook...

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  6. I am right there with you. All of the work and hassle is not worth the miniscule savings. But, I also don't get excited about tax free weekend. I'd rather pay the 7 or 8 percent then deal with all of the people that go out during the sale.

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  7. I SOOOOO agree!! I have tried to clip and tried to coupon but wind up throwing most of them away because buying store brand usually winds up being cheaper. Plus, like you, I don't need 10 boxes of anything just to get $.35 off!! I do like the occasional $1.00 off or buy one get one...but those are rare.

    Take a deep breath and know that there are others out there who are right there with you. XOXO

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  8. I am so with you on this post. I tried once to read articles on how to save with coupons. The best I can do is the Sunday clipping, and even that I manage once a month LOL! I don't like to run all over the place to different stores to find a deal.

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  9. Amen! I have tried clipping coupons and searching the internet, but it's just not worth it! Ifthry show up in my mailbox I'll use them...but that's the end of my effort.

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  10. absolutely hate it - like with a passion hate it.
    my husband is obsessed with cutting coupons so i guess we balance each other out. but my secret passive aggressive thing that i do is tell him "of course i used the coupon" when i didn't

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  11. i love this! so funny. i'll admit that i really do get a thrill when i find a bargain... so i *might* be a coupon-er if that was an option here... but they just don't DO coupons Down Under. well, not much at least. we get weekly ads with the sales, but not coupons. but really, coupon-ing is a bit outdated isn't it? i'd much rather know what's on sale and just go there than have to clip out bits of paper that will inevitably get used to throw gum away in or have a mini-to-do list scribbled on anyway! i read the grocery store ads, see who has the best deals and then do my shopping there that week. it has to be some really good deals to get me running to more than one store. cause you're right, it just aint worth it!!!
    adriel
    p.s. i was thinking about switching to disqus for my comments, and almost did yesterday actually... and then thought i'd think about it a bit longer. do you like it?? talk to me! (when you have time;)

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  12. p.p.s. is "queenie" a new name/signature or have i just not noticed it before? love it!!

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  13. Yep, it is! My friend Melissa from www.anotherlunch.com dubbed it for me. I was using 'Your Majesty' as a pen name, but it wasn't quite working for me. This fits a bit better I think. A little less formal. ;-)

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  14. That totally cracks me up! Hubby gets more overwhelmed by couponing than I do, so we are definitely on the same page there!

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  15. I'm with Momma Go Round - if they show up in my mailbox I use them, otherwise, no. I made a point of getting on mailing lists for the formula and baby food I use so I get some coupons sent to me for that. I also check the ad packs each week to see where the best sales are for the items I generally buy - but that's the end of it.

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