The bagger just rolled his eyes.
The ladies behind me gasped and smiled at me, nodding in quiet approval.
I had just spent $38 there, but had saved over $66. It was not my best shopping trip ever, but it was certainly an excellent savings day for me indeed!
So I've heard these things: "Those crazy couponers have no life and way too much time on their hands!" "It's an addiction!" "They're so cheap, they are just in it to defraud the grocery stores!"
I want to take a moment to set the record straight about using coupons to help save money on groceries and household goods vs an obsessive hoarding of supplies you couldn't use up in 40 years!
I do have a fair amount of time on my hands right now, I readily admit that. I am (for now) a stay at home mom, who has just been transplanted over 700 miles from my childhood hometown to a new city I've never lived in before. I have friends here, and my husband's family, but not all the activities I used to be involved in. I'm no longer in school, I'm not singing in any professional choirs, and I'm not driving all around town visiting various family members any more. So yes, I have the time to sit and clip coupons, file them neatly in my coupon binder, and do a little internet research to find great deals.
But now here is where I want to make one thing clear: ANY person could do what I do to a certain extent. You could choose to give two hours/week to gathering just a few coupons & looking at sales fliers, or even just one hour. Some people who do this never clip a single coupon. All they do is follow websites like The Grocery Game or CouponMom.com. (My two favorites.)
Basically, the bottom line is to follow a tried and true bit of financial advice: When the price is low, buy it, and buy it in bulk. We do it for stocks, we do it for clothing, (clearance racks anyone?) we often do it the day after major holidays too, in preparation for the next year's holiday. Groceries tend to follow a 12 week cycle, during which time every major category will have some huge markdowns. If Vons is offering cheese at a price almost never before seen, say 80% off this week, you can bet it makes sense to me to buy enough of that to last my family a good 12 weeks or so. (If there isn't a "limit 4" or something on the sales flyer, and as long as there's room in my freezer!)
So why does this make me crazy? Why would a bagger roll his eyes at me, or a friend chide me about having too much free time? My full time job right now is to take care of the children, making sure they're ready for school, and to keep the house in order. It's also my job to make sure the groceries don't go over our budget each month.
Prior to this big move, we were on food stamps, and also getting some help from my mom, who frequently helped prepare meals and ate with us. It's amazing how much grocery prices have gone up, and how much more we have to spend out of pocket on food now than we did before. Don't get me wrong, it's wonderful to be fully contributing to society again, instead of relying on the government to help us with our needs, but it's just been a big adjustment.
So if I can get a tube of toothpaste for free, darn it I'm going to go get it! And if using a coupon in addition to a sale price gets me cereal for less than $1.00 per box, don't call me crazy for buying 20 boxes of it and stashing it out in the garage. (Have you seen how fast my family of 5 goes through cereal?!?!! lol!)
The other key is to "cherry pick." I almost never go into a store with my list, thinking I'm going to have a one-stop-shop. I get the best deals at Food-4-Less, then head over to Vons to get their best deals. The next day I might hit CVS and Target. Again, I have a little extra time, so I can make visits to 3-4 stores each week (plus they're all really close to my house, so not too much driving and gas, another important consideration.) Also, it's not like I'm hurting the grocery stores. Every manufacturer's coupon I use gets reimbursed. They send them in and get the money back. The only way the stores are hurting is if they are offering inventory at below cost, and that's not really MY fault now is it?
Here's a handy little list to help everyone remember the differences between your friendly neighborhood couponing bargain hunter and the "crazy" or maybe OCD coupon lady down the street:
"Normal" Deal-Seeker: Garage has two shelving units stocked with a huge variety of items like toilet paper, paper towels, facial tissue, cleaners, canned goods, boxed foods, shampoos and deodorants. If you were to take inventory, there would probably be enough to last that family 12 weeks to 6 months, depending on their preference. (Some people just like having a years' worth of supplies on hand, in case of a disaster or loss of job, etc.)
"Crazy" Couponer: Has shelves in the garage full of toilet paper that is enough to last her and her small family 40 years. Has so many items in the garage that it will no longer fit in there, but overflows to other parts of the house. Has items that will never be used before their expiration dates, and yet she refuses to part with them or give them to charity.
"Normal": Has a fairly organized pantry, refrigerator and freezer. Also has products organized in bathrooms, linen and laundry closets. She/he always has a pretty clear sense of how many items are on hand and when the supply is starting to get low.
"Crazy:" Has grocery bags of stuff never even unloaded cluttering up the house all over the place. She/he has to ask his/her spouse to check how much of something is on hand.
"Normal:" Gets one copy of the newspaper delivered each week, checks the coupon inserts, then goes out and buys 1-3 more copies if they are really good that week. Might also order coupons from services that you pay to clip and ship them for you, but only on items the family really goes through fast each week. Prints online coupons, but feels content that she/he is only allowed to print a certain number of them. (Understands that it's more fair for everyone to get to take advantage of a deal or two rather than for one person to get them all.)
"Crazy:" Goes recycling-bin-dumpster-diving for extra coupon inserts or orders thousands of them each week. Isn't content until she or he has exhausted EVERY coupon-gathering option, including creating several e-mail accounts or hounding family and friends to print for him/her. Might even go door-to-door asking neighbors and strangers for their coupon inserts.
"Normal:" Uses couponing and sales-matching to enrich the family's lives by buying better brands, or by having more money available for other pricier options, like organic fruits. Also generously donates free/cheap items to charities, and enjoys having enough food on hand to get to take a week off of shopping once in a while. Chooses to spend as much time as needed to get the deals, but not so much time that it takes away from family activities.
"Crazy:" Uses couponing and sales-matching to build his or her hoard. Uses money saved to buy insurance for the hoard, or to go out and buy even more of the cheap items. Gets a real high off going shopping and seeing the savings at the end of the receipt. Devotes tremendous amounts of time to shopping and researching prices, to the point that relationships suffer. No limits on how much of any given product is "enough."
There, I hope I've shed light on why I do this, why I think it's fun, why I don't think it's a waste of time (2 hours to save $66?) and why I don't feel I'm addicted or OCD about it.
Now that I've said that, would anyone care to give me their coupon inserts this Sunday? If you're not going to use them yourself that is.... ;)
~N~
Oh, poopers. I'm crazy.
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