Why Coupon?

Alright, I know that this whole thing has come out of left field from me.  I did explain at one point that I should not watch TV because I am exactly the person that they write ads for and watching shows really gets to me.  If I see an episode of Hoarders, I immediately go into cleaning mode.  I watch Extreme Couponing and say "Huh, I could do that", etc.....I can almost see them at the advertising agency looking at each other and saying...What would Miss Ran think, how can we hook her?  So, I usually keep the TV off and just toss my Ipod in one of the players (Yes, I have one in every room of the house including the master bath) and listen to an audiobook instead.  Commercial free and still entertaining!  As an added bonus, when the twins were babies and I put them in their crates for a nap I ran the book so they associate it with napping which means that they calm down and pretty much sleep when I listen.  Although when I combine it with cleaning, I do get sleepy help so as I clean I have two 60lb dogs laying on the floor at or on my feet but, well not important.

The point is that after watching a few episodes, I started doing some research.  I wanted to find out if it was worth it, it can take some serious time and effort.  However, I have no intention of loading up my garage with a bunch of stuff that it will take me 100 years to use.  One of the guys on the show has a wall of toothpaste, something like 1000 tubes.  Really?  What on earth would I do with that much?  Even if I handed out toothpaste to all of my friends and family every time I saw them and only used half a tube I still could never ever use that much.  How much toothpaste can you donate to a food bank or charity?  I have no idea but the idea that I would have to store it for any period of time makes me a little twitchy.

Ultimately my decision was, that yes it can be worth it.  Coupon use is great when, like anything else, it is used in moderation.  Please keep in mind I am not headed to the grocery store with a list of a thousand items that I plan on paying $.50 for.  That is out of the scope of normal for me.  However, keeping an eye on the sales ads and getting the stuff I normally buy for a lot less or even getting to try new things for an excellent price is worth a little of my time.

 I would *love* to reprint the introduction from Pick Another Checkout Lane Honey, unfortunately there is that whole copyright thing.  However, I am going to link it here again.  If you click on the link and find the book excerpts on Amazon they do have the introduction there and you can read it.  These ladies say it much better than I ever could.

Now, I am not recommending that you get in touch with your local newspaper and have 6 copies delivered to you on Sunday and spend all of your time clipping, organizing and going bananas to save $10.  There are other ways.  As a matter of fact, you can even save money with just internet coupons.  There are a couple of different sites that you can print coupons directly from (coupons.com, target.com, etc.) and some free websites that can clue you in to the deals.  I am once again going to recommend http://thekrazycouponlady.com/krazy-this-week/ they have updates all the time on great deals.  Also, utilize your Facebook.  Like your favorite products and they will send updates on new stuff along with some coupons that you can print, etc.  If you decide to go the route of getting a newspaper, you can look at my previous blog about organization techniques.  There are some that require almost no time or effort.

Personally, I am getting 3 newspapers a week (I have time on my hands so this is not an issue for me.).  The Houston Chronicle issues an Early Sunday Edition that is available on Saturdays.  Since Joe and I are almost always out on Saturday anyway, I pop into a store and pick one up.  This has all of the ads and coupon inserts in it, so I can check and see if there is any reason for me to get up at the buttcrack of dawn and race to CVS to catch any really great deals.  (Quick reminder, newspapers do NOT issue coupon inserts on holiday weeks.  4th of July is coming up so, don't expect to see anything that week).

Sometimes there really are great things going on at the drugstores.  This week it was 5 12pks of Coke products for $13.....that is $0.21 a can, rather than the $0.23 you can get when they do 4 for $11 and I actually pay $0.27 when I buy the 32 pack at Sam's....This is one of those things that I have no issue with stockpiling.  I drink a lot of Coke Zero and the cost can be gawdawful.  Now I am sitting on a good 14 12pks for me and another 5 Cherry Coke Zero for Joe.  They are currently piled up in my nook and yep, I am totally OK with that.  This is something I absolutely know we are going to use.  Now, I can wait for the sales and cash in on them without ever having to pay full price for it.  Also, I get points with My Coke Rewards when I enter the codes on the website and will be able to earn free 12 pks......Also, some of these drugstores issue rewards for purchasing different items.  So at CVS, the issue ExtraCare Bucks when you purchase certain items.  I have talked about these before.  Ultimately, these are credit for an item that you purchase that print on your register receipt and you can use them for any other purchase in the store.  You also earn a 2% back bonus (These start printing on July 1st, so it will be interesting to see) for using your card.  So, when I went to buy my Coke my out of pocket cost was $0.01 because I had CVS bucks enough to cover the cost.  They will not issue change on these so, don't waste one for $1 when you owe less than that.  Walgreens has a very similar program and I think that Rite Aid does too......check out the ads and see what you can get.  Ultimately when you get going on this you can just roll your CVS bucks over and never have to pay out of pocket!  Course, I used a bunch of mine on something that didn't have a reward so I am down to $5, so I may have to do a trip or two to rebuild my stash.....Am I sorry?  Not at all.....totally worth it.  Walking out of a store after digging in the bottom of my purse to find a penny gave me quite a rush....You should have heard Joe after I told him, I actually got a "Holy Crap!" out of him ;-)

Ultimately, you can save money with coupons.  The best way is to watch your sales, use a coupon in conjunction with the sales at your stores and buy the stuff that you normally do when the price is low and you can utilize your coupon for maximum effect.  If you get a coupon and run out and use it the next time you go to the store you can save a little (and the manufacturer and store will love you for it) but you will not get the maximum savings from it.  Another note is that until you really get the hang of it there will still be items that you need to buy even though you don't have a coupon.  Don't worry about it, cut yourself some slack and just do it.  Please do not run out of deodorant because you have no seen it on sale or do not have a coupon!  If you do, please do not come visit me.....just find where it is not the most expensive and buy one.  Then wait for your coupon and sales to line up and buy a few.  Then keep an eye on your sales and when you see it at a great price and have a coupon buy a few more......Set yourself a limit on how many you will keep on hand (for example, I will not keep more than 10 of certain items...deodorant, toothpaste, etc) and stick to it.  Once you max out on it then don't buy it until you get down to a level that you want to restock on, then start watching your sales again.  Also, set yourself a limit on how many you will purchase at a time....I won't use more than 3 coupons on any one type of product.  So, if I have coupons for $1 off on BBQ sauce and they are on sale for $.99 I will not buy more than 3....make sense?  Your limit on items may be different than mine, and it will probably really be based on what you use more.  We use a lot of laundry detergent in our house....so that is definitely something I do not mind having around.  However, we don't use a lot of frozen spinach.....see where I am going with this one?

Do not expect that your first couple of trips will be perfect.  It takes time to get the hang of it...and again you are still going to be buying stuff that you need to have for a while.  Now, if you manage to have a perfect shopping trip?  Definitely let me know how you did it!!!!

Good luck and happy couponing y'all.....as always any questions or comments are welcome!