This is not a picture of me clipping coupons, but it should be. In the spirit of nearly all my previous blogs, wherein I reveal to the blogging public some shameful parenting or housekeeping secret, I am here to confess:
I haven't clipped a coupon in years.
Not because I don't need to. And not because I'm a snob, or because I'm too busy, or because I have been spending all my spare time napping (oh, but how I wish that were true). No, the reason is simple. I'm too lazy. Can't be bothered. And even when I'm not busy being lazy, I seem to be coupon challenged:
IF I remember to clip the coupons and put them where I can find them again and
IF I remember to take them to the store and
IF I don't leave them in the car but bring them inside and
IF I make a point of purchasing the correct item (and size) and
IF I remember to hand my coupons to the checker, I still run a great risk that my coupons will be expired.
It's happened.
Some of you are like Advanced Placement coupon users. You are money-saving Pros. I aspire to be you. Every time I use the self-check out lane and the computer asks me "Do you have any coupons?" and I have to hit the "no" box on the screen, I am shamed. So help me overcome my obvious genetic deficiency and give me your secrets. Tell me your system. Teach me in the ways of thriftiness. Because I am sick of being embarrassed by a talking computer at the grocery. (And laziness--while endearingly cute--isn't the most efficient way to run a household, it turns out.)
So I'm asking YOU, my bloggerly friends to help me. I'm sure each of you has at least ONE coupon using/money saving shopping tip. So don't leave today without giving me the goods. Even those of you who never leave a little note for me. Yeah Santa Barbara, I'm looking in your direction. You think I don't see you there on my Feedjit? Come on out and play! And I promise I'll try all the tips you send me, because now that I have finally cleared out my butler's pantry, I am looking for something new to occupy my time.
5 comments:
I can't help you because we have the same genes (and mother, incidentally) and therein lies the problem. I remember shopping with Mom every week. I hated the end the most. EVERY WEEK she would forget something and remember it at the very last second and ask me to use my "young legs" to run and fetch it. It was embarrassing, humiliating. I would be running FULL force through the store for sour cream. and i don't even like white creamy things, everyone knows that. And mom also LOVED to sport the expired coupon. I think she saved the adds and clipped them out after a couple of weeks just so she could "feel good" about using coupons but she never actually saved a dime. My problem with coupons is that they are never for what you REALLY need, just for the things you KIND OF need but find yourself needing more now that you can save .60 on them. Thats where they get you. I am convinced that they don't actually save you money at all. damn the man.
My tip... meager as it (i have only been a stay-at-home-future-mom for 3 months) is to plan out meals. If i don't, i spend a lot more. I wander around the store and buy anything for dinner that sounds good- not realizing that i don't actually need it or intend on cooking it. so plan ahead little (older) one and make a list. then remember it. then pull it out once you are at the store. love you bye!- the sister.
I got nothin...But good luck in that. I love coupons, I'm just noy good at them.
Katie and I are really good at clipping coupons for Baskin-Robbins. That's it though. Maybe if you start with Baskin-Robbins, the great coupon gods will smile upon you and open your mind to the secret society of supermarket savings. (In case you're wondering, I'm pretty sure that the great coupon gods are worshiped by people in purple velour track suits in central Florida. They date back to a time between the exploratory expeditions of de Soto and the invention of the time share.)
Costco doesn't take coupons, so the trash is where they go at my house. Just have to save money other ways like McD's & El Pollo Loco drive-thru instead of Macaroni Grill & Chili's--you know, stuff like that.
Okay Julie, once more, I will say it again. You are one of the funniest people I know! Your blog makes me smile!!
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