Basically she feels that Coupons don't work for her.
I thought she had some very good ideas on the subject and she makes some valid points.
I agree that coupons can take control over you. Who hasn't bought something just because it was free with a coupon even though they don't use that product and had no plan for it to be used once it was procured?
If you can answer that question with a no, then you are a far better man than I, Gunga Din!lol
If you have any kind of obsessive aspect to your personality, you may find yourself being overtaken by a need to use a coupon(or many coupons) just because you will get a deal.
It takes a lot of self-control to keep the coupons as a TOOL aiding your life, rather than as the CONTROL over your life.
Let me say that again.....Coupons should be a TOOL to help you save money and put that saved money to a different use in your life. If coupons become your life then perhaps you need to step away from the Sunday Inserts! ;-)
I have learned over the past year or so that I need to change the way in which I use coupons so that they work for me and I am not a slave to them. I have done some good things using coupons and then there are some things I have failed at due to coupons. Perhaps I'll delve deeper into this subject in a later post.
So when do you know when Coupons have taken over control?
1. When you spend more hours in a day finding/clipping coupons, studying store ads, reading coupon blogs, planning grocery lists, shopping, putting away the haul than you spend interacting with your family, spouse or friends.
**Ok, so I have sullen surly teens so maybe I don't really WANT to interact with them some days.
2. You can't bring yourself to buy something just because you don't have a coupon for it even if it's something you really really Need!
3. If someone were to ask you if your house was on fire and what would you grab before you left and you answer your Coupon Binder.
4. You have many, many boxes of 'insert name of product here' in your stockpile though no one in your house eats/uses said product.
5. You have enough boxes/containers of one product to build a replica of one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
6. You open your garage door and suddenly cars full of people start pulling up to your house and ask if you have any grocery carts so they can do their weekly shopping.
So tell me.....do you use coupons or are coupons using you?
Sluggy
