Couponing 101: The frustration, the patience and the pay off
>> Saturday, May 9, 2009
Couponing 101
Today is an excellent day to revisit couponing. In today's world you can get a coupon from just about anywhere. Go here for an outline of coupon lingo. There are many of us who search the ads, plan our strategies, gather our coupons and head out for a good day of couponing. We know what we are looking for, we use our excellent vision to spot extra deals and we are always organized, efficient and prepared when we go through the check out. WRONG!
What a lot of people don't realize is we try to be all of those things and on good days we accomplish it but most other days we just hope for a good part of it to come true. Today was one of those days.
I cut out my Internet coupons, I stacked coupons with other deals like target and meijer coupons. I planned, planned, planned and then I hit the stores.
Why do people not like to coupon? Because it is hard work! There is no doubt about it. We may need to visit several of stores, we hit the stores and run into outages, signs that are wrong, rude cashiers, coupons that won't scan, the cashier evil eye that says; "did you really buy this?"
I had all that today plus; I paid too much for some items because I didn't read the fine print at cvs and do my research very well. I got an extra special deal because I ran into a special sale going on and was organized enough to find my extra coupons. I was told my coupons would not scan and I said I purchased the items so take off the coupon ( said this very nicely). I was told I couldn't use a 1.00 coupon for something that cost .99 cents. I smiled and said take off .99. My feet hurt, I did multiple transactions, I let people go in front of me, I made several trips throughout the super market because I kept forgetting things. I was at my best, I encountered the worst, I was tired and crabby. The sun was setting faster then my coupons were processing. The work left at home to ready the house for the mothers day BBQ was not going to wait. I was frustrated but happy with most of my savings. I had the patience of a saint because I knew I had to in order to get my shopping done and my saving intact.
The pay off? I got enough cereal to last us a long time. I got some great free items including nutritious fruit. My grocery efforts will go unnoticed by most in my house. They just know there is food when they are hunger and that is OK. I know the job of homemaker, shopper, cleaner doesn't pay much but hey that's just what I do. And sometimes when I get things really cheap or free, I admit I get a little buzz. (shhshhs don't tell anyone that this happens)
That my friends is couponing 101. To make matters even better or worse depending on your outlook, I forgot at least five dang items that I know of and must do this all over again soon.
What a lot of people don't realize is we try to be all of those things and on good days we accomplish it but most other days we just hope for a good part of it to come true. Today was one of those days.
I cut out my Internet coupons, I stacked coupons with other deals like target and meijer coupons. I planned, planned, planned and then I hit the stores.
Why do people not like to coupon? Because it is hard work! There is no doubt about it. We may need to visit several of stores, we hit the stores and run into outages, signs that are wrong, rude cashiers, coupons that won't scan, the cashier evil eye that says; "did you really buy this?"
I had all that today plus; I paid too much for some items because I didn't read the fine print at cvs and do my research very well. I got an extra special deal because I ran into a special sale going on and was organized enough to find my extra coupons. I was told my coupons would not scan and I said I purchased the items so take off the coupon ( said this very nicely). I was told I couldn't use a 1.00 coupon for something that cost .99 cents. I smiled and said take off .99. My feet hurt, I did multiple transactions, I let people go in front of me, I made several trips throughout the super market because I kept forgetting things. I was at my best, I encountered the worst, I was tired and crabby. The sun was setting faster then my coupons were processing. The work left at home to ready the house for the mothers day BBQ was not going to wait. I was frustrated but happy with most of my savings. I had the patience of a saint because I knew I had to in order to get my shopping done and my saving intact.
The pay off? I got enough cereal to last us a long time. I got some great free items including nutritious fruit. My grocery efforts will go unnoticed by most in my house. They just know there is food when they are hunger and that is OK. I know the job of homemaker, shopper, cleaner doesn't pay much but hey that's just what I do. And sometimes when I get things really cheap or free, I admit I get a little buzz. (shhshhs don't tell anyone that this happens)
That my friends is couponing 101. To make matters even better or worse depending on your outlook, I forgot at least five dang items that I know of and must do this all over again soon.
1 comments:
Paula, great little post, how true, how true!
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