I love the idea of couponing. I really do. The idea of showing up at the grocery store and saving tons of money? It sounds awesome!
But I am terrible at it. First off, I am a single woman. I just don’t use that much stuff. Secondly, I just don’t want to do it. The idea of spending hours clipping and planning? Not my style. I was doing okay at actually using coupons for a while, but then I got fed up with my newspaper delivery service and canceled my subscription.
Then yesterday, there was a great deal for a year of Sunday papers for $25. Not bad at all and definitely the best price I have seen in the area. So I grabbed it. My subscription should start in two to three weeks.
My couponing plan is to just clip the coupons for things I will use and perhaps things I can donate, if there is a great deal out there. I’m not brand loyal on cleaning products, so buying whatever is the best deal is the way to go. I figure that’s where I will find the most coupons. But I’m hoping to be able to restock my canned goods as well. I’m going to use a plastic coupon organizer that I have laying around and try to make it work for me.
Because I love organizing products, I love the idea of a fancy coupon holder, preferably something adorable from etsy. But buying something for my coupons defeats the purpose of couponing at this point!
Megan is a 30-something government employee in the Washington, DC area. She got interested in Personal Finance when she got out of college and realized that her paycheck wasn’t going to go as far as she had hoped. Since starting this blog, she has managed to buy a house and make a solid start on her retirement goals, and hopes to help others do the same. Here is her story:
In 2007, I was a gainfully employed 20-something with no debt but not a lot of knowledge about personal finance. It was a co-worker’s comment about Roth IRAs that sent me to the internet, searching for information. It was then that I realized that I really didn’t know a whole lot about personal finance and that my current financial situation was due a lot to inherent frugal tendencies, generous family members, a fear of debt, and good luck. While that was working for me, clearly I needed a better plan.
While I had no debt, I was also pretty much living paycheck to paycheck and not worrying about going over budget (I say this as if I had a real budget) because I had an emergency fund set aside to cover any overages.
Except that’s not what an emergency fund is for.
So I did a lot of research, read a lot of blogs, and decided that I needed a plan. I needed to budget. I needed to know what I was spending my money on. I needed to prepare for the future.
I decided to create a blog not only to make myself accountable to others but also to share the knowledge that I gained along the way. I’ve learned so much from my fellow bloggers, and I hope that my readers can find something useful in what I have to share as well.
The problem with couponing for food is that it’s only good for processed food. If you are like us, we eat way more fruits, veggies and meats than snacks and pre-made foods.
For cleaning products, it’s a great deal. Clipping coupons isn’t all that time consuming either. If you are just sitting around watching TV on Sunday, pull out the paper and flip through the coupons.
I should follow my own advice.
Tom, it depends on your definition of processed food. I have found a lot of coupons for baking goods. Is flour processed? Clearly, yes. But to me, it’s in a very different category than Cheez-Its. Also, I love to use frozen veggies as a quick side for meals, and also in soups, etc. So those are definitely good coupon options.
And if I can find a great deal, I’ll buy it for donation to the food banks.