Several years ago, before I got married, I easily dismissed coupons, not realizing the potential these little pieces of paper had. I always thought it tedious and time-wasting to sit down and clip these things. To me, they were a piece of glossy paper to be set aside for use with bird cage lining or even to help clean up spilled water. I never gave it much thought, until after I got married and the changes that happened since 2008.
I used to scoff at my wife clipping coupons, but there came a day when we found our finances diminish when I was ‘downsized’ from a job I had. We were living in Ohio and saw a huge plummet in the economy and job market. With that happening, we had to leave where we were living and stay with a relative, but she had not started clipping coupons that much yet. When we ended up moving down south, where I have family, she suddenly got the notion to clip coupons and found several sources online to access coupons for many products that could be discounted. I still thought it a time-waster…until I saw an impact it made when we went shopping one weekend! she convinced me to join her since I had that weekend off from work. So, I reluctantly went with her.
Boy, my mind changed after I saw the amount of money we saved after she submitted a large handful of coupons, both printed off the internet and clipped from several dozen pages from magazines and newspapers. I could not believe the large amount of money we saved from all those coupons!
The other day, my wife came home from the store and had dumped on our bed almost $40.00 worth of merchandise and mentioned she only spent 60 cents! I sat up in bed and read the whole receipt and could not believe my eyes! It was true!
Although I still do not have all the patience to clip coupons, it no longer irritates me when she starts getting giddy while printing them off the internet or clipping them from magazines or newspapers. If you can buy almost $400.00 worth of merchandise and only spend, maybe, $50.00 to $100.00 or even $150.00….I say “Go for it!” With this current hard economy, it is quite important to save what money we can by paying more attention to those pieces of paper with the unique barcodes on them. Use whatever search engine is your favorite to look up potential web sites that may offer good coupons for your favorite products and print them. Save the coupon and savings pages from your local newspaper and check things out. You may be pleasantly surprised by the savings you can find!
Today, I am more than happy to say I was completely wrong about couponing and that my wife was completely right! I know I married well! She is one smart cookie!
Good for you that you get it — and that it’s gonna be a real mutual effort!