Last year I was a crazy coupon clipper, and then I was really pregnant and couldn't muster the energy to chase that dollar all over town, so I took a break. A break turned into months, and here we are 9 months later, piles of coupons, no coupons clipped, and I'm wondering why my grocery dollars aren't buying as much as they used to. So it's time to start clipping again, but I'm not looking forward to it.
1) now I have three kids to drag all over town.
2) it's getting down right frigid and I don't want to get out of the car unless it is absolutely necessary.
3) I'm trying to eat everything in the house, not store it for later.
When I did coupon it involved buying lots of stuff that I wouldn't be using today, but would next week or next month. Like 20 boxes of cereal. A person has to have a place to store all that stuff. Currently we are in the process of eating the stuff so we don't have to move it, and more importantly so when we do put our house on the market we don't look like a bunch of pack rats.
But looking at my grocery bill over the last few months it is clear that I need to be more vigilant with sale shopping, coupon clipping, or both. I am not looking forward to it, but it must be done. My DrH says he admires my motives, but he thinks it is ridiculous visiting 5 grocery stores a week. And he's right, but it gets the job done and my budget is happy.
I don't ask for much, but one day I really hope that if I clip coupons it will be because it is so much fun, and not because I need to. Being frugal is a virtue, but it is hard to sustain that level of frugality over time. Or at least it is for me.
I wish coupon'ing was more popular in Canada... there are deals but it's just not the same as down in the US. Or maybe if I lived in a bigger center I would have more opportunity... that might be it!!
ReplyDeleteYou should update us when you start with the coupon'ing. I am interested to see the difference!