COUPONS!

Before I was broke, I rarely planned anything out in advance enough to use a coupon.  Sure, if I HAD a Burger King coupon, I would use it . . . but then again, you’ve probably noticed you always spending more on fast food to qualify for the coupon, then you would have spent without it.

When I was broke, I never used coupons because my intent was to never buy anything.  I certainly didn’t want to look at ads for things I couldn’t buy on the chance there was a coupon for a necessity like bread.

As I started the transition from broke to unbroke, I didn’t use coupons because I never had, so why start now?  And besides, the whole thing seemed very out-dated.  Young, modern women don’t carry an envelope of coupons to the store!  Plus, I am eating “healthy” and you never see coupons for vegetables!

Then I moved in with him and watched our combined grocery bill rise to a point that it actually gave my recently-broke-self chest pains to think about it.

So I started cutting coupons and looking at ads and I used a few coupon websites and I went to the store and I bought all the stuff I had coupons for . . . and I spent more than I ever had, or ever have since, on a single shopping trip.  Our pantry had never been so full.    I didn’t just buy what we needed, I bought everything that I thought we COULD use, since I had a coupon for it.

It’s been a year now, though, and I am starting to perfect it. I am visiting my grocery store’s website and getting coupons for store brands and using the ads to make my list and then the coupons to add to the savings.  I am doubling up coupons when possible and I am trying, desperately, to plan some sort of menu each week and not bring in food that doesn’t have a purpose.

That process is probably a blog all to itself and, frankly, there are a lot of blogs and websites out there already dedicated to couponing. 

What I do want to share though, is a few things you should never, ever, EVER buy without a coupon.

1)      Anything at Bed Bath & Beyond.  Did you know their 20% off coupons on their flyers never expire? Even though they have an expiration date?  I never knew this, I told thought he was going to get me yelled at buying a blanket with a four year old coupon . . . but she took it without batting an eye.  What’s more, the time he tried to use a coupon that had been emailed to him, the cashier said “We can’t use the ones that you print at home after they expire. Only the formal ones don’t expire.”  Confirming it was an actual POLICY and not just laziness on date-checking.  Everything I have ever bought there without a coupon I instantly regret.

2)      Pillsbury, anything.  These are coupons that are available on every coupon website and show up every week in the newspaper. 

3)      Kraft brand.  Especially Velveeta

4)      Anything that I would classify as pickles ~ Things most of us eat but don’t “need” from cereal to snack crackers to juice boxes.  If every time you glance at the weekly coupons they are there. With the advent of online coupon sites you don’t even have to plan ahead.  You’re out of Cheerios? Print a coupon (or download it to your smart phone, if you’re one of THOSE types).

5)      Toiletries, especially toothpaste, for the same reasoning as above.

6)      Oil Change or other basic car care.  Again, the ads and coupons are coming in the mail all the time.

7)      ANYTHING ONLINE.  You’re already online.  Look for a coupon code.