![]() I was stockpiling things that weren’t benefitting me. When I was at the height of my couponing glory, I accumulated several years worth of personal hygiene products–shampoos, deodorant, toothpaste. If I got a part-time, minimum-wage job with that time, I would’ve ended up miles ahead. Then, more hours (and gas!) driving around to stores collecting not-free items I couldn’t afford. I spent hours organizing, clipping, sorting, and matching coupons.I was putting my bills off until later, and often using my paycheck to fund my job.I accumulated shelves of items I’d never use–each ten-cent item was 10-cents I didn’t have to pay down my (growing!) debt.These were products I never used but I felt like I got a deal. I grow my own food and use a few natural products. ![]() Couponing cost me money.Īnd, I was stocking up on things I never used. Giving stuff away is fun.īut then, I looked at my own checkbook. I dedicated myself fully to stocking up using sales, doorbusters, and coupons.I schemed ways to buy even more supplies on sale. I loved couponing. That made me happy.Īt back to school time, I stocked up for the year using coupons and sales to buy the things schools didn’t. When I accumulated enough, I’d bring bags to our local family shelter. “Looks like a department store,” people said.Īnd it did–an entire room with rotated stock and floor-to-ceiling shelves. ![]() If you came to my house, you left with free stuff. Soon, I had shelves full of sale and free products. Once in a while, I’d find a kind teen who didn’t want to see me again. Then, I’d shuffle them for Transaction Two and so forth. I’d put Transaction Number One on the belt, pay, get the coupons. During Back-to-School shopping season, cashiers left the country if they saw me coming. Some, I had to go to multiple times if I “needed” a lot of something or if there was a low limit. Sometimes, there were several lists per store because of offers like “Buy two, get $4 off your next purchase.” This is detail-oriented stuff. Then, I’d start the organizing process.Įach list got paper clipped to the right coupons. ![]() Second I’d spend some time screening the sites and cross-matching coupons to sales. A typical week couponingįirst, I’d get the fliers. Stephanie’s original idea was to help people add on a few things to their groceries so they could donate them, and also help them save on their groceries so they could afford to give.ĭone well, couponing seems to save a lot, but as I soon discovered, in the long run it costs a ton of cash, and even worse, keeps us in a mindset of poverty so we never imagine we can get out of debt. is brilliant used correctly–it matches weekly coupons to sales at your local stores. I used Stephanie Nelson’s strategy to match coupons to sales. Stores were right there–twenty feet from my house. When I lived in the city (and for most teachers!) couponing was a way of life. Several years and stockpiles later, I realized something–couponing kept me in debt instead. I did this for years thinking I’d coupon to pay off debt. It doesn’t save you money it makes you spend more. ![]()
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