Comments on: What To Do When You’re Tired of Couponing

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 09:46:49 +0000

Great post! I also enjoy what everyone else has to say. I think 2 main things: how much stuff do you need to have, even if it was a great deal, it’s not great if it’s sitting around collecting dust or going bad; and, how much is your time worth? I follow lots of money saving blogs, and I’m always astounded when someone posts that they had to re-do a transaction or make a return because the coupon/register/cashier didn’t work the way they thought, etc and I just think, my time is worth more than the $1 I’d be saving to go through all that hassle! : )

By: Lady Di

Lady Di — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 21:13:17 +0000

Single, no kids and I got tired within the last month or so. I’ll be back at it soon… or not. I printed more than I used. Sad, I know.

By: Going Green Mama

Going Green Mama — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 19:00:54 +0000

While couponing is great we can always cook at home! Take advantage of the seasonal produce at the farmers market right now and plan your meals around that. I got far more with $10 this week at the market than I did with $20 at the grocery store. Just my 2 cents.

By: Mama K

Mama K — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:34:34 +0000

I am in a couponing slump right now. Low-energy due to pregnancy is making just grocery shopping and cooking meals seem overwhelming. I enjoy finding good deals, but you are right… we need to be realistic about what we can do during the “seasons” of our life. So for now, I’m focusing on shopping the sales and trying to avoid the take out.

By: Margot

Margot — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:09:24 +0000

We don’t have double coupons so it’s harder to get killer coupon deals here. Plus I have seven kids, so I shop at Costco a lot, and they don’t take coupons.

The thing that happens to me is I’ll spend time combing through the coupon inserts, clip out the ones I think seem like a good deal, and then take them to the store, search the store for the item, and when I finally find the silly thing, I’ve invested so much time and energy into that little coupon that I end up buying the product even though it’s really not that great a deal. Sigh.

By: Amy Smith

Amy Smith — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:27:32 +0000

Wow, what a great post. Just what my heart needed. I’m fairly new to couponing. But I can really get excited about all the deals and want to go catch them all. But like you, I’m at a very busy season of life. Four children, 8 years and younger. (my youngest is 8 weeks…so not the easiest time to hit 15 stores!) Homeschooling, gardening, husband starting new busines…etc… Thanks for all your insight. I’m guessing our new babies were born around the same time. Mine was May 3rd (His name is Jesse…I just noticed on another older post that your husband’s name is Jesse, right?) Thanks again for opening this discussion, I loved your comment about how our children won’t be little for long, but the sales/deals will be there later.

By: Jennifer Overy

Jennifer Overy — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:42:28 +0000

Thanks so much for the post. I am feeling a little down about couponing. (You can find my frustrations at http://budgetaccountability.blogspot.com/) Thanks for letting me know that it’s okay to take a little break and regroup, or other options to add some variation to my routine.

By: Emelie

Emelie — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:09:03 +0000

I get burned out from time to time as well. It does take work ad sometimes it’s best to take a break and then get re-enthused.

By: All Things Frugal 4-U & Me

All Things Frugal 4-U & Me — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:13:59 +0000

I normally just buy all of our groceries at Wal-Mart by admatching since we don’t have a lot of stores to pick from. That keeps me from running all over to get the deals individually. Then I do CVS & Wags as well. I do errands only one night a week. It takes a couple of hours but then I’m done.

My 10 year old gets $1 to clip all my coupons each week with the paper cuter so it goes quicker for her. She sorts if it’s a food or non food item as she goes and then I put them away in the binder.

There are times I get tired of dealing with it all but then if I just go buy something without a coupon-that fixes that and I get back on the train pretty quick. I’ve been using coupons since I was 16 when my Mom gave me some for makeup. (I’m 37 now) The only times I REALLY stopped couponing is when I was pregnant here or there with 7 kids;)

Then it’s just survival mode…and toilet hang time! Take out eating increased then too-Man I miss those days! LOL

By all means take a break if you need to, when you need to is what I say.

By: Anna

Anna — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:03:49 +0000

Continuing the above comment—I am pretty burned out on Walgreen. It seems the deals aren’t that great anymore and it is such a hassle to try to combine RRs with coupons, trying to find cheap filler items, etc. I had $26 RR left which were expiring so I just used them up on the puffs tissues, tuna, yardleys soap (my absolute favorite). I don’t plan to go to walgreens again unless the deal is fantastic.

By: Anna

Anna — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:00:42 +0000

I’ve only been seriously couponing for about 4 months but I’ve been bargain-shopping (i.e. shopping the loss leaders and the sales) much longer. I seriously would never want to go back to paying as much as I was paying w/o coupons for things like cereal, feminine products, etc. That being said, I have enough of a stockpile on some things that unless the deal is GREAT, I don’t bother with it. I have a large family though (8 of us) and I HAVE to coupon/bargain shop if I want to keep our food budget reasonable. And, I’ve found that using coupons I can get brand items cheaper than if I went to Aldi or did generic.

By: PAIGE

PAIGE — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:07:42 +0000

That’s nice to know that even you get burned out on the coupon thing. I did really well for a while, but then life got extremely busy and I just didn’t have time for it. But I WANT to save money, so I’m always looking for the best deal. I appreciate all the work you do searching for deals and sharing them with us.

By: Rebecca Hosea

Rebecca Hosea — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:41:01 +0000

I have always been a coupon user and now that my children they are wonderful for helping cut out the coupons. My oldest even prints them from the computer. Neat, I think.
When I first got married my husband was embarrassed by me using coupons, so I quit using them when we grocey shopped together….well long story short and 15 years later, I still use coupons and so does he! My husband will even go grocery shopping and take coupons with him (without me). So that is a nice break!
I hate it when coupons expire, and I have several that do expire and so in the trash they go…BUT DO NOT THROW YOUR EXPIRED COUPONS AWAY!!!!!!!! They can still be used…seriously! Go here to read more http://tinyurl.com/nmpf6

By: Donna

Donna — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:27:04 +0000

Having just relocated my stockpile to a different part of my house, I am realizing just how much I have and just how little I need right now. Lately I am focussing on only frees/money makers at CVS and my local grocer that doubles dollars, and I take a monthly trip to costco. Right now it’s not worth it!!

By: Rhonda

Rhonda — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:03:37 +0000

This is a very interesting discussion. I think I went a bit overboard these past few months when the Kraft and Kelloggs coupons were around. Combined with sales, I ended up with “way too many” boxes of crackers, salad dressing, mayo, bbq sauce, sugary cereal, etc. All of these items were free or very low cost.

This may sound odd (and I don’t really quite know how to phrase it), but we almost felt “obligated” to this enormous amount of food. We all ate way more than was good for us (especially the wheat thins, cakesters, pecan sandies, ice cream etc.) and also ate it in preference to options we like better (like, homemade salad dressing, simple sugar cookies, muffins, fruit smoothies). About the 2nd time I served Velveeta shells and cheese versus my homemade mac and cheese, husband pretty much said we needed to talk about quality versus quantity. I guess others have better self control than our family with consuming these treats! {actually, the treats became more “staples” than treats}.

So,here’s what I did. I bagged up everything but TWO of each item and hauled it off to various agencies in town. Everything now fits in my cupboards/pantry and I feel less stressed.

I’ll continue to shop the bargains, but will set a limit as how much “free” foodstuff is allowed in the door!

Rhonda

By: Mendy

Mendy — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:19:46 +0000

I’m brand new to couponing, but it’s nice to know that if I ever feel like I need a break, it’s normal! Thanks for all the great info!

By: Carrie

Carrie — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:17:19 +0000

I go in cycles. It seems to work because I tend to stockpile a lot when I’m in a major couponing cycle. Right now I’ve kind of relaxed a bit from the whole thing because life has gotten a bit crazier during the Summer. I am another one who doesn’t do the drugstore much during the Summer months as well. I usually just go for major deals (diapers, freebies I actually need, etc.)

By: Gina

Gina — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:49:05 +0000

Thank you for the post! That was just what I needed to hear right now! I am pregnant with baby #2, and I have been so sick this time around, not so much with morning sickness, but I have developed several food allergies during this pregnancy that result in migraines. Shopping, clipping coupons and reading labels and also staying in a budget have been enough to make my head spin!!! I KNOW it’s ok to take a break, thanks for your encouragement to keep me on that path for a while! I am just very glad I have an aldi’s close by!

By: jamie

jamie — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:06:44 +0000

when i feel burned out…it usually means i have plenty of stockpile and don’t need to shop for awhile.

like when i was in school…if i wasn’t in the mood to study for a test, it usually knew i already had the material down and had studied enough!

i suggest listening to those internal cues. i’ve learned to embrace the breaks i take! it helps me come back strong when i need to.

By: Laina

Laina — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:57:11 +0000

Put limits on the number of stores / trips per week or month. It can be tempting to hit a store every day for a week when the amazing rolling deals come along but soon you’ll have more than you need of the standard freebies. Shop at the stores you like skip the once that make deals too challenging to be worth the trouble. Limit the coupons you clip and save – yes I’ve kicked myself when I found out I missed out on a big moneymaker but there is just so much time and energy available. – Crystal thanks for this great post and forum for so much good advice.