January 2, 2012

Why I don't "Coupon"



There is a lot of value in couponing, I know. People get a lot of stuff for free, like 8 cans of pringles and 17 bars of Ivory soap. Quite frankly, couponing is just great. But I dont coupon because I just dont have the time. I work full time and spend 90 total minutes of my day driving. I dont really want to search through endless amounts of online sites and litter my tables with newspapers when I get home. Plus, I'm not great with scissors. Its a no-win situation for me. Here is what I do instead to save money:

-I shop once a week, and I plan our meals very carefully. This includes rolling over ingredients into the next nights meal, or stopping at the store on my way home from work instead of making a special weekend trip (this also saves gas, too).

-I buy generic and off brand labels (with some exceptions, of course). I find that off brands are just as good, and a heck of a lot cheaper.

-I'm not afraid to make it myself. I dont buy bread anymore (rolls, buns, sandwich, muffins...none of it.) This saves us sooo much money, plus its something that I enjoy doing on the weekend. If I could make my own honey, I'd probably do that too....except bee's are scary.

-I dont buy household cleaners if I can get away with it. The majority of my cleaning products include vinegar and baking soda. One exception I make is glass cleaner, because our kitchen and living room table is glass, and I hate streaks. Baking soda and vinegar are also natural de-odorizors.

Couponing is a great hobby for some. Usually people who have kids and really need to cut some corners. People who have more time and who are, well, organized. I'm not really any of those. Plus, I find that usually, the stuff that the coupons get you really isn't that healthy. And thats just my opinion :)

1 comment:

Ihilani said...

Yay! You're blogging! I could not agree with this post more. I've been thinking about a lot of what you mentioned: planning, using simple products, DIY and handmade. That's how they did it back in the day when there was no such thing as coupons.