Thursday, September 15, 2011

Soapbox {I might have a coupon for that}

A few years ago I started to use coupons at the grocery. I even went to a class learning the ins & outs of the coupon game. Now, let me say, this is not a post about how I spent $15 and got $400 worth of groceries. I'm not one of those crazy coupon queens as featured on reality tv. My husband, dog, & I live in a small condo and I refuse to stockpile Cheerios under my bed (it messes up my feng shui you know.) I also refuse to eat some overly processed crap just because it was free. I have fun with it. I enjoy seeing the tally of what I've saved at the bottom of my receipt. I am not particularly brand loyal (except for OJ, a girls got to have some deliciously high pulpy grove stand standards in the morning). I am an advertiser's dream customer. In fact, due to a sale & a coupon, I have a colorful jar of those new pretzel M&M's sitting on my desk (chocolate has powers over people in home renovating crisis. Take note.)

While I understand where the coupon crazies come from, stockpiling & saving their precious pieces of paper for that perfect bargain...I frankly get a little annoyed with them. Case in point: yesterday began what my local grocery calls "triple coupons." Any coupon valued at less than a buck will be multiplied 3 times. So if you have a measly $0.25 coupon for coffee creamer, it becomes $0.75. If that coffee creamer happens to be already on sale, use your coupon, and get a deal! This theory only works when the hoarders have not come and cleared out the shelves of every product that was on weekly sale and had a coupon to combine it with. I get the "early bird gets the worm" mentality but really, I just wanted 1 jar of mustard for $0.25...not 50! The hoarders ruin it for us casual couponers. I know stores give out rain checks for items that are out of stock, but that takes the fun out of it now doesn't it? I filled my cart with my finds and headed to the check out counter with my organized coupons in hand as to not annoy the other shoppers with taking too long. And then I saw the greatest disappointment of my grocery cart jockeying experience: 4 carts piled high with tons of those empty shelf products just sitting by customer service. Some hoarder didn't have their stash properly organized or perhaps their hubby broke the crazy couponer rule #1 of using their in-store savings card earlier that day making their trip's savings void. So what does the CC do? They abandon the trip all together, leaving the continence of cleared shelves piled high at the front of the store to be restocked. Grr.

The trip was a success in my mind, I saved about 50% on my bill while still buying the healthy food that I usually buy that never has a coupon (organic milk, quinnoa, greek yogurt, etc.). I also bought some non-perishables for next to nothing to donate to my junior league's back pack buddies program. Just remember fellow grocery shoppers...not everyone you see with a notebook is a coupon crazy. Some of us are just trying to play a little game to get some of those every day essentials for pennies (toothbrush, TP, & toothpaste for me yesterday!) and spend it on something more enjoyable or procuring the deals for a great cause.





8 comments:

All Things Cherish said...

Great post! I share your exact sentiments.

katie lake said...

There are many times that I have gone to the grocery store trying to get this or that item (toothpaste, my husband's deodorant) and the shelf has been cleared bc there is a local couponer/hoarder. I think it is kind of rude and selfish.

On another note, I saved $22 (32%) last night at the grocery store and was pleased as punch with mysef.

Beantown Prepster said...

My Madre just gave a woman a 5 minute tirade after she had gone hunting 2 boxes of something (unsure what) to use to make something for a work event only to find 2 stores completely out and then saw this woman with a cart FULL of said item. Literally my mom yelled at her for 5 minutes about hoarding and about how other people want reasonable quantities. I was so proud of her! I told her she should have snatched 2 out of this horder's cart.

Princess Freckles said...

Hoarders like that freak me out! And it's really rude to regular shoppers. Sometimes I get really bummed out when I plan to purchase something that has happened to be on sale only to find it's completely cleared out. I don't often use coupons, but if I did, I'd be even more bummed because going to the trouble to get the coupon all ready, then not having the product available would makes me nuts!

Dale Parker said...

This makes me rethink the idea of clipping those coupons then actually remembering to take them with me to the store. What amazes me is that the girl that ate only macaroni and rice now eats things like greek yogurt and quinoa. Way to go!

Jen said...

Great post! I totally agree. I use some coupons, but I also like to eat fresher foods. And it would make me so mad to see an abandoned cart full of stuff I was looking for.

At least I'm skinny said...

I couldn't get a Dawn bottle because they were sold out. I was bummed.

DSS said...

I adore coupning, but like you I don't go off the deep end. I do have a "stockpile", but it's probably got 4 tubes of toothpaste, 10 pastas, you know...moderate stockpiling :) And I didn't get those all at once either.

I do find it terribly annoying when I try to purchase something and the crazy couponers have wiped out the shelves :(