Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Savvy Shopper? Me?

Coupons make me uncomfortable. There. I said it. I don't know if it's just that I don't want to be the one in the check out line to hold things up, or if I'm afraid the coupon will be invalid or expired or the item I picked up is not exactly the item in the coupon. I don't know. I just don't enjoy using them. Or searching for them. Or organizing them--or what have you. It's overwhelming.

But sometimes I wish I wasn't coupon-a-phobic. My in-laws are coupon geniuses. Dan's mother subscribes to a magazine (of sorts) featuring hundreds of "inspirational" pictures. People pile up all of their coupon/rebate deals on a table, pose their children or grandchildren with their treasures, and then send in their picture to the magazine. Seriously, imagine a child perched atop a pile of Depends with the caption "54 packages of Depends: $3.50" or three pitifully dressed kids surrounded by bottles of salad dressing, "800 bottles of Thousand Island: $1.99"

I just don't get how people do it. I mean, you have to use a coupon on something that's on sale and figure out if there is another way to save on top of that like a rebate or a store discount or something. I just can't think that hard about stuff. It's hard enough for me to get to the store, let alone get to the store with a play book detailing all of the coupon/rebate deals. Luckily my sweet mother-in-law does a lot of the thinking for me. She tells me about good deals, hands me especially good coupons, and even fills out rebate forms for me with receipts attached.


But this week I think I did some good shopping all by myself! Can you believe it? Me neither. Here I am with my 20+ boxes of Cheerios, Chex, and Trix. I think I just might make it into the rebate magazine yet.

10 comments:

Holli and Billy said...

I love it! You are so funny! We could all use a lesson from Vicky. By the way, how much did you end up spending on all that cereal?

Megan said...

they were 8 for $8 which I realize isn't magazine worthy but for me that's really good. Especially considering that Dan could easy knock off a box of cereal a day. But then get this Holli: I had a 2 dollar off coupon. woah.

Angie Lewis said...

Nice pic, Megan! You're great! :)

The Willeyes said...

We all aspire to be more like Vicki. Nice job on the cereal. Anytime you get a deal on cereal, it's a good deal. Way to go, magazine here you come! It's good to have goals...you crack me up :) Thanks for makin' my day. Mel:)

Beth said...

I am totally with you, Meg. Here's what was recently posted on someone's blog: "Post cereals are on sale at Albertson's 10 for $12, making them $1.20 each. If you saved your $1.00 off coupon from 03/04 that makes a box of cereal $.20." My question to her was, does that make 10 boxes of cereal $.20 each or just one box. Her response: only one box will be $.20.
I'd rather not have to clip a million coupons of crap I would never normally buy just in case I could get one thing for $.20. Mostly, I just look at the Albertson's ads for when they do their 10 for $10 stuff and stock up on stuff I know my kids will eat...I've come to find out they WON'T eat anything Chex or Life. Pity.

Ginna said...

woo hoo! Nice work! I'm terrible with coupons. In fact I pretty much usually pretend they don't exist.

Emily Rasmussen said...

My mom was a total Coupon stud. I have many memories of cutting out coupons with my mom on Sunday evenings. And her proudly reporting that she had saved $200 at the store and only spent $100. With 12 kids it was sort of a necessity. I am yet to do it though. 20+ of cereal! Very impressive Megan, my mom would be very proud!

Kristalyn said...

Those are good kinds of cereal to get for so cheap! Cereal is one of my favorites to buy on sale. I just used a coupon at the self-checkout lane for Huggies for 1.50 off...that was EXPIRED...and it worked! Maybe you could start your entry into the coupon world by using them at the self checkout, then no one will know if there is a problem. :)

K said...

I used to shop at Norton's because they met everybody else's advertised prices. So you had to haul all the ads along with you and show each item to the cashier. But I saved a lot of money - that is, when Norton's had the right sized can of the right brand.

There's that girl on the radio and that guy, too - I don't know when; I only catch them by accident. They tell you all the DEALS, like at Albertson's. I just don't cook anymore, so sales, shmales . . .

Nice portrait. I didn't know they made that many kinds of cheerios.

Tiffany said...

I'm with Ginna on this one--I pretend coupons don't exist too! I really should though- being on a med-school budget and all. But I hate using them!:D I do like your pic w/the cereal boxes. Can Dan really eat a box of cereal in a day!? Whoa! Maybe coupons would be worth it!?

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