Cash Management: Confessions of a Coupon Hater

October 04, 2010

To me it always seemed like a major hassle to look through the Wednesday paper for the weekly sales and cut out the coupons.  Half the time, I ended up buying things I didn’t need just because there was a “savings” and more commonly I went to the store and forgot them altogether along with the reusable grocery bags gathering dust in my pantry.

Hanging out with my friend Lynn this summer (whose nickname is The World’s Greatest Shopper) a whole new world of coupon use opened up to me.  Lynn uses websites such as CouponSuzy.com to search for coupons for items she regularly purchases.  Another tip she gave me was to go to department store sites for “percent off” coupons  — print them out right before you head out to the store.  How nice is that?  Easy.  Hassle-free.

Did you know that you can “load” coupons onto your grocery store rewards card?  I didn’t.  She loads baby formula coupons on the store card by entering her code online and formula is expensive!  She gets $5 each can.  That really adds up and what I love about it, no coupon to carry (or lose).

In our Personal Financial Basics workshop, we talk about how to save money and trim excess costs out of the budget.  This seems like a real easy way to consistently save money on a regular basis.  Saving $10 per week doesn’t seem like much but when used to pay down credit card debt or save for spending money for the next vacation, it can actually make a difference.  Add in savings for big purchases by maximizing sales and extra rewards savings, we are now talking  about hundreds of dollars and only changing one behavior.  Well two, hunt for coupons and print them – not too difficult.  With this kind of technology, I may turn from a coupon hater to a true blue coupon fanatic!