Yesterday, I was briefly (and I mean, BRIEFLY) scrolling through blog comments and came across one that made me really chuckle. I’ll be honest, I really can’t keep up with all the comments you guys make, it’s hard for me to keep up blogging. But I’m glad I saw this one!
“You mean to tell me you’d stop couponing? Who does that? I couldn’t pay full price for things…….”
WOWsers…….I mean, I don’t know what to say! That was not a comment made to me, but rather from one reader to another – and I had to laugh. Have you “not” used coupons?
I’ll be honest, YES, I have – in a pinch, when I had to, of course.
But really – could you ever take a break from coupons? I know we all take a vacation at some point, and if you have read my site for some time, you will know that even when I go on vacation, I don’t stop blogging……. I used to have a laptop (not anymore!) so before I go again to Cali I’ll have to get a small computer to take with. I can’t not blog. I just can’t……..I mean, I run myself ragged NOT being able to blog.
But how about you – sure we all take breaks at some point (admit it – this hobby can be overwhelming…) but would you ever completely stop using coupons?
Could you really do that?
That depends…is a year a “vacation?” I’ve taken a year off and just started again. I have to say your blog makes it less overwhelming. When I started dreaming about coupons, I decided it was time to take a break. Although I can survive without doing it, why should I spend money when I don’t have to?
Nope. Not even if I was rich. If I hit the lotto – I would coupon, but not as strongly.
I recently took a break for about two months. It was hard to pay full price but coupons became frustrating. Once tlc shows came out i wad fed up with the lack of respect from new “extreme” couponers.. seeing people wipe shelfs, stealing every peelie off boxes in the stores, taking every la voz… thats just the tip of it. I quit to relax, calm down and learn to appreciate what I do end up getting for free or highly discounted
I am always on the hunt for a bargain. Heck, I am having my baby at home to save money! I am excited about the homebirth, but if the hospital were the same price I wouldn’t mind ending up there. As far as coupons go, I can’t imagine buying much of anything without them. Why pay more for something than you have to? We went to Cali a couple weeks ago, and I brought my coupons with me, researched local grocery stores and policies, and knew what would be on sale while we were there.
I had an experience with my first child that always leads me to caution people about home births. My son was a full-term baby with an otherwise normal labor. He ended up with meconium aspiration. He needed to have his airways suctioned and was put on oxygen immediately. He is a completely normal two year old now but if we hadn’t been at a hospital (and one that had a great NICU too) he could have suffered brain damage from oxygen deprivation or even died. Hospitals are the safest place to have a baby and if there is any way to afford it, I highly recommend it. The potential consequences aren’t worth the savings.
I’ve honestly never wanted a home birth oddly enough either. I am covered under Tricare so it costs me nothing, less stress, and just easier at the hospital.
I have to agree with Jennifer. Even if I came into money I would have to coupon! It just wouldn’t feel right!
We were on vacation a few weeks ago and we went to a lake. My MIL took me into this little podunk town to some grocery store I’ve never heard of. I didn’t have any of my q’s with me and it was awful! I spent almost $80 on a very small cart full of groceries and almost had a heart attack. I didn’t use one q! That’s about what I spend on 3 weeks worth of groceries and some extras that I end up just throwing in because I’m hungry or want to spoil my family. I told my husband and he actually had to appreciate my coupon craziness for once!
NO WAY! Qponing is now in my DNA & hopefully my kids. Is criminal to let the store charge you what they do (or rather the manufacturer). If I “stopped”, it would be to stop shopping for a bit & eat from our stock pile – i.e. the January challenge.
I can…Prioritizing is important! I really enjoy this hobby, but it’s really a hobby. It’s not my job, I paid full price before and didn’t die. I like saving money, but I’m not obsessed about it. If I can get a deal…why not? God is first, he’ll take care of all my needs.
My boyfriend and I stopped at Fry’s last week on the way home from dinner because he wanted to get a few things. I told him, no let’s go tomorrow, give me the list and we can prepare. But he wanted to go right then. I didn’t have any coupons on me (what was I thinking?) . He was running willy nilly through the store just grabbing everything. (I guess what many people would call shopping ;) ). I couldn’t take it! He was literally killing me. He checked out and I couldn’t believe the bill. He even paid full price for gummi bears! For the price he paid in that one shop, I could get groceries for a month!
OMG! This happens to me whenever my boyfriend goes to the store. I get so worried when he has to go to the store to get chicken or ground beef or one other ingredient we don’t have for dinner. He always comes back with things that I could have gotten so much cheaper, or worse, that I already have in my stockpile. That drives me nuts. He just needs to ask me. He bought TP, toothpaste, and pasta last week and I had everything in my stockpile. He paid $8 for chicken once because he went to a different store than I told him so he paid $4 more dollars than he had to. That $4 – $6 per time adds up to a lot over a year! Thank goodness I wasn’t with him!
Hence why i never take David. EVER…… EVER EVER. LOL!! My hubby ruins my budget every time!
OMG! If that happened it would take me some serious effort to bite my tongue! In fact I might chew it off… especially paying for toothpaste and pasta. That goes against all the mighty coupon rules! Oh dear! LMAO!
My hubby knows now to get not only the item but size and price he’s allowed to pay before he goes to the store- he once got razors for $12 wwhen they should have been free (I was home w/ brand new baby and had to send him!). Could have killed him….
I used to pay for the couponsense and it was just to overwhelming – a bad bad addiction, lol… but your site has got me excited again! i love being a freaper again!
well, last year when I had my baby, I was away from couponing for 3 months. also, sometimes, I can’t use coupon on meat and lots of thing. I don’t know whethet it counts as break from couponing? Like sometimes, I can’t use coupon on meat or anything I want to buy at the shopping trip. does it count as break from couponing?
There are months when I coupon more than other months. Still only buy what’s on sale though. Milk and eggs and bread are the only things I will give in a pay full price.
No way. Yeastetrday my landlord came over and told me that he was reading some news paper, and there was an article about how store’s were going to STOP couponing, no more double coupons, no more competitors coupons, putting alimit on how many you can use..My heart sank into my tummy. I love to use coupons…Dose anyone know if this was ture???? Cause everyone is always messing with me about my couponing!!!!
I have been couponing since 5/1 ( that’s the date of my first insert!) I still pay full price for somethings that I don’t have coupons for and that are in specialty stores. There are very few coupons for black hair care products and sometimes I have to “make” my own coupons by purchasing them at Wags or CVS using RR or ECB’s. I probably could go back to not using coupons, but it would be VERY hard now that I have gotten some amazing deals ( free stuf galore!) My stock pile is slowly building and I’m much more methodical about the way I shop. So I guess the short answer is yeah, I could go back if I had to, and it would HURT.
If I ever stop couponing its because I am DEAD the Capital D. How can you not coupon. Lets face it paying full price for something its not in our blood. Getting things for a bargin…just bleeds out more desire to get coupons. It drives me crazy when I see a person with a full cartfull and NO coupons…so in my binder I go and say hey heres a dollar….LOL FYI if any of you dont want to use coupons or want your coupons send them my way…..I am still ALIVE……
hahahahaha omg, that’s funny right there!
My mom reminded me that she used to make us clip coupons when we were younger whenever she had them. I do remember growing up and learning how to look for great deals, so it’s been ingrained in me since I was little. Using coupons is an added extra bonus on how I was taught to shop, so no I don’t think I will ever stop couponing. How can you go from saving tons of money with coupons to buying things at full price?
I wonder what we’d all do if the internet shut down- OH, NO!!! I’d be lost without the blogs!!
I’m having a real hard time these days with NOT couponing. For health reasons our house has turned into about 90% organic and non-processed foods. I feel a whole heck of a lot better physically, but mentally I’m feeling so freaked out with how expensive it is to shop at the more ‘natural’ stores. They say they have coupons but…. they just don’t know what freapin feels like. I went from saving 70% on groceries to paying 70% more. Thank GAWD I can still coupon the heck out of the drugstores thanks to Sheryl. Please, pray for my sanity…
There’s no way I’ll ever go back to shopping without coupons. I was a casual couponer before your blog, but after following your blog for about two months now, you have cut my grocery bill in half! I’m sure if I put more planning into it I could save even more but I have to give my teens computer time, too! :) Thanks for your hard work!!
I have only been couponing for a couple months now and
I LOVE it! Sure, I could go back to paying full price for things, but I would never want to. I am trying to get a good stockpile going before we start having kiddos since they are so darn expensive (but worth it) :) My only regret is not getting in to this sooner. Thank you so much for teaching me the ways of being a freaper. You are freap-tastic! :)
I will not stop q’ing not just because its fun, exciting, and get freap stuff, but most important it allows me to stay home and be with my Baby! Q’ing allows me to be a stay at home Mommy and it supplies the essential needs for our family. It also allows us to buy our Baby all that she needs and to save for her future. Before q’ing I was unwillingly and sad looking for a job, because the cost of diapers and all our Daughters needs. We were spending hundreds of dollars extra for diapers alone! I didnt want to be away from my Baby and I researched and many websites have showed me how to be a q’er. This is my favorite website btw! I will not stop q’ing efen if I get rich and all for my Daughter : )!
Used to think I could stop but we recently moved and I ccouldn’t coupon for a couple months….we went without bread aand cheese for a while because paying full price was killing me!