I used to be the coupon queen! I held almost weekly workshops (now available free online), driving all over the area and sometimes farther to teach. In fact, that’s how this website was started…because people wanted somewhere to go after they left my workshops.
But…and here’s a big but (I like big buts and I cannot lie) – I had one child. A small child. And we stayed home all the time. Soooooooo, let’s just say I had a lot more free time than I have now.
My life got busy. I decided to start making more foods from scratch. I had more children. I moved. I got busier with homeschool and writing…and I found that trying to use coupons was STRESSING ME OUT.
Ain’t nobody got time for that – stress, it’s a killer.
But, I’m frugal! I’m supposed to use coupons! That’s what frugal people do, don’t ya know?!
Well…not me. I quit. I don’t use very many food coupons.
I just do not have the time. There are healthy coupons to be had…especially if you look around online. And I know lots of people use coupons for toiletries and such, but now that I’ve embraced The KonMari Method, I don’t buy a ton of stuff in bulk any more – so if we are close to running out, I just go buy a tube of toothpaste, instead of 8.
This has been SO freeing to me.
Now, instead of spending hours hunting down coupons, traveling from store to store for the best deals, and staying on top of all the deal sites…I just buy what I need.
- I take advantage of loss leaders at the store.
- I buy in bulk.
- We hunt and use venison.
- I shop at Aldi when I can get there.
- I buy marked down meats and freeze them.
- I have two deep freezers to store items that I find for good deals.
- I buy in season.
- We eat Poorganic.
I know a lot of other people have options that we don’t have here – like Costco, Azure Standard, and Zaycon Foods. But, I’m able to make do with the savings that I can here in the country.
So I’m having money by buying less…by buying more…by storing in season foods for later.
Does that mean I NEVER use coupons? Of course not – sometimes my mom finds coupons and gives them to me. Thanks, Mom! Sometimes I find them randomly online. Sometimes they are mailed to me. And I NEVER miss my monthly Chick-Fil-A coupon. 😉
Am I saying that YOU shouldn’t use coupons? Heavens no. If you want to use coupons, I think that’s fine and dandy! I’ve just found, it’s not worth it to me right now. And I wanted to make sure that other mamas knew it was okay for them too. It’s okay to be frugal without coupons. It’s okay to not use them. It’s okay to use them.
You just have to decide what works for you. Time is money…and I’m not spending time on coupons. Now, I gotta go make a giganto batch of Cinnamon PB Granola.
Robin says
I’ve read about you finding the “not so fresh veggies” and the marked down meats that you freeze. How? Where? My mom used to do this but where I shop, I don’t see these options.
Stacy says
You might need to ask the employees. Some stores only mark down at certain times. I just happen to know where the stores I shop at have these markdowns.
Becky says
AMEN! No coupons! No time for that!
My best tip for grocery savings is thrilling: just buy what you need… and will use. : ) Brilliant, huh?
Stacy says
Genius, I’d say. 🙂
K9sOverCoffee says
I only use coupons for toiletries, other than that I don’t have the time either 🙂 Blogging, running my own pet sitting/dog walking business, taking care of my pups, my hubby, and maintaining a clean house just doesn’t leave a lot of time for coupon-ing! Besides using my monthly coupons for tampons (I just HATE paying full price for them!) I buy organic meat when it’s on sale and am always on the lookout for clearance items.
Stacy says
I loooooooooove clearance!
Sonja says
My tip is just really know your prices. Have a price list (at least in your head) of the best prices to meet or beat.
Stacy says
Yes! I love your approach and your great tips on the topic.
CarringtonCarmen says
I agree with you Stacy 100%. Quitting coupons was the best thing I could have done. I became obsessive over them and it just added to the list of things to do. Shopping is already a chore, remembering to clip coupons and haul them around and use them just wasn’t worth it to me. I also ended up buying things I wouldn’t normally buy
.
Stacy says
It’s easy to become obsessive about things, isn’t it? I’m trying to do better about that.
Wendy Briscoe says
We shop at Aldi’s and Wal Mart, and that’s it. Don’t buy more than you need. Use and eat up leftovers have been a huge new thing in our family after I was HORRIFIED about how much food we wasted. I was a huge addict of the Coupon Show that was on TV for a while, and then we cut out cable, and don’t have it any more. How you are saving money by stockpiling? Just buy what you need, and then when it’s gone get some more. Who needs a wall of TP anyway? Just my thoughts. Wendy
Stacy says
I like to stockpile certain foods, but not stuff that takes up massive amounts of space. But a 5 gallon bucket of oats? Yes, please.
MaryP says
My youngest son (he’s 31) has a very tight budget and cooks most of his meals (he can’t afford not to). He used to do his grocery shopping at Walmart, thinking it was the cheapest option. He discovered that he saves money by watching the sales at the regular grocery stores, planning his meals around whatever is on sale. He only shops on one store each week, whichever one has the best sales on what he likes. He has very little refrigerator or freezer storage space, so has to also keep that in mind. We have an Aldi opening up on August 27th – I have heard so much about them that I am super excited.
Stacy says
Aldi is awesome!
Maripat says
As a mom of 6 with a home business, I made the switch years ago too! For the $10 or $20 I might save a week I could alter a few pairs of pants and come out ahead. My time makes me more money in my business than it saves in couponing. Thanks for getting rid of my occasional guilt with this post, Stacy 🙂
Stacy says
Yeah, guilt doesn’t do any of us a bit of good. 🙂
Angela Bailey Coffman says
I don’t use food coupons either. The stuff I buy most often rarely has a coupon, and I find I save more by buying store brands. I know girls who do amazing with coupon/sale matching, but my grocery bill is still less than theirs with less stress. I do always search for a coupon code before checkout online, though.
Stacy says
Oh yeahhhhhhhhh. Love me some retailmenot!
Julie Chittock says
Great post – helpful tips! I don’t clip coupons either – except at BJs because they mail me that little convenient book….
But I actually use the Ibotta app (after seeing it in a screenshot on your chat book post I think!) and I love it. They’re are no coupons to clip before you shop! You just open the app and see what coupons are available for the store you’re headed in to shop at and then scan the barcodes and the reciept when you get home. So simple!! You can either get PayPal cash back or gift cards.
Stacy says
I tried to use it – I just can’t get in the groove.
Kay DeFreese says
I used to actively hunt down coupons. I went as far as going to the recycling bins and digging out the coupon inserts from the Sunday papers. I don’t do that anymore. If a coupon comes my way great and if not I don’t stress too much. I do watch the cycle of when things go on sale. I have like a six-week supply of toilet paper. It doesn’t go bad and it will get used. I buy in bulk whenever I can on things I know I will use. Most of the coupons out there are for processed foods which we don’t eat a lot of.
Stacy says
Paying attention to sale cycles is a great way to save money!
Denise Bertacchi says
Whew. I couldn’t get into coupons…it seemed to add an hour to my shopping trying to find the right packages! Plus, I think the coupon craze spoiled it. Coupons used to be more valuable and stores more generous.
Stacy says
Yes, you are right. The coupon show and popularity really ruined it for everyone.
Sue Robinson says
I so agree with you! I spent hours on couponing and saved some money (well, lots of money). But when I started downsizing and minimizing, I realized that a family of two did not need 15 tubes of deodorant…if fact, I make my own now from very frugal ingredients. The same for cleaning products and many other things that have harmful chemicals.
Stacy says
Right! I love my space more than I love 10 extra tubes of toothpaste.
Anne says
This post rocks my socks. I am a working mom of two, my husband works as well, and frankly saving 25 cents or even a few dollars after stressing out about finding coupons is just not worth the time and energy. I’ll fork over a few extra bucks if I have to. I know in general which stores have best quality and prices for the items I need, and I stick with those. Amazon Subscribe & Save is a lifesaver for some household items (like diapers, pull-ups, and wipes), Sam’s club is another lifesaver for most non-processed and some processed (yeah I went there) food items and saves me shopping trips by stocking up, and after those two, I hit up our local grocery for whatever’s on sale. We (i.e., DH) also hunt, fish, and connect with local livestock producers to buy fresh meat in bulk. Anywho – great post, and thanks a million for keeping it real for the rest of us!! 🙂
Stacy says
What would I do without my dear venison stock? Cry, I think. 🙂
Jennifer Robertson says
Amen sister! When I had my third kid, my plate was suddenly too full to manage. I had to consciously drop things off the plate so that we could still be a HAPPY, rather than stressed out, family. It took me nine months to feel like we were upright again after that third baby. I am so thankful she was an easy baby. And I am so glad I figured out what was worth the stress of fighting my scatterbrained mind or crazy wild little blessings running around under my feet! Very little is worth it, very, very, very little! Ha
Stacy says
I left my brain at the hospital when I had Annie 6+ years ago.
Jennifer Robertson says
Word. I told my friend that I literally felt like I birthed a third of my brain when the placenta passed. I FELT IT. Not joking. No wonder teenagers think they are so smart… Haha
Rebecca L. says
I still use coupons for Mega Sales at Kroger (our Kroger still doubles coupons that are less than 50cents) and I use them for paper products like Kleenex. I usually keep our shampoo/conditioner, toothpaste, soap stocked through the mega sales events at Kroger and coupons. We got an Aldi in town and it’s about 15 minutes from me so that helped out tremendously in cutting out the searching for coupons. I cook from scratch a lot too and there’s not many coupons for that kind of cooking. I would highly, highly recommend learning to can and freeze foods. We garden and put up food and luckily my dad puts out a huge garden and gives us so much out of it that I can can green beans and tomatoes enough for the year until the garden comes in again. We actually purchase tomatoes a couple counties over from us (Grainger County maters!) and I can tomatoes and spaghetti sauce and jelly from them. It’s always, always worth it to can your own or whatever someone will give you or sell you cheaply and locally, most of the time it’s as good or better than the “organic” in the stores. Learn to pickle, learn to put up peppers, squash, zucchini, etc. learn to jelly! It’s a dying art.
Stacy says
I learned to can with my mom – but sometimes if you have to purchase the produce, it ends up not being cheaper if you have stores like Aldi and such nearby. Now if you have your own garden, that’s another story. 🙂
Rebecca L. says
The last 3 years Grainger County tomatoes have been $8 for a bushel box. That’s almost a give away. I have tons of jars from yards sales so not much investment. And, as much as I absolutely love Aldi, their produce is not good in the winter, especially tomatoes or lettuce or the summer variety of produce. Canning your own means you know exactly what you put into your mouth. I even freeze our home grown cabbage. I wish there was a way to preserve lettuce and cucumbers (not pickling them)! Jelly and jam makes excellent gifts, in fact, my kids’ Sunday school teachers and Awana teachers practically count on it.
Ingrid says
I used to be just like the people on the extreme couponing show. Finally I realized that It truly was an addiction. I had to get the best deal. I had to beat my last savings. I had to use all my “great” coupons. If I didn’t do any of those things, I felt like I had failed. I finally realized that I actually saved more by shopping mostly at Aldis and SAMs. It took some getting used to and I won’t lie….I did have withdrawals. LOL. But I’m much more saner and stress free than I was by couponing.
Stacy says
I really wish we had an Aldi closer!
Dana says
There’s a monthly Chick-fil-a coupon? I’m assuming it’s from the calendar, because otherwise you REALLY need to share!
Stacy says
Yup – we always get 2-3 calendars per year because they are worth the money many times over. I give them as gifts too.
Earlene says
I’m with you. If there’s time and a good deal, ok. My time is valuable and I don’t care if I have 8 tube of toothpaste, there’s only 2 of us!
Stacy says
My toothpaste drawer is small so I don’t have room for much in there. 🙂