To Clip or Not to Clip... That is the question.

WELCOME!

So, you've decided to join me on the hunt for saving money, eh? Can't blame you the economy is bad... that's what got me into couponing in the first place! So that we can become acquainted let me tell you a little about myself. I'm a 23 year old recent college grad with a BA in Criminal Justice: Forensic Investigations. Yeah big leap from dead bodies to coupon clipping but the coupon thing is a hobby that I've taken over to help my family save money in order to stay afloat in the rise of joblessness and economic sinking like the Titanic. Never to mention the tax increases and pay cuts most people have had to face. Let's face it, we could all use a little bit of money saving! SO why pay full price on that bottle of shampoo...? Or why buy that electric razor full price? How about that milk full price? Hairspray, make up, snack? I used to think buying no name brands saved money, and although that in a sense is true I was wrong. WRONG? How am I wrong? Well, for starters a lot of no name brands don't have coupons. What I've found out is, I can buy name brand items with coupons and pay LESS (that's right) LESS than no name brands, AND at times get the item absolutely FREE AND sometimes the item is FREE and I get STORE CREDIT BACK: free money to use back at their store! I've been couponing for about 2 weeks now. And am starting to get fairly well with it. So sit back grab a coupon insert and clip away as I guide you through my journey!

NOVICE BEGINNINGS

Recently I did a Coupon Sale Hunt trip (5 stores) and the grand total for it all was $302.27 in the process I got 69 items... Now with that said if you are as broke as I am right now, or even facing the pinch of money $302 seems like a million bucks. So why would anyone in their right mind spend that much? As you will soon find out, I sure didn't. Instead I spent $91.17, saving $211.10 and even getting $6 back in store rewards. IMAGINE. For a beginner, not bad... not bad at all. I'm still learning but darn it I'm proud! :)

SO WHY SHOULD YOU CLIP COUPONS?

Here's the thing about couponing... You can make 15,000 a year or even 300,000 a year... and coupons will STILL work for you. Think about it. Why not keep all of the money you save with food and essentials for other things you need or might want??? Use that extra 50 dollars you saved to go to a movie or grab a bite to eat, pay off that pesky bill but STILL have all the products you need. Not to mention they are name brand items and you'd be paying pennies on the dollar for them and alot of times get FREE brand name items as well!What will you do with those items you get that you have more than enough of? Give them to friends, family, food pantries, donate them, sell them, keep them, the choice is yours! Everyone will benefit if you share the wealth of your coupon hunts!

BUT I DON'T HAVE TIME TO CLIP COUPONS...

"Then you ain't been broke enough, baby." This quote I heard on a youtube video featuring Joyce a "Coupon Diva" that was on The Today Show 4/9/2009 (which you can watch now:)

 

That quote to me is like the Gospel. You know the saying "Time = Money", well that's exactly the mantra couponing has. It takes time yes but it saves you...? Right, money! And we all like money... we all like free things, we all like a bargain and we all like to have nice items. So in order to do this you WILL need to take out some time. A little couponing is better than no couponing. If you don't have time to be a coupon queen or king, then be the best you can at couponing with the resources you have and the time you can spare! It's your budget, your time, balance them wisely!

BUT.... COUPONING IS LIKE... BLEH... WON'T PEOPLE THINK POORLY OF MY USE OF COUPONING.

I understand, coupon phobia gets the best of us. Even yours truly. I can honestly say I was one of the people who had a fear to use coupons, I saw them as showing the world I was poor. And of course Pride is one of our deadly sins... and I was VERY much a sinner on that. But believe me I've in no way EVER been close to being rich, and I was always taught the value of a dollar. My upbringing was based on essentials... AND then entertainment if at all possible... It had to be this way growing up in a single parent home and still this financial upbringing is present now and even MORE so with the economy in bad shape... SO... Instead I went to the store and bought no name items to "save" on costs. It beat pulling out coupons... I couldn't understand how "coupon users" were  even able to hold their head up high and proud... to me it was degrading.. or so I thought. How did I overcome this? I realized helping myself and those I love financially was not degrading, it was smart. Couponing IS a skill, it's a mental process and is like a puzzle at times. But EVERYONE can do it, if you take the time to understand the processes. There's nothing wrong with coupons, and when I got around that idea I was able to see all the benefits I was missing out on simply because I didn't want YOU yes you as my reader, thinking low of me. Frankly, I should have never cared. It's not drugs, it's not leprosy, it's coupons. My friend Jenni Nordaby (who by the way is an amazing Coupon Goddess) stated once that people would give her dirty looks when she would pull out her coupon binder. But that she would look in their cart and smile... why? She knew that she could get a good amount of items in their cart for close to nothing or even free. So she wasn't the person to look down on... To quote her further in a conversation I had with her she states: " I think a lot of people look down at coupons like it beneath them or something. Or that using coupons means you're poor or low class or something. When in reality it's the total opposite! I have MORE money because of coupons and smart shopping :) " My sentiments are and have been exactly the same since I started couponing.
So if you're worried of the stares and heavy sighs, then "you ain't been broke enough, baby." Once you get over this "highschool drama" fear of whipping out coupons THEN you will understand: they don't pay for your groceries YOU DO, it's YOUR MONEY, and YOUR LIFE. Coupons are there to be USED, that's why they are printed every week. 

SO... UNTIL NEXT TIME...

I will leave you for now with another quote from my friend Jenni. Here she's talking about all the money she's saved, received back, and all of the items she got free thanks to coupons from manufacturers.
"Sometimes I start thinking, how do the manufacturer's make a profit? They're gonna stop putting out coupons! But then, while I'm standing in line at a store, I look at the person in front of me and behind me. They're not using coupons. They're paying full price. So I just smirk to myself and happily use my coupons :)"

So get happy and use some coupons! Thanks for reading my introduction into this journey. I hope you will come back to read others. I'm going to try and update here as much as possible. I will be going into details on what I've been learning and insights into things as my blogs progress from Novice Coupon Butt Kicking, to Goddess Coupon Manufacture Servitude. :)

CLIP IT, USE IT, LOVE IT... GOOD LUCK! <3